DWI Criminal Defense Attorney - Raleigh, North Carolina

If you find yourself arrested for Driving While Intoxicated, there can be long lasting repercussions, including jail time, loss of driving privileges, and monetary fines. To understand your options, it is crucial you talk to a DWI criminal defense lawyer in Raleigh, North Carolina.Finding an aggressive and experienced DWI attorney in Raleigh, North Carolina can help you understand your case, including any defenses you might take.

North Carolina General Statute - 20-138.1. Impaired driving.

• (a) Offense. - A person commits the offense of impaired driving if he drives any vehicle upon any highway, any street, or any public vehicular area within this State:
  • (1) While under the influence of an impairing substance; or
  • (2) After having consumed sufficient alcohol that he has, at any relevant time after the driving, an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more. The results of a chemical analysis shall be deemed sufficient evidence to prove a person's alcohol concentration; or
  • (3) With any amount of a Schedule I controlled substance, as listed in G.S. 90-89, or its metabolites in his blood or urine.
• (a1) A person who has submitted to a chemical analysis of a blood sample, pursuant to G.S. 20-139.1(d), may use the result in rebuttal as evidence that the person did not have, at a relevant time after driving, an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more.
• (b) Defense Precluded. - The fact that a person charged with violating this section is or has been legally entitled to use alcohol or a drug is not a defense to a charge under this section.
• (b1) Defense Allowed. - Nothing in this section shall preclude a person from asserting that a chemical analysis result is inadmissible pursuant to G.S. 20-139.1(b2).
• (c) Pleading. - In any prosecution for impaired driving, the pleading is sufficient if it states the time and place of the alleged offense in the usual form and charges that the defendant drove a vehicle on a highway or public vehicular area while subject to an impairing substance.
• (d) Sentencing Hearing and Punishment. - Impaired driving as defined in this section is a misdemeanor. Upon conviction of a defendant of impaired driving, the presiding judge shall hold a sentencing hearing and impose punishment in accordance with G.S. 20-179.
• (e) Exception. - Notwithstanding the definition of "vehicle" pursuant to G.S. 20-4.01(49), for purposes of this section the word "vehicle" does not include a horse. (1983, c. 435, s. 24; 1989, c. 711, s. 2; 1993, c. 285, s. 1; 2006-253, s. 9.)

Administrative Hearing

Pursuant to North Carolina law, an individual has 10 (ten) days to file for an administrative hearing from the North Carolina DMV. If you fail to file for a hearing within 10 (ten) days, your right to the hearing is lost, and your license is suspended for the statutory time frame applicable to your case. This is why timing is so important.

DWI Charges in Raleigh, North Carolina

According to the law in North Carolina, when you have been cited for violating the DWI statute, two simultaneous (yet separate) legal actions are taken against you. For one, an administrative action is brought against your driver's license (handled by the North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles.) Also, a criminal action is taken in response to the DWI.

While both actions can result in the suspension of driving privileges, it is necessary to remember that there may be additional penalties to consider and that each of these actions must be handled on their own.

First Time Offenders - DWI Penalties

This is what you can face with a first time DWI conviction in Raleigh, North Carolina.

• DWI Incarceration - A first time DWI offender in North Carolina faces jail time for a minimum of 24 hours up to a maximum of 2 years.
• DWI Fines and Fees - Fines for a first time DWI in Raleigh, North Carolina can range from $100 to $2,000.
• Driving Privileges in North Carolina - A DWI conviction results revocation of driving privileges for 1 year.
• Refusal of Chemical DWI Test - Refusing to submit to a test when requested by police officers in Raleigh will result in the immediate suspension of driving privileges for at least 30 (thirty) days, this is in addition to a minimum 12 (twelve) month revocation by the Department of Motor Vehicles in North Carolina. Depending on a lot of different factors, limited driving privileges may be allowed after six months.
• North Carolina DWI and Commercial Drivers (CDL) - Commercial drivers are in violation of the DWI statute with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.04. A first time DWI conviction will result in the loss of the commercial driver's license (CDL) for 1 (one) year, while any subsequent DWI offenses will result in a lifetime loss of the commercial license.

DWI Subsequent Offenses

DWI In North Carolina

The Booze It & Lose It campaign in North Carolina goes after drunk drivers with an extensive anti-DWI enforcement and education focus. Law officers use six mobile breath-alcohol testing units (better known as BATMobiles), to increase efficiency of on-site DWI processing throughout the state. Each BATMobile is equipped with workstations for Intoxilyzer 5000 breath test instruments, cellular telephones, computers, DWI checkpoint signs, traffic cones, traffic vests and everything else necessary for processing DWI suspects in Raleigh, NC.

Sobriety checkpoints are continually set up in all North Carolina counties as part of the state's highly effective anti-drunk driving campaign. From July 2006 to June 2007, there were almost 43,000 DWI convictions in in cities like Raleigh all over North Carolina. Current state laws require that DWI offenders obtain a substance abuse assessment and complete the recommended intervention, which is either education or treatment.