If you are arrested for a DUI in Daytona Beach or the surrounding areas you are exposed to certain minimum and maximum penalties. The penalties for a first Daytona Beach DUI with a minor in the car or Daytona Beach DUI BAC over .15 Florida Statute 316.193(4)(a) include: $1,000 fine plus court cost, 6-12 months of probation, 6-12 month driver’s license revocation, 0-270 days jail, 10 day vehicle impound, 6 month ignition interlock with P restriction on the driver’s license, Alcohol Safety and Education Class or the out of town equivalent, MADD Victims Awareness Panel and 50 hours of community service with the option to buy out at $10 per hour. If you are accused of a DUI in Volusia County contact Daytona Beach DUI attorney Kevin J. Pitts.
Monthly Archives: August 2013
First Daytona Beach DUI Penalties Refusal or BAC Under .15%
If you are arrested for a DUI in Daytona Beach or the surrounding areas you are exposed to certain minimum and maximum penalties. The penalties for a first Daytona Beach DUI refusal or Daytona Beach DUI BAC under .15 Florida Statute 316.193(2)(a) include: $500 fine plus court cost, 6-12 months of probation, 6-12 month driver’s license revocation, 0-180 days jail, 10 day vehicle impound, Alcohol Safety and Education Class or the out of town equivalent, MADD Victims Awareness Panel and 50 hours of community service with the option to buy out at $10 per hour. If you are accused of a DUI in Volusia County contact Daytona Beach DUI lawyer Kevin J. Pitts.
Why You Should Fight A Daytona Beach Careless Driving Ticket
Paying a traffic ticket gets you the worst possible result in your case. It guarantees that you will be adjudicated guilty, get points on your license and your insurance rates can increase even if no property damage occurred. So what happens if you fight the Daytona Beach careless driving ticket? The attorney can challenge the factual basis on the ticket. If it is inadequate the citation will be dismissed. We commonly see these mistakes on Volusia County careless driving tickets. The state must have a wheel witness and that often requires not only the officer that issued the citation but also a civilian witness that observed the crash. If either party misses court the case should be dismissed. In non-accident careless driving cases the officer must show that the driving endangered a person or property of another. If they cannot establish that element of the case it will be dismissed. Volusia County had 4,541 careless driving tickets and 1,525 of those tickets went to court. Just over 47% of the cases challenged were not guilty or dismissed. Adjudication was withheld on over 35% of the tickets and the accused was adjudicated guilty on just over 17% of the tickets. What this means for you is that over 82% of drivers in Volusia County came out of traffic court in a better position than if they would have paid the citation. Contact Daytona Beach traffic ticket attorney Kevin J. Pitts for a free consultation at 386-451-5112.
Seminole County DUI Arrests Decreasing
The number of DUI cases continues to fall in Seminole County for the third straight year and four of the last five years. Seminole County had 1,269 DUI arrests in 2008. That was the beginning of the almost continues slide in DUI arrests. In 2009 Seminole County had 1,056 arrests followed by a slight increase of 1,116 in 2010 then back down to 1,086 in 2011 and finally 833 in 2012. This coincides with a five year decline in DUI arrests in Volusia County and for all of Florida. 2008 was also the beginning of a 5 year slide in Florida DUI arrests. Florida had had 64,654 DUI arrests in 2008. In 2009 Florida had 63,019 arrests followed by 58,174 in 2010 then 55,772 in 2011 and finally 53,664 in 2012. DUI arrests are down locally and state wide but we don’t really know why. Is it the fear of increased enforcement, changes in public opinion, the result of anti-drinking and driving marketing campaigns, the result of changes in the economy or the result of the police just catching less drunk drivers. If you are accused of a DUI in Seminole County contact Sanford DUI attorney Kevin J. Pitts.
Waiving A Formal Review In A Daytona Beach DUI Case
When someone is arrested in Florida for a DUI they must request a formal review within 10 days to avoid an automatic suspension of their driving privileges. In Florida after a DUI arrest the state attacks the driver’s license on two fronts. The first is in the criminal court but the beyond a reasonable doubt standard applies. The second is the administrative license suspension process that only deals with the privilege to drive. By only attacking the privilege to drive the beyond a reasonable doubt standard does not apply. The only requirement is that the driver be provided due process. A recent change in the law has provided some advantages and disadvantages for drivers accused of DUI. The new law went into effect on 7/1/2013. It allows the driver to request a formal review hearing to challenge the suspension. If they waive the formal review hearing within 10 days of arrest they will get the 6 month or 12 month suspension for a refusal but will not be subjected to the 30 day or 90 day hard suspensions without driving. To qualify for the waiver they must pay a $200 fee, enroll in the first time DUI class (ASEC in Volusia County), have no prior DUI or DUI related offenses (wet reckless could count if your license was administratively suspended), pay a $12 hardship fee and must be in compliance with the Florida Real ID Act (having a star next to your driver’s license #). The Bureau of Administrative Reviews recently created another method to avoid the no driving part of a DUI suspension in Florida. When a driver has a breath test result over .08% they can be subjected to a 6 month license suspension administratively. When the driver refuses a breath test they can be subjected to a 12 month suspension the first 90 days without being able to drive at all.
There are some advantages and disadvantages to waiving the formal review. The formal review does not directly affect your criminal case although evidence can be gathered at the hearing and in refusal cases the suspension might be used against the driver. The benefits of the formal review are that the officer can be required to testify under oath without a prosecutor present and if proper procedures are not followed the administrative suspension can be overturned. The disadvantage is that if the suspension is not overturned the driver will be subjected to 30 days without driving on breath tests over .08% and 90 days without driving on refusals. Mistakes do happen and suspensions can be overturned but the burden of proof to sustain a suspension is low. The standard is substantial competent evidence instead of the beyond a reasonable doubt standard we typically see in criminal cases. At this point The Bureau of Administrative Reviews is requiring the formal to be waived within the 10 days to qualify for the hardship without a hard suspension. This makes it more difficult to decide if a formal review is in your best interest because the DUI packet might not be available within the 10 days. If you are accuses of a DUI in Flagler, Seminole or Volusia County contact Daytona Beach DUI lawyer Kevin J. Pitts at 386-451-5112.
Daytona Beach DUI Attorney 