According to California Vehicle Code 23152, " Driving Under Influence of Alcohol or Drugs" it is illegal for any individual to drive a vehicle while he or she is under the influence of either alcohol, drugs or both. It is also illegal for any person to be driving a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08 % or more. Any commercial driver who drives with a BAC level of 0.04 % or above is in violation of California law. Minors under the age of 21 will be arrested if they are found to have a BAC of 0.01 % or higher. In most cases, a first or second time offense will be charged as a misdemeanor, unless the individual's drunk driving has caused an accident with serious bodily injury or a fatality, in which case the charge will be filed as a felony DUI.
If you have been arrested for DUI in Pasadena, or in any location in the state of California, you could be facing serious penalties upon conviction. Most first- or second-time drunk driving punishments include the possibility of up to a year in county jail, fines up to $1,000, the mandatory suspension of your driver's license, probation, the completion of a court-assigned DUI school or drug/alcohol treatment program, the installation of an ignition interlock device and hidden costs, such as greatly increased auto insurance rates and court fees. Depending on any previous DUI convictions you may have, whether you caused an accident and if there were any serious injuries from that accident, your punishment and penalties are likely to be substantially more severe.
In DUI cases, it is essential that you have an experienced criminal defense attorney on your side. A criminal defense attorney from The Law Offices of Matthew Cargal will be able to review the evidence, and immediately employ the correct defense strategy to help you fight the charge. Having practiced criminal defense law for more than 20 years, we know what it takes to win in court. We are the strong negotiator, the relentless litigator and the aggressive attorney you need, all rolled up into one. We have successfully gotten a second offense DUI charge reduced to a non-alcohol related charge and we were able to get that client's license suspension dismissed. We were able to get the penalties for a third offense DUI conviction knocked down to a house arrest, rather than have our client face time in jail. We have also helped a client charged with a fourth offense felony DUI (involving an accident), avoid jail time altogether. To find out what a Pasadena criminal defense attorney from our firm can do for you, contact us now.
