Information from Top Illinois DUI Lawyers

The Law Offices of Brucar & Yetter
Wheaton, Rolling Meadows and St. Charles, Illinois

Leading Illinois DUI Defense Lawyers

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Important DUI information

People have lots of questions about DUIs. Most information available to the public is generated in campaigns to reduce drinking and driving or raise awareness of potential dangers. This isn't helpful to someone who has a recent arrest, and often it just acts to further scare people who are already under a great deal of stress.

A lot of time and advertising dollars are spent telling us operating a motor vehicle after consuming alcohol or drugs to a degree which impairs judgment and ability to drive safely is a serious offense. A great deal of money is spent training officers to track and arrest suspected DUIs.

Penalties and stigma of a DUI arrest are serious. The DUI lawyers at Brucar & Yetter are waiting to defend you against the DUI charges and will reduce or eliminate much of the worst aspects of the case.

Is DUI a crime or a traffic ticket?

DUI is a crime. The least serious is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail or two years of probation. The most serious DUI not involving serious injury or death is still a felony without an option for probation but a minimum prison sentence instead. Reckless homicide (DUI where someone dies) has greater potential punishment still.

What types of penalties are there for DUI?

Due to political pressures criminal and civil penalties for drunk driving are harsher every year despite little evidence it helps. Today penalties often include:

Suspension of license
Large fines
Expensive classes
Jail or prison time
Community service
Restitution
Criminal record
Restricted license programs including ignition interlock devices

How high are the fines?

The short answer is "very." Over the past ten years mandatory fines and fees have gone up from a few hundred dollars to several thousand or more if you are prosecuted by a village using DUI arrests as a revenue stream.

The best way to avoid fines is to vigorously defend the case in court. A win means no fines, so the more aggressively the case is litigated the better the offers become.

What if I wasn't actually driving?

The term Driving Under the Influence implies a person must be driving a car, but in Illinois this isn't the case. The term used in court is "actual physical control," meaning the possibility you could drive is enough.

What if you were sitting behind the wheel of a car but it was off? What if were sleeping there? What if the keys were not in the ignition? What if the car was out of gas and could not be started? What if it was idling? What if it was being towed?

These are questions we have taken to trial and in each situation found a way to win.

What if I wasn't in a vehicle?

Cars, trucks and vans are considered to be vehicles for DUI purposes. However people are regularly charged with DUI while operating motorboats, mopeds, dirt bikes, snowmobiles, and ATVs. All the same rules apply to a trial in one of these vehicles as a car or truck.

I wasn't drunk, but the officer said I was. What will happen in court?

The prosecution must prove you had drugs or alcohol in your system impairing your ability to drive with ordinary care. They usually attempt to prove this in one of two ways - through officer testimony or chemical testing.

An officer's testimony can be sufficient to convince the judge or jury if his testimony goes unchallenged. The best challenge to the testimony is usually cross-examination by a skilled attorney. We have practiced this art for nearly fifty years.

The officer uses "field sobriety tests," a set of divided attention tests designed to prove you are drunk. Though commonly accepted by courts, juries are more suspect about them. The usual tests include:

Finger-to-nose test
One-legged stand
Walk-and-turn test
Horizontal-gaze-nystagmus test
Counting backwards
Reciting the alphabet

Another way prosecutors try to prove intoxication is through chemical testing of the amount of alcohol in the body, usually by analyzing the breath. These tests are administered by machines in police stations. A person with a blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) over .08 is presumed legally intoxicated.

The best defenses to these machines are challenging their operation or maintenance. This is a complicated area of law which few are as good at as the DUI lawyers at Brucar & Yetter.

What about my suspension?

If you are arrested for DUI the officer will confiscate your driver's license and give you a "Notice of Summary Suspension." This is notice your driving privileges will be suspended on the 46th day after the arrest unless you had a BAC under .08. If you refuse the test the suspension is one to three years, if you take it and fail it is six to twelve months.

The suspension can be challenged by filing a petition to rescind the suspension. The grounds include lack of probable cause to suspect you were DUI, failure to adequately warn you of the consequences of your choice to do the chemical testing and improper maintenance of the machine. By winning a "Petition to Rescind Statutory Summary Suspension" hearing your driver's license is reinstated.

Can I get a permit to drive?

Illinois law allows people over 18 to have a Monitoring Device Driving Permit (MDDP) after the 31st day of suspension for any purpose and at any time. You must have a breath alcohol interlock ignition device (BAIID) installed on the car you drive. The MDDP is available to a person without DUI suspensions or findings of guilty in the past 5 years with a valid license. If death or great bodily harm resulted from the arrest or you were ever convicted of reckless homicide you may not be eligible.

Your vehicle is taken to a certified BAIID installation company who charges an installation fee and monthly fees for the device. Once installed you must bring the vehicle into the installer every 30 days for readings. Violations give the Secretary of State the right to extend your suspension, increasing your cost. These extensions can be challenged at a formal hearing.

MDDP Violations include:

Tampering
10 or more unsuccessful starts within a 30 day period
5 or more unsuccessful starts within a 24 hour period
BAC of .05 or more
Failing a running retest
Failing to take a running retest
Removing the BAIID device
Failing to utilize the BAIID
Failing to submit a timely monitoring report

Should I accept my suspension and get a driving permit?

If you submit to a police officer's demands for sobriety tests and the breathalyzer your license will still be suspended. Depending on circumstances the suspension can be from six months to three years. For the most part, any qualified attorney can get you a permit to drive during your suspension period, somewhat softening the blow to you and your family. Sometimes this is the right course.

We aim to do better. It is the policy of this firm to fully analyze the possibility of getting the court to refuse to confirm suspension. There are many things which must be done correctly by the police before a summary suspension is confirmed including properly warning you of the real consequences of the breathalyzer test, having adequate probable cause, and correct certifications for the machine and its operator.

Our experience gives you the edge. For years we have undertaken the serious study of the law of DUI suspension and put it into practice as litigators. This special combination, unequalled by other attorneys, will help make your priorities attainable.

Should I plead guilty or go to trial?

In Illinois you are eligible to receive supervision-a type of deferred judgment- as a sentence on your first DUI most of the time. Many attorneys advise to take this sentence as soon as possible. We do not. If supervision is the right outcome this may be correct, but shouldn't your chances at trial at least be reviewed by a qualified attorney? We believe so.

Do not entrust you privilege to drive to a lawyer advising you to plead before they talk to you in depth about your case, before they read the arresting officer's report, or before they properly investigate the validity of any sobriety testing you may have undergone.

Let our experience work for you. Schedule your free initial consultation with us today.

Contact the DUI defense attorneys at Brucar and Yetter, P.C. We are available 24 hours a day and offer night and weekend office hours for your convenience.