Henrico County Third Offense DUI Lawyer

If you have been charged with a DUI in Henrico County and you have two or more prior DUI or DWI convictions on your record, you are facing a felony offense. In these cases, it is extremely important to consult with a Henrico third DUI lawyer who has experience litigating DUIs and felony cases. Read below to learn more about your charges before calling an scheduling a consultation with a Henrico County DUI lawyer.

• How Third DUI Cases Are Treated

A third offense is much more difficult to defend than a first offense DUI. The judges and prosecutors simply will not consider most mitigating factors on a third offense. Judges and prosecutors view a 3rd offense as the time to send a severe message to the defendant and this message will typically involve a significant jail sentence.

The court and prosecutors will see it as a requirement of the state to enact a punishment. Punishment in these cases is usually lengthy jail sentences, high fines, and revocation of your privilege to drive. In order to defend these cases you must provide a solid legal defense and a significant mitigating factors to get a court or prosecutor to consider either reducing a charge or ultimately dismissing a charge. Contact a Henrico third DUI lawyer today to learn more.

When handling a DUI third offense, what a Henrico third DUI lawyer is trying to determine is if the state can prove the main factors of the case.

• Can the state establish probable cause for the stop?
• Can the officer determine when you are operating the vehicle?
• Can the officer demonstrate that in fact you were operating a vehicle on the roads in Henrico County?

Then we want to take a look at the officer’s procedures:

• Did the officers follow the right procedures in testing you?
• Did the officers follow the right procedures in questioning you?
• Did the officers follow the right procedures in arresting you?

Last but not the least is we want to review how the final tests were conducted:

• Was it a blood test or a breath test?
• Who conducted the tests?
• Were the tests accurate?
• Was the test taker licensed in certified to conduct this test?

Third offense DUI charges are heard in the general district and the circuit courts in Henrico County. This is in the Henrico County Court house at the Henrico Government Center, which is off East Pam Road. Third offense DUI is a felony charge so the preliminary hearing would be heard in general district court, which is on the first floor and the final trial either before a judge or a jury, would be heard on the second floor, which is a circuit court.

What you’re looking for in a third offense is you want an attorney that understands the legal arguments on a DUI case. DUIs are very difficult to challenge in the state of Virginia and the defenses that are raised can be very technical and require experience in the field and what defenses to raise.  It can be an asset to have a third DUI attorney in Henrico who knows how to handle these sorts of cases before and knows what issues to look for.

In addition to that, you may want an attorney with local experience that knows the prosecutors, knows what issues they’re looking for, and knows how to deal with each individual prosecutor.

You may also want an attorney that understands the judges in a certain jurisdiction. What issues would the judge latch on to, what mitigating factors if any would those judges consider? So having a Henrico third DUI lawyer that handled DUI cases is extremely important but having a local attorney is just as important.