There are laws and regulations covering
DUI or driving under the influence or DWI or driving while intoxicated. These
laws enforce legal penalties for individuals who are arrested while driving
since their blood alcohol level exceeded the legally allowed upper limit of
0.08 percent. The penalties include monetary fines, prison time, as well as
temporary suspension of driver’s licenses and they will need a drunk driving
accident lawyer for every situation.
Furthermore, such legal penalties can be
harsher if the drunk driving resulted in a serious bodily injury to other
individual/s. In several states, the offense will be charged with a felony,
which is a serious criminal charge with more serious outcomes such as extended
sentences in a state prison facility and cessation of all driving privileges.
What
is “Serious Bodily Injury”?
The definition of SBI or serious bodily
can vary from one state to another. Some states may term the offense SBH or
“serious bodily harm”. States like California use the term “great bodily
injury”, an essentially higher degree of injury than SBI.
SBI
consists of the following:
- Unconsciousness
- Severe physical pain
- Protracted or permanent of a bodily organ
- Injuries entailing considerable risk of death, like profuse bleeding
- Protracted or obvious disfigurement, such as burn wounds, that lasts over a time
- Loss of one’s mental faculties
These are big cases. These are the cases
that reach the 5 o’clock news and maybe even get some ink in the newspaper.
Certainly drunk driving accident attorneys are involved and there is some
scrutiny by the legal community, the courts, media, and family members on both
sides. No one wants to get anything wrong and justice should be served but no
one wants an innocent person convicted and no one should want someone who is
guilty to being hit up with unfounded charges either.
Consequences
of DUI-SBI
DUI cases involving serious bodily
injury are usually filed under “felony drunk driving charges” where
felonies entail harsher legal consequences as compared to misdemeanor charges.
Apart from the consequences mentioned above, felony charges can inflict
additional penalties on the defendant such as attending compulsory alcohol
rehabilitation courses,; permanent charges on the person’s record, loss of
civic privileges, and mandatory counseling, to name a few.
Defenses
to Drunk Driving Charges
As with other DUIs, there are defenses
that might be available even in accidents where serious bodily injury has occurred.
However, defenses can relieve the defendant of guilt only partially while some
defenses merely reduce the charges. No matter what your drunk driving accident
lawyer will do their best.
Some drunk driving defenses include:
- Inappropriate DUI testing, like a failed breathalyzer examination
- Unlawful traffic stop/arrest
- Inadequate proof for the arrest
Any person facing DUI charges has the
right to seek legal representation. Under the circumstances, is always wise to
contact a lawyer to help you with the case, particularly when the DUI charges
entail a claim of serious bodily injury. If another individual’s drunk driving
caused you severe bodily injury, a drunk driving accident lawyer can certainly
assist you in recovering your losses.
Being
Charged with Drunk Driving
Your world may be crashing down all over
you but there is hope. You need to go to this site http://drunk-driving-accident.usattorneys.com/
and hire yourself a drunk driving lawyer. They do not come cheap but how
important is you seeing your family, not spending that much time in prison, not
having charges stick with you that should not even have been written down in
the first place, and so on? You may be in a dark place but without the right
legal help you may be in a dark place for even longer.
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