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Fredericksburg DUI Lawyers

• Robert Deaderick:
• Kenneth Mergenthal: There is no other way to say it: Serious traffic violations are criminal offenses. If you are not worried because ³itıs just a traffic ticket,² you should know that serious traffic offenses can lead to jail time, as well as substantial monetary fines. That isnıt all you have to worry about: a conviction of a serious traffic offense will result in a substantial increase in your motor vehicle insurance premium. The increased premium will stay with you for a number of years, and, in some cases, your coverage may be cancelled completely. It is easy to see how a single mistake, or a lapse in judgment, can continue to haunt a person for years. The situation is even worse for drivers convicted of alcohol-related driving offenses. Virginia imposes harsh punishments on people convicted of DUI/DWI. In addition to any fines you may be ordered to pay, or jail time you may be ordered to serve, your driverıs license may be suspended for one year, even for a first offense. Not only will you have to deal with the inconvenience of not having your own transportation at your disposal, but you will have the added embarrassment of having to ask family or friends for rides when you need them. The punishments get even more severe for repeat offenders. You will be sentenced to prison time for your second or third DUI/DWI offense. In addition to the punishments provided by law, many insurance companies will drop your motor vehicle coverage based on a DUI/DWI. Those companies that will insure you will only do so at a greatly increased premium. It is easy to see how important it is to protect your rights and have a lawyer that can fight to help you avoid the stigma and punishment that comes with a traffic or DUI/DWI conviction.
• Timothy Wall: Non-Resident Violator Compact - Virginia and most other states and parts of Canada have joined together under the Non-Resident Violator Compact. A license suspension or serious ticket in any member state equals a ticket or loss of license in ALL 44 member states. Nonmembers as of January 1996 are: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Michigan, Montana, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Washington, and Wisconsin. If your license is suspended in Virginia, you cannot obtain a license in any of the member states until your Virginia driving privileges are restored. If you fail to pay a ticket in Virginia, your driverıs license in Virginia will be suspended. It is unlikely that you will be able obtain or renew your license in your home state until you have resolved the ticket in Virginia and had your driving privileges restored here. Most states also exchange information under the National Driver License Compact for serious violations such as DUIıs and suspended license due to unpaid tickets in Virginia. This means that these violations will be charged against your license in your home state. In some states, even less serious out-of-state traffic violations are charged against your license.
• Vernon Keeve: The crime of drunk driving is generally defined in two ways: (1) having a blood alcohol content above the limit set by law, or (2) driving under the influence of alcohol. To find a person guilty under the first definition, a jury (or judge) must be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the person's blood alcohol content (BAC) exceeded a certain amount. In most states the legal limit is .08 percent. Therefore, if it is proved that the person's BAC at the time of the incident was .08 percent or greater, he or she can be convicted of drunk driving, regardless of how much alcohol was actually consumed. As a practical matter, one drink would almost certainly not lead to a BAC of .08 percent or greater; generally, a person needs to have five drinks in an hour to develop a BAC of .08 percent. However, if there was something unique about the person or the drink, or other circumstance, one drink could raise the BAC above the legal limit. In contrast, the second definition does not refer to any particular BAC. It focuses on the driving behavior of the person; if it is impaired by the person's consumption of alcohol, he or she can be found guilty of drunk driving. Instead of presenting evidence of the BAC to a jury, the prosecution seeking a conviction under this definition generally presents testimony about the person's driving and consumption of alcohol. A police officer will often describe the impaired driving that lead him to pull the person over and the person's ability (or lack thereof) to perform field sobriety tests, such as walking a straight line. Evidence is also usually presented concerning the person's consumption of alcohol and if the jury then concludes that the prosecution has met its burden of proof, it will convict the person of drunk driving. A susceptible person may exhibit impaired driving after one drink and therefore be convicted of drunk driving.