Modesto DUI Lawyer

Every DUI begins with an arrest. A police officer can pull someone over if they have the requisite "reasonable suspicion." Once the officer approaches he may ask you to do some field sobriety tests and possibly a blood/breath test if you display objective signs of intoxication. This basically comes down to bad driving, slurred speech, odor of alcohol, admissions that you were drinking, etc. Once you fail your field sobriety tests the officer then has the choice of putting you in jail or merely citing you. Either way, your first court date will be your arraignment.

DUI Attorney in Modesto

Once you are arrested you have two things going on: 1. the DMV hearing and 2. the court process. If the police officer cites you and doesn't take you to jail, you won't have to post bail. However, if you are taken to jail, then you will have to post bail to get out. From the date of your arrest you have 10 days to request your DMV hearing. That's why it's important to see a Modesto DUI lawyer at the law office of Ben Roberts ASAP.

Your first court date is your arraignment. The purpose of an arraignment is to either plea guilty or not guilty and request an attorney. Nobody should ever plea guilty without having an attorney look through the police reports because you never know what defenses you might have. At arraignment our Modesto DUI lawyers will request the first pretrial hearing date and probably waive time so that we can get all of the discovery including police reports, dispatch, calibration logs, maintenance logs, etc. It isn't until your first pretrial date that your Modesto Dui attorney would file a motion with the court.

Once you are in the pretrial phase of litigation, things can go on for a long time until you get your trial. Don't worry about having to make any major decisions at the outset because you will have a few months before you have to pick your trial date. You have the right to go to jury trial on a DUI charge and try to show that you were not a .08% or above at the time of driving. Although these cases are tough to win, they are not impossible. The judge will give you enough time to file whatever motions you need to file before trial. For example, you may want to file a motion to suppress, or a motion to get police records, or a motion to compel discovery, etc.

The actual DUI trial is the last phase in your DUI charge. However, very few DUI cases get this far as most of them resolve long before the trial. If you are facing a DUI charge it is strongly recommended that you hire a Modesto DUI attorney with a proven winning trial record. Call the law office of Ben Roberts today for a free consultation.