What's the first thing I should do when arrested for drunk driving in Michigan?

Many clients reach out to me over the weekend and late at night; they've been released from jail, they don't know where their vehicle was towed, and they have 100's of questions about what's going to happen to them.  The biggest thing to do when in this situation is to simply call a timeout, regroup and prioritize your to-do list. 

When a client reaches out to me, I ask them to see any paperwork provided by the police department or a court.  They may have seen a judge or simply released by the police department.  There may or may not be bond conditions in place, and a court date may or may not have been set yet. 

The clients who contact me are not familiar with the process, and may not realize that they can't drink alcohol or travel outside of Michigan due to bond conditions.  They may have been released with alcohol and/or drug testing setup and not realize it.  The worst thing to do is to compound a drunk driving arrest with failure to comply with bond conditions. 

So the first thing to do is understand what your obligations may be with the court, and to make the next impression a better impression on the court, prosecutor and the police.  

A drunk driving arrest in Michigan is a "first impression" - it is what it is.  It's not going to look great to a judge, prosecutor or the police.  If your next impression is on the mark, you have put yourself on the path of compliance, and can begin to work toward what I call the "true impression".

Once we understand bond conditions, we need to sort out when the first/next court appearance will be; failure to show up for a court date is a serious issue for someone charged with drunk driving. 

Because the client has hired me as their lawyer, I am able to reach out to the prosecutor, police and court and confirm this information for them.  I send over an attorney appearance and I am able to inform my client of this important information.  We may be able to waive the arraignment and push the case out a bit as we work toward creating that "true impression"

Our timeout strategy has put us in control of the next steps of the case.  The arrest and release felt like it was going 100 miles an hour; we're not in a more stable place and ready to get to work on my proactive DUI program. 

To learn more about that approach, click here