Car Accidents and Lawyers to Reduce Stress

Posted on: 30 July 2015

If you are being charged with a second or third DWI, you know the consequences could involve jail time, penalties, and damaging effects on your reputation or career. However, there are four instances where a judge might be able to disregard your prior DWI charges or convictions:

1. There was a procedural irregularity in your case, or your last conviction was unfair.

If you can show that procedures or the state laws were not followed correctly in your prior case, a judge may disregard it. If you accepted a plea and had no legal representation on your first conviction, you may have been treated unfairly. An unfair conviction might be brought about for any of a few different reasons:

• You weren't driving erratically, you were obeying the traffic laws, and the police officer couldn't articulate a reasonable suspicion for pulling you over,
• Your blood alcohol level was under 0.08%, or
• You were otherwise overcharged in the prior case in relationship to the circumstances.

2. You had a long period of good behavior between the charges.

It depends on the state laws where you were charged, but if a certain amount of time has passed between charges, your judge may be able to disregard the prior offense. However, in some states like Indiana where the priors are never dropped from your record, there may not be much leeway for the judge, but they may be inclined to be as lax as the law allows in this case.

3. Your rap sheet contains mistakes.

If you can show that your criminal record contains errors on prior convictions, this may be enough to persuade a judge to ignore a prior charge.

4. Your prior charges were out-of-state and the other state's laws are different.

To enhance the charge (make it more serious because of priors) your state may require that the laws of the other state be very similar to yours. Semantics (word choice, labels) may mean little in this case, but if the details of statutes and the prescribed punishments differ a lot, then the prior charges may be disregarded. If the charge is over five years prior, it may be disregarded (depending on your state).

You should be aware that you may have a legal time limit to raise an objection or ask for a disqualification of the prior out-of-state charge before discussing a plea or going to trial.

This disqualification is in regards to jail time and other penalties, but your license could still be suspended for the required length according to the number of charges you have including the prior charge.

Legal Representation

If you have had more than one DWI charge, you will need the advice and assistance of a DWI attorney. Contact a company such as Follender Law Offices, P.L.L.C. to learn more.