Working With A Great Lawyer

Fight Against Court-Mandated Alcohol Rehab After A DUI Arrest

27 November 2018

Dianne Ellis

When you've been arrested for driving while intoxicated and it's clear that the evidence against you is rock solid, your attorney will often shift his or her focus from attempting to plead your innocence to working on a favorable form of punishment. Of course, no form of punishment after a DUI is ideal, but there are some types that are certainly better than others. Sometimes, the court will require you to go through an alcohol rehabilitation program as part of your sentencing, but you may not wish to do so. Generally, a court will impose this ruling if it believes that you have a serious alcohol problem. Here are some ways that you and your attorney can suggest otherwise.

Have People Testify On Your Behalf

There's little doubt that if you're looking at being found guilty (or pleading guilty) in a DUI case, you made a bad decision. This doesn't mean, however, that you have a legitimate alcohol problem. For example, you might only drink a couple of times a year, but you happened to get pulled over on one of these occasions. Having people testify on your behalf that you're a sporadic drinker who is rarely under the influence of alcohol — and perhaps even serves as the designated driver when your group of friends goes out — can bolster your argument that you don't have a drinking problem and therefore don't need to attend rehab.

Provide Financial Records

You and your DUI attorney might wish to discuss the idea of providing financial statements that show how drinking is not a problem for you because you rarely partake. For example, you could show credit card statements for the past few months and receipts for restaurants and supermarkets that appear on those credit card statements. What you're wanting to highlight is that you don't buy alcohol when you're dining out or when you're shopping. This approach can show that you almost never drink and that the drinking you did in advance of your DUI arrest was a rare situation rather than being indicative of a problem.

Show Your Medical Records

Another option to explore is to provide the court with copies of your medical records that show you to have a clean bill of health. Medical records that describe how you almost never drink, and tests that show your body is healthy — rather than perhaps having physical issues that are commonly associated with alcoholism — can serve as further proof that while you might have driven drunk, you don't have a problem and therefore shouldn't have to attend court-mandated rehab.

For help with your DUI case, contact an attorney at a law firm like Dionisio Law.

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