DUI/DWI

Naples, Florida, DWI/DUI Defense Attorney

DUI (also known as DWI) is a criminal offense that carries rather severe penalties in Florida. Those penalties may include jail time, fines, community service, loss of driver's license, vehicle impoundment, and mandatory alcohol treatment programs.

A DUI conviction also gives you a permanent criminal record that can affect your insurance rates and job prospects. If you are involved in an accident while intoxicated and the accident results in injury to another person or if you have children in the car or prior convictions, the charge can be enhanced and possibly be charged as a felony.

Why Not Just Plead Guilty If You Know You Were Driving Drunk?
Many people are hesitant to plead not-guilty in a DUI case because they think they would be lying to the judge.

A not-guilty plea is not the same as swearing that you were not driving drunk. A not-guilty plea is a demand that the prosecutor show his proof of the case against you beyond a reasonable doubt before taking away your freedom, your driving privileges, and your reputation.

Pleading not guilty can never be held against you, whereas a guilty plea can almost never be taken back. Whether you did something wrong and whether the state can prove it are two entirely different things.

I have been a criminal defense lawyer in Southwest Florida for more than a decade. If you have been arrested on a DUI charge, I offer a free initial consultation in order to offer you an honest, straightforward assessment of your case, your options, including constitutional defenses. It is possible that an illegal stop resulted in your arrest for drunk driving. If the police did not have probable cause to pull you over, I may be able to get the DUI charges dismissed based on law enforcement's illegal actions. I can also challenge the results of the Breathalyzer or field sobriety test.

As your lawyer, I won't know if the state can prove the DUI charges until I have a chance to look state's evidence against you. After I obtain the arrest report, the video, and other evidence, I will review it for possible weaknesses and missing links and discuss it with you. If you have defenses, we can force the state to prove its case in a trial. However, if we form the opinion that the state can prove its case, we can downshift to damage control and seek to minimize the charges and the sentence to the greatest extent possible.

Protect Your Florida Driver's License
You have only 10 days from the date of your arrest to challenge the administrative suspension of your driver's license by the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles. It is essential to act quickly to preserve legal rights and defend your driving privileges. If you do not request a DMV hearing within 10 days, your rights to a hearing as well as your ability to obtain a hardship license will be lost.

Free attorney consultation: If you are facing DWI/DUI charges, contact me, Collier County criminal defense attorney David T. Agoston. I have an office in Naples and a satellite office in Immokalee. Se habla español.