Top-Rated San Bernardino
DUI Attorney Helps You
Fight DUI Charges
We are the highest-rated San Bernardino County DUI attorneys at the Law Firm of Hart J. Levin, and we have excellent experience fighting for clients charged with DUI offenses in San Bernardino County. Specializing in DUI cases, we use our expertise in evaluating evidence, developing strong defense strategies, and obtaining the best possible result for our clients.
What Happens When You Get a DUI in San Bernardino?
After you have been arrested for a DUI in San Bernardino County, the arresting agency will confiscate your driver’s license and issue you a temporary license. The DUI arrest will result in two cases being lodged against you. First, the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) will initiate a case against you to determine if your driving privileges should be suspended. Second, the San Bernardino District Attorney’s Office will file misdemeanor charges in criminal court.
DMV Hearing After a DUI Arrest in San Bernardino County
After a DUI arrest, the DMV hearing must be scheduled immediately. It is urgent, otherwise the driver will generally receive an automatic suspension of their driver’s license. As highly-skilled San Bernardino DUI lawyers, we personally handle the hearing request for you, and also request all evidence that the DMV will review at the hearing. At the DMV hearing, we challenge whether or not the DMV has enough evidence to suspend your license.
The Law Offices of Hart J. Levin have conducted thousands of DMV hearings and have had success in fighting the DMV on their clients’ behalf. While the DMV can be incredibly strict, we have one of the highest rates of success in our industry when it comes to winning DMV hearings.
Criminal Case in San Bernardino County
In addition to the DMV’s case against you, a criminal case will also be filed. In most circumstances, DUI’s are charged as misdemeanors. It is important that you have an expert San Bernardino DUI attorney by your side to ensure that you fight the case as aggressively as possible to protect your livelihood As top rated San Bernardino DUI attorneys, we look closely at the evidence the State has against you and make a targeted attack on the DMV’s case against you, in an effort to protect your license.
DUI Penalties in San Bernardino County
The maximum sentence for a first time DUI conviction is 180 days in jail. As highly-trained experts in the field of DUI defense, none of our clients have ever received 180 days in county jail for a first offense DUI. Possible penalties range from 1-5 years of informal probation, the completion of a DUI program (from 12 hours all the way on up to 30 months), community service or community labor, hefty fines, jail time, work release, the installation of an ignition interlock device, and a suspension of your driving privileges.
However, the penalties can increase drastically depending on the specific circumstances of each case. Aggravating factors include a high blood alcohol concentration at the time of driving, whether or not a traffic collision occurred, prior DUI convictions, and the defendant’s cooperation with law enforcement during and after the arrest.
San Bernardino DUI School and Alcohol Programs
First time DUI offenders are often sentenced to anywhere from 3 to 9 months of alcohol classes. Second and third offenses get much longer classes. At the Law Offices of Hart J. Levin, we will explain the requirements step-by-step to make sure you have a solid grasp of what to expect and how we can fix it. We also represent many out of state clients, where a normal class is not an option since each state has their own types of DUI classes and they vary wildly.
The Cost of a DUI in San Bernardino
People often read the internet and ask me about the information they find about San Bernardino DUIs, which can be very frightening and overwhelming. People often see that DUIs carry fines that can cost in excess of $20,000. This is simply untrue. As skilled San Bernardino DUI defense attorneys, we have the ability to keep the court costs to a minimum, even in the worst of cases. If we cannot beat the case, we can typically limit any fines to approximately $2000 with payment plans being available.
We also have creative ways of eliminating the fines altogether, should finances be a significant concern. In addition to the payment of court-ordered fines and fees, DUI offenders also will have to pay for the DUI program. It is critical to fight these cases to reduce or eliminate the classes to prevent significant costs that can come along with extended classes.
Another cost to consider is the cost of insurance after a DUI. Insurance companies can dramatically raise their premiums after a DUI which can cause financial hardship. We have relationships with excellent vendors that can give our clients special pricing to avoid large increases in insurance cost.
Many of our clients come to the conclusion that hiring our firm actually pays for itself in the amount of penalties/fines that we can avoid for them. As top-notch San Bernardino DUI lawyers, it is our priority to help put your life back together and to do everything possible to erase this event from your record.
You can call us anytime to ask questions or discuss your case, free of charge.