Saving your license, and avoiding jail in Michigan - Sobriety Court Shopping 101

A client charged with an OWI second offense in Michigan faces mandatory jail time and loss of license for at least one calendar year, more if there are additional prior offenses.  Assuming you have one prior DUI in the past seven years, you need to strongly consider these two issues.  

More importantly, what the heck is going on in your life that you picked up a second drunk driving? It doesn't make you a bad person, bad parent, employee, member of the community, or anything that can't be turned around, but it's really time to embrace help from outside sources.  

A sobriety court in Michigan could help you avoid that mandatory jail, and potentially give you the ability to drive a car in the near future vs waiting a full year.  The problem is your court MAY NOT have a sobriety court that is funded and approved by the State of Michigan.  And if it does and you do not live within the jurisdiction, the sobriety court could say you're not eligible.  

So here we are, we want to keep our license, avoid jail and get help, but all doors appear closed on us? Well not necessarily; I have successfully worked out sobriety court transfers in and out of many courts in Michigan.  It's not always easy to ask a court to sign away power over your case after breaking the law in their city, township or village - even within the county.  It's even trickier to get another court and probation staff to take one "someone else's problem" in a county or city which you didn't even break the law.  

So how do we do this? We get to work, and demonstrate hard work, motivation and we're worth the extra screening, time, paperwork and effort by all parties.  All of my clients begin a proactive program on day one, and this is the key part of working out this type of challenging transfer.  It's not easy to get people to agree without previewing your performance and motivations.  

If you or someone else has researched sobriety courts in Michigan, yet don't think you're eligible because of the court you're charged, let's talk about some options to get you where you need to be.