Twice the DWI legal limit settles for wet reckless by Fairfax DUI lawyer

Twice the 0.08 blood alcohol concentration (BAC) testing already risks a mandatory minimum five days in jail in Virginia if convicted of such a BAC. As a Fairfax DUI lawyer, I recently achieved a wet reckless driving disposition in Fairfax County General District Court that involved a rear-end highway / Beltway (route 495) collision at that, with the passenger in the other car claiming on the scene to have been injured. Many defendants charged with driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs under Virginia Code § 18.2-266 would be happy to avoid the mandatory minimum sentencing that comes with a Virginia DWI conviction with a BAC of 0.15 and over, by getting a plea deal amending the BAC to under 0.15, which amendment also enables obtaining a restricted driver’s license (after the statutorily mandated one year suspension of driving privileges) with the ignition interlock device (IID) as the only limitation on driving. Other defendants want to pursue settlements that might at first seem to be probably out of reach, but the worst result of doing so is if the prosecutor declines to negotiate further and to proceed to trial. In this instance, I prepared a plea negotiation sheet that my client and I both signed, providing the typical Fairfax wet reckless provisions of six months of restricted driving, completing the Virginia Alcohol Safety Action Program (VASAP), paying a fine (we doubled the usual active fine to $500), and receiving an elevated suspended jail sentence of 180 days rather than the default thirty days. I reminded the prosecutor that his signing this plea agreement would mean one less case for him to handle that day.

How do I convert a Fairfax DUI collision prosecution of twice the legal limit to wet reckless driving with no active jail time?

The foregoing question has no easy answer, because obtaining a wet reckless driving disposition under such circumstances of a BAC reading at twice the legal limit is amazing. Here, my client clearly was depicted on the incident video of being very polite and respectful with the investigating law enforcement officer. My client was speaking clearly and not slurred. His performance on the field sobriety tests (FSTs) were not helpful for our defense. Post-arrest, my client had a 0.16 BAC result on the Intox EC/IR II machine. Fortunately, my client overcovered risk for settlement negotiations by completing an eight hour driver improvement class, obtaining a great alcohol evaluation from a state-licensed substance abuse program (with the least serious evaluation level and recommending the least serious educational approach, all consistent with a social drinker), attending twenty self help / Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)-type classes (via StepChat.com) and completing the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Victim Impact Panel (VIP), which I am able to address as my having attended online myself to know what I am recommending to my clients, and how this panel is very convincing for non-alcoholics (including my client) not to get behind the wheel after consuming beer, wine, alcohol or driving-impairing medications or drugs.

Why do such aggravating factors as collisions and high speed risk active jail time, at the very least, particularly with an alleged BAC of twice the legal limit?

Virginia DWI convictions involving excessive speed or collisions (especially collisions causing injury or death) risk active jail time, and can be charged as felonies when intoxication causes death and when wantonness causes serious or permanent injury. This is in addition to the mandatory minimum incarceration for elevated BACs — my foregoing client risked five days mandatory jail if convicted for his prosecution for twice the legal BAC limit — and repeat Virginia DWI convictions. Even the best Virginia DUI lawyer can argue until s/he is blue in the face that active incarceration is not needed for DWI accompanied by high speed and collisions, because the conviction itself is enough of a stigma, and also helps the person struck in such a collision to prove liability in a civil lawsuit, and in some instances to obtain punitive damages against the defendant. (As an aside, this is a good time for you to call your car insurance company and to increase your liability insurance to as high as two million dollars, if available. You do not want to be paying out of your own pocket as a result of losing such a jury trial against you.) Certainly some judges and some courts find it less common to impose more than mandatory jail time for misdemeanor Virginia DWI convictions involving high speed or collisions (and your lawyer needs to be ready to argue the absence of proof that alcohol caused any collision, let alone absence of proof that the defendant caused the collision), but plenty of judges will clobber a defendant at sentencing under such circumstances?

Why should I hire a top Virginia DUI lawyer if I simply want to negotiate the best possible guilty plea or no contest plea?

Many Virginia DUI defendants have in mind a desire to simply enter the best possible guilty plea or no contest plea. My view is more realistic, which is to fully prepare for trial, and to negotiate the case from a position of strength. The prosecutor has no obligation to agree to break down your breath test result from a twice the legal BAC limit to a non-jailable level, let alone to a wet reckless result. Not only can a position of strength enhance your settlement negotiation prospects, but also avoids catching you with your pants down in the even that settlement negotiations fail. Of course, the only way for you to know if you will win at trial — which I accomplish in numerous instances — is to go to trial. Consequently it is not sufficient for your lawyer to have the gift of gab and patter for pursuing settlement negotiations, which is little better than firing blanks if not backed up with the firepower of doing a great job at trial.

Prosecutors, police, judges and jurors can smell sweat and blood from your Virginia DUI lawyer

Do you want to undergo major surgery by a seasoned and accomplished surgeon, or from someone who has only practiced surgery on non-human animals? Then why would you want a Virginia DUI lawyer who sweats bullets over taking a case to trial — whether for an alleged twice the legal limit BAC result (or higher or lower) — or who gnashes their teeth over the extra time that a trial takes from the office? I both love going to trial, and usually consider it a favor when my client opts to go to trial. Prosecutors, police, judges and jurors can sense when a Virginia DWI defense lawyer is on fire and ready to perform great at trial, versus a lawyer who is unprepared, insufficiently experienced, and wearing proverbial diapers over the prospect of going to trial. My being a trial lawyer by definition means going to trial again and again, focused on one thing and one thing only, which is obtaining as much victory as possible, while being merciless to the assistant commonwealth’s attorney / prosecutor and their witnesses. A prosecution is war, and that war must be won as best as possible for the defendant.

Fairfax DUI lawyer Jonathan Katz mercilessly fights against assistant commonwealth’s attorneys / prosecutors in pursuing your best defense against Virginia driving under the influence prosecutions. Virginia DUI defense represents 30% of Jon Katz’s lawyer practice, and criminal defense overall is 99% of his law practice. Jon has successfully defended hundreds of DWI defendants and has successfully taken hundreds of such cases to trial. Jon is among a small percentage of Virginia DWI defenders who are a member of the National College of DUI Defense (NCDD) or its equivalent. He is among an even smaller percentage of Virginia DWI defenders who have been trained by one of the nation’s top trainers of Standard Field Sobriety Tests to police, where Jon has administered the SFSTs to people who have recently consumed alcohol. By the time you conclude your initial consultation with Jon, you will receive from him a tailor-made written action plan for your defense, and will be more knowledgeable and confident about your defenses. Secure your free in-person initial strictly confidential in person consultation with Jon Katz about your court-pending case, by contacting his staff at 703-383-1100, info@BeatTheProsecution.com, and (by text) at 571-406-7268. Usually we can calendar your meeting with Jon for the same day you call or else the next day.