West Covina DUI Attorney

If you've been arrested for drunk driving, our West Covina DUI defense attorneys will fight to reduce or dismiss your charges, keep you out of jail, and save your drivers license. And if necessary, we'll take your case all the way to trial. We handle DUI cases throughout the area, including Baldwin Park, La Puente, Rowland Heights, Irwindale, Azusa and Diamond Bar.

On this page, our California DUI defense attorneys provide the following information about West Covina drunk driving laws and how we can help:

Expert West Covina DUI lawyer Robert Little

The DUI DMV Process

The West Covina DUI Criminal Process

Jail & Courthouse Information

DUI Schools

Call our West Covina DUI Defense Law Office at (626) 345-0983 for a free consultation, and you can find us right off the 10 freeway at 100 N. Barranca Ave.

Your West Covina DUI lawyer - Robert Little, Esq.

West Covina DUI defense lawyer Robert Little knows exactly how prosecutors think . . . because he used to be one! With more than ten years of experience as a criminal defense attorney, Robert Little takes advantage of his insider knowledge of "the other side" to dismantle the state's case against you. Police make mistakes ALL the time, and breathalyzers frequently fail, so Robert Little uses these and other possible bargaining chips to persuade prosecutors to dismiss or reduce your DUI charges.

Ivy-League educated and a frequent contributor to CourtTV, West Covina drunk driving lawyer Robert Little has defended numerous cases involving California misdemeanor DUI, California DUI causing injury, California felony DUI, California vehicular manslaughter cases, California gross vehicular manslaughter cases, and has earned placement in the California DUI Lawyers Association and the National College for DUI Defense.

West Covina DUI DMV Process

Getting arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol creates two separate cases in West Covina-one in the criminal court (discussed below), and one in the Department of Motor Vehicles. When you're booked for a DUI, the cops confiscate your California drivers license and give you a temporary one that's good for just a month. You have only ten days from the time of your arrest to request a DMV hearing to contest the suspension.

You should hire defense counsel right away to request and handle the DMV hearing so that they may appear on your behalf, present evidence and cross-examine witnesses. For a first DUI, all the DMV can do is suspend your drivers license for a few months, and your lawyer can usually help you get a restricted license so you can continue driving to and from work. For a subsequent DUI, the DMV may suspend your license for up to two or three years.

West Covina DUI Criminal Process

When you're arrested for West Covina misdemeanor DUI, you'll usually be charged with two California crimes: DUI under Vehicle Code 23152(a), and Driving with Excessive Blood Alcohol Content under Vehicle Code 23152(b). However, DUIs that cause injury may be chargeable as a felony. And if you've already had three misdemeanor DUI convictions or one felony DUI conviction within the past ten years, your next DUI arrest may be charged as a felony.

DUI cases often last several months, during which time we collect evidence, file motions, and negotiate with prosecutors in an effort to get both charges dismissed or reduced. And for misdemeanor DUI cases, we can usually appear in court for you throughout the entire case (unless we take the case to trial and you testify).

Typical first-offense West Covina DUI Penalties include:

• fines ($390 to over $1,000, but community service may cover some of it)



• three years of probation



• four month drivers license suspension (with the possibility of obtaining a "restricted license" for work purposes)



• California DUI School (see below for more information)



• two days to six months of jail (which we can usually eliminate or convert to community service)

Penalties for subsequent DUIs are harsher, including mandatory jail time, high fines, lengthy alcohol education programs, and required ignition interlock devices in your car.

Covina Jail & Courthouse Information

DUI arrestees will probably be booked at the West Covina Jail, located at 1444 West Garvey Avenue South

DUI cases will then likely be heard in the local, eleven-courtroom courthouse, located at 1427 West Covina Pkwy. Their number is (626) 813-3239.

Unlike other courthouses, where different judges may hear different stages of the same case, West Covina judges preside over the entire duration of their DUI cases. Only the D.A.'s office (not the city attorney's office) prosecutes DUIs. And which courtroom you're assigned to is determined by where your last name falls on the alphabet.

If you're sentenced for a misdemeanor DUI in the West Covina Courthouse, you'll be instructed to go to the "Health Department," located inside the courthouse, for further instructions and guidance about how to enroll in DUI School and carry out other terms of your sentence. The Health Department can be reached at (626) 813-3335

West Covina DUI Schools

As mentioned above, DUI School is a standard penalty for all West Covina DUI convictions. Judges will order longer programs if you've had previous DUI convictions and a significantly high Blood Alcohol Content, but a good criminal defense lawyer may be able to negotiate it down. Two of the local DUI Schools are:

Safety Education Center, Inc.
Programs: First offender; Eighteen Month; and Thirty Month
1515 West Cameron Ave., Ste. 300
West Covina, CA 91790.
(626) 960-3977

San Gabriel Valley Driver Improvement
Programs: First offender
1700 W. Cameron Ave., Ste. 108
West Covina, 91790
(626) 960-0644

Have you been arrested for a DUI in West Covina?

Then we'll do everything possible to keep you out of jail and let you hold on to your license. Call us at (626) 345-0983 to set up a FREE consultation with one of our West Covina criminal defense lawyers.

Go back to our West Covina Criminal Defense Lawyers main page.

Join us to discuss your DUI case at any of our
local offices: You can also contact us 24/7 at
888.327.4652 for a free consultation