One of the most common mistakes people make in their OVI case is going into court alone, without an attorney, and trying to explain their case to the judge. Most people do this because they believe that if they enter a plea of guilty or no contest that the judge can reduce their DUI charges. This is completely false and often leads to an individual going to jail, rather than home, that day. The second mistake is going with an attorney who does not devote a large portion of their practice to DUI defense. One way to determine if you are dealing with such an attorney is in what they charge. Do they charge incredibly low rates compared to other attorneys ($750)?

The right attorney can make all of the difference in your DUI / OVI case.

If you make the right choice to hire an attorney who devotes a major portion of their practice to DUI defense, your attorney can be all the difference between a positive result and the other alternatives. For instance, many people and attorneys do not know that one of the major breath-testing instruments (the Intox. 8000) is a breath-testing machine that is being defeated all over the state. We have beat it in at least six different municipal courts. Most people, and many attorneys, believe that if you fail a breath test there is no hope for your case. If that was true we would not be in this business and would not have the strong reputation that we have.

This is a subject that we spend extra attention to because it is one of the top questions our clients ask us when they call, and it is a completely justifiable question to ask.

Money is important to everyone. Throughout this website, we have dedicated a lot of time to answering questions relating to how we can help protect you from all of the horrible consequences associated with a DUI/OVI conviction.

As former prosecutors, we have been on both sides of the issue—and both sides of the courtroom.

The costs associated with a DUI include:

• Attorney Fees
  We know attorneys who have practiced in this area for decades and charge $10,000 for their representation. We also know of other attorneys who only charge $750 for representation of a DUI. We are somewhere in the middle. All of our attorneys are former prosecutors, and we bring the best defense we believe you can afford for the price we charge. As a practical matter, we only charge flat fees in DUI cases because we believe that allows us two things. (1) It allows us the certainty of knowing how much we will receive in a case, and (2) it allows us to properly defend you without worrying about running the clock up at our hourly rate. We make it a point to work with clients to reach payment plans in certain cases.
• Court Costs & Fines
  In Ohio, the fines for an OVI conviction are fixed between $375-$1,075 for a first offense, and they go up into the tens of thousands from there, depending on your type of offense. As for court costs, each individual court is different. Some courts charge more for certain aspects of the case than others. Talk to your attorney about costs and fines since it could possibly be thousands of dollars. If you win your case you would not pay fines or court costs.
• Driving Privileges
  We make it a priority to preserve the driving privileges of our clients. Without the ability to drive to work, you could lose your job. If you have to pay someone to drive you or take public transportation while your case is pending, you could spend thousands of dollars and lose countless hours commuting.
• Insurance Costs, Points on Your License
  Most people, and even some attorneys, do not know this, but a DUI conviction carries with it a mandatory 6 points on your license. If you are under the age of 21, you are going to be required to acquire high-risk insurance at an incredibly high cost. Even if you are of age at the time of your arrest, if you pick up 6 points on your license, your insurance is going to go up by a considerable amount.

It is difficult to have a DUI reduced to a reckless operation, but it is not impossible. Many attorneys make the mistake of simply going into the first hearing and begging for a reduced charge.

When this happens, prosecutors will typically dig their feet in and refuse to offer a reduced charge. In fact, many courts will refuse to allow a reduction if the case is not handled properly.

So how does a lawyer get your OVI / DUI charges reduced to a reckless operation? Experience and preparation are two of the main keys involved but it goes beyond that.

In order to obtain a reduction of a DUI to a reckless operation charge, you must demonstrate that not only are you a person who deserves a lesser charge, but that there is some flaw in your DUI case that will make it difficult for the prosecutor to win. We’re skilled at finding those flaws.

Many people struggle with the overwhelming pressure they face when they have been charged with a DUI or OVI. People typically fall into one of two camps when it comes to hiring an attorney: deciding whether they should fight their case, or just throw themselves to the mercy of the court.

After speaking with one of our experienced attorneys, almost everyone realizes there is only one choice: hire an OVI offense attorney.

On DUI cases in Ohio – even for a first offense – there are certain mandatory penalties that you cannot escape. Jail, driver’s license suspension, points on your license, and party plates, just to name a few.

If you go to your arraignment and enter a plea of guilty, you will be confined for 3 days, 6 days, or 180 days, depending on your type of case. With an attorney, you can fight and potentially avoid these penalties.

Recently, we sat in court and watched people enter pleas of no contest and beg the judge for mercy. Even when judges are truly kind people, they simply have no choice due to how the laws are written.

Even if you are a physician who blew over the second legal limit can be sentenced to 3 days in jail and ordered to spend 3 days in a confined driver education course. Teachers who refuse the breath test can be sentenced to spend 6 days in jail.

In Ohio, there are different charges related to driving while under the influence. One charge is for taking a breath test and having a result of 0.08 or over. This is what is referred to as a per se limit.

Ohio lawmakers have decided that having a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 or above should be a criminal offense. Additionally, there is a separate charge for just driving under the influence.

If you take a breath test and blow under 0.08, a law enforcement officer can still charge you with a DUI if they feel that you were under the influence of alcohol at the time you were driving, even if you were not at or over the per se limit.

The majority of OVI arrests involve failed breath tests, but more police departments are using blood draws to try to prove their cases after a Supreme Court ruling.

The legal limits are essentially the same as breath volumes but instead of measuring deep lung alcohol levels the forensic toxicologist is measuring the amount of alcohol in the person’s system.

Just like breath testing, blood testing has two legal limits. If you test over the first legal limit of 0.08 but under 0.17, you face a mandatory minimum of 3 days in jail.

If you test over 0.17, you face a mandatory minimum of 6 days in jail. Failing either test involves the potential loss of your license for up to 3 years.

We start at the beginning.

Why did the police officer pull you over? Did the police officer have a reasonable suspicion you committed a traffic violation? We then move to what happened at the door of the car.

What did the officer see, smell, and observe? Note: Your 2255 form says, without a doubt, that the officer observed an “odor of alcohol, bloodshot, glassy eyes, SFTS.”

Check it. We’re sure we’re right. Now that you saw that your 2255 says almost exactly what we said, maybe with slurred speech or weaving thrown in, you have to ask…how do we know that? Officers always say that in DUI arrests

From the observations, we attack the reasons for getting you out of the car and the field sobriety tests. You would be shocked at how horrible some officers are at performing these tests when we ask them to perform the same tests in a courtroom.

If you took a breath/urine/blood test we attack the means, methods, mode, and science. The bottom line is that a DUI can be beaten, but it takes a trained and experienced attorney who is not winging it in court. You need a professional.

After your arrest, the police officer will let you know when to appear for your first court date. Often, we are able to get our clients out of this first date. If the court requires your presence, we will be there with you, and for you.

Many people make the mistake of entering a plea of guilty or no contest on this first date for two reasons: (1) everyone else is doing it that day, (2) MADD and SADD have put so much propaganda out there that people believe these cases are impossible to win. It is important that you plead not guilty at your arraignment.

These cases need to be handled professionally and in a very specific way. You have too much at risk to do the prosecutor’s job for them.

The prosecutor has a huge burden in these cases, as discussed in other pages on this website, the prosecutor has to prove a whole litany of things that are extremely difficult to prove.

This is a fair, and important, question. When going to a doctor, you want to know what your odds of a full recovery are. It makes perfect sense that with so much on the line, you want to know what is the likelihood that we can win your DUI case.

During our first call, we are gathering information. When we begin to work on your case, we gain insights into your case.

The good news is, when we have gathered all of the evidence, and taken into consideration who the judge is, what jurisdiction you are in, who the officer is, and who the prosecutor is, we can then give you an opinion on what can happen. In fact, we will give you advice on whether you should take a plea or take the matter to trial.

By calling us for a free consultation, you will begin defending yourself from these often life-altering charges. Our law firm is comprised of former prosecutors and a Board Certified Criminal Trial Attorney – all with extensive knowledge and experience in representing people with Ohio DUI charges.

We always recommend hiring the professional services of an attorney who practices in this area because the stakes are so high. Even on a first offense, you are facing the possibility of going to jail for a minimum of 3 days up to a maximum of 180 days.

On top of this, you could possibly face losing your license between 6 months to 3 years. Just think about how difficult it will be to maintain employment after your conviction, run errands, and other important trips.

It is important to speak to an attorney before your first court date as your defense starts the moment you leave the police station. If a family member calls us shortly after a DUI arrest, we can start building a defense before you leave jail.

Read our blog about this to learn more: What Happens After a DUI Arrest?

Due to a change in the law in Ohio, instead of calling drunk driving a DUI, we now call it operating a vehicle impaired, or OVI.

There are a few major differences between what the law used to be and what it is now. In fact, one of the biggest changes is the way in which the legal limit has been introduced and treated.

For example, in the 1980s, if you blew over the legal limit, you could still attack that as not being impaired. Now, if you are over the legal limit you are presumed to be guilty.

Another major change is the creation of an offense called physical control. Physical control is very similar to OVI in many regards, except one: physical control does not involve the operation of a motor vehicle.

You can be convicted of physical control for merely sitting in your car while intoxicated. It is important to hire an experienced Ohio OVI attorney to defend you from OVI penalties.

Some people, rightfully, worry that hiring an attorney might not be a good idea or that hiring a less expensive attorney might be safer. When defending yourself against drunk driving allegations, you get what you pay for.

Let us share with you a lesson that we witnessed a client learn.

Recently, we received a call from a young professional who picked up a DUI charge after leaving a company-related function. He was treating clients to food and drinks while landing a rather large contract. After he left the restaurant, he was stopped and charged with a DUI. He knew his employer wanted him to land the client, but he also knew his employer had a zero-tolerance policy regarding DUI offenses, and he drives a lot for work.

So what happened? The client called several attorneys and went with the low-cost option; someone who had been a police officer but became an attorney later on. He figured the attorney had been an officer and was now an attorney so the low-cost option seemed like a good idea. Fast forward several months and nothing positive happened with his case, he decided to stop by our office. We met with him, reviewed his case, and we were personally horrified to learn that nothing had happened in his case.

There were no motions demanding discovery, no dash cam videos in the file-nothing. There was a note that the prosecutor was offering six days in jail, the minimum for the offense. The client did not need an attorney for that…he could obtain that result himself. Fortunately, we took the case over.

We obtained the discovery, we obtained the videos, and we obtained the video from the breath test room where he supposedly refused to take the test. The video showed us that he did not refuse. So his minimum penalty, in 10 minutes of work, went from 6 days in jail to a 3-day driving class. We did not stop there, we talked to the prosecutor and judge about what had transpired with the former attorney, and with our review of the evidence the prosecutor agreed to offer a reckless operation charge-a significant reduction.

The lesson is that low-cost defense is not worth it.
DUI defense that starts at $750.00 is just a waste of money. Call around and see what people charge; do not be afraid to shop. It’s your life and you pay for what you get.

A first-offense DUI carries with it mandatory penalties.

The penalties for a first-offense DUI are as follows:

It is often a surprise to our clients how the penalties for DUI / OVI work. Many people feel as if they can simply go in and plead no contest without worry. This often results in horrible consequences for the person. For instance, a first-offense DUI with a refusal has a mandatory 6 days in jail!

There are many reasons why you should hire a lawyer-even if you failed a breath test or field sobriety test. Many of our clients fall into one of two categories. The first group feels there is nothing they can do and should just plea no contest. The problem with this is that most people do not know that, on a first offense, the minimum amount of jail time could be as high as six days, and they could be required to use the “party plates.”

The second group feels a bit hopeless but has to fight to protect their jobs, their families, and their reputation. Every day, our attorneys sit in court and watch people enter pleas of guilty, or no contest, to charges that they might have been able to beat. You might think that is bluster, or an attempt to get you to hire us. But consider an example of how hiring an experienced DUI attorney can make all of the difference in the world.

Example 1: Cops claim the client was drunk in a car on the side of the road, high BAC (over 0.20).

This first case is case 2011 TRC 12502 out of Portage County. In September 2011, our client was found by a highway patrol officer with his car pulled over to the side of the road. The trooper approached and decided that she was going to conduct field sobriety tests, and then breath testing, on our client. As a result of the trooper’s investigation, our client was charged with OVI / DUI. Our client faced a minimum of six days in jail, party plates, interlock device, counseling, and other incredibly harsh penalties. Oh, and if convicted, his employer was going to fire him, but his employer was willing to see how the case played out.

Fast forward to 2012.

He hired us, so he hired attorneys who would fight. We do not take your money just to enter a plea to the charges. We personally conducted what is called a suppression hearing, where we asked the court to throw out certain pieces of evidence. Here we asked the court to throw out the entire case: the arrest, the field sobriety tests, and the breath tests. The prosecutor objected and called our request “ridiculous” and stated, “all deals were off the table.” Like all cases, and as former prosecutors we know this, a case sounds great up until the point where an experienced attorney starts cross-examination of your witness. Here, that is what happened.

In February 2012, the Court issued a ruling agreeing with us. The result was that the entire case was dismissed. Our client walked out of court with no DUI on his record. The prosecutor who claimed it was ridiculous? He did not even ask to appeal the case to the Court of Appeals. This is why it is important to hire a DUI attorney who will not only fight for you but not sell you out to an aggressive prosecutor.

One thing people quickly realize after failing a breath test is they should never have taken it.

Most people end up taking a breath test because:

• They want to comply with the police officer and do not know DUI laws
• They feel that since police told them they passed the field sobriety tests, they should be able to pass the breath test easily too
• They are told that if they refuse on a first offense, they lose their right to drive for one year, which scares them into taking the test

People understand that by failing a breath test they have now made their lives that much harder-but how do you get out of it? Is it possible to beat a breath test? In one word: Yes. Ohio has three different types of breath testing devices: the BAC Datamaster, Intoxilyzer 5000, and Intoxilyzer 8000.

The first device is typically seen as the most reliable, with the 8000 being the most unreliable. The more unreliable the machine, the more likely you are to beat the machine. There are several attacks that we make on all of the machines, and several attacks that we make on the specific machine you took your test on.

We also litigate (fight) with the prosecutor over whether or not you should have even had to take the breath test to begin with. From there we attack the method of the test, the procedures used in the test, the application of certain scientific principles, machine calibration, machine error, user error, and certain health issues.

We take on many clients who are doctors, dentists, nurses, and other medical professionals. Each of these professional groups has their own licensing boards, but they all have the same general problem when it comes to an OVI arrest and potential conviction. If you are a doctor, dentist, nurse or other licensed professional, OVI convictions can cost you your medical license. While it is rare for an OVI conviction to result in a permanent loss of your ability to practice medicine, it can certainly impact you greatly. Because of this, it is incredibly important that you retain the services of a skilled OVI defense attorney as soon as possible.

Read more about this on our blog: How Will a DUI Conviction Affect My Nursing License?

We find that one of the major concerns for our clients is whether or not they will lose their jobs. This is common sense and a realistic worry, especially in an economy where good jobs are scarce. The first simple fact is that most people will not lose their jobs as a result of an arrest; however, there are complications with a DUI arrest and a failed test or a refusal that require an attorney to perform expert and delicate work.

The immediate loss of your driving privileges can will likely cause problems with your job. We can help with that. As for losing your job after a conviction, that is on an employer-by-employer basis. However, there are several types of jobs where having a DUI conviction can cause trouble: teachers, doctors, nurses, truck drivers with a CDL, police officers, and those serving in the military. We work diligently to protect our clients not just from the impact of a DUI arrest, but we also work to protect you from what may happen if you are convicted.

Have more questions about DUI affecting employment?

• How Can an OVI Affect Employment?
• Do I Have to Tell My Boss About My DUI Arrest?