A DWI, DUI, or DUII as it is known in Oregon, is a Class A Misdemeanor crime, the highest level of crime before the act becomes a felony. A person may be found guilty of this crime if it is proven that, on a particular date and time in a particular place, they drove a motor vehicle (which includes boats and bikes, at the moment) on a public road or premise open to the public while either their blood alcohol level was .08 or higher or where they are impaired to a noticeable or perceptible degree.

The very first thing you should do is fax a request for an administrative hearing to the DMV. You only have 10 days following arrest to request a hearing. These hearings are free and, through them, you may be able to avoid losing your license. If, however, you do not request the hearing within 10 days, then you are out of luck, there is no way to get that hearing later. So, first thing, fax the DMV at 503/945-5521 and request a hearing. Second thing you need to do is start meeting with attorneys. Find one you trust, one you feel will fight for your rights, for your case, hire that attorney and let them get started. Every step of the process is critical and you don’t want to begin on the wrong foot. Let an experienced Portland DUI attorney do the heavy lifting and start guiding you from day one.

You’ve just been cited and what this means is, right now, you haven’t been charged with a crime. At your first court appearance you will find out if you have been charged with a crime or not. If you have, the best case scenario is a $1000.00 fine, 1 year Oregon Driver’s License Suspension, a Victim’s Impact Panel, bench probation and 48 hours in jail, though there are some counties that allow 80 hours of community service in lieu of jail. The worst case scenario if your DUII is charged as a misdemeanor is $6250.00 in fines, a Victim’s Impact Panel, alcohol and/or drug treatment, a 3 year ODL Suspension and 1 year in jail. If your DUII is charged as a felony, then the ODL Suspension may be for life, the fine may be $125,000.00 and the incarceration may be for up to 5 years of prison. That is a big difference and all part of why you should not go it alone- the risks are high.

There are two people who may suspend your license for your DUII: the court and the DMV. The court will only suspend you when and if you are convicted. The DMV doesn’t care if you ever charged; they want to suspend you for either failing the breath test or refusing to take it altogether. What this means is that there may be two different driver’s license suspensions coming your way. If your license is suspended by the DMV for failing a breath test, the length will be 90 days, unless you have had a prior diversion or DUII within the preceding 5 years, in which case the length will be 1 year. If you decline to take the breath test, your suspension will be for 1 year, unless you have had a prior diversion or DUII within the preceding 5 years, in which case the length will be 3 years.

A hardship permit is a provisional driver’s license that allows you to drive despite your license being presently suspended. It allows you to drive, but only on certain routes, during certain times and for certain purposes, the most common of which is traveling to work and back. Getting a hardship permit requires a $125.00 fee, an SR-22, a letter of verification from wherever you need to drive to, occasionally a signature of a judge and an application packet, which you can get from the DMV. Often there are waiting periods that may preclude you from getting the hardship permit until the waiting period is over. Attorneys that handle traffic crimes on a regular basis, such as our office, can easily assist you with this process.

In Oregon, there really is not a ‘legal limit,’ though that expression is used all the time. What I mean is this. You can be guilty of DUII or DUI if you blow a .08 or higher, but if you provide a blood alcohol content lower than this you may still be found guilty of the crime. In other words, part of the law concerns .08 or higher, but the law doesn’t say a sample below this means you are not guilty. I have handled many cases where people blew below the ‘legal limit,’ but were still charged with the crime, including cases where the person blew a .00.

When I first started into the practice of law a wise, seasoned attorney said the best legal answer you can ever give is “it depends.” Well, that is certainly the answer to this question. It depends. It depends on your body size, aspects of your blood, your metabolism, your liver and kidneys and it depends on how long you drank what you drank and how long ago you did so. In short, it depends. I once, while working at the DA’s Office, participated in training at the State Police Academy. They gave people alcohol and tested reactions, blood alcohol levels, blood pressure and so on. A colleague got well over .08 in no time after only a couple drinks, while they seemed almost unable to get me over .08, no matter how many drinks they gave me. Is it because I can “take my liquor?” No, it has to do with many aspects of my external and internal anatomy, how the drinks were consumed and many other things that are hard to explain. Why did it take so few for my colleague and so many for me? It depends.

Blood alcohol levels are tested in several ways, but the most common is a breath test. In addition to this, it can be tested by urine, blood or hair. The reliability of these tests changes with the type of test, with the blood and hair tests being, arguably, the most reliable. While all four types of tests are generally reliable, there are constantly challenges levied against them. They are constantly scrutinized and there are experts who have dedicated their lives to the study of blood alcohol levels and the reliability of machines in determining such. For this reason, of course, the results can always be contested and, often, should be.

Since Oregon law does not require a person be over .08 or any other particular blood alcohol level and does require that a person be under arrest before being asked to provide any sort of breath, blood or urine sample, officers will often rely on field tests of sobriety to make an arrest decision and as evidence against you later at a trial. While there are numerous field tests approved for use, Oregon police typically rely on three: the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus test, the Walk and Turn Test and the One Legged Stand. In the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN) test, an officer will hold a stimulus (usually a pen) a foot from your face, ask you not to move your head and make a slow sign of a cross in front of you, asking you to follow the stimulus with your eyes only. In this test, they are looking for an involuntary twitch that may be a sign of alcohol consumption. The Walk and Turn involves you walking a straight line, heal-to-toe, taking nine steps out and nine steps back. There are various instructions, such as not raising your arms or stepping out of line and it is counted against you if you do any of the things they tell you not to do. In the One Legged Stand, you will be asked to stand on one leg, with the other raised a few inches off the ground with your knee locked. They will have you maintain this position for about a minute and count various things against you, if you were to do certain things, like dropping your leg.

Yes, every state has it’s own unique set of criminal laws, but Oregon’s is especially unique in one way in particular: it’s law is very broad on DUII. While most states have a clear, over the legal limit or under, law, in Oregon the DUII law is much broader. You can blow a .00 and still be found guilty. All the police have to allege and the state to prove is that you were noticeably intoxicated, doesn’t sound very hard, does it? This is why, in Oregon, more than anywhere, it’s important to have the assistance of experienced counsel, someone who is very familiar, not just with the applicable law, but with how the police and the state tends to attempt to prove their cases.

If you are eligible for and successfully complete a diversion program, there will be no conviction on your criminal record. Your record will show an arrest and the dismissal of the case. If, however, diversion is not an option and you are ultimately convicted, then, yes, either a misdemeanor or felony conviction will be on your criminal record.

If this is your first DUI or DUII, then you may be eligible for Oregon’s deferred adjudication program known as diversion. Diversion is available to first timers who also meet other criteria. If you enter the diversion program and successfully complete it, the case against you will be dismissed. You will need to consult a knowledgeable attorney who can quickly determine if you are eligible so you can be certain to capitalize on this opportunity, if you so chose. If it is your first, but you are not eligible for diversion, your need for an attorney is all the greater. This means you will only have the option of pleading to the charges, attempting to get the charges dismissed or taking the matter to trial. We handle these cases everyday and would be more than happy to guide you through the process.

If this is not your first DUI or DUII you may still be eligible for diversion if your prior DUII is more than 15 years ago. If, however, you are not eligible for diversion, you will only have the option of pleading to the charges, attempting to get the charges dismissed or taking the matter to trial. We handle these cases everyday and would be more than happy to guide you through.

Of course! There is no case that cannot be won. The penalties for a DUI or DUII conviction are severe, including a minimum of jail time and hefty fines. Above this, it will mean the suspension of your license for at least a year and cannot be removed from you record, ever. This means you simply must have the assistance of suitable counsel. We practice criminal defense focused all but entirely on DUII cases. Don’t go it alone, let our office guide you through.

Yes, diversion can lead to a dismissal of the charges against you and if you are successful in diversion, it is all but guaranteed. Diversion works like this. First, you will plead guilty to the charge, but then that guilty plea gets put on a shelf and, if you’re successful, will never be entered against you. You then will meet with an evaluator. That evaluator will have a long conversation with you, likely have you fill out a questionnaire and then do a thorough check into both your background and the facts of the charges against you. Based on all this, he or she will give you a list of things you must get done within 12 months in order to successfully complete diversion. Were you to hire our office to assist you with diversion, our job would be to make sure you get into diversion properly and to make sure you successfully complete every last aspect of your diversion obligations.

Most people are eligible for the diversion program if they meet the following criteria: you have not had a conviction for DUI or DUII in the last 15 years, you have not participated in a diversion program in the past 15 years, you have not participated in court-ordered treatment in the past 15 years, none of the passengers in the vehicle were under the age of 18, you do not have a commercial or Class C driver’s license, on the night in question you were not driving a commercial vehicle, there was not an injury-causing accident and you have not previously been convicted of a murder or manslaughter crime involving a vehicle.

Yes, you can fail diversion in two ways: by doing something during the 12-month period that you were ordered not to do or by the 12-month period ending with you having not done something you were required to do. The former usually comes in the form of being found to be driving while suspended or being found to have been drinking. The latter usually comes in the form of missed payments or skipped classes. If you fail diversion or get revoked out early, you will head to a diversion revocation hearing. If the court decides to revoke you, you will be convicted of the crime and proceed straight to sentencing and the punishment for your conviction will be up to the judge. This is all part of why having experienced counsel to assist you through all levels of the diversion process is so important

This is not a question I can answer without meeting with you, discussing the facts of your case and/or reviewing the evidence against you. What I can tell you that the penalties for a DUI or DUII conviction are severe, including a minimum of jail time and hefty fines. Above this, it will mean the suspension of your license for at least a year and cannot be removed from you record- ever. This means you simply must have the assistance of suitable counsel. We practice criminal defense focused all but entirely on DUII cases. Don’t go it alone, let our office guide you.

The public defense system in Oregon is great and many of the attorneys who work in public defense are the best around. The problem with the system, however, is that the attorney is chosen for you and you do not get to ask for another once one is assigned to you. This means you may get one of the best, or you may get someone who doesn’t seem to have your best interests at heart. The penalties for a DUII conviction are great, and I wouldn’t want to leave my fate up to a grab-bag approach to finding an attorney. The benefit of using me is that you get to meet me, look into my background and history and deliberately chose me as your counsel. In other words, you know that, by hiring me, you will be getting someone who isn’t overburdened by an unreasonable caseload and who is guaranteed to have only your best interest at heart.

We charge a flat rate that covers all services related to the service purchased. This way you know exactly what you are getting and the sum total of all it will cost you. Call my office today to let me know what specifically you are in need of and we can let you know the price that corresponds to that service.

The majority of the time, a DUII is a misdemeanor. However, thanks to Ballot Measure 73, if this is your third conviction in 10 years, then it is a Class C Felony.

Unfortunately no criminal conviction that stems from the traffic code, which a DUII does, is eligible for expunction ever. Unless the law is changed, a DUII conviction cannot come off your record unless you petition the governor to grant you an individual pardon of your crime. While this is very unlikely, it is certainly possible and our office would be more than happy to discuss this option with you. Call us today.