Life After a DUI near USC or UCLA

Perhaps you were stopped for driving under the influence near UCLA on Westwood Boulevard after munching on one-too-many late night warm Diddy Reese cookies and sipping on beers with friends. Or maybe you were stopped on Vermont near USC for speeding and reckless driving after a frat house party. In any event, the lapse of judgment or reason has created massive havoc in your life. How might your UCLA or USC DUI arrest – and possible conviction – impact not only your freedom and ability to drive but also your academic and professional future?

The college years (and graduate school years) are times of experimentation. After being confined by your parents’ rules for so long, you can be tempted to “push the envelope” and test the limits of your school and society. Some experimentation is natural – and even healthy. Some rules were, indeed, made to be broken. But not rules like California Vehicle Code Section 23152 (a) or 23152 (b) – the laws that cover misdemeanor Los Angeles DUI.

If you are convicted of violating these CVC codes, penalties can come at you from many directions:

* You can lose your license for up to a year.
* You can be compelled to attend alcohol school and adhere to strict probation terms.
* You may have to spend substantial time behind bars.
* You may be compelled to install something called an interlock ignition device (IID) in your vehicle – this device prevents you from driving your car unless you can blow a “sober breath” into a breathalyzer like device.
* You may also have to pay court costs and fines and fees.

And those are just the direct costs of a Los Angeles DUI!

The indirect costs are often both more subtle and more damaging:

* For instance, your insurance rates can go up – costing you thousands of dollars over the next few years.
* If you get arrested again for DUI or any other crime, your future penalties can be spiked because of a past conviction.
* You could get into academic trouble.
* Even if UCLA or USC does not explicitly punish you, your “DUI drama” may distract you from your school work, impair your ability to attend classes or attend the job that you need to pay for school, and so forth.

The silver lining to this very dark cloud is that an experienced UCLA or USC DUI attorney can profoundly help you – either by getting the charges dismissed altogether or by getting them pled down to lesser offenses. A good attorney can also help provide guidance and resources to help you understand what went wrong – what were the underlying forces that drove you to break the law or get in trouble with the police.

To achieve your best scenario outcome, you may need to act with some haste and retain a top quality Los Angeles DUI attorney. Consider working with the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers’s own Michael Kraut – a widely recognized and celebrated Los Angeles DUI criminal defense attorney who has been featured on CBS, KTLA News, FOX News, and other sources. Mr. Kraut attended Harvard Law School and worked for years as a prosecutor. He can help you strategize to formulate the most appropriate defense. Call now: Local: (323) 464-6453 Toll Free: (888) 334-6344. The KLG is located at 6255 Sunset Boulevard, Suite 1520, Los Angeles, California 90028.

If you have been arrested for a DUI in Los Angeles or you are under investigation for driving under the influence in Southern California, please contact Los Angeles criminal defense attorney Michael Kraut for 24/7 assistance by phone at (323) 464-6453 or toll free at (888) 334-6344 or online.