Seal Your DUI

New Laws Effective January 1, 2010
The following legislation will take effect beginning Jan. 1, 2010.

Published Jan 25, 2011.
Read more: The Prairie Advocate

A DUI case is a very serious matter. Because most career options need a criminal background check, a DUI case not only has serious legal consequences, it also has the potential to ruin your future. Therefore, if you are charged with DUI, your top priority must be to look for a competent Seattle DUI attorney who can help you. Do not even think of representing yourself!

A good start to finding a reliable DUI attorney is to browse the Internet and prepare a list of a few attorneys in Seattle area who specialize in the field of DUI defense. So if you are a resident of Seattle, you can start by searching on ?Seattle DUI Attorney? term and see what comes up in the search results.

 It is crucial for your DUI case that you look for a Seattle attorney who is an expert in DUI defense. There are a lot of great attorneys out there, but only some of them are experts in a particular field like DUI/DWI. DUI cases are a serious matter and you do not want to have an attorney who is not very good at defending cases like yours. To make out which one of these attorneys are specialist DUI lawyers, you should visit each attorney?s website and it will be easily evident to you if the attorney?s prime focus is DUI or something else.  If a lawyer?s website focuses on several areas of practice and DUI is just one of them, you may want to look somewhere else.

 Once you have made the initial list of expert Seattle DUI attorneys, it is time to look at their credentials like years of experience in the field of DUI, their education and background. The attorney must have spent a substantial part of her career dealing with DUI cases. You must look for client testimonials and seek out details about acquittals, dismissals, and reduction in charges this attorney has achieved in the past. See if they are members of any law community or organization dedicated to DUI law or cases. You should also see if they have any negative reviews on online legal forums and directories.

 

Some of these shortlisted expert DUI attorneys will offer you a 30 minute free legal consultation. This could be a great opportunity to analyze the attorney?s behavior before you choose to retain one of them. The attributes you should be looking for in a reliable DUI attorney are: their understanding of your legal requirements, their command over the legal situation you are in, and their motivation level to help you get justice. You must feel that the attorney is trustworthy and you must be comfortable in discussing your case with the attorney.

 

Finally, you must look at the costs involved in hiring the attorney you have in mind. The legal fees should not add to your existing troubles, and should be within your budget, so that you can focus on the case. With a little research and effort you should be able to find a competent Seattle DUI lattorney who is also affordable.

 

Selecting the right DUI attorney is serious business and you must make an informed decision as your future may depends on it.

Originally published here.

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Fern Herbert

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The bad news first. It may not be possible to seal your DUI criminal record in Florida, since it is current prosecutorial policy in Florida to not offer a “withholding of adjudication” for DUI charges.  Receiving a withhold adjudication means that the court is not formally adjudicating you of the crime charged. Another way of putting it is to say that the court is not formally convicting you. This distinction is important in Florida, since charges that you receive a withhold adjudication on are eligible to be sealed, while charges that you are formally convicted of cannot be sealed. However, if you received a withhold adjudication from a number of years ago or the policy changes in the future, you still may be eligible.

You may, however, have been successful in getting the DUI charge reduced to a lesser charge, such as reckless driving, for example. If you received a withhold adjudication for a lesser charge, then you may be able to seal your record, assuming you meet all other eligibility requirements. Remember, in determining your eligibility to seal a record under Florida law, you must look at the ultimate charge that adjudication was withheld on, not the original arrest charge.

In addition, if your DUI charges were not prosecuted or dismissed by the State, or thrown out by the court, then you potentially could have that arrest expunged, again assuming you meet all other eligibility requirements. In Florida, acquittals are not eligible to be expunged or sealed. The idea is that the public need to access important public records such as jury trials outweighs any one individual’s interest in having his or her records sealed. Personally, I’m not too sure of that logic, but unfortunately it is what it is, as they say. You also cannot expunge any convictions in Florida (and this rule is equally applicable to DUI convictions).

Basically if you can answer “no” to the following questions and your charges were dropped or dismissed, or you received a withhold adjudication, you should be able to seal or expunge your DUI arrest:

1. Have you been convicted of crime in any state before?

2. Have you sealed or expunged a criminal record in any state before?

3. Are you currently under court supervision (probation etc)?

Record sealing and expungement law can be confusing, but most Florida attorneys that specialize in this area of the law and will offer free evaluations to help you determine your eligibility.

 

Originally published here.

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kphilippin

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