Yes, it’s possible to represent yourself in your driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol (DUI) case. You can post bail, plead guilty, or make a plea deal without a lawyer. If you're lucky, you might achieve the same results as an attorney. However, that's probably a best-case scenario. Here are five things to consider before handling your own DUI.
A BAC Above .08% Doesn’t Always Mean You’re Guilty
It can be tempting to plead guilty to a DUI charge to avoid the stress and costs of going to trial. It might even seem obvious to you that you’ll be found guilty because you were drinking and had a blood alcohol content (BAC) above the legal limit.
However, a BAC of .08% or more doesn’t guarantee a conviction. Before you plead guilty, you should learn about the DUI penalties and fines in your state to make an informed decision.
Even if you’re sure you should plead guilty, it’s always possible that a DUI attorney might offer advice or strategies that could decrease the severity of your sentence. If you had a high BAC, there's generally more at stake—such as heavy fines, lengthy jail sentences, and long license suspensions—so the assistance of an attorney might be critical.
Keep in mind that if your BAC was between .08% and .10%, a conviction is less of a certainty. In that case, a DUI attorney may be able to use your low BAC to achieve a better plea bargain for you. If your case goes to trial, a lawyer might have tactics to successfully challenge the accuracy of the breath or blood test and get a not guilty verdict for you.
Understand Plea and Sentence Bargaining
If you are charged with a DUI, a prosecutor might offer you a deal to reduce your charge or to lower your sentence in exchange for your guilty plea.
Plea Bargaining
In plea bargaining, a defendant agrees to plead guilty if the prosecutor agrees to reduce the seriousness of the charge (for instance, from a DUI to reckless driving). In states or counties that don’t prohibit plea bargains, an attorney who is familiar with local prosecutors could help you get a better plea offer than you could get on your own.
In 2015, Martindale-Nolo Research conducted a DUI survey, which analyzed responses from readers who had either used a lawyer or represented themselves in their DUI cases. Notably, 22% of people who hired private lawyers were able to plea bargain for lesser, non-DUI offenses. By comparison, 0% of self-represented defendants ended up with such “lesser” pleas.
Sentence Bargaining
In addition to plea bargaining, most states have "sentence bargaining." Sentence bargaining for a DUI is extremely useful where a guilty plea might result in a long period of incarceration. For example, you might be willing to plead guilty to a second DUI but only if you know what your sentence will be. The same is true with an aggravated DUI case where your BAC was over .15% or resulted in injury or death.
In these types of cases, a prosecutor might make an initial offer that includes a specific jail term. Through sentencing bargaining, you can try to get the prosecutor to agree to a shorter jail term. As with plea bargaining, an attorney who is familiar with local prosecutors might be able to get a better sentence bargain for you.
Standard Offers
Some prosecutors will make the same initial offer in every case regardless of whether the defendant has a lawyer. It might seem like a good idea to accept a standard offer without a lawyer’s input. After all, if the prosecutor will make the same offer to you with or without an attorney, why waste money on a DUI lawyer?
But accepting a standard offer without hiring an attorney can be risky—unless the government has a case so strong that a guilty plea is the only reasonable option. Unfortunately, it’s often difficult for people who aren’t experienced DUI attorneys to know whether a case is strong or weak.
DUIs are complicated cases with technical evidence like the results of chemical tests and field sobriety tests. An attorney might be able to uncover a weakness in the case, like an improperly conducted breath test, that could turn a standard offer into a reduced charge or sentence—or even a dismissal of the charges.
Penalties for Second, Third, and Fourth DUIs Are Heavy
Even if you handled your first DUI by simply pleading guilty, you will most likely need the assistance of a DUI attorney for subsequent DUI charges. That’s because second, third, and fourth DUI offenses almost always involve jail time, as well as far more serious bail bonds and penalties.
Hiring an experienced DUI attorney has many benefits—lawyers have familiarity with the court system and the prosecutors, knowledge of what plea bargains and sentence bargains are available, and the ability to navigate complex administrative procedures. These benefits are especially important if you are a repeat DUI offender.
A DUI Conviction Can Bring Increased Insurance Costs
You can expect your insurance premium to rise dramatically after a DUI conviction. It may not only quadruple, but you could also lose your coverage entirely. And proof of auto insurance is mandatory in most states, which means that without coverage, you could have trouble getting to work every day.
Additionally, many employers require workers to carry their own insurance coverage, which may mean losing your job completely if it involves driving. An attorney might be able to reduce charges or negotiate a plea deal that doesn’t result in your losing insurance or having your insurance rates skyrocket.
DUI Attorneys May Be More Affordable Than You Think
If you're concerned about the costs, be aware that some DUI attorneys will work with you and may offer credit payment plans or discounts. And consider this: If your attorney bargains down your sentence so that you have lower fines and no requirement to install an ignition interlock device (IID), your attorney's fee could pay for itself. As noted above, our survey shows that defendants seem to get better outcomes when assisted by an attorney.
Figuring out how to approach a DUI case isn’t as simple as deciding whether or not to act as one’s own lawyer. Lawyers, both private and public, have the training to get better case outcomes than pro se defendants. And paying for a lawyer can at times be the cheapest option when you consider that winning a case can mean not having to pay fines, fees, and related costs such as hiked insurance rates.
Not only that, but some costs are difficult if not impossible to quantify. License suspensions or jail sentences can lead to lost income (and how one person calculates the amount of income lost due to a DUI case might differ from how another would do the same). Plus, criminal convictions can create losses when it comes to endeavors like applying for jobs or renting property.
Cost alone might not be the only factor to consider when deciding whether to hire a new lawyer. Our survey showed that people facing DUI charges with private lawyers were nearly twice as satisfied with the outcome as people without a lawyer. 45% of people who hired lawyers were satisfied or very satisfied with the way their cases resolved. Among survey respondents who didn’t have lawyers, only 26% reported being either satisfied or very satisfied with their case outcomes.