Unfortunately, far too many of my clients come to me from other lawyers. In fact, there is a higher percentage of disciplinary actions against criminal defense lawyers than any other field of law. Negligent or substandard lawyers come in all packages, from the gleaming high rise office building, to the lawyer scouring arrest reports who is more talented in firing off solicitation letters than providing a skilled legal defense. When assessing a defense attorney, too many people are manipulated by focusing on the wrong priorities as to the competency of a given attorney entrusted to protect them from criminal punishment. What follows is inside real world information to protect yourself or someone you care for from being fooled that you are in good hands:

1.) The Best DUI Lawyers in Indiana Respond to a Client’s Needs Quickly.  However, A Tell Tale Sign Of Trouble Could Be If Your Attorney Is ALWAYS Available To Take Your Call

Yes, you read that correctly. A top defense lawyer in Indiana is not a customer service representative. Secretaries, paralegals and associate lawyers are employed by the best working lawyers to attend to client needs and inquiries while the defense lawyer is at the office: namely the criminal courts of Indiana. Most people are surprised to discover that most attorneys rarely, if ever, have set foot within the confines of a courtoom, much less a criminal courtroom. Unlike other fields of law be it tax law, contract law or even personal injury law where attorneys spend most working hours within individual or law firm offices, the daily work of a top defense attorney is, and should always be on behalf of clients within criminal courtrooms, police stations and/or prosecutor’s offices throughout the state of Indiana.

When not in court, our clients are owed the most vigorous defense a lawyer can provide. The best Indiana owi attorneys are in the field investigating the facts of a prosecution, uncovering potential defenses and/or personally challenging a case in person before a specific prosecutor. While there is a time and place for office work, the most effective criminal defense lawyers are not confined to a desk and do not use a telephone or email as a substitute for the necessary interpersonal communication required when mounting the most effective legal defense. If your attorney is always available to take your call either 1.) The attorney does not have a sufficient amount of cases requiring attention whatever the field of law 2.) the attorney does not handle a sufficient amount of criminal cases requiring his or her appearance in court, 3.) the attorney is pre occupied with matters unrelated to criminal defense work such as compiling client billing statements or a pre occupation with fantasy football, (yes, that is a true case).

As a result, it is an attorneys’s response time in responding to a client’s needs or questions that is what is most important, not whether the attorney is always available to take your call. Those who know me will tell you that over 60 percent of the time I am reached by phone it is in my car on my way to a court or law enforcement office throughout the state. With that being said returning calls promptly and answering questions completely in straight language a client can understand is one of the most important traits of the best criminal defense attorneys in Indiana.

While it may be pleasant for you to visit an attorney’s plush corner office high above the city, it will be most unpleasant to learn that the monies that you have paid for the upkeep of that office have not been directed toward your legal defense but to the bills required to keep up appearances. Don’t get me wrong, while many people including myself enjoy nice offices, do not allow luxury accomodations alone to convince you that you have secured a high end legal defense. Do not hire a law firm for a criminal defense; hire an attorney.  I have been told time and time again that one believed that the attorney assigned to them from such a firm was capable in that they always took their call and had an office view that indicated that they must be important within the large law firm. The changed reality usually occurs once it dawns upon them that the results that they had expected from this influential law firm have not been forthcoming. However, the billings continue from the same attorney who may have been inexperienced in criminal defense but was always available to bill for every call.

2.) I’m Not Concerned With Where You Practice Law, But What Kind Of Law Do You Practice?

This my friends is the key question that can help ween out most all lawyers you may be considering when selecting the best attorney for your legal protection. Indiana drunk driving defense law is a legal specialty. Not unlike hiring your family doctor to perform heart surgery, you should not retain a general practice attorney around the corner to provide a criminal defense in a court of law.  The best drunk driving attorneys in Indiana almost always practice excusively in this area. Most are requested to practice throughout the State of Indiana and are not limited to one geographic area. A key question to ask the attorney is how many counties throughout the state has he or she defended clients in? Such a response will not only indicate the attorney’s reputation and experience, but will provide a true indicator of his or her legal specialty. If the attorney has not practiced criminal defense within the majority of counties in Indiana, the attorney is more likely a local attorney who perhaps practices criminal law on the side as one component of a non specialized general law practice.

3.) Who is Really Representing Me?

A continued issue that has lead many to seek my help is the reality that the attorney a person has retained to represent them is not really representing them at all. Far too frequently in a sluggish economy, experienced paralegals are being employed to handle the brunt of criminal casework, while it is often a young underpaid lawyer fresh out of law school who actually appears in court on behalf of a client; a client who has never so much as spoken to this lawyer. Prior to the retention of a criminal defense attorney in Indiana it is critical that you get assurance that the attorney you have retained is the actual defense attorney who will be representing you. Further, it is important to gain an understanding as to how you will be billed for services; whether by an hourly rate or flat fee. Too often one is billed at the hourly rate of the experienced defense lawyer when it is a paralegal performing the work.

4.) There is a difference between a courtoom lawyer and a trial lawyer

You may find many lawyers who have been in a criminal courtroom, what you don’t see is many lawyers who have been in trial. One appearing for a criminal case might find a variety of attorneys appearing within a courtroom. The prosecutors within these courts know the attorneys before them. Just who are these lawyers you see? Most are public defenders either learning the field of criminal defense or those not capable of earning a living in private practice. Others are more concerned with collecting fees from clients they have solicited by mail than the investigation of their case.

Prosecutors know which lawyers have solicited clients and those that have the experience, knowledge and skill level to hold them accountable for a proposal that is wholly unreasonable and detrimental to a represented client. Veteran prosecutors and experienced defense attorneys both know one fundemental truth about most lawyers who appear in court but do not try cases; the lawyer with the biggest phone book ad or first to send you a mailed solicitation is probably more concerned with getting clients than defending cases.

Most importantly, these prosecutors know the reputation of the defense attorney before them and know which ones actually go to trial and which ones plead out every case. This is significant, for it is the threat of trial that is always the most powerful weapon in a top defense attorney’s arsenal.  Without that known and recognized ability to take cases successfully to trial, the defense attorney retained is weak before the eyes of a prosecutor. A prosecutor employed to maximize a criminal penalty to the greatest extent possible where they see fit.

gstark | Copyright www.indiana-dui-laws.com | An Insider’s Guide To Find The Best DUI OWI Lawyers In Indiana

INDIANA DUI LICENSE SUSPENSIONS

One of the most frustrating aspects of Indiana DUI procedure for most people revolves around the complicated issues related to the suspension of one’s license. Most people conditioned with the concept of “innocent until proven guilty,” often have a hard time accepting the fact that their license can be suspended in Indiana following a dui arrest despite the fact that they have not been found guilty. This issue is not limited to Indiana dui procedure, as most states have various forms of license suspensions before a finding of guilt has been established.

When discussing an Indiana DUI or OWI one must be aware that there are two seperate forms of drivers license suspensions following an Indiana dui or owi arrest; 1.) an “Administative” License Suspension and  2.) a  Court Ordered License Suspension. A fundemental understanding of the differences between the two forms of suspensions can go a long way toward explaining how and why a license can be suspended for different periods and at different times. Whether not versed in the law or an attorney not experienced in Indiana DUI OWI procedure, failure to understand the potential seperate suspension possibilites can often lead to crippling consequences for one not advised properly.

An Administrative License Suspension is imposed not by the criminal court where the case will be heard, but by the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV). What makes the situation all the more confusing is that although it is the bureau suspending the license, it is usually the court who instructs of the suspension at one’s Initial Hearing in court. This quite reasonably makes the individual accused of an Indiana DUI believe that somehow the criminal court is handing down a punishment against them after a not guilty plea has been entered for them at such a hearing on the Defendant’s behalf.

What actually is taking place within the Initial Hearing of a DUI case in Indiana is that the court is pronouncing a finding of “Probable Cause” to determine that the Defendant “More likely than not” failed the certified breath test offered to the Defendant when registering at or above .08 BAC. In accordance with most Bureau or Department of Motor Vehicle Administrative rules throughout the nation, an alleged failure to test below the national legal limit of .08 BAC will result in an automatic drivers license suspension. In the State of Indiana this administrative license suspension is for a period of one hundred eighty (180) days or until the criminal case is resolved, and is most often served while the dui or owi charges are pending in Indiana.

For example, in Indiana, the minimum license suspension for a first offense dui or if a prior offense was over ten years old is 90 days to a maximun suspension of two years for multiple offenders. Let’s say probable cause that one tested at or above .08 was determined at an Initial Hearing,  January 1. On or about January 10 let’s presume notice by mail is received informing of a one hundred eighty day license suspension that took effect on the date probable cause was established at the Initial Hearing. Basically, this means that if a ninety day suspension is imposed following a first offense conviction, the one hundred eighty day administrative suspension would be cut short, with the ninety day suspension “retroactively” begun on January 1.  If the case were to be resolved on March 1, in effect 60 days of the 90 day suspension would already be served.

However, it is always so important to keep in mind that despite a court order as to the reinstatement eligibility for a license, a driver’s license will not be re issued until the court order has been received and processed by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles  (sometimes up to two weeks or more from the date the order is issued)  and that proper “sr-22″ (high risk) insurance has been obtained and received by the bureau.

Several years back in order for all individual states to secure needed federal funding for transportation and infrastructure projects within their respective states, all states wanting federal funds were ordered by the federal government to lower the legal limit for alcohol intoxication to .08 BAC or lose such relied upon tax dollars. In short order all states eventually fell into line in adapting a uniform national standard of .08 BAC as the legal threshold to determine a “presumption” that someone had operated a motor vehicle while in a state of intoxication.

While this presumption is not enough as a matter of law to find someone guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt” to sustain a criminal conviction for dui or owi in Indiana, this presumption is enough to suspend a driver’s license in Indiana until such time as guilt or innocence is established in a court of law within a window of one hundred eighty (180) days. The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles like most state license departments is considered an “administrative” agency of the state. Thus, the term “administrative” license suspension. What is happening at the Initial Hearing if listening closely is that the judge is finding probable cause to determine the failure of a certified breath test, such that a court finding is sent to the Indiana BMV in order to “recommend” the administrative suspension to be imposed by the Indiana BMV from that time forward.

In Indiana, as in states throughout the nation, one is in effect agreeing that in return for the “privlige” (not the right) to operate a motor vehicle in the state of Indiana, a driver will submit to a breath test for intoxication if asked by a law enforcement officer. Refusal to submit to such a test will result in a mandatory administrative license suspension from 1-2 years depending upon the criminal history of the defendant and on top of whatever court ordered license suspension is imposed should a defendant be found guilty. Even if found not guilty, the mere failure to submit to a breath test will result in the 1-2 year administrative suspension if probable cause is established “by a preponderance of evidence” that the defendant refused to take the breath test. Again, this is possible due to the fact that a refusal suspension is an administrative suspension and not court ordered. Although the judge would be the trier of fact as to whether a defendant refused the breath test, it is the bmv who carries out this additional license supension. In the same manner that an administrative license suspension for refusal can be imposed seperate and above the court ordered ability to suspend a drivers license for up to two years, the bureau will suspend the drivers license for one hundred eighty days until further notice of the court merely for testing at or above a BAC of .08 before guilt has been established for the dui charged.

The issue of when the actual drivers license suspension for a dui in Indiana goes into effect has often been yet another contentious issue for both defendants, lawyers and judges alike throughout Indiana. Technically, since the administrative license suspension is just that, many lawyers have taken the position that unless and until the bureau has heeded the court’s recommendation to suspend an Indiana drivers license based upon an alleged failed breath test, an individual can operate a vehicle legally until such time as notice has been received by the Defendant by way of mail. However, this advice is risky and all too often puts the client in legal jeopardy should he or she be stopped driving upon such a recommendation.

This risk exists based upon the fact that many Indiana DUI  judges take the position that despite the Indiana BMV’s ultimate authority to issue an administrative license suspension while a case is pending, the dui court’s ability to order credit for any time served toward any court license suspension upon a later finding of guilt is premised upon the Defendant not driving a motor vehicle from the time that probable cause for the failure of the BAC test has been established. Further, one must always recognize that the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles, not unlike other government agencies, is a huge bueracracy. It is not uncommon for bureau employees to process an order of suspension of one’s driver’s license only to send the individual notice by mail at a time of their convenience. Any overlap between the time that the bureau processes an order of suspension and the time within which the person actually receives notice by mail of the administrative suspension from the bureau can be fraught with danger for a person improperly advised that they can drive unless and until the notice has been received.

All too often a dui lawyer in Indiana must fulfill his or her legal obligation to instruct a client following probable cause being established that they are not to be driving a motor vehicle until further notice. Quite expectedly, such an individual has a reasonable belief that he or she will be entitled to credit time for this suspension being served during the case proceedings. While in most cases this is so, it has not been uncommon for an attorney to have to conduct a hearing before a sentencing judge to order credit from the Initial Hearing forward where for whatever reason the Indiana BMV had not, in fact, ever suspended the drivers license.  In such troubling circumstances even where a judge will order “retroactive” (dated back to a finding of probable cause) credit toward the court ordered suspension, it will be the Indiana BMV who can sometimes impose a power play as to whether they will in fact grant the judge’s order for retroactive credit where the Bureau never actually suspended the driver’s license.

gstark | Copyright www.indiana-dui-laws.com | Indiana DUI License Suspensions

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