DUI

Hiring a DUI attorney is never an easy decision.  You’ve probably seen numerous advertisements from attorneys today alone or at least throughout the week. If you’re reading this blog, you’re on the Internet, where you can find countless attorneys that practice in the same areas. Once you’ve narrowed your search down, you’re probably wondering “Can this attorney help me and how?”

Thus, we’ve made a list of the top 4 questions you should ask an attorney you’re looking to hire for DUI charges and added some bonus ones at the bottom.

1. How many DUI-related trials have you had in the last year?

This is a pretty easy one. If your lawyer is not actively trying cases, they are not going to get the best deal for you or be able to handle a complex trial as well as attorneys who are actively trying DUI charges. It’s only when the prosecution realizes they are going up against a trained adversary with a winning record, that the good deals get thrown on the table.

If you lawyer is not able to negotiate for you from a position of strength, then don’t expect any reductions, plea deals or even dismissals.

2. How many similar cases have you handled?

Just because an attorney had not had a case exactly like yours before, it doesn’t mean they aren’t qualified to handle your specific situation.  A good attorney has mastered everything they need to know to get great results, regardless of the circumstances.

Your attorney should be familiar with the type of case with which you are charged. If you’ve been charged with a DUI and blood was drawn, your attorney must know all about Gas Chromatography and the science used to test your blood.

This means that your attorney should be certified in the fundamentals of Gas Chromatography, Enzymatic Blood Testing, Standardized Field Sobriety Testing, Pharmacology, and Human Performance. They must have also attended training in a lab and be able to handle the complexities of these cases.

So be sure that your attorney has experience in the general type of case and make sure that he or she has the training necessary to deal with any science related to it before hiring them. You especially want an attorney who has actually used the machines that your blood is tested on, as they are intimately familiar with their faults.

3. What additional certifications do you have?

Is your prospective attorney trained in Standardized Field Sobriety Tests? Does he or she have certification in Chromatography? Do they attend training at local, state, and even national seminars? Have they actually taught at any seminars? Do they have a history of being a national speaker?

While checking with an attorney for additional certifications (a Jurist Doctorate isn’t always enough!), also be sure to check their ratings on trustworthy sites such as www.avvo.com. Avvo rates attorneys on a variety of factors, including their years of experience, engagement in the law community, and quality of client testomonials. Click here for Brian Manchester’s Avvo profile, where he is given a 5/5 rating.

4. What national, prestigious organizations do you belong to?

Does your attorney belong to any national organizations? Are any of the organizations by invitation-only? Does he or she teach at any of these organizations?

Attorneys who attend national organizations are the most likely to keep track of new developments in DUI defense. While the law is always changing, so to are defense practices. Attorneys who attend invitation-only events and even are asked to teach at events, are those who are recognized by their peers for their exceptional knowledge and history of trying cases.

Other Questions to Ask Your Attorney

1. Do you regularly take cases to trial across the state?

2. Have you ever operated the testing equipment used by the state and private labs?

3. Do you have the practitioner’s certification in Standardized Field Sobriety Testing?

4. Are you recognized locally and nationally?

5. Do other attorneys refer DUI cases to you?

6. Does you belong to any non-defense related scientific organizations?

7. Have you ever gotten any court decisions with a state-wide impact?

8. Does you have documentation (proof) of any of this?

What Does ARD Mean?

ARD stands for “Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition”. If you have been charged with a first offense Pennsylvania DUI, you may be eligible for Pennsylvania’s ARD program. If so, and you complete the program, you will have resolved your first offense DUI without a criminal record.

ARD was adopted to emphasize rehabilitation as opposed to incarceration. Although each county may differ on certain eligibility rules, the general rules are you cannot partake in ARD if

• You have been convicted of a DUI in Pennsylvania in the last ten years.
• If you were involved in a crash that caused serious injury or death.
• Or if you had a child under the age of 14 in your car at the time of your arrest.

A Small Price To Pay To Dismiss a DUI Charge

If you’re accepted for ARD in a Pennsylvania DUI case, you’ll be under the court’s supervision for up to 12 months. You also may be required to pay restitution, court fines, and fees.

Depending on the specifics of your case, you may be subject to license suspension in Pennsylvania for 30 to 90 days. However, it is possible to avoid suspension altogether in some Pennsylvania DUI cases.

You will also be required to complete an alcohol highway safety class, and the court may recommend that you undergo alcohol and/or drug treatment. Luckily, your insurance may cover treatment, but if not, you’ll be responsible for the cost. Although this may seem like a tiring process, it is a small price to pay to dismiss your Pennsylvania DUI charge.

ARD Completion

If you complete all of the requirements for the ARD program, your Pennsylvania DUI charge will be dismissed and you won’t have a criminal record from your first offense Pennsylvania DUI. You may then also be able to expunge the DUI arrest from your criminal record.

Failure To Meet Requirements While In The Program

However, if you fail to meet the requirements after being accepted into the ARD program, the charges against you will be reinstated and you’ll be prosecuted for driving under the influence. The ARD will stay on your driving record for at least ten years. If ever asked on an employment application or by anyone if you have been convicted of a crime you can say no as ARD is not considered a conviction. However, if asked if you are arrested you should say yes as the ARD will show up on your driving record.

More Options

The ARD program can bring a satisfactory outcome to your first offense Pennsylvania DUI case, but it’s not your only option. It may be possible to reach a favorable plea bargain or successfully fight the DUI charge in court. It also may be possible to avoid license suspension altogether.We do not automatically assume or always suggest that ARD is the way to go.

How We Can Help You

Brian Manchester has been a criminal defense attorney for 18 years and he and his law firm law firm has helped well over one thousand people just like you be placed into the ARD program.

He has extensive training in DUI defense and is even a member of the National College for DUI Defense, the American Chemical Society, and the Society of Forensic Toxicologists. Brian Manchester also regularly attends seminars that specifically focus on DUI defenses, and he was also the Educational Chairman for the Pennsylvania Association of Drunk Driving Defense Attorneys.

Free Consultation

For a free consultation, we can be contacted at 1-800-243-4878 or you may visit our Contact Us page and we will get in touch with you as soon as possible.

When you or someone you know is arrested for DUI in Pennsylvania, you deserve and should get the best DUI lawyer possible. That is not the question. When a person’s freedom, driving privileges, job, professional license, gun rights, and many other things are on the line everyone wants and deserves the best. The question is how does someone accused of DUI in Pennsylvania find the best DUI lawyer in Pennsylvania?

There is no one best person practicing DUI defense in Pennsylvania, for that matter, in the Country. Having been a criminal defense lawyer for over twenty years, I have seen four categories of lawyers practicing DUI defense the General Practitioner, the Criminal Defense, the DUI Lawyer, the Teaching DUI Specialist.  The first category is General Practitioners. These are attorneys who advertise that they handle DUI cases, family law, wills, estates, landlord-tenant, and lots of other things on their websites, business cards, and ads. They treat DUI cases as commodities and aside from the occasional suppression motion filing, they generally plead their clients guilty or get them an ARD without analyzing the case. They think that blood test results cannot be challenged, or if they do, they do not know how to do it. Their idea of a good resolution is obtaining house arrest or the mandatory minimums.

Since I am in court often, I get to see many guilty pleas and sentencings. Sometimes when I am watching other cases I cringe when I hear the DA read the facts of a case. One time I watched a fellow citizen being sentenced to a second offense DUI with a BAC of .164. That person now has a first-degree misdemeanor, did a minimum of 90 days in jail with a maximum of 5 years. That person lost their license for 18 months and their right to ever own a firearm. That result drove me crazy and continues to do so. I knew the lab that tested that man’s blood, even assuming the blood test was done right, that lab’s uncertainty (margin of error) at that level was at least .010. In fact, all the forensic labs in Pennsylvania have an uncertainty (margin of error) in their test results that would have put this man below .16. This is easy defense in a DUI case, but one that is missed quite often by lawyers who treat DUI casually. I see similar things like this all the time. It is a travesty to people when it happens to them. I am still surprised when some lawyers do not even know basics like the correct license suspension for their clients. If you do not know the law, you should not be practicing in that area of law.

I was once in court and watched a man be sentenced to a felony aggravated assault while DUI where it was alleged, that he was taking bath salts, particularly alpha-pvp. Now admittedly I do not know all of the facts of the case, but I do know that alpha-pvp test results are inadmissible in Pennsylvania because there is no minimum detection level set by the PA Department of health as outlined in 75 Pa.C.S.A. 1547 (C)(4). As I said, I did not know all the facts in that particular case, but I did know the lawyer handling the case did not file motions to suppress the blood test results. This can be easily I looked up in the statewide docketing system. No matter what the facts are in a DUI case, if you can keep the blood test results out of court, this gives you incredible leverage to get a better outcome for your case.

The second type of lawyers are lawyers who do nothing but criminal law and handle DUI cases, but who do not have any advanced training in DUI defense. Training such as field sobriety training and scientific training in blood testing. While going to a lawyer who does nothing but criminal cases is better than the general practitioner, it is still not much better. A lawyer who only handles criminal cases is generally more knowledgeable of new decisions in DUI cases and should be able to find more legal angles to defend people charged with DUI in Pennsylvania but that still is not enough. Police pulling over people illegally and messing up when they ask for blood and other legal errors do not happen often. However, this does happen, just not in a lot of cases. The facts in an average case are there is an equipment violation or some bad driving. The motorist is pulled over. The cop asks some brief questions, then guesses that the driver is impaired. The cop forces the person to get out of the car to do tests that have never been scientifically certified to detect impairment. Then the cop takes the driver in for a blood or breath test. Just knowing the law is not enough in these cases.

The third category of lawyers who defend people in Pennsylvania charged with DUI are the lawyers who concentrate in DUI defense and get training in how to defend these cases. Training consisting of field sobriety training. Both practitioner and instructor training in the exact same courses that the police take. That and advanced courses in blood testing and defense. These are the lawyers someone charged with a DUI should begin their search looking for. They have the training necessary to challenge field sobriety testing and blood or breath testing. These lawyers are fully competent to handle DUI cases.

When looking for the best DUI lawyer in PA there is the fourth category. These are the defense lawyers who teach other lawyers. They are not only trained in criminal defense techniques. They have the specialized training in field sobriety testing and blood and breath testing. What truly sets them apart is they teach what they know to other lawyers. They speak across the state on DUI defense topics. They know how to challenge not just the law but how to use their field sobriety and scientific training to teach other lawyers how to properly challenge and defend DUI cases in Pennsylvania. The truly elite attorneys in DUI Defense in this category also speak across the country. So how does one find lawyers in the third, and especially the fourth categories? I will cover that in my next blog. How to Find the Best DUI Lawyer in Pennsylvania.

BRIAN V. MANCHESTER, ESQ.

In Pennsylvania, there are two ways that the Commonwealth can gather evidence that will result in a Blood Alcohol Concentration Level:

1. Blood test.
2. Breath test.

Now it is important to differentiate that there are two different types of breath test.

There is the portable breath test that officers give to you on the side of the road, this test can be refused if you so choose. Then there is the breath test at the police station. This test can also be refused, but if you refuse it, the Court and Legislature will rule that you are to be charged under the DUI statute in Pennsylvania. Then, you will face an additional license suspension for the refusal through PennDOT.

According to Pennsylvania’s implied consent statute, “Any person who drives, operates or is in actual physical control of the movement of a vehicle in this Commonwealth shall be deemed to have given consent to one or more chemical tests…” in order to determine the blood alcohol content (BAC).

If you refuse to submit to the breathalyzer test, you will have your driver’s license suspended for at least 12 months or 18 months if you have a previous refusal or DUI. This is a civil license suspension through PennDOT and has nothing to do with the criminal penalties involved.

Challenges To a Breath Test

Certain guidelines must be followed for the administration of a Breathalyzer test. If these guidelines were not followed, then the test results can be invalidated and thrown out in Court. Challenges that may be made include:

• You were not observed by a law enforcement officer for 20 minutes prior to the administration of the test.
• The administrator of the test was not properly certified.
• The machine was not properly calibrated.
• There were not two consecutive tests conducted.
• The test was not properly administered.

What Should You Do If Charged With a DUI?

It is extremely important to contact an experienced law firm right away in you or someone you know is charged with Driving Under the Influence in Pennsylvania. If you, your son, daughter, or loved one in Pennsylvania has been arrested for a crime in state or federal court in Pennsylvania you need legal representation Here at Manchester and Associates we represent people across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. For a free consultation we can be contacted at 1-800-243-4878.