Michigan Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog
To win a Michigan driver’s license restoration or clearance appeal, a person must be genuinely sober. In our roles as Michigan driver’s license restoration lawyers, we know that when it comes to the word “sober,” there are 3 kinds of people: Those who pretend to be sober (thinking they can win a license appeal this way), those who think they’re sober (but don’t understand what sobriety really means), and those who truly are sober. In this article, we’ll look at sobriety in the context of Michigan license appeal cases, because it’s only people in that last group who can win.
If one was to try and boil the driver’s license restoration process into a single (albeit long) sentence, it would be this: To win a license appeal, you must prove, by clear and convincing evidence, that you have been alcohol (and drug) free for a legally sufficient period of time, and that you have the ability and commitment to never drink or get high (this includes using recreational marijuana) for the rest of your life. There’s a whole lot packed into that statement, so we will break that all down and explain what it really means in plain English and simple terms.
Let’s start by noting that everything that matters about a driver’s license restoration or clearance appeal is either based upon or directly related to sobriety. Here’s a simple way to try and put this in perspective: Anyone who has lost his or her license as the result of multiple prior DUI convictions is seen as “risky” to get another one. The Secretary of State knows one thing for certain – People who don’t drink anymore are exactly zero risk to ever drive drunk again, and, therefore, those are the only people who it will even consider putting back on the road.
If by “fighting,” someone means NOT rolling over and NOT being spineless, then that’s correct. Unfortunately, for as many lawyers as there are who will charge endless fees to fight everything they can, there are plenty of others who are very much the opposite, and will plead out just about every case they get. Such lawyers “sell out” their clients just as much as the “fight everything” operations fleece theirs. When you think about it logically, it’s obvious that neither choice, by itself, is the right one, and that the best approach is a kind of compromise, falling somewhere in the middle.
People who are sober make it a point to do certain things, and to specifically NOT do other things. This is consistent with an important AA saying for newcomers that’s really solid advice for anyone in early recovery: Avoid wet faces and wet places. In other words, in order to help a person NOT drink – especially early on – he or she should avoid being around people who are drinking (“wet faces”) and stay out of places where people gather to drink (“wet places”). This is something we look for in potential clients as we explore whether they really have quit drinking and are sober – or not.
We closed out the previous installment by discussing the critical importance of the mandatory alcohol screening, something that is part of the larger PSI (Pre-Sentence Investigation) process. The end result of the PSI is a sentencing recommendation, written by the probation officer, and sent to the Judge, advising him or her exactly what kind of sentence to impose. This matters because, in the real world, every Judge follows this recommendation VERY closely, if not to the very letter. In that sense the recommendation is really a blueprint for what’s going to happen.
Let’s begin with this simple fact: It is overwhelmingly likely that anyone convicted of a Michigan OWI (DUI) offense will be placed on some kind of probation. Contrary to the marketing hype found on some legal websites, the real truth is that more than 98% of all DUI charges brought in Michigan do NOT get dismissed or tossed out of court. Of course, the goal in every case is to get it “knocked out,” but that outcome is the exception, not the rule. In the real world, it boils down to this: If you’re facing a drunk driving charge, then you’re pretty much facing a term of probation, as well.
Like so many of my other articles, this one was inspired by a real life case involving a client arrested for DUI in about the toughest jurisdiction here in the Greater-Detroit area. I often write about the importance of location in criminal and DUI cases, because it does directly impact how a case will play out, but the underlying truth is that what really makes one location easier or tougher than another are the prosecutors and Judges who work there. Certain courts are just “tougher” than others, but that tends to follow a kind of general continuum, with the more lenient courts being clustered around each other, and vice-versa.
Until the Coronavirus pandemic hit, about the only time anyone ever had blood taken was if he or she refused to provide a breath test, and the police had to get a warrant for a blood draw. In fact, when someone contacted us and indicated that his or her blood was taken, it pretty much always meant that he or she had refused a breath test. That’s no longer true, and, as of this writing, blood tests are every bit as common, if not MORE common, than breath tests following a DUI arrest, at least here in the Greater-Detroit area, where my team and I concentrate our drinking and driving practice.
The inspiration for this piece, like so many others, came from our senior assistant, after another busy day at the office. As we got ready to close up shop one recent afternoon, she remarked that some people mistakenly think they can BS the hearing officers, and that’s because these folks don’t have a clue about the skill those hearing officers bring to their jobs. Unless someone does license appeals for a living, they simply can’t grasp the absolutely central role of the hearing officer, and the depth of experience they have listening to people testify. In the context of a license appeal, that can be a fatal mistake.
They should be, given that they hear driver’s license restoration and clearance appeals all day, every day. Of course, given that this is also what my team and I do all day, every day, we know exactly what things will cause the hearing officers to respond favorably, and what will have the opposite effect. In our many conversations with callers each day, it’s not that uncommon for a person to say something to us like, “You just tell me what to say, and I can do it,” or “I can say whatever you need me to.” That’s a huge red flag for us, and an almost certain (and unwitting) assurance that the speaker is NOT sober.
There are 2 important things about money and legal services worth noting, and they’re like opposite sides of the same coin: First – you will never get what you don’t pay for when you hire a lawyer. Experienced, skilled and talented lawyers will never compete to be the most “affordable.” The better class of anything is never cheap. Second, it is an unfortunate fact that too many attorneys charge far more than their representation is worth. It’s much easier to wind up paying too much for an average, mediocre lawyer than to get any kind of “deal” for top-notch legal services.