San Diego DUI Attorney: Next Steps After an Arrest

What To Do If Arrested for DUI in California

Video Transcript:

Mark Deniz: 

One mistake does not define you, and you really wanna show the good character of the individual and show to the court and to the prosecution that this person, if anything, made a mistake.

Tom Mustin: 

What should you know if you're pulled over for a suspected DUI? We're gonna talk to attorney Mark Deniz about that on today's Ask The Lawyer. Mark, thanks for joining us.

Mark Deniz: 

Great to be here. Thank you.

Tom Mustin: 

Great to talk to you. And I know you have a lot of experience as a prosecutor, so what is your experience dealing with people who are facing DUI charges in San Diego?

Mark Deniz: 

Yeah, I started when I started practicing. As soon as I got out, I got into this field. My first 10 years, I started working on the prosecution side, ended up working with high-level DUI cases, and then after a while, I realized that there was some need to have some really good representation on the defense side, so I moved over to the defense side and been doing that now for close to 10 years.

Tom Mustin: 

Okay. So let's talk about what happens when a person is arrested for DUI? What are the next steps and what should that person do?

Mark Deniz: 

Yeah, it's pretty troubling situation for a person. Once they're arrested on a DUI, they end up going into a situation where the officers take away their driver's license. In many cases, their automobile is towed, they're walking out of the jails and they're figuring out what to do next, and they have a court date that's coming up. At that point, you really wanna start looking to get representation because you're dealing with now the DMV side and the court side that needs to be dealt with. So you have to deal with both the department of motor vehicles, as well as court. And that's something that, I know for us, that we handle both sides for our clients, because you really have to sync them up. They are separate, but at the same time, they are connected.

Tom Mustin: 

And along the same lines, Mark, talk about some of the potential defenses to DUI.

Mark Deniz: 

Yeah. So looking at the situation, you have to break it down in segments, and when you're looking and talking about DUI cases, it all starts with, how did the officer come in contact with the individual? So in most circumstances, somebody is stopped on the highway, it could be an officer sees a vehicle, but in most cases, you wanna see why the officer came into contact. So why did the officer stop the individual? The next step, why did the officer ask them out of the vehicle, which is usually the next step. Finding out that the officer's line of reasoning and their articulation of how they did that. How they got them out of the vehicle? What questions did they ask? Did they run any field sobriety test and did they do it properly to make an inevitable decision on whether to arrest that individual? The final one after that, you gotta see whether there's a test. It's either a blood or breath test in most circumstances, whether the officers did that correctly. So it breaks down in about three to four segments.

Tom Mustin: 

And let's talk about the punishment. What's the penalty for a first-time DUI in California, and is jail time mandatory for a first-time offender?

Mark Deniz: 

Jail time is not mandatory, but I will tell you the sentiment that's out there is that DUIs are dangerous, and what ends up happening is more and more... The laws are going to be bent to bring that mandatory jail time. In most cases, it could be avoided. What I foresee, and what I will tell you from my experience is you have to watch for the other punishments that come with DUI. Classes and fines are gonna be in a large amount of cases, but it is the bells and whistles, home detentions, interlock devices, ankle monitoring, trash pick-up. Those can really sink someone and really disrupt someone's life, and those are more the reality that people have to deal with in DUI cases.

Tom Mustin: 

And do you automatically lose your license if you're convicted of a DUI?

Mark Deniz: 

What happens is the ball gets set in motion that you can lose your license and you can lose it up to six months, and in certain situations, it could be up to a year. But with good representation and looking at the facts, most people are eligible for a restricted license. But what you have to do is figure out there's a few types of restricted licenses, and what you wanna do is sync up the type of the restriction that usually works best with your own life and blend it with what's going on with the court case. And usually wanna... It's a symphonic sort of blend of marrying those two tie ends together.

Tom Mustin: 

And a different scenario here, Mark. What if you're arrested for a second or third DUI? What should you do in that case, and what are you facing?

Mark Deniz: 

That actually is the big danger that people... That the courts and the prosecution have is the danger that someone can expose to the public. And when you have multiple DUIs, you're acknowledging or at least on the face of it, you are presenting the prosecution and the court that you're a public safety risk. So you have to be proactive from a defense point of view to really show them that you are not going to be that issue and you are gonna take charge and be proactive. You do not wanna be reactive in those kind of cases, you wanna be proactive, you wanna... Before the first court date, I know it is best to have a game plan and to have a situation, because instead of waiting to say, "What do you guys think should happen on this case?" What should happen is, you go, "This client or this individual has done this, this, this and this, to address their issues or any issues that might be out there before even the first court date." That's the way you're gonna come out with the best possible outcome.

Tom Mustin: 

You're obviously very passionate about what you do, so why do you believe that people who are accused of crimes deserve this passionate defense?

Mark Deniz: 

Well, I always first off looking and say that someone might not be guilty of the crime. And so you always look... I'll give you an example. I've had a situation where someone went out to their car because they were arguing with a roommate and they went out there to sleep and to watch a fight on their phone, and they ended up falling asleep. But the fact that the car was on, the fact that they were there, the officers or a passerby believed that they were DUI. So the first thing is, was someone actually committed the crime or committed the act that they're being accused of? The second one is, if they are, one mistake does not define you, and you really wanna show the good character of the individual and show to the court and to the prosecution that this person, if anything, made a mistake. And that's how you bring forth character evidence and being proactive to get that best possible outcome.

Tom Mustin: 

Well, great point there, Mark. And thank you for your insight. We really appreciate it. Thank you for joining us.

Mark Deniz: 

It's my pleasure.

Tom Mustin: 

And that's gonna do it for this episode of Ask The Lawyer. My guest has been Mark Deniz. If you wanna ask Mark about your situation, call the number you see on the screen. Thanks for watching. I'm Tom Mustin for Ask The Lawyers.

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