The Criminal Defense Law Center of
West Michigan

Should I Get A DUI Attorney?

Whether your a first time offender or a repeat, you should hire a DUI attorney

The short answer is yes! You need to hire the right DUI Attorney if you are arrested for drunk driving in Michigan. The trick is finding the right DUI attorney you who can get you good results without getting ripped off by a bad lawyer. It doesn’t matter if you are truly innocent, guilty or you think you can not afford to hire an attorney. You need to take the steps needed to hire the best criminal defense attorney you can to represent you.  If you are convicted of an OWI, you will be facing high fines, a huge increase in your car insurance rates, the potential loss of your job and maybe jail time.

Should I Get A DUI Lawyer For My First DUI?

If this is your first time getting in trouble with the law, you can expect to be in for an expensive and drawn out process.

Operating while intoxicated (OWI), also known as driving under the influence (DUI), convictions will have a serious impact on your ability to drive in Michigan. The right DUI attorney who can get you the best result possible and fight for your innocence if you did not drive under the influence.  

Attorney Shawn Haff of The Criminal Defense Law Center of West Michigan will not rest until you get the best outcome possible given the facts of your case. With his guidance, you put yourself in a good position to avoid jail, keep you license and your job.

If you blood-alcohol content (BAC) is above .08, you are guilty of drunk driving under the per se laws. You may not show any signs of being intoxicated. You may not be staggering while you walk. You can be speaking freely and without slurring your words. You can pass all the tests the officer asks you to do on the side of the road, but you can still be convicted under the per see legal concept.

Law enforcement officers use a data master test to determine if you are above a .08 BAC. However, these machines can produce flawed results. This is one example of why you need to hire the right dui attorney for your case! A good attorney can tell if a result is flawed!

Our office has people come inside all the time that assure us they did the roadside tests successfully. This is almost always at odds with what is written in the police report. A good criminal defense lawyer knows how to get video evidence to determine if you passed or failed the roadside tests. A good attorney worth his/her salt will also see if there is any audio evidence that can be gathered in your case. After a legal expert reviews your case, a person charged with a DUI will know if they have a valid defense against the charges or if you have your legal council attempt to get you the best plea bargain possible.

Getting Professional Legal Help For Your Drunk Driving Case

The right DUI attorney knows what kind of aggravating factors could be at play in your case. If you do not know these factors, you could end up hurting yourself and taking a more severe punishment for your OWI charge. Aggravating issues under Michigan drunk driving law include being a repeat offender, damage to property, any injuries that might have been suffered, was there a child in the care and how you treated the police. A good attorney like Shawn Haff will know how to mitigate these factors and a person who doesn’t have expert training will likely not be able to mitigate these aggravating factors.

If you are guilty of DUI, The Criminal Defense Law Center of West Michigan will be able to give you the guidance necessary to get the best results possible. We know the local judges and prosecutors. We know what they want to see before you are sentenced. Trust us! You want the judges to see all the favorable circumstances about you as a person and what steps you are taking to make sure this never happens again. If you do not take the proper steps to present yourself favorably before a judge sentences you, the chances of you going to jail and getting hit hard with fines, costs and probation goes up dramatically.

Other Circumstances Where You Should Hire An Attorney

If you are innocent, you should obviously hire an attorney. Being innocent doesn’t mean a tough local prosecutor isn’t going to try to get you to plea guilty anyways. For example, several years ago, we saw a case a teenager walked into court and the prosecutor admitted he couldn’t convict him of the charge. The prosecutor huffed and puffed and offered a plea deal. Thankfully, the falsely accused youth refused to take the plea deal. Instead of dismissing the charge right away, the prosecutor waited for a few weeks to make the kid worry about it for a while. Attorney Shawn Haff will be able to make sure all the evidence that shows you are innocent is able to be brought into trial in the proper way. A person with no legal training will not be able to do this.

The Right DUI Attorney Will Guide You Every Step Of The Way

We know that being arrested for a drunk driving charge can be an extreme shock! At one minute you were minding your own business and then suddenly you are in jail and your driver’s license has been take away from you! If you have been arrested for an OWI, society will stigmatize you. Society will believe you to be an irresponsible person. You will be looked at as a dangerous criminal.  We know these stereotypes are false. The people who defend against OWI charges are good people. Who may have made a poor choice. They are law-abiding citizens who support local police and who have never been in trouble before.

Besides the stigmatization you face from society, law enforcement officers will view you as a criminal. Prosecutors will look at you as a danger to society and local judges will be concerned about your behavior.

Our tough and experienced attorneys will take the time to get to know the real you. We will let our professional expertise guide you through the complicated judicial system. You will be treated with compassion and shown empathy during this difficult time.  We will build you a defense that will give you the best results possible. 

Call Shawn today at 616-438-6719! Let him give you a free case evaluation and ease your fears! Shawn and his team of lawyers are dedicated to helping people take control of their lives and win back their lives. We will strive to help you restore your life to the way it was before you were arrested for drunk driving. We believe that a Michigan DUI lawyer is also called a “counselor of law” for a reason.  As your counselor, we will carefully talk things over with you after you retain us. This will allow us to personalize your case and for us to make sure your specific fears and concerns are properly addressed. We will tell you what steps you need to take based on the prosecutor and judge you will be in front of. We will show you what you need to do in order to present your testimony in the most favorable way to the judge and prosecutor of your case.

This also helps us identify lifestyle patterns that may have led to the drunk driving arrest, as well as other needs, feelings and fears that the client may be experiencing. Our Michigan OWI lawyers do this because every case is unique, and we want to help guide our clients through this tumultuous and uncertain time.

What Makes Us Different

Because we treat our clients are a human being, and do not treat them as another case number, we seek to help the whole client, not just the symptom. We will talk to you about what has been going on in your life. We will get to the root cause of your drinking. Many times, we find the issue that is causing the drinking to be addition or the death of a family member. In these cases, our team of attorneys can give you extremely helpful guidance regarding treatment plans and the mental health experts around who can really help people out.

We will also determine what a successful outcome of your case looks like to you. As each case is unique, we will set goals to be achieved in your case and then go about the best way of achieving those goals.

As you can see, individuals who are arrested for DUI, DWI, OWI, or OUIL drunk driving charges must hire a great DUI attorney to fight for them in court. Given the penalties a person faces such as jail time and the loss of driving privileges, getting a lawyer to work on your case essential to your future wellbeing. Why would anyone risk having their constitutional rights violated because they didn’t have an attorney on their side who was willing to fight for them! Shawn and his team of attorneys have the skill, talent and experience you need to make sure no police officer, prosecutor or judge walks all over you!

The Criminal Defense Law Center of West Michigan has a proven track record of results! Shawn is a five-star rated criminal defense attorney with over 120 5-star reviews on AVVO and Google My Business. Can you really put your future at risk with anyone else? Can you really trust that big, fancy, local law firm that charges you and arm and a leg and then has you enter a guilty plea as quickly as possible? The goal of Shawn and his attorneys is getting his clients the best results possible and to get you back on the road as quickly as possible if you have been charged with a DUI.  Call the right DUI attorney Shawn Haff now at 616-438-6719! Or visit his webpage here.

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