Kelly Cardon

DUI Defense

It’s not what you did…it’s what you do now that’s important, starting with the right defense attorney.

You need to fully understand that, at a minimum, a DUI conviction can damage your reputation, endanger your driving privileges, jeopardize your employment, and, land you in jail. We will thoroughly investigate your case and aggressively challenge the evidence against you. Even when you think the police have strong evidence, we can help. 

A DUI Defense You Can Count On

Police officers make mistakes, machines malfunction and technical errors occur. We uncover these mistakes and use them to cast reasonable doubt on your guilt. We challenge every aspect of the prosecution’s case, including:

  • The officer’s basis for the traffic stop, as well as probable cause for the arrest
  • Officer’s training and application of that training to your case
  • Whether tests meet mandated requirements
  • Whether you showed sufficient impairment
  • Whether the officer followed all statutory and case law requirements

All of this is used in deliberations with the prosecutor at pre-trial and at trial. As a result of preparation and perseverance, we are often able to have DUI charges reduced or dismissed. However, when a conviction is unavoidable, we always seek alternatives to jail, such as alcohol treatment, house arrest, and other options including community service.

The Facts

The effects and punishments for a DUI and DUI Metabolite have increased with the passage of every Utah Legislative session until they can now significantly impact anyone’s future and career. A second offense (and that includes a Reckless Driving Alcohol Related or Impaired Driving as a first or second offense) or a first offense with a blood alcohol level of .16 or higher, mandates formal probation, an ignition interlock device for the term of that probation, jail time, substantial fines, and extensive counseling. There are circumstances where a judge can waive some of these requirements, but only when they are stated for the record and only when they are stipulated to by prosecution and defense. A third offense within ten years can and almost always will be enhanced to felony status, which carries with it potential incarceration in the state prison for 0-5 years and up to a $5,000 fine.

The DUI statute refers not only to the use of alcohol and illegal drugs, but also to legal and prescribed pharmaceutical drugs where they have affected the ability to drive safely. Under the separate, but closely related, statute of driving with the metabolite of a controlled substance in your system you can be found guilty if you have in your system any illegal or legal drugs. It is a defense to this particular statute if you have a legal prescription for the medication, but a legal prescription is not a defense to a DUI if that drug, even if prescribed, has impaired your ability to safely operate a vehicle. This statute continues to increase the pressure on the legal system, as well as upon innocent citizens.

Once you have been charged with a DUI, the prosecuting authority aligns all of its considerable power and forces against you. Can you afford an attempt to trek through the maze which the legislature has created in this area without protection from an experienced guide? A DUI is clearly a tough and complex offense that can not only harm you immediately, but damage your long term reputation and employment possibilities. Because of this, you need the best defense for a tough offense.

With all of the potential consequences of a DUI conviction, including possible loss of license up to 36 months, in the case of a second refusal within ten years, a “Not a Drop Alcohol Restricted License” for up to a lifetime, jail or prison time, insurance increases, formal probation, and an ignition interlock device, you can’t afford not to know what you’re doing when it comes to being charged with a DUI. We have focused our practice on DUI defense since 1987 and have seen the Utah State Legislature continue to increase penalties and stigmatize the DUI laws even further each year. By focusing our work, legal knowledge, and creativity in this area for the past 25 years, we have achieved positive solutions to nearly all of the problems caused by DUI arrests.

There is light at the end of almost every tunnel. There are often good defenses to what may otherwise look like insurmountable evidence.  You will never know of these defenses unless you have someone with the experience and the work ethic to find and reveal them to the court or tryer of the fact.

 

For more information visit our Blog or DUI Resources pages.