Is There Any Advantage to Pleading Guilty to DUI?

It happens to people every day. You go to happy hour after work, go to that holiday party, or have a couple of beers out at the lake. Next thing you know you are driving home and there are those pesky flashing lights in your rear view mirror. A couple of questions and a couple of field tests later you’re taking a ride to the police station, blowing into a machine, and deciding if you need to talk to at DUI defense attorney.

After some time you are going to have a court date, going to be charged with DUI, and are going to have to figure out what to do? Do you fight the case? Do you plead guilty? Are there any advantages to pleading guilty to DUI? These are all important questions that you probably want to get some answers to.

The obvious place to find out this information would be a DUI lawyer. Not only can they answer all those questions, they can probably give you the best chance to get the best resolution possible.

But I talked to a DUI lawyer a while back and he told me this – at some point you are going to have to decide if you want to plead guilty or fight the case. At some point you’re going to have to either go forward or resolve the case. But why would you want to plead guilty? Doesn’t it seem like you should fight?

What I learned was there is one primary reason to plead guilty to DUI as opposed to fighting it – you know, for the most part, what your punishment is going to be. What I mean is, often if you fight you’ll explore some ways to get evidence suppressed and make your case better. If the case does get better, then your outcome can get better. But if it doesn’t get better and you lose then you could face increased penalties (more jail time, for example). Some people would rather take their lump, know what they are getting, and move on with their life.

The bottom line, though is this – if you get a DUI talk to a DUI lawyer before you do anything. They can have game changing effects on your case.