Law enforcement officers and state prosecutors in Ohio take DUI/OVI offenses very seriously. Prosecutors will gather evidence, introduce that evidence at trial, and work to convict you. If the prosecutor succeeds, you can face high monetary fines, jail time, loss of a driver’s license, and other severe penalties and consequences.
The best way to avoid penalties in your case is to avoid a DUI/OVI conviction in the first place. The experienced Medina DUI defense attorneys at Patituce & Associates, LLC understand the seriousness of a DUI charge and conviction, and our experienced and aggressive team of attorneys will do everything possible to help you avoid a conviction.
For example, we can raise a robust legal defense on your behalf at a criminal bench or jury trial, often preventing the state prosecutor from satisfying their legal burden of proof. Alternatively, we can negotiate a fair plea deal with the state prosecutor handling your case.
Our team can answer all of your questions, help you develop realistic expectations, and pursue the best possible outcome on your behalf. Please contact our firm directly for a free case evaluation and legal consultation with a skilled Medina DUI defense lawyer.
Why Choose Us to Represent You in Your Case?
Given the severe DUI legal penalties and collateral consequences associated with a DUI conviction, you should have skilled legal representation in your corner at every stage of the proceedings.
The knowledgeable Medina DUI defense attorneys at Patituce & Associates, LLC have the necessary qualifications and experience to help you pursue and obtain a favorable result in your case.
Collectively, our team members have more than 70 years of experience defending residents of Ohio against pending DUIs and other serious criminal charges. Our attorneys have successfully taken more than 400 criminal jury trials to verdict.
Moreover, our managing partner is one out of only 13 trial attorneys in Ohio who is a board-certified criminal trial lawyer.
Finally, three members of our criminal defense legal team were once state prosecutors and represented the government’s interests in criminal legal proceedings. Therefore, we understand how prosecutors will likely view your case, and we use that knowledge to your advantage.
Given our many years of experience, we have also built strong professional working relationships with criminal court judges in the area and state prosecutors, and we use those connections to our advantage when representing our clients. Let us help you pursue the best possible result in your criminal DUI case today.
Resolving a DUI/OVI Case in Medina
In any criminal case involving driving under the influence, or DUI, the state prosecutor must satisfy their legal burden of proof to obtain a conviction against you. Moreover, the state must fulfill this legal burden beyond a reasonable doubt, which is a very high legal standard to meet.
If the prosecutor fails to prove even one legal element of their case, the court may dismiss your criminal DUI charge. To help poke holes in the prosecutor’s case, we can assert a robust legal defense on your behalf. A defense might work to negate one or more legal elements of the charge, resulting in a judge dismissing your case.
If you decide to take your case to a bench or jury trial, we can raise one or more legal defenses on your behalf and argue for a case dismissal. Taking a case to trial is sometimes the better option – especially if you have a robust legal defense. This is a decision we help clients make on a case-by-case basis.
Alternatively, we can secure a favorable plea deal from the state prosecutor on your behalf. In a plea deal arrangement, the accused individual – or the defendant – typically pleads guilty to a criminal charge.
However, the prosecutor typically makes one or more concessions in exchange for this guilty plea.
For example, in a DUI/OVI case, the prosecutor might be willing to reduce the charge from a felony down to a misdemeanor, or they might allow the defendant to plead guilty to reckless driving rather than DUI. Alternatively, in exchange for a guilty plea, the prosecutor might agree to probation. If the accused successfully completes their probationary requirements, then any conviction on their record may go away.
In some situations, it makes sense to accept a plea deal from the state prosecutor, while at other times, you may have a better chance of success by taking your case to trial. As part of a plea deal, a defendant gives up certain constitutional and legal rights, including their right of appeal and their constitutional right to a jury trial.
Our legal team can help you make intelligent and informed decisions in your case, including whether or not to accept a pending plea deal from the state prosecutor or take your case to trial in court.
What Is a Criminal DUI/OVI Charge in Medina?
A police officer can arrest a driver for DUI/OVI if the driver operates their vehicle under the illegal influence of alcohol or drugs. To determine the amount of alcohol in a driver’s bloodstream, a police officer will typically use a portable breathalyzer device to test the driver’s blood alcohol concentration or BAC. Drivers who are at least 21 years old must not have a BAC of 0.08 percent or higher. Otherwise, they are legally intoxicated.
More stringent legal standards apply to drivers who are under 21 years old, as well as commercial vehicle operators like tractor-trailer drivers. For individuals who are under 21 years old, the BAC cut-off is 0.02 percent. In other words, a zero-tolerance policy applies to these individuals. However, for commercial vehicle operators, the BAC cut-off is 0.04 percent.
If a police officer arrests you for DUI, you may be unsure what to do, say, and, more importantly, what not to say after your arrest. You must contact a knowledgeable DUI defense attorney in Medina as quickly as possible.
At Patituce & Associates, LLC, we can attend all police questioning with you. We can also meet with you to discuss the circumstances of your arrest and determine your eligibility for various legal defenses.
What are the Potential Legal Penalties of a Medina DUI Conviction?
If the state prosecutor handling your case can secure a conviction against you after satisfying their legal burden of proof, then a sentencing judge must impose various penalties under state statutes. The penalties that you receive will depend on your BAC at the time the police officer arrested you, as well as your prior history of DUI convictions, if any.
Some of the most common penalties that a DUI offender may incur include:
- Monetary fines of between a few hundred dollars up to a maximum of $10,000
- Jail time lasting a few days up to 30 months
- Restricted license plates and immobilization of your vehicle, along with additional penalties if you operate your vehicle anyway
- Loss of your driving privileges and driver’s license, lasting from a few months up through the rest of your life, in some circumstances
- Mandatory installation of an ignition interlock device on your vehicle
- Required participation in a drug or alcohol treatment program for which you must pay
An ignition interlock device (IID) is a breathalyzer machine that some offending drivers must pay to have installed on their vehicle. For the driver to drive, they must blow into this device. If the device detects alcohol, it will not allow their vehicle to start.
In addition to paying for the initial installation costs of an IID, a driver must also pay for ongoing maintenance and monitoring of the device.
If you ultimately sustain a conviction on your DUI/OVI charge, the Medina DUI defense attorneys at Patituce & Associates, LLC can help. We can attend your sentencing hearing and argue for the lowest possible penalty on your behalf.
What are Some Collateral Consequences of a DUI Conviction in Medina?
In addition to the potential legal penalties of a DUI conviction, a conviction may also result in various collateral consequences that affect your overall life and well-being.
First, if you have a DUI conviction on your record, you may have difficulty finding or keeping a job. This is especially true if your job requires maintaining a driver’s license.
In addition, you may have difficulty gaining admission to an educational institution, such as a college or university. Admissions officers frequently perform criminal background checks on college applicants. They may deny your application if they uncover a DUI conviction on your record.
Moreover, a current college or university student may lose financial aid or scholarships after a criminal DUI conviction.
Finally, DUI offenders may experience harm to their personal or professional reputations in the community.
Our skilled legal team can work to lessen or eliminate the collateral consequences that you experience due to your criminal DUI/OVI conviction.
Successfully Defending Against a Criminal DUI Charge
An individual arrested on a DUI charge can raise one or more legal defenses at their criminal court trial. If the defense is successful, the DUI charge may be subject to a complete dismissal.
First, an individual accused of DUI can raise Fourth Amendment violations as a legal defense to their charge. For example, the driver might be in a position to argue that the responding police officer did not have the necessary reasonable suspicion or probable cause to pull their vehicle over in the first place. In that instance, any subsequent DUI arrest might have been unlawful.
Next, an accused individual can contend that the breathalyzer equipment the police officer used was faulty in some way. The officer might not have properly calibrated the breathalyzer machine, or they might have made a mistake when administering the test. Additionally, a driver can argue that the police officer did not properly administer chemical testing, such as blood or urine tests. A toxicology expert can also conclude that certain chemical testing evidence is faulty.
Next, a driver can argue that the responding police officer made a mistake when they administered one or more field sobriety tests.
For example, the officer might not have conducted the test correctly or failed to account for faulty lighting conditions – or an adverse medical condition from which the driver suffered. If the driver suffered from a balance condition, that condition may have prevented them from accurately completing their field sobriety test.
Our legal team can help you determine if you can raise one or more of these defenses. If so, we can argue the proper defense in court on your behalf. We gather strong evidence to support each client’s individual defense strategy, and our legal team provides personalized and tailored defense assistance in every DUI case. Allow us to begin building your defense today.
Talk with a Medina DUI Lawyer Right Away
If you are currently pending a DUI/OVI criminal charge in Medina, you should immediately speak with experienced defense counsel. Our legal team can help you by questioning the responding police officer’s credibility, challenging chemical test results, disputing the responding police officer’s training and qualifications, and determining if reasonable grounds allow a judge to dismiss your case based upon video footage, police reports, and other evidence. An expert can examine the Breathalyzer machine for defects.
Retaining legal counsel as early on in the process as possible can be very beneficial to your case. However, if you wait too long, an attorney may not have sufficient time to gather evidence and prepare your case for trial. Our legal team can enter an appearance in your case right away and begin advocating for all of your legal rights and interests.
For a free case evaluation and legal consultation with a skilled Medina DUI defense lawyer, please call us at (440) 641-4434 or contact us online today.