Las Vegas Nevada DUI Lawyer

1. What are the penalties for a 1st time DUI in Nevada?
2. Do I have to appear in court?
3. Can I avoid a driver’s license suspension?
4. Will the DUI offense show on a background check?
5. Can I beat a DUI even if I was over the limit?
6. Do I need to hire a lawyer?
7. Fighting a Nevada DUI Case
8. Additional Resources

What are the penalties for a 1st time DUI in Nevada?

The typical penalties for a first offense of drunk driving as a misdemeanor are:

1. $400 to $1,000 in fines plus court costs;
2. 8-hour DUI School (which can usually be done online);
3. Attendance at a Victim Impact Panel (such as MADD);
4. 2 days to 6 months in jail time (usually the judge suspends the jail sentence or orders 48 to 96 hours of community service); and
5. A 185-day driver’s license revocation (though it may be possible to get a restricted license with an ignition interlock device)

If the defendant’s blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is 0.18% or greater, the defendant will also have to submit to an alcohol/drug dependency evaluation, do rehab, and drive with a breath interlock device for one-to-three years.

Do I have to appear in court?

Usually, drunk/drugged driving defendants do not have to go to court as long as their Nevada criminal defense lawyer appears on their behalf. Defendants will have to show up in the rare event the case goes to trial (or a preliminary hearing in felony drunk driving cases). Some judges request that defendants attend their sentencing hearing. But most accept a notarized “written entry of plea” instead.

Can I avoid a driver’s license suspension?

Each arrest for driving under the influence opens a criminal case as well as a DMV case, and defendants must win both in order to keep their driving privileges. The DMV case is actually tougher to win than the criminal case since the DMV demands a much lower burden of proof.

Fortunately, first-time drunk driving defendants who lose the DMV hearing can often obtain a restricted license right away.

Will the DUI offense show on a background check?

Yes, a misdemeanor drunk driving conviction stays on defendants’ criminal records for seven years before it can be sealed. And felony DUI convictions remain on defendants’ records forever. That is why it is so important to have an attorney fighting to get the DUI charges reduced to reckless driving or dismissed.

Can I beat a DUI even if I was over the limit?

There are many ways to cast doubt on a defendant’s BAC results for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Perhaps the breath or blood testing equipment was defective or mishandled. Maybe a medical condition or other external factors caused a falsely high reading. And even if the BAC results were accurate, judges can dismiss DUI criminal charges over police misconduct alone.

Do I need to hire a lawyer?

Nevada law forbids prosecutors from dismissing or reducing drunk driving charges unless there is insufficient evidence to get a conviction. Therefore, defendants need aggressive Las Vegas DUI attorneys and trial lawyers to investigate every detail to weaken the state’s case. And the fact is that prosecutors are more likely to negotiate a good plea deal when the defendant is represented by a law firm with experienced DUI defense lawyers.

A DUI arrest results in two separate proceedings: the court case and DMV case.

Fighting a Nevada DUI Case

Nevada prosecutors typically rely on four kinds of evidence when attempting to prove a drunk driving charge in court:

1. the defendant was not driving the motor vehicle in a regular, sober manner,
2. the defendant smelled, spoke, walked and acted like an intoxicated person,
3. the defendant was unable to perform the roadside field sobriety tests correctly, and
4. the defendant’s breath test or blood test returned a blood-alcohol level above a .08%.

Each of these “pieces of evidence” can possibly be dismantled by a seasoned Las Vegas criminal defense attorney who knows the best ways to attack the state’s case. For instance, did you know:

• University studies demonstrate that trained law enforcement officers are no better than average social drinkers at discerning whether a person is intoxicated…and they get it wrong most of the time!
• The federal government mandates a set of procedures for how police must administer the roadside sobriety tests…but the police almost never follow these processes correctly!
• Breathalyzers are prone to false positives and can be “tricked” into inaccurately high reading by common conditions like heartburn, acid reflux, braces, cavities, dental pockets, burping, diabetes, high-protein diets, and residual alcohol inside the defendant’s mouth!

For a fuller discussion of these issues, refer to our article How to Fight a Las Vegas Nevada Drunk Driving Case by the experienced Las Vegas DUI attorneys of Las Vegas Defense Group.

Arrested in California? Go to our information page on California drunk driving laws.

Arrested in Colorado? Go to our information page on Colorado drunk driving law.

Call our Las Vegas DUI lawyers for a free consultation on all your legal issues.