Utah DUI Defense Attorney

Salt Lake City DUI Defense Lawyer

Drunk Driving / Driving Under the Influence / Driving While Intoxicated

DUI and/or DWI (as known in other states)

In any state, including Utah, perhaps no area of criminal law is tougher to defend than a driving under the influence case. For that reason, a DUI defense is not for the novice attorney. If you are facing this charge, call us at 801-364-6454.

Certainly no law is more convoluted than DUI legislation. For example a rape case has basically two factual elements, that being "[1] sexual intercourse . . . and . . . [2] without consent" – that’s pretty straight forward.

However, in Utah, the code regulating DUI offenses covers more than 30 statutory provisions, within the Utah Criminal Code, the Utah Motor Vehicle Code, the Uniform Driver Act, and the Utah Administrative Procedures Act. Moreover, DUI enactments are also addressed in the Utah Administrative Code, and there are dozens more City and County Ordinances throughout the State of Utah.

Of special concern is that each year the State Legislature seems to revise these particular laws, usually making them tougher and tougher to beat. A practicing attorney in the DUI area of law must bring his ’A’ game to court and the administrative hearings to provide his client effective representation.

Of the most notable changes of the recent couple of years is that 1) the Legislature lengthened the suspension period for a first-time DUI from a 90-day suspension to a 120-day suspension. 2), the revocation period was doubled, for a refusal to submit to law enforcement’s request of a client to submit to a chemical test, from 18 months to 36 months if there was a prior suspension within 10 years – so you essentially get punished for choosing not to testify against yourself. And 3), the Legislature created a DWI alternative provision providing for lighter penalties in exchange for an early guilty plea – using the restoration of a driving privilege as the enticement if completed within 60 days. This restoration is only available for suspension cases, not in cases where a driver refused to take a chemical test.

Other common mistakes for newbie attorneys is when they enter an appearance for the Client in the criminal case, but overlook that the DUI citation also created an administrative proceeding in the Driver License Division. Moreover, these hearings occur within 30 days of the arrest and can provide an excellent opportunity to gain information to settle the criminal case – or even defeat it. (A practice hint is to send an associate attorney to the administrative hearing, so that he is available to testify as a witness, or expert witness, in the criminal case. This is because according to the Rules of Professional Conduct for lawyers, an attorney in a criminal trial cannot act as counsel and as a witness. If the attorney chooses not to do this, he can still use the audio of that hearing.)

These pages concerning DUI law on this website must be reviewed and updated each year following every general session and special session of the Legislature, because DUI laws are hot topics for revision.

And whenever someone is killed as a result of a drunk driver, you can count on a new bill being introduced in either the House or Senate next during the next session. Honestly, each time the Legislature convenes, I expect them to make the DUI offense a felony (after all, more and more felonies are enacted after day, and we are truly heading back to the dark days of a man named Draco, who wanted just about everything to be a felony, which is where we get the word "draconian").

Click to learn more: DUI Information and Case Law
Also See: Utah Statues of DUI Related Offenses