Any Experienced, Aggressive Maryland DUI/DWI Attorney will tell you that courts in Maryland and throughout the nation are getting tougher and tougher on people convicted or even charged with multiple offenses for Driving Under the Influence or Driving While Impaired by Alcohol. People in this situation are increasingly being hit with significant bails and ultimately increasing long prison terms. No longer are the days that a person charged with his or her second or third offense can count on being released on their personal recognizance and receiving probation.
A particularly shocking example of this trend is the DUI/DWI case that I was hired for on Tuesday. The client was picked up for DUI/DWI on Sunday night. He allegedly made a right turn on red at an intersection where doing so was prohibited. He pulled over immediately and was totally cooperative and polite throughout the investigation. After not performing the field sobriety tests to the satisfaction of the officer he was arrested and taken to Central Booking. Sometime on Monday morning he saw a court commission who set his bail at $10,000.
At this point his wife attempted to post their home for the bail but was told by the commissioner that they had insufficient equity. The reason for this is that the court calculates the equity in a home by subtracting the outstanding mortgage from the tax assessment value of the home. The tax assessment value is almost always substantially less than the market value of the home.
The next day the client appeared in the District Court for a bail review. His wife did not retain an attorney to represent him at this hearing which turned out to be a big mistake. In a truly unbelievable ruling the judge revoked the client’s bail. That’s right, the Judge ordered that the client be held without bail. This in spite of the fact that he has no criminal record, owns a home in Baltimore City, is married with children and has a good job. In other words he has very strong roots in the community and does is not a danger. The point is that in today’s environment, anyone who is charged with a DUI or DWI should immediately retained an experienced Maryland DUI attorney before appearing in court, even for a bail review.