Knoxville, TN First Offense DUI Lawyer

Attorney Protecting Clients Facing Their First DUI Charge in Knoxville, TN

Getting arrested for DUI can be an unsettling experience. Especially if you have never been in trouble with the law before, spending the night in jail while sobering up can be enough to scare anyone. Most people who get arrested for drunk driving are not exactly involved in a criminal lifestyle. They are normal people with normal jobs and normal families who might be struggling with alcoholism or might have just made a bad decision one night on the way home from seeing friends.

The Baker Law Firm is here to help if you are facing your first DUI charge. Attorney Lance K. Baker understands the stress you are under right now. While the situation may feel extremely serious, know that a first DUI is nearly always a misdemeanor and there is a lot an attorney can do to protect you. We can provide you with representation to help you avoid jail time and obtain a provisional driver's license so you can get to essential places like work, school, or the grocery store.

What Are the Potential Consequences for a First DUI Charge?

If there were no aggravating circumstances - which is likely if you did not injure anyone and just got pulled over because an officer saw you swerving - you may face a misdemeanor DUI charge. Misdemeanor offenses cannot get you sent to jail for more than a year, although that type of sentence is all but unheard of.

There is a mandatory minimum of 48 hours in jail, but the time you spent in jail after getting arrested counts towards that. If you were arrested on a Friday night and could not see a judge until Monday, you are probably done with jail time as long as you follow your lawyer's advice.

You could also be fined between $350 and $1,500 and ordered to complete community service. A substance abuse assessment and treatment might be ordered, and you might need to attend DUI school to help you avoid a repeat DUI.

Perhaps the most inconvenient issue is that your license will be suspended for a year, although you may qualify for a restricted license. A restricted license allows you to drive for essential reasons, like getting to your college classes or picking up your children from school. Our law firm can help you work towards getting a restricted license quickly.

Defenses to DUI

When it is your first DUI, you might have the benefit of the doubt to a greater degree than a repeat offender. Two of the most common ways we defend DUI cases are by challenging field sobriety test results and blood or breath tests.

Field sobriety tests are rather unscientific. To be completely fair, these tests would have to take place indoors in a controlled environment with level floors, and everyone would have to be wearing the same kind of shoes. Medical conditions would also have to be accounted for. Instead, these tests take place wherever you happen to have been pulled over, in whatever weather conditions you were driving in, in whatever shoes you were wearing. There are no accommodations for suspects with medical conditions, like arthritic knees or neurological disorders.

Blood and breath tests are a bit more scientific, but they are not perfect or unimpeachable by any means. An officer who is trained on the proper use of equipment - and takes care to follow the precise testing procedures - is not always available, meaning that these tests are not always reliable. Simple errors like using a machine that has not been calibrated in a while can destroy the validity of chemical tests. As a result, Attorney Baker is often able to have this type of evidence excluded from court.

Contact a Knoxville, TN First Offense DUI Lawyer

The Baker Law Firm represents people who are facing their first DUI charge. If you have been arrested for DUI for the first time, contact us at 865-200-4117 for a complimentary consultation.