The honest answer to that is, It depends! Any lawyer that tells you what results they are going to achieve is lying. An attorney who tells you if they can get your DUI dismissed without examining the facts, or how much money your PI case is worth… is lying to you.
The first question on every new client’s mind is what can you do for me? …and what will it cost? If I was a doctor and you had stomach pain, you would not ask me “what is wrong with me and what will it cost” when you first met me and before I examined you. You would understand a doctor would have to take a history, perform a physical exam, order blood tests, X-Rays, and MRI’s etc. Maybe the doctor would even perform exploratory surgery before telling you what was wrong. If it was Cancer the surgeon might stitch you up and explain there is very little s/he can do to cure you of Cancer.
A DUI is usually not cancer, but with a (1) High Blood Alcohol Reading of .15+; (2) Drugs (Prescriptive or street drugs), (3) a Traffic Accident with injuries or Prior DUI’s, makes your case more challenging. This means that the results your lawyer can achieve are problematic and the possible sentence will probably involve more jail time. Yes, they do ask for jail time on many DUI’s.
The Indio Court is much tougher on DUI’s than many other jurisdictions and our local DA’s do ask for JAIL time on DUI’s. This is probably because we have more DUI FATALITIES here in the CV than anywhere else in California…per capita. During Covid there were more trials in Riverside than ALL of the other 57 counties… COMBINED.
On any criminal case there are different degrees of success. I usually explain to clients on their first appointment, that many years ago I was in the office of famed criminal attorney Robert Shapiro, my best friend at the time, who later became O.J. Simpson’s lawyer. We were planning on going to dinner and discussing cases on which we were working together.
Shapiro got a call from a prospective client and had to stay late to meet with him. He asked me to sit in the office with him, but of course I was to say nothing.
When the client came in Shapiro said “I don’t want to know anything about your case.” He merely asked “what are you looking for?” He then explained that there are different degrees of success. If I go into court and the DA wants a year in custody and I can get you 6 months, that is success. If they want 6 months of custody and I can get you 2 months, that is success. If they want 30 days and I can get you 10 days, that is success. If they want 10 days and I can get you a weekend and/or home arrest, that is success.
It is impossible to guesstimate what the success will be on a case when you only hear the client’s side of the story. It is necessary to review the police report for probable cause for the stop; to learn how well you did on the OPTIONAL field sobriety tests and the chemical test results for the Blood Alcohol Reading… as well as your criminal record.
Clients often think that because they have a clean driving record, or have been a pillar of the community, that will factor into their guilt or innocence. That is wrong. It may affect the sentence, but not GUILT or INNOCENCE.
Sometimes a prior record will aggravate the sentence and philanthropic work in the community may mitigate the sentence. However, they have nothing to do with GUILT or INNOCENCE.
Many clients get “Black & White Fever” because they were nervous about the police stopping them. The driver may have innocently said something that was wrong and that may negatively influence the case. Of course failing the attitude test also makes the case more difficult, as the DA is more likely to want to punish the driver.
________________________________________________________________________
Dale Gribow Attorney at Law is a family centric 10.0/5 Star PI/DUI firm that limits the caseload so calls are answered the “old fashioned” way… by Dale. His rich legal and philanthropic career, led to over 25 Top Lawyer Awards, 9 Man Of The Year Recognitions, 4 Dale Gribow Days…and awarded “Mr. Charity.”
Before talking/signing anything, get a FREE Strategy Analysis Consultation –
“Whether your case is accepted, I will direct you. If you don’t need a lawyer I will tell you.
After 50 years, I know the best lawyers”
________________________________________________________________________
GIVE THIS DUI CARD TO OFFICER WITH LICENSE | REGISTRATION | INSURANCE
Upon the advice of attorney Dale Gribow, I exercise my right to remain silent until you contact him at 760.837.7500 or dale@dalegribowlaw.com for his OK.
He advises, the VOLUNTARY FIELD SOBRIETY (FST) & BREATH TEST, at the scene, are OPTIONAL (unless one is on probation). Thus, I elect not to take them, but I want to cooperate and am happy to take a BLOOD TEST.
WARNING: Silence is Golden & Handcuffs are Silver because- it’s not what you say, but what the insurance company/police, thought they heard you say. They are “NOT on Your Side”; “You are NOT in Good Hands” and “Your Friendly Neighbor” will NOT give you a “Piece of the Rock.
