A well-known personal injury lawyer was recently arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. A sheriff’s deputy spotted the attorney’s Lamborghini speeding in a 35 mph zone. When he pulled over the car, the deputy thought he smelled alcohol on the attorney’s breath.
The attorney said he had not been drinking and refused a field sobriety test. That led to his immediate arrest. In a bit of irony, the attorney had devoted much of his practice representing victims of DUI accidents and said he would never defend drunk drivers.
A lot of people, when confronted with a DUI arrest, may for various reasons choose not to hire a lawyer. Maybe they are too embarrassed, or perhaps they just do not think it is worth the expense. Instead, they try to represent themselves.
If anyone is equipped to handle his own case, it would be an experienced attorney. But even here, the lawyer who was arrested immediately hired someone else to handle his case.
He knew that having an experienced DUI attorney was a lot smarter than trying to handle the issues himself. An attorney can look at a case objectively and determine the correct approach, whereas the person arrested and facing court cannot.
If you were to ask the attorney if he made the right decision, he would give an unequivocal yes. A few weeks after he was handcuffed and taken to jail, charges against the lawyer were dropped. Prosecutors cited a lack of evidence of impairment and that there was plenty of reasonable doubt.
Perhaps exceeding the speed limit in a car as obvious as a Lamborghini wasn’t the smartest move, but the attorney made the right choice after that when he hired his own lawyer.