Driving Under the Influence (DUI) of alcohol and other similar substances has increased in the last few years, and that graph keeps heading towards the North, with no intention of returning. Not many people understand the possible and very serious implications of such crimes. These implications seem petty or rather insignificant as compared to the more popular, so to say, or serious offences; but, can affect your life in more ways that you can imagine. 

Documents serve as prime evidence when dealing with any crime. Always make sure that you collect all pertinent documents that might make concrete evidence to support you in dealing with your case. Also, be diligent enough to preserve them, make more copies of these documents and also make it a habit to study these documents for any sort of irregularities and discrepancies that may strengthen your case against the police authorities. 

Make sure you have written down and taken a note of all the major as well as minor details that you as well as you friends or family or witnesses, if any to the crime, can remember, about the incident. This part is often not covered by ordinary citizens as they generally are unaware and ignorant of these things. Make sure you have noted down all the details of everything that took place before, at the time of, and immediately after the arrest. 

 

Always go for a hearing wherein you get the chance to explain and represent your version of the whole event. This is very crucial and forms the basis for the subsequent charges and trials that will follow. As a citizen, you have been conferred with the right to a fair trial and due process of law. So, do not let go of these benefits that the law confers upon you and use them to their maximum.

Make sure you request to have the arresting officer and/or the investigating officer present in person at the time of the hearing and also make sure the process of cross-examination and questioning takes place in a methodical manner before a neutral body of administrators.

Hiring a competent attorney is the most crucial step when dealing with a DUI charge. You will need your legal attorney present along your side right from the moment you are taken into custody by the police. A good and competent DUI Attorney in California knows best how to negotiate with the state prosecutor in order to dismiss the charges against you. He will also know ways to bargain for a lesser offense and, thus, get you lesser penalties for the offence that you are charged with.

The DUI lawyer will of course make sure your case is aptly and effectively represented and fought for, but additionally, if you yourself also possess some knowledge of the DUI law and its consequences, there is no harm. It might make a stronger defense for your case. Hire a competent and smart lawyer, but do not forget to make an equally competent and smart client yourself. 

As a general practice, when you are caught with a DUI crime, the first thing that is performed on you before your arrest is the roadside physical test. This test is supposedly done to test your level of impairment due to alcohol intoxication. However, these minor tests are not very reliable, and also quite subjective since they rely largely on the judgment of the arresting officer. And since the police officer only needs to have probable cause to believe that you are intoxicated, it may happen in some cases that even a perfectly normal performance of the tests can be tampered with to show that you were definitely impaired and hence guilty. Instead, if the arresting authorities make you undergo a blood sample test, it might turn out to be a bit expensive but it gives a more accurate and reliable result to determine your level of intoxication.