If you have received your third Virginia DUI, then probably you might be facing some severe penalties in the future including driving license revocation, fines, and jail time. For saving yourself from DUI charge in Virginia, it is advised to consult an experienced DUI defense attorney in Virginia.
Hire your defense attorney and tell him about your past record in which mention him when your Virginia DUI offenses took place. Because you jail time penalty depends upon the time frame of your DUI offenses and its severity.
Here are some conditions:
If you have been committed your third DUI offense in Virginia within 5 years, then the penalties include:
- A class 6 felony, which considered as the imprisonment of 1 to 5 years approximately.
- A minimum of 6 months jail is mandatory
- A minimum fine of $1000 is mandatory
- Revocation of driving license
If you have been committed your third DUI offense in Virginia between 5 to 10 years period, then the penalties will be:
- A class 6 felony, which considered as the imprisonment of 1 to 5 years approximately.
- A minimum of 90 days jail is mandatory
- A minimum fine of $1000 is mandatory
- Revocation of driving license
A class 6 felony will cost you a permanent criminal record. This will affect your future job opportunities as well. Your criminal record will also prevent you from owning a house or renting an apartment in Virginia. However, you can avoid these penalties only if you choose to save yourself and fight against the DUI charges in the court. Your DUI attorney can help you find out what possible outcomes could work in your case.
Virginia is known for the fastest moving cases through the system than any other. In the situation where defending a criminal charge is very critical, you have to make a decision of who will be your lawyer which is the most significant decision of your life.
From the time when you have been charged for DUI, your clock begins to tick.
- If you want to get your license back from the authorities, then you have only 5 days to hire any DUI defense attorney.
- Your case trial date will be less than 2 months from the date of your violation. So waiting for 14 days to just hire a lawyer could hardly matter in defending your case.
Some of the questions which you should ask your DUI defense attorney before hiring him or her for your case.
- What is your experience in this type of cases?
- What is your success rate for DUI cases?
- Who is going to be my lawyer?
- Do you come to court personally or will send any other lawyer for this purpose?
- What is your qualification?
- Are you AV rated or not? AV= maximum rating possible for Legal Ability and Ethics
- Are you a former prosecutor?
- If yes, then where did you prosecute?