Egg Harbor City DUI Lawyer
Hire an Experienced Egg Harbor City DUI Lawyer to Fight for Your Future
Were you arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) in Egg Harbor City? If so, you need an experienced lawyer on your side. You are facing serious consequences both in and out of court, and if you don’t do everything you possibly can to protect yourself, you could face these consequences unnecessarily. An Egg Harbor City DUI lawyer at our firm can help, but it is important that you contact us right away.
Why? Because time is of the essence. Once you’ve been arrested for DUI in New Jersey, the clock starts ticking. If you miss a court date, you can face serious consequences both related and unrelated to your DUI. Your “failure to appear” can lead to a warrant for your arrest, and it can lead to penalties regardless of whether you are ultimately found guilty of DUI.
What an Egg Harbor City DUI Lawyer Can Do to Protect You
When you hire a DUI lawyer at our Egg Harbor City office, your lawyer will take several steps to help minimize the consequences of your drunk driving arrest—if not help you avoid consequences entirely. Some examples of these steps include:
Making Sure You Understand the Allegations Against You
First, your lawyer will make sure you understand the allegations against you. In many cases, drunk driving arrests will lead not only to a DUI charge but to other charges as well. To build an effective defense strategy, you need to know what it means if you are facing charges for:
- Driving under the influence (DUI)
- Implied consent violation
- Open container violation
- Any of a variety of traffic violations
- Causing an accident resulting in injury or death
Your lawyer can explain the charge (or charges) you are facing, what prosecutors need to prove, and what facts are (and aren’t) relevant to your case. Your lawyer can also explain the penalties you are facing as well as the collateral consequences you will face if you get convicted in court.
Determining What Defenses You Have Available
After examining the facts of your case, your Egg Harbor City DUI lawyer will be able to determine what defenses you have available. These may include defenses based on the facts of your case (i.e., you weren’t actually driving under the influence), defenses based on evidentiary issues (i.e., your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) reading is unreliable), and/or defenses based on your constitutional rights (i.e., the prosecution’s evidence is inadmissible due to an unconstitutional arrest).
Deciding How to Approach Your DUI Case
After determining what defenses you have available, your lawyer will be able to help you decide how to approach your case. Broadly speaking, there are three options:
- Seek to negotiate a plea bargain (which is an option in New Jersey DUI cases as of 2024)
- Seek to get your DUI (and any other charges) dismissed before trial
- Fight for a “Not guilty” verdict in court
What makes the most sense in your case will depend on the specific circumstances involved. It is critical that you make an informed decision, and once you decide, you will need to work closely with your Egg Harbor City DUI lawyer to target a favorable resolution.
Representing You in Plea Negotiations or in Court
Once you decide how you want to approach your DUI case, your lawyer will get to work fighting to protect you. If seeking a plea bargain makes sense based on the circumstances of your case, your lawyer will work to negotiate a deal that protects you against the life-altering consequences of a DUI conviction. If you decide to fight your case in court, your lawyer will rely on his or her skills and experience to seek a pre-trial dismissal or a favorable verdict at trial.
To be clear, seeking a plea bargain and going to court aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive. If the prosecutor’s office is unwilling to offer an acceptable deal, you can still take your case to court. Likewise, if you aren’t successful in getting your charge (or charges) dismissed during the pre-trial process, prosecutors may still be willing to negotiate a deal in order to avoid the inherent uncertainty of trial.
Is It Worth Hiring a DUI Lawyer If You Were Driving Drunk?
If you are like many people who are facing DUI charges in Egg Harbor City, you aren’t sure whether it is worth hiring a lawyer to represent you—especially if you acknowledge that you got caught driving drunk. So, is hiring a lawyer worth it, or are you just as well off trying to handle your situation on your own?
Regardless of the circumstances surrounding your arrest, it will be well worth speaking with an Egg Harbor City DUI lawyer about your case. In New Jersey, even a “standard” DUI involving a BAC of 0.08 to 0.10 percent can lead to:
- Thousands of dollars in fines and state-imposed surcharges
- Loss of your driver’s license
- Ignition interlock device installation (at your expense)
- Mandatory alcohol education (at your expense)
- Jail time (including up to 30 days for a first-time offense)
Your lawyer may be able to help you avoid many, if not all, of these consequences (though there are no guarantees). The same goes for the collateral costs of a DUI conviction, which may include losing your job and/or losing job opportunities in the future. Even if your best option is to negotiate a plea bargain, the costs you save by avoiding a DUI conviction will almost certainly far exceed the costs of your legal representation.
Schedule a Confidential Consultation with a DUI Lawyer at Our Egg Harbor City Office Today
If you are facing a DUI in Egg Harbor City and have questions about the defenses you have available or the costs of hiring a lawyer to represent you, we invite you to get in touch. To schedule a confidential consultation with an Egg Harbor City DUI lawyer at Helmer, Conley & Kasselman, P.A., call 877-435-6371 or get in touch online today.
