In Pennsylvania, we call the charge a DUI (Driving Under the Influence); in some other states, it’s referred to as a DWI (Driving While Intoxicated). In most states, the determining factor for a DUI is the same: a Blood Alcohol Concentration of 0.08 percent or higher. Additional levels that add sentencing enhancements to the penalties for a DUI kick in when the person’s Blood Alcohol Concentration is 0.10 percent or higher. In Pennsylvania, there is an added third level that adds sentencing enhancements when a person’s BAC is 0.16 percent or higher. In Utah, beginning in December of 2018, a new BAC level will be enforced of 0.05 percent.

If you get convicted of Driving Under the Influence or Driving While Intoxicated in another state, you will face consequences in two places: the state in which you were drunk driving, and here at home in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is one of fifty-six states that participate in something called the Driver’s License Compact. This agreement calls for all states who participate to exchange information about traffic violations, including Driving While Intoxicated or Driving Under the Influence. Unless you live in Tennessee, Nevada, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, or Michigan, your DUI/DWI will be reported back to Pennsylvania. In one of those five aforementioned states, your conviction might or might not be reported to PA.

The laws vary among the states, so you could face a range of consequences in the other state, including jail time. However, here at home, the penalties will be similar to those you would receive had you gotten the DUI leaving your neighborhood bar.

If the DUI was your first, you probably will not get your driver’s license suspended here in PA, though you will not be allowed to drive in the state in which you were convicted. If you have a previous conviction in Pennsylvania or anywhere else, no matter how long ago, your driver’s license will definitely be suspended.

You will need to return to the state in which you got your DUI to face your charges. This means you will also need a criminal defense attorney who has been accepted to the bar in that state. Your attorney from your home state can contract with one from the other state, who will stand in for him. This is called Appearance of Counsel. If you don’t have an attorney in Pennsylvania or would rather just deal with someone in the other state, you can hire one directly. Just make sure to check out whomever you hire, and make sure they specialize in DUI defense.

If you make a plea deal in the other state, or if worse comes to worst and you are convicted, you will have to serve whatever penalty is handed down in that state, as well as pay any fines levied. Pennsylvania will know, and you will face consequences here, as well.

Have you or a loved one been charged with Driving Under the Influence in another state? If so, you will need an experienced criminal defense attorney to represent you. The Logue Criminal Defense team has the experience and dedication that will serve you best. With offices in Pittsburgh, PA, West Virginia, and Ohio, they are convenient and easy to find. To schedule a free initial consultation with Sean Logue and his associates at Logue Law Group, call 412.387.6901. We can be contacted online, as well.

Call an attorney as soon as you are arrested! The longer you wait to hire a DUI lawyer, the more difficult it becomes to get the outcome you want and need. Call today!

Worse, you don’t even have to have been driving your big rig or bus while drunk. An arrest for Driving Under the Influence in your personal vehicle is reason enough for the state to disqualify your commercial driver’s license, possibly for years.

Pennsylvania’s limit for drunk driving for those holding a regular driver’s license is 0.08 percent Blood Alcohol Concentration. Anything above that is considered drunk driving. However, for the holder of a commercial driver’s license who was operating a commercial vehicle, that number drops to 0.04 percent. Additionally, the penalties for the holder of a commercial driver’s license are more severe than those for someone with a regular driver’s license. This is because driving with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.04 to 0.159 puts you in the highest tier of DUI, called “High Impairment.” This tier comes with the toughest penalties.

For a first-time DUI by a commercial driver’s license holder, the consequences range from two days to six months in jail, fines ranging from $500 to $5,000, suspension of your personal driver’s license for a year, and disqualification of your commercial driver’s license for a year. If your cargo was hazardous materials at the time of your DUI arrest, that disqualification is stretched to three years.

It doesn’t matter in which state you got your DUI, either. The majority of states in the U.S. are participants in the Driver’s License Compact, an agreement that states have to share traffic charges. This means that if you as a Pennsylvania resident get a DUI in Montana, that state will notify Pennsylvania of the charge, and you will face consequences at home, as well as in Montana.

DUI Defenses

Of course, these consequences will only take effect if you are convicted of DUI. With an aggressive and knowledgeable criminal defense attorney who has received extensive training in DUI arrests, DUI science, and DUI defense, it’s possible to get those charges dismissed.

One of the first things an attorney will do is look at the results of your BAC testing. He will examine the administrator’s credentials and the maintenance and calibration record of the machine(s) involved. If either of those things are outdated, the results are unreliable and will not stand up in court.

You may Qualify for the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition Program

Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition is a program for certain first-time DUI offenders. Also called ARD, successful completion of the program will allow your charges to be dropped and your conviction expunged from your criminal record. You will not have to tell your current or future employers about your DUI arrest. There are certain conditions that must be met for you to qualify for the program. Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition may not be appropriate for your case. Your experienced Pittsburgh DUI attorney will review your case and explain the best options for you.

Are you a CDL holder? Have you been charged with Driving Under the Influence in or around the city of Pittsburgh? If so, you will need the services an experienced criminal defense attorney. The Logue Criminal Defense team has the know-how and dedication to represent you. Logue Law Group serves Pittsburgh, PA, West Virginia, and Ohio. For a free initial consultation with a dedicated, aggressive, and experienced Pittsburgh Criminal Defense lawyer from Logue Law Group, call 412.387.6901. If you prefer, we can be contacted online.

Don’t wait to call! If you delay hiring an attorney, it will be more difficult for you to retain your Commercial Driver’s License and keep your record clean. Call Logue Law Group today!

Underage drinking, sometimes referred to as UDD, is a very common offense, but it has some seriously hard penalties that go along with it. The reason for the harsh stance Ohio takes on this crime is that more than 10% of DUI-related deaths are caused by drivers under the legal drinking age.

The Ohio Revised Code addresses underage drinking in Chapter 4209.69. It says that no one under the age of 21 can pay for, order, consume, share the cost of, possess, or try to buy intoxicating liquor or beer of any kind. It doesn’t matter if you’re in public or on private property, it’s still illegal. The only exception to this is if the booze has been provided by a doctor, is for religious purposes, or the minor is under the supervision of his or her parent, spouse who is not underage, or other legal guardian.

The first time a minor is charged with underage drinking, he or she is likely to be required by the court to participate in a diversion program. The court will specify which one. If you are charged again, you will not be allowed to go through the program a second time.

Once you successfully complete the diversion program, your charges will be dropped. Your criminal record will be sealed, as well. But, if you fail to complete it, your charges will not be dropped and you will face further action from the court.

For those who are ineligible for a diversion program, their underage drinking charge will be a first-degree misdemeanor. They will have to serve both a suspension of their driver’s license and a jail sentence of up to six months, pay fines as high as $1,000, and possibly have to go through alcohol education classes and abuse counseling, and perform community service. They will also receive four points on their driver’s license when they get it back.

As with a DUI/OVI conviction received as an adult, an underage DUI conviction comes with other consequences besides legal ones. You could be expelled from school and find it difficult to find another university that will accept you. If you are allowed to remain in school, you could find it harder to get a student loan to pay for it, and if you can’t get a loan, you may need to drop out. Even then, getting a job with a DUI conviction is not easy. Many employers do background checks, especially if the job involves driving. If you already had a job offer in hand, that offer could be revoked because of your DUI. The military may not even be willing to take you on. And, your friends and family will look at you differently and may withdraw their support.

Driving under the Influence is not the only charge you are likely to receive if you are cited for OVI. As noted above, simply possessing alcohol when you are blow age 21 triggers a criminal charge. If you had passengers in your car, you can be charged with giving alcohol to minors. Used a fake ID to get into the bar? That gets you a possession of false identification charge. Then, there are the traffic violations that got you stopped in the first place … failing to maintain your lane, speeding, etc.

A DUI/OVI conviction is not something you should ignore or try to handle on your own. The penalties that come with it are too harsh and have too much potential to ruin your life for you to deal with it by yourself.

It is possible to get your charges reduced or dismissed! A Youngstown OVI lawyer who understands the ins and outs of the court system and can untangle the web of DUI law is the best way for you to get this kind of an outcome. Call Logue Law Group now for the kind of experienced assistance you need. 412.387.6901.

A conviction in Pennsylvania for Driving Under the Influence comes with a long list of punishments, including:

• Fines that can be anywhere from hundreds of dollars to thousands of dollars
• A license suspension of days or years
• Time in jail, anywhere from days to years
• Higher insurance rates

That’s not all the pain and suffering you’ll endure, either. Even after you have paid your fines and served your time, you’ll still be punished for your Driving Under the Influence conviction. It will remain on your record, and anyone can look it up, from your nosy neighbor who will spread it around, to a potential employer who will refuse to hire you, to the loan officer at the bank who will refuse to give you a loan. It will always be there, as part of the public record, even if you never break another law.

However, if you fight back, you can win, and avert some or all of these penalties. With the right Pittsburgh DUI attorney, you will have an experienced advocate who is willing to aggressively fight for you. The cost of the fines and jail time you will automatically be slapped with should you fail to hire an attorney far outweigh the fee you will be charged by a lawyer from Logue Law Group.

Just because you have been accused of Driving Under the Influence doesn’t mean you are guilty of it. The prosecutor must prove his or her case against you in court. There are many things that could have gone wrong or been mishandled during your arrest. The BAC machine may have been improperly calibrated. Perhaps you hadn’t been drinking at all and the behavior the cop thought indicated that you were drinking and driving was tiredness or illness, or resulted from legal medications. An aggressive and skilled lawyer will know from testimony and other evidence what is true and what is not, and will stand up to the prosecution, demolishing the case against you and getting your charges reduced or dismissed.

An attorney at your side can mean the difference between a long jail sentence and big fines or neither.

It’s never a good idea to represent yourself. Pennsylvania’s DUI laws are complicated. Likewise, you shouldn’t just bring in any old lawyer. You need someone with experience and training, who is able to stand up to the court and refute the evidence against you.

You might be thinking that an attorney who specializes in DUI is expensive, but isn’t your freedom worth it? If you have no lawyer, or a poorly trained one, you could walk away with no driver’s license, higher insurance rates, huge fines, and possibly without a job. Can you afford not to fight that DUI charge?

If you or a loved one has been charged with Driving Under the Influence in or around the city of Pittsburgh, you will need an experienced criminal defense attorney. The Logue Law Group team of attorneys proudly serves the Pittsburgh, PA area, West Virginia and Eastern Ohio. To schedule an initial consultation, free of charge, with an experienced Pittsburgh Criminal Defense lawyer from Logue Law Group, call us today at 412.387.6901. Or, you can contact us online. Logue Law Group is available at any time of day or night.

Don’t wait to call! The longer you wait to hire an attorney, the more difficult it becomes for him or her to get a good outcome for you and your case. Call today!

Things to do after your DUI arrest

• Get a piece of paper and reconstruct the events of your arrest.
  • Why you were pulled over and where
  • What field sobriety tests were done and the results
  • Describe the location where the field sobriety tests were performed
  • What your BAC (Blood Alcohol Concentration) was and how it was tested
• Check out my website www.seanloguelaw.com to review Pennsylvania DUI laws, penalties, and defenses.
• Get together paperwork from any prior convictions.
• Get together any relevant medical or mental health records.
• Do not make any statements to anyone (except your attorney) about your case.
• Comply with the Fingerprint Order. (Reschedule if need be!)
• Get the required drug and alcohol evaluation. (CRN evaluation)
• Call me, Attorney Sean Logue, to schedule a FREE consultation to review your case.

It’s of vital importance that you follow the steps above. Sean Logue, your Pittsburgh DUI criminal defense attorney, will need it to help craft your defense. The more information he has, the better the outcome he can help you achieve. The police may have made mistakes in performing field sobriety tests, or the breathalyzer machine may have been calibrated or operated improperly, but the only way your attorney can make this work for you is if he has all the facts.

Contact Logue Law Group immediately. To do so means it will be easier for him to help you fight your charges.What to Look for in an Attorney

To handle your DUI defense

• A criminal defense attorney, not a general practitioner who is moonlighting in criminal defense.
• A criminal defense attorney with a practice that’s focused on DUI defense.
• An experienced criminal defense attorney who has handled more than 250 DUI cases and understands the ins and outs of the court system.
• An attorney who has taken DUI cases to trial.
• An attorney who is a member of the National College for DUI Defense, an organization only defense attorneys deemed knowledgeable about DUI law are invited to join.
• An attorney who continuously educates himself in new DUI laws, defenses, and science.
• Attorney Sean Logue, of Logue Law Group, has ALL of the qualifications.

Remember that the Pittsburgh DUI attorney that you hire will need to know all the facts of your case. Don’t hesitate to trust and confide in him, so he can work his hardest for you. Tell him everything; even the smallest details can make a difference. Your Pittsburgh DUI lawyer will be able to explain your charges to you in detail and advise you about your options. He will stand beside you as you navigate the criminal justice system.

An arrest for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol does not mean an automatic conviction. There are defenses available to you, and if this is your first DUI, there is a diversion program you can go through. The Advanced Rehabilitative Disposition program, otherwise known as ARD, is designed to educate first-time DUI offenders and prevent future charges. Upon completion of the program, charges against an offender are dropped, and driving privileges are reinstated.

And, if this is not your first DUI, an experienced criminal defense attorney can still get your charges reduced or dismissed, depending on the circumstances surrounding your case.

Do you know someone who has been charged with Driving Under the Influence in or around the city of Pittsburgh? If so, you will need an experienced criminal defense attorney. The Logue Criminal Defense team has served many DUI clients over the years. They know and understand your situation and the courts and will work hard for you. Logue Law Group serves Pittsburgh, PA, and the surrounding areas, including West Virginia and Ohio. To schedule an initial consultation, free of cost, call us today at 412.387.6901. We can also be contacted online. Someone will answer the phone at any time of the day or night. Call now!

If you have been stopped and arrested for Driving Under the Influence and a police officer decides you have refused to take a breathalyzer test, urine test, or have your blood drawn for a Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) test, you will automatically lose your license for a year. The cop or state trooper will send paperwork to PennDot, otherwise known as the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, the agency in charge of issuing driver’s licenses, and PennDOT will suspend your license. The paperwork the cops send in is a request for suspension, and once PennDOT receives that request, they will send you a notice that says you have to hand your driver’s license in to them. The letter will tell you that you have thirty days to appeal the suspension. When you get that letter, immediately call an experienced Pittsburgh DUI attorney, such as Sean Logue and his associates at Logue Law Group. The attorney you hire will file the appeal immediately, stating that you did not refuse to take the test and that the refusal paperwork sent to PennDOT was not proper. A hearing will be scheduled once the appeal is filed.

You will not have to hand in your driver’s license when the appeal is filed. The hearing will be scheduled for a date a couple months down the road, and at that time a judge, generally a Common Pleas Court hearing judge, will hear the case. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation attorney will be there, as well. The police officer or state trooper who arrested you will be in attendance, as well as the person who gave or tried to give you the BAC test. The judge will listen to both sides, and examine all the evidence, and will decide if you did or did not refuse.

Remember that sometimes, what appears to be a refusal to submit to a BAC test is simply a miscommunication or a misunderstanding of directions on your part. It’s also possible that the police officer didn’t give you enough time to agree. All of these are possible defenses. This is why it’s so important that you give your attorney every detail of your traffic stop and arrest. He needs to know these things, so he knows what defense strategy or strategies to use.

Also, in the case of this specific license suspension, you only have a few days to file an appeal. Defending yourself rarely ends well, especially in a hearing on this matter. It’s vital that you hire an attorney the minute you get that letter from the state, and allow him to defend you.

If you have had your license suspended for Driving Under the Influence because you supposedly refused a breathalyzer, you will need the services of a criminal defense attorney with experience in DUI defense. The Logue Criminal Defense team has the training required to defend you. Logue Law Group serves Pittsburgh, PA, and the surrounding areas, including West Virginia and Ohio. Call today to schedule a consultation with Sean Logue and his associates at 412.387.6901. You can contact us online, as well.

It’s important that you call an attorney immediately! The longer you wait to hire representation, the harder it becomes for you to keep your license.

• He or she has a reasonable and legitimate belief that you somehow violated the law.
• You have broken a traffic law, such as rolling through a stop sign or speeding.
• He or she has reason to suspect that you are driving while drunk or under the influence of drugs.

During any kind of traffic stop, police and state troopers must respect your constitutional rights, but they also have rights; specifically, they have the right to complete whatever steps are necessary to determine if you are driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Specific Actions a Cop can Take

Though there are restrictions on what the police can and cannot do, they are allowed to stop you if they have reason to suspect you are under the influence of alcohol or drugs while driving. The following is a list of actions they can take as they investigate those suspicions:

• Search your car, but only in certain cases
• Request blood alcohol testing to determine blood alcohol concentration
• Ask you questions about your driving behaviors, as well as your drug or alcohol intake
• Give you field sobriety tests
• Arrest you for any violations of the law

Cops must follow certain steps, called protocols, when investigating you and gathering evidence against you. There are also laws that restrict them. One way an experienced Pittsburgh DUI attorney can help you is by making sure the police have followed the correct protocols and obeyed the law.

Chemical Blood Alcohol Concentration Testing and Field Sobriety Testing

Police officers and state troopers are allowed to give you certain tests to determine whether you are driving impaired or not, but they must take care to do them correctly and follow the proper procedures. They are trained to follow standards laid out by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. However, sometimes they make mistakes, and the wrong conclusions are drawn, or incorrect actions are taken. When this happens, evidence obtained by these tests can be thrown out of court if you are charged with DUI. It’s vital that your DUI attorney determine if the cops involved in your arrest acted properly and within the standards, laws, and regulations and that any devices used, such as a breathalyzer, were maintained and calibrated properly.

You are allowed to refuse the tests; however, when you signed on the dotted line to accept your driver’s license, you agreed to submit to them when requested. Because of this, if you refuse to allow a blood, breath, or urine sample to be taken, your driver’s license is automatically suspended. The arresting officer will notify PennDOT that you refused, and PennDOT will send you a letter to notify you of your suspension and tell you to report to the specified police station to surrender your license.

If you are stopped for driving under the influence, pay attention to your surroundings and to what is said and done by yourself and the officers. Make sure you tell your lawyer everything, no matter how insignificant it seems. The most minute detail can sometimes make a big difference in the outcome of a case.

Have you been stopped while driving and arrested for DUI? Do you suspect the police officer who arrested you did not follow proper procedures? If so, you will need an experienced criminal defense attorney, one who has handled many DUI cases. The Logue Criminal Defense team has defended hundreds of people arrested for DUI. Logue Law Group serves Pittsburgh, PA, West Virginia, and Ohio. Call today for a free consultation. 412.387.6901. We may also be contacted online. Don’t wait! A DUI conviction has serious and life-changing consequences attached to it. The longer you wait, the more difficult it becomes for an attorney to get you a good outcome. Call now!

Let’s say you are involved in an accident that causes damage to another person or that person’s property. Your infraction may become a misdemeanor or felony. Incidents that commonly are considered felonies include repeat DUI offenses, hit-and-run accidents, and vehicular homicide.

A DUI Charge in Pennsylvania is Affected by Many Factors

Several things determine how a DUI is charged in Pennsylvania. Below is a list of some of those determining factors.

• If you are a repeat offender
• If you were under the influence of drugs other than alcohol
• Your Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC)
• If you were involved in a crash that caused bodily injury, death, or damage to property.

Impairment Level

The determination of your DUI charges is based first on your impairment level. Pennsylvania has three levels of impairment for drivers who are over the legal drinking age of 21. They are:

• General Impairment: 0.08 percent to 0.099 percent BAC
• High DUI: 0.10 percent to 0.159 percent BAC (for minors and school bus drivers, this number drops to 0.02 percent, for CDL holders, it is 0.04 percent, and for drivers who fall into the General Impairment category who caused a crash that involved bodily injury, death, or damage to property)
• Highest DUI: 0.16 percent BAC and above

DUI penalties become harsher as your BAC goes up. For example, a third offense in the General Impairment and High DUI categories will be felonies, but a second offense in the Highest DUI category is a felony.

A person whose first offense falls into the High DUI and Highest DUI categories might qualify for ARD, or the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition. Participants in this program do the following:

• Remain under supervision of the court for six months.
• Submit to an alcohol and drug evaluation.
• Attend alcohol highway safety school for 12.5 hours.
• Get their driver’s license suspended for up to 90 days.
• Pay fines of $300 to $5,000.
• Go through drug and alcohol treatment, if needed.

Previous Offenses

Your DUI charges are partly based on how many previous DUI offenses you have had. If you have had multiple DUI’s in the previous ten years, you will be charged with a felony.

Third DUI’s are always felonies, despite the level of impairment. Convictions for felony DUI’s come with penalties that are far more severe than for misdemeanor DUI’s. Those penalties include:

• Mandatory jail time of 10 days to 5 years
• Fines from $500 to more than $10,000
• Driver’s license suspended for a minimum of 12 months
• Additional payments for legal and court fees

Other consequences include:

• Participation in alcohol and drug education classes
• Installation of an ignition interlock device on your vehicle, at your expense
• Mandatory community service
• Ongoing court supervision

Property Damage, Death, or Bodily Injury

If you caused a crash with your vehicle while drinking and driving, and that crash resulted in someone’s bodily injury or death, or injury to their property or that of someone else, it could raise your DUI charges from a misdemeanor to a felony.

Even if your BAC was in the General Impairment category, being involved in a car crash automatically gives you the same punishments as a High DUI offender. If this is the first DUI offense you’ve had, you will:

• Have higher fines to pay
• Spend at least two days in jail
• Get your driver’s license suspended for 12 months

If you or a loved one has been charged with Driving Under the Influence of alcohol or drugs in or around the city of Pittsburgh, you will need an experienced criminal defense attorney. The Logue Criminal Defense team serves Pittsburgh, PA, and the surrounding areas, including West Virginia and Ohio. To get in touch and schedule a free initial consultation with an experienced Pittsburgh Criminal Defense lawyer from Logue Law Group, call us today at 412.387.6901. Or, you can contact us online.

Don’t wait to call! The longer you wait to hire an attorney, the more difficult it becomes for him or her to get a good outcome for you and your case. Call today!

Depending on the circumstances of your case, the penalties that come with a DUI conviction could include the loss of your driver’s license for anywhere from 30 days to a year. If it’s your first DUI, there are more options available to you, and some of them will limit the length of your suspension. Also, the immediacy of your license suspension depends upon your submission or refusal to submit to a chemical blood alcohol concentration test.

Even worse than losing your license, a conviction for DUI often comes with a jail sentence. Depending again on the circumstances of your case, it could be a few days, or it could be a few years. Even if it’s a first time DUI conviction, if it comes with a high blood alcohol concentration, you could be in prison for many years.

Additionally, a conviction comes with fines and other expenses. You will pay court costs that are likely as high as the fines themselves, and, if you are ordered to do so, you will be required to pay for the installation of an ignition interlock device on your vehicle. This device tests your breath before it allows you to start the car, then periodically retests it.

The most severe of the penalties for a DUI conviction is the black mark on your criminal history. A DUI conviction can lead to a lost job currently, and can lock you out of future employment, especially if the potential job requires driving. A criminal history can keep you out of certain apartment or home rentals, as well.

For some people, convictions for DUI lead to the loss of professional licenses. The most common example of this is commercial truck drivers, but there are other professions where this happens. Doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and even teachers and accountants can find their professional licenses yanked due to DUI charges. These professions and many others assume that if you have received a DUI, you are drinking intemperately, and they have rules in place to remove habitual drinkers from the profession.

A DUI conviction can have life-altering consequences, but there are defenses available to you. A defense attorney who specializes in DUI cases will know to look at the equipment and personnel who tested your blood alcohol content for deficiencies in training and calibration. He will know to examine video evidence. And, he will know when to go to trial and when a plea deal is best.

An experienced attorney whose caseload is mostly or entirely DUI will know all the options available to you. He will examine the details and circumstances of your specific case, research case law if necessary, and will explain your options to you. It is vitally important that you leave out no details. An attorney cannot help you get your charges reduced or dismissed if he doesn’t know exactly what happened, and there’s nothing worse for either of you than for a detail you forgot to suddenly come up in court.

Don’t hire an attorney with little experience in handling DUI cases. You deserve the best defense possible.

Don’t wait to hire representation! The longer you wait, the harder it will be for your attorney to get you the outcome you desire.

If you have been stopped for Driving Under the Influence, you need an experienced Pittsburgh criminal defense attorney who knows DUI defense to help you. The Logue Criminal Defense team has defended hundreds of DUI cases, often getting the charges reduced or dropped altogether. Logue Law Group serves the Pittsburgh, PA area, West Virginia, and Ohio. Call today for an initial consultation at no charge to you: 412.387.6901. Or, you may contact us online.

Which Factors Can Determine DUI Sentencing?

A first time DUI conviction with a clean driving record and no criminal history can still lead to harsh sentencing. Penalties that are typically imposed in the case of a first time DUI offender can be determined by factors such as:

• Age of the Passengers in the Car Operated by the Driver
• Extent of Injury or Damage Caused
• Age of the Driver
• Level of Impairment of the Driver
• Position of the Driver with respect to Commercial Vehicles if applicable

Further, penalties intensify with multiple DUI offenses. Here, we will discuss first time offenses only. There are 3 possible categories of a DUI conviction based on the BAC content. Those being; 0.08% to 0.099%, 0.10% to 0.159% (including minors), and 0.16% or more (including drivers under the influence of drugs or the ones who refuse the breathalyzer test). Drivers with the lowest BAC under the general impairment category face the lightest sentences while the higher levels of BAC leads to far more severe penalties.

Know Everything about the First DUI Penalties

The penalties for the first DUI vary according to your BAC level. Here, we have provided a detailed list of punishments you can be subjected to if found guilty for any of the 3 categories.

General Impairment

• Up to 6 months of probation sentence
• $300 amount of fine

Apart from this, you might be sent to an alcohol highway safety school and, if ordered by court, you will have to undergo treatment.

High BAC

• 48 hours – Up to 6 months imprisonment
• $500- $5,000 amount of fine
• Suspension of license for 1 year

Along with this, you are likely to be sent to the alcohol highway safety school and undertake treatment if ordered by the court.

Highest BAC

• 72 hours – Up to 6 months imprisonment
• $1,000- $5,000 amount of fine
• Suspension of license for 1 year

As with the first two categories, other penalties include visiting the alcohol highway safety school and getting treatment on being ordered by the court.

Further, DUI penalties can even increase given the following circumstances:

1. Additional DUI charges
2. Injury caused to others
3. Damage caused to private or public property
4. Presence of minor passengers in the vehicle

Apart from this, you should also know that operating a vehicle with a BAC level below 0.08% is also considered to be illegal, and can be subjected as a DUI offense in Pennsylvania, making you liable to an arrest. Here are certain situations which further validate the above-mentioned point.

• Minors are not allowed to drive with a BAC of or more than 0.02%
• Driving under the influence of intoxicated products are prohibited
• Drivers with a BAC of or more than 0.04% are not allowed to operate commercial vehicles
• For the safety of the vehicle and the passengers, an excessively impaired driver should never drive

Get Free Consultation from Expert Criminal Defense Attorneys in Pittsburgh

A successful Pittsburgh DUI lawyer can mitigate the deadly DUI consequences against you in a quick span of time even if the allegations are quite serious. Or, at least, you will be able to decrease the type of penalties you are subjected to and successfully avoid imprisonment with the help of the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD) and other such diversion programs if you have an experienced criminal defense attorney dealing with DUI cases by your side. Contact us for a free consultation if you require the expertise of such exceptional lawyers.

DUI Laws in Pennsylvania

The DUI penalties are organized in categories and are dependent on the blood alcohol content, or BAC, of the driver along with his or her record of prior offenses. There are 3 levels for a DUI offense:

0.08 to 0.099% BAC- General Impairment

0.10 to 0.159% BAC- High BAC

0.16% and higher- Highest BAC

Some categories could face severe penalties despite a lower BAC including school vehicle or bus drivers, underage drivers, drivers responsible for injury or property damage, commercial drivers, or the drivers who refrain from breath or chemical testing.

Second DUI Penalties in Pennsylvania

Drivers who are convicted of a second DUI under General Impairment could face:

• Fine Amount of $300- $2,500
• License Suspension for 12 months
• Ignition Interlock for 1 Year
• Treatment If Commanded
• Imprisonment for 5 days-6months
• Alcohol Highway Safety School
• Ungraded Violation

Drivers who are convicted of a second DUI with a high BAC, penalties include:

• Fine Amount of $750- $5,000
• License Suspension for 12 months
• Ignition Interlock for 1 Year
• Treatment If Commanded
• Imprisonment for 30 days to 6 months
• Alcohol Highway Safety School
• Ungraded Violation

Drivers with a second DUI under the Highest BAC category face more severe penalties:

• Fine Amount of $1,500- $10,000
• License Suspension for 18 months
• Ignition Interlock for 1 Year
• Treatment If Commanded
• Imprisonment for 90 days- 5 years
• Alcohol Highway Safety School
• Ungraded Violation

Retaining an experienced criminal defense lawyer will help you achieve a better plea bargain and in some cases, a more lenient sentence from the court.

The defenses remain the same no matter what the number of previous offenses, but an attorney must be more careful with each successive one. He must make sure the offender gives his side of the story to the court. He must also be more careful about how he presents the case, as the prosecutor and judge assume the offender either didn’t learn his lesson the first time or does not care what the consequences are.

It’s still possible to get an acquittal for a second DUI. A well-trained attorney with experience, who has handled hundreds of them, will know what works and what doesn’t, and will make sure your constitutional rights are protected throughout the process.

Repercussions of Second DUI Convictions

Along with the guilt and embarrassment that is attached with a second DUI conviction, the guilty driver is also subjected to a period of imprisonment, ranging from 5 days to 5 years according to their BAC level; a significant increase in insurance rates or possibility of losing your insurance coverage; loss of higher education opportunities including suspension from college and revoking of existing scholarships or difficulty in getting student loans, and so on. Moreover, this will make a permanent stamp on any background check that you will go through in the future, leading to possible hindrances in your career. Potential employers might think twice about hiring an employee with a DUI conviction, or you might also be terminated from your present job.

Hire a Multiple DUI Defense Lawyer

If you have been found guilty of a second DUI, you should immediately consult a Pittsburgh DUI lawyer for multiple DUI offenses. We have highly knowledgeable and proficient lawyers who can give you one of the best legal representations at court, protecting your interests in the best manner possible.

Pennsylvania DUI Checkpoint Guidelines

The DUI stops in Pennsylvania are not always related to any particular suspicion which allows you to lawfully change the route if you want to avoid the checkpoint. According to the Pennsylvania laws, a driver cannot be considered as intoxicated merely depending on an officer’s intuition that he or she is avoiding a sobriety check on the roadblock. The police cannot stop you on such a suspicion. But making an illegal maneuver to escape the DUI checkpoint or making an illegal U-turn can be taken against you, and you can be stopped with the excuse of the traffic offense followed by a DUI investigation if they find alcohol smell from your breath or empty bottles of beer in the car.

Following are the Pennsylvania law enforcement guidelines that are required for a legal DUI checkpoint:

• Checkpoints are enabled for restricted privacy intrusions and officers are not allowed to search the vehicle or the occupants
• Checkpoints must be issued in the interest of the public safety
• Checkpoints cannot practice any form of discrimination
• Checkpoints should not be arbitrary in nature and should have a supporting evidence for the DUI roadblock
• Prior notice of the location of the checkpoint must be provided to the citizens

Along with the location, additional information must also be provided prior to the checkpoint including the police department, the officer in charge, and the training completed by the personnel who took part in this checkpoint. Also, the police department must be able to provide adequate proof that the checkpoint had been approved beforehand at the administrative level.

Details must also be provided regarding the process of conducting the DUI checkpoint. How the law enforcement officials interacted with the car owners, the number of vehicles pulled over at a time, or how was it decided which drivers should be subjected to a field sobriety test, and other such vital information must also be shared.

How is a DUI Roadblock carried out in Pennsylvania?

When you are pulled over for a DUI checkpoint, the officer will first explain to you why you have been stopped and then ask you if you are under the influence of alcohol especially if they could smell alcohol from your breath or the vehicle. Although saying yes might take you to the next level of the checkpoint, you should not lie either.

Next stage is the field sobriety test. According to the law of Pennsylvania, you have the right to refuse this test along with denying any information regarding your name, car registration, insurance proof, or license. You must be cautious about giving out any irrelevant and extra information at the checkpoint.

If you are arrested by the officers, you will be forced to take the sobriety test. Refusal to do so will suspend your license up to a period of 18 months, and furthermore, this refusal can be used as an evidence against you in the DUI trial later which might lead to more severe penalties. Offenders who are found with more than a single DUI offense are likely to face more stringent penalties. But the police must acquire a search warrant in order to take the blood sample.

Contact the Pittsburgh DUI Lawyers for the Best Legal Representation

If you or someone you know get involved in a DUI checkpoint, you must immediately get in touch with a skilled and efficient Pittsburgh DUI lawyer who can give the best legal representation in such cases.

What Penalties do I Face for a Third Driving Under the Influence Conviction?

When determining penalties for a person convicted of Driving Under the Influence, Pennsylvania looks at both your Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) and your previous offenses. Act 24, a Pennsylvania law passed in 2003, mandates that the following penalties be handed down:

• Two or more prior DUI offenses plus a Blood Alcohol Concentration of between 0.08 percent and 0.099 percent make your DUI a second-degree misdemeanor. Penalties are a twelve-month suspension of your driver’s license, ten days to two years in jail, and a fine of $500 to $5,000.
• Two or more prior Driving Under the Influence offenses plus a Blood Alcohol Concentration of between 0.10 percent and 0.159 percent makes your DUI a first-degree misdemeanor. Penalties are one to five years in jail, suspension of your license for eighteen months, and a fine of $1,500 to $10,000.
• Two or more prior Driving Under the Influence offenses plus a BAC of 0.016 percent or above make your DUI a first-degree misdemeanor. Penalties include jail time and fines, as well as drug and alcohol treatment, and the use of an ignition interlock device on your car for one year, installed at your expense. Ignition interlock devices test your breath before allowing you to start your car. If your test shows you have been drinking, your car will not start. The device periodically retests your breath.

Laws passed in 2018 have made some third-time DUI’s felonies. Act 153 adds a new restriction on the licensed drivers in a car with anyone with a learner’s permit: they must not be drunk or high to the point that they are a danger to themselves or others.

Additionally, the new law makes a third or fourth DUI with a BAC higher than 0.159 a felony, which comes with higher fines and longer jail sentences. And, if a driver causes an accident that kills someone else, and it’s a third or fourth DUI, the charge will be a first-degree felony.

Driving without a license or with a suspended license and receiving a third DUI could mean a driver goes to jail for as many as two years longer. The fines and jail sentences for this charge have become higher and longer, though they remain a summary offense.

In addition to handing out penalties to you, the court will tell your insurance company that you have been convicted a third time for Driving Under the Influence. Your insurance rates will rise, likely to an extremely high level that might make it impossible to afford. Finally, you will have a criminal record that will haunt you the rest of your life, negatively impacting your current and future job opportunities.

If you know someone who has been charged for the third time with Driving Under the Influence, that person will need an experienced criminal defense attorney to assist them. The Logue Criminal Defense team is experienced in DUI defense, and serves Pittsburgh, PA, and the surrounding areas, including West Virginia and Ohio. Schedule a free initial consultation with an experienced Pittsburgh Criminal Defense lawyer from Logue Law by calling 412.387.6901 or 412.387.6901. If you prefer, we can be contacted online.

Don’t put off calling! Waiting to hire an attorney makes defending your case more difficult, and a good outcome less likely. Call Logue Law Group today to increase the likelihood of getting your case dismissed or your charges reduced.

The job of a Pittsburgh DUI lawyer is to evaluate your case, talk to the arresting officer, examine the scene, and speak to the prosecuting attorney to find mistakes that have been made in the process of your arrest and the tests involved. Even if this is the second or third or tenth DUI you have had, an experienced DUI attorney might be able to lower the level of charges against you and reduce the punishments the court will mete out. A good DUI lawyer will know if it’s possible to get your Driving Under the Influence charge reduced to something else, maybe reckless endangerment or careless driving, and will know how to go about it.

Additionally, an experienced Pittsburgh DUI attorney might be able to get you alternative punishments, such as trading jail time for house arrest, or even work release. Work release is where you spend your working hours at work, but come back to the jail for off-hours and days off. This is a great option for helping you keep your job after a Driving Under the Influence conviction. A trained DUI attorney knows to look for these things. If this is your first DUI charge, and certain conditions are met, he might be able to get you into a special program that, if successfully completed, allows you to have your criminal record expunged. This program is called the ARD program, otherwise known as the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program.

If you don’t go with an attorney who specializes in Driving Under the Influence charges, or hire no lawyer at all, you could end up serving a long jail sentence and paying high fines. Your permanent criminal record will have a big red flag on it, as well, causing problems later when you want to change jobs. In the long run, any expense is worth your freedom, isn’t it?

What to Look for in a DUI Attorney

When searching for a criminal defense attorney to represent you, make sure he or she does most of his or her work in the area of DUI. A lawyer who deals mostly with wills, family law, or bankruptcy is not going to have spent the time training to deal with DUI cases. A good DUI attorney spends hours each year in the classroom, learning about new laws, police procedures, and technologies. He has handled hundreds of DUI cases and knows the ins and outs of the criminal court system. He has been educated on the best defenses for DUI cases.

An experienced Pittsburgh DUI attorney will explain your charges to you in detail, describe the defense options that will work best for you, and stand beside you as you navigate the complex and often confusing criminal justice system.

If you have been charged with Driving Under the Influence and are looking for an experienced criminal defense attorney, the Logue Criminal Defense team if the firm for you. Serving Pittsburgh, PA, West Virginia, and Ohio, Sean Logue and his associates have the experience and training you need. Schedule a free initial consultation today by calling 412.387.6901 or 412.387.6901. Or, you can contact us online.

Don’t wait to call! The longer you wait to hire an attorney, the more difficult it becomes for him or her to get a good outcome for you and your case. Call today!

DUI Checkpoints

A DUI checkpoint is a roadblock set up temporarily and manned by police officers for several hours, with the goal of deterring people who might be driving after drinking. Pennsylvania has strict laws about when, where, and how DUI checkpoints can be set up. Included in the guidelines is a method of avoiding discrimination claims; namely, by having a system based on numbers or patterns to decide who to stop and who to let through. Also in the rules, brief stops are dictated when the officer has no reason to suspect the driver has been drinking.

If a driver is stopped at one of these checkpoints and is suspected of having been drinking, he or she will be asked a series of questions. If, based on your answers, he thinks you are impaired, he will request the driver to proceed to the second section of the checkpoint, where field sobriety tests will be administered.

Field Sobriety Tests

Field sobriety tests are always conducted before requesting the driver submit to a breath test and arresting him or her. The tests check coordination, motor skills, memory, and balance. Their purpose is to establish reasonable suspicion that the driver is impaired by drugs or alcohol. Several of these tests have been identified by the NHTSA—also known as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration—as being most able to predict blood alcohol content (also known as BAC) impairment. Also called standardized field sobriety tests, these tasks include the one-leg stand test, the horizontal gaze nystagmus test, and the walk-and-turn test. Other tests officers might ask are non-standardized and include things like reciting numbers backward, reciting the alphabet, or counting the number of fingers the officer is holding up.

Portable Breath Tests

Police officers in Pennsylvania are permitted to administer a portable breath test to a driver who they suspect is impaired. This device reads the driver’s breath and gives an estimate of how much blood alcohol is in the person’s system. The results of portable breath tests are not admissible in court, because the devices’ calibration requirements are inadequate. The only purpose one of these tests serves is to determine probable cause, which gives the officer a reason to arrest the driver.

Blood and Breath Tests

Once an officer feels he has probable cause to think a driver is impaired, he will arrest the driver and charge him or her with suspicion of DUI. After making the arrest, the driver will be taken to a local hospital and asked to submit to blood and breath tests. The tests will be administered by a trained phlebotomist or a licensed nurse. The medical professionals will have received specialized training in drawing blood that will be used in a criminal prosecution.

Implied Consent and Refusing DUI Tests

Refusing to submit to a blood, breath, or urine test is illegal. When you accepted a driver’s license, you agreed to allow police to give these tests upon their request. The arresting officer is required to warn a driver who refuses to submit to these tests that they face further charges for breaking a law. If the driver persists, he or she will be charged with violating implied consent, and will lose their driving privileges for one year for the first offense and up to 18 months for subsequent offenses.

A DUI arrest does not mean you are automatically convicted. A Pittsburgh criminal defense attorney with the right training and experience will help you get your DUI charges reduced or dismissed. If you have been arrested for DUI, call Sean Logue and his associates at Logue Law. Their dedication and thorough understanding of Pennsylvania’s DUI laws will guide you to the best possible outcome for you. They can be reached 24/7 at 412.387.6901 or 412.387.6901, or you can contact them online here. Initial consultations are always free. Logue Law serves Pittsburgh, PA, Ohio, and West Virginia.

• Breath Tests
• DUI / OUI Blood Test
• Field Sobriety Tests in Pennsylvania
• Pittsburgh Roadside Checkpoints
• Refusing to Submit to Blood Alcohol Testing

Nystagmus means jerking of the eyes. So, when an officer is giving a driver that test, he is looking to see if the person is able to follow the pen smoothly with only his eyes, or if his eyes jerk. Sean Logue and his associates will look at that. They will check the police report or the video from the police car, if one is available. The police report is a good source, but a video is better.

On the nine step walk and turn, an attorney will look to see if the driver being tested followed the directions. Did he walk heel to toe? Did he stay on the line, or step off? Did he lose his balance, or simply misstep? Did he turn properly to walk back? Did he only walk the number of steps the officer asked him to, or did he take more or fewer?

When looking at the one-legged stand, a lawyer will check to see if the driver followed instructions. Did he stand solidly on one foot? Did he hop, or put his foot down?

Other factors an attorney will consider include the age and medical condition of the driver. Older people and people who are out of shape often have balance issues that prevent them from successfully completing the tests. Some medical conditions have the same effect. For example, a person with a sinus infection or who is having a bad allergy day may find it difficult to balance because of sinus pressure on the inner ear, or they might be confused about the directions, because sinus problems also lead to headaches that impede comprehension. A person may have a syndrome like Tourette’s that causes their eyes and other muscles to twitch, making it seem as though they have failed a test when in fact, they simply cannot successfully complete it.

Video evidence will demonstrate whether the officer who made the DUI stop was able to administer the field sobriety tests properly. If he has made a mistake in doing so, it will show up on the video, which makes it easier for you to get the field sobriety test results thrown out of court.

Field sobriety tests are difficult for even sober people to complete. It is easy for a police officer to make a mistake in thinking someone they have stopped is driving under the influence based on their ability to perform one or more of these tasks.

A well-trained and experienced Pittsburgh criminal defense attorney will know exactly what to look for and what questions to ask to prove that mistakes were made, and get the results of a field sobriety test thrown out.

Have you been stopped for Driving Under the Influence and failed one or more field sobriety tests? Do you wish to fight them? If you do, you need a criminal defense attorney to represent you who has experience in fighting field sobriety tests. The Logue Criminal Defense team has successfully defended many clients in that situation. Logue Law Group serves the Pittsburgh, PA area, as well as West Virginia and Ohio. Call today for a free initial consultation: 412.387.6901 or 412.387.6901. Or, you may contact us online.

Don’t wait to call! Failing field sobriety tests means your license will be suspended, and you only have a small window of time in which to appeal it and fight the sobriety test results. If you wait, you could miss that window of opportunity, making it more difficult for an attorney to get you a good outcome. Call now!

Blood Alcohol Tests and the Option of Refusing to Submit

As it is in every state in the union, when you got your driver’s license and drove on the roads in and around Pittsburgh, you gave something called “implied consent” to submit to certain tests when requested by police officers. This means that by accepting your driver’s license, you agreed to have your blood, breath, or urine tested whenever an officer requests it. You also agreed to provide your driver’s license and proof of insurance when asked to do so. However, everyone is allowed to avoid self-incrimination according to the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution. So, you can refuse to take the BAC tests, but you have to face the consequences that result.

Submitting to blood alcohol testing can give police and prosecutors actual physical evidence if you are charged with a DUI. Look at your situation and weigh the consequences of submitting and refusing.

The test that is most common is a breathalyzer test. These tests have a reputation for being unreliable. Instead of a breath test, you may be asked to provide a blood or urine sample. Usually, these are collected at a police station. There are very specific steps and procedures that must be followed in collecting these. If someone mishandles the samples at any step along the way, the test results cannot be used against you. They become void. A Pittsburgh criminal defense attorney with experience in DUI defense knows how to look for these kinds of problems in the cases they defend.

Refusing a Blood Alcohol Content Test: Potential Penalties

Even though if you refuse a breathalyzer test, you can prevent prosecutors from getting their hands on physical evidence that your DUI charge was legitimate, you face serious consequences. The biggest one is that your driving privileges will be suspended. How long it is suspended depends on your criminal record. For a first time offender, it’s generally for a year.

Once you get the initial notice of your suspension, you have 30 days to ask for a hearing to challenge it. An attorney can defend you at this hearing by challenging the suspension details, including the stop made by police officers and the request for a BAC test. If you have a skilled Pittsburgh criminal defense attorney with you, you can fight the consequences of refusing to take a BAC test.

Just because an officer makes a request asking for you to submit to a BAC test does not mean he had probable cause to do so. This is one way a highly trained Pittsburgh criminal defense attorney can get those results thrown out.

Remember that you are allowed to refuse to submit to chemical blood alcohol testing, but there are life-altering consequences that you must face if you do, even if your charges are ultimately dismissed. Obtaining the services of an experienced and aggressive Pittsburgh DUI defense attorney will help you retain your driving privileges and reduce additional punishments.

The attorneys at Logue Law have extensive training in all aspects of DUI defense, including chemical BAC testing procedures. They are dedicated to helping people navigate the criminal justice system and getting them the best outcome possible for their cases. Call Sean Logue and his associates at 412.387.6901 or 412.387.6901 today. They can be reached online here. Consultations are free. Available 24/7, they serve Pittsburgh, PA, Ohio, and West Virginia.

Ohio law does not give a strict definition of either public urination or public defecation. If you are caught doing one of these in public, you’ll probably be charged with disorderly conduct, instead. Being ticketed for this charge can be embarrassing, especially once it becomes known exactly what you were charged for. Those around you will probably make fun of you. They may even become angry at you, especially your family and friends. If you were urinating on the neighbor’s flowers or in their yard, it could destroy any good relationship you had with them.

If you happened to do the deed near a playground, school, or child care facility, your charges will be worse and will come with consequences that will alter your life’s path.

You can be considered to have publicly defecated or urinated in any of the following situations:

• You went anywhere on private property that wasn’t intended to be a bathroom. (Remember the neighbor’s flowers?)
• You went anywhere on public property. This could be a yard, a street, park, sidewalk, alley, or anywhere else considered to be public.
• You went on a floor, staircase, wall, doorway, hall, or any other physical property that was not meant to be used as a bathroom in a publicly owned building or a building open to be used by the public.

The severity and level of your charges will depend on the circumstances of your case and the facts involved. At a minimum, your charges will be a simple misdemeanor. You’ll pay a fine of up to $150 but serve no jail time. At the worse, your charges will be a misdemeanor of the third degree. You’ll pay a fine of at least $150 but maybe more, and will have to serve a jail sentence of up to 60 days.

There are defenses available to most people charged with this crime. The most common is probably that it was necessary. For example, if you are stuck on an interstate for four hours between exits and you leave your car to urinate in the woods alongside the highway, it was necessary for you due to the danger of illness or injury from holding it in and the fact that there were no bathrooms available to you. This doesn’t mean you weren’t wrong for going in the woods to do your business. You will have to prove you acted in good faith, believing it was necessary, did not cause a bigger issue than the one you prevented, and that you had no alternative. However, public policy has long been that a defendant asks the judge to weigh the illegality against the circumstances.

It’s important for you to hire a Youngstown OVI lawyer even for a minor misdemeanor like public urination charged as disorderly conduct. If you are convicted, you will have a criminal record that will follow – and haunt – you the rest of your life. A criminal record of any kind can keep you out of housing and jobs that you want, and limit promotions and educational opportunities. If you are an immigrant, a criminal record could make staying in this country or becoming a citizen more difficult. A good attorney can get your charges dropped or reduced, even minor ones like disorderly conduct.

It is possible to get your record expunged after a set period of time has gone by. Usually, this is one year after the day your case was discharged. This is also a stressful and time-consuming process, and you’ll have to go back to court to get it completed.

Sean Logue of Logue Law Group is familiar with DUI laws and DUI defense, having represented hundreds of clients charged with DUI-related offenses. Logue Law Group is available to serve you all day, every day at 412.387.6901. Call now.

Public intoxication is also referred to as “disorderly conduct while intoxicated.” The Ohio Revised Code defines it in Chapter 2917.11. The ORC also gives a list of circumstances in which a person who has willingly gotten drunk can find themselves at the receiving end of a public intoxication charge. They are:

• Creating a condition or behaving in a manner which might potentially be dangerous to someone else or someone else’s property, or could possibly harm someone else or their property.
• Behaving in such a way, in front of two other people or in public, as to make another person be alarmed or frightened, irritated, offended, or inconvenience, when you would have known had you been sober, that you were doing it.

In addition to the above, failing to stop behaving in the manner you have been after you have been asked to stop will trigger harsher consequences. If you happen to be drunk and disorderly in front of a police officer, state trooper, firefighter, EMT, or at or near a school, you could face worst penalties.

There is no legal blood alcohol content limit for public intoxication. It’s a totally subjective thing based on a person’s behavior. If a cop sees you and you’re stumbling around when trying to walk, or having a hard time maintaining your balance, or slurring your words, he could arrest you for public intoxication.

There are many examples of public intoxication around us, especially on a weekend. The guy at the concert who got so drunk tailgating that he’s now standing on a chair, screaming obscenities at the band? Publicly intoxicated. The guy after the football game who’s darting in and out of traffic in the street, buck naked? Publicly intoxicated. Remember that parade last fall, where the guy climbed up the scaffolding on the bank building? Publicly intoxicated.

Public intoxication is usually prosecuted as a misdemeanor charge. Offenders are fined $150 but face no jail time.

If, however, the offender is someone who did not stop their behavior when asked to do so, the charge becomes a much harsher fourth-degree misdemeanor. In this case, the fine increases to $250 and a 30-day maximum jail sentence is tacked on.

Sometimes, in a public intoxication case, the arresting officer will take the offender to an alcohol treatment program, where he or she will stay for as long as two full days. If the offender wants to leave the program, he or she has to be released.

Other times, a judge may require an offender to complete an inpatient alcohol treatment program. Generally, this is a five-day program and if the offender completes it successfully, his or her charges may be dismissed.

As with any criminal charge, there are non-legal consequences to a public intoxication conviction. You could lose custody of your kids, lose a professional license, and lose or have a hard time getting a job.

Public intoxication charges are difficult to get dropped. Even if you can prove you weren’t drunk, you could still face disorderly conduct charges. In that case, it will be your word against the cop’s, and his word is considered to be more credible in court. This is a big reason for you to not try to fight a charge like this on your own. You will have more success if you hire a Youngstown OVI lawyer to represent you.

Logue Law Group is prepared to assist you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The attorneys at Logue Law Group have had intensive training in DUI defenses, laws, and arrests. They have years of experience defending people charged with DUI and public intoxication, having served hundreds of clients. Call 412.387.6901 right away for a free initial consultation.

Ohio considers selling alcohol to minors to be one of the most serious of DUI-related offenses. It’s also one of the most common, with citations for the offense being issued every single day. The legal drinking age in the state is 21. Selling or providing alcohol to a person younger than that age is illegal. The law includes beer, wine, and any other liquor that causes intoxication in its definition of alcohol.

The definition of selling alcohol to minors can be found in the Ohio Revised Code in Chapter 4301.69. This definition includes exceptions to the rule, as well.

• If you buy alcohol for a minor, give it to them, or sell it to them, you have committed a crime. There are three exceptions to this rule:
  • You are the legal guardian, spouse who is not underage, or parent of the minor.
  • You are a medical doctor and the alcohol was provided for medical reasons.
  • It is to be used for religious purposes.
• If you allow a person who is underage to drink alcohol on your property, you have committed a crime. The exception to this is if you are the minor’s spouse who is not underage, the minor’s parent, or the minor’s legal guardian.
• You have committed a crime if you use or make reservations at a restaurant, hotel, cabin, or campground and you know one of the following is going to happen:
  • Drugs will be used at that restaurant, cabin, hotel, or campground. The exception to this is drugs in original containers that were prescribed by a doctor or other licensed health professional. The law specifically indicates drugs of abuse in this paragraph.
  • Minors intend to drink alcohol at the cabin, campground, restaurant, or hotel. The exception to this is in cases where the drinks are provided by a legal guardian, parent, or spouse who is of legal age.
• If you allow an underage person to make their own reservations at a campground or hotel if you think or know for a fact a minor is drunk or has alcohol in their possession without being under the supervision of a parent, spouse who is of legal age, or legal guardian, you have committed a crime. Likewise, if you let someone else make those reservations with that knowledge or suspicion, you have committed a crime.
• If you allow any of the above things to happen to an underage person, regardless of your status as legal guardian, parent, or spouse who is of legal age, you have committed a crime.

A conviction for this offense is considered to be a misdemeanor of the first degree. The sentence is pretty harsh … $1,000 worth of fines and a jail sentence of up to six months.

As with all alcohol-related crimes, a conviction for this one can cause many non-criminal consequences. Keeping custody of your children is a big one. No judge is going to want to let you have them if you’re in the habit of letting them (or other minors) get drunk. Your family and friends may distance themselves from you and take away their support of you. You might lose your job and have a hard time getting another one. And, if you hold a license to sell liquor, that license could be suspended or revoked.

Providing alcohol to minors is not an insignificant charge, and is not one you should try to handle on your own. The consequences are too severe to risk losing your case. A Youngstown OVI lawyer like Sean Logue at Logue Law Group will be able to use the facts of your case to your best advantage. With years of experience handling hundreds of similar cases, Sean Logue knows how to get the best outcomes possible for his clients. Call him now at 412.387.6901.