Meet you at the police station after your arrest and advise you about whether you should take the Datamaster test or not
Offer you a free initial consultation so that you can determine whether you want to establish an attorney-client relationship
Explain Iowa's OWI law
Help you find a substance abuse evaluator and alcohol abuse treatment if necessary
Help you set up and prepare for a DOT hearing if your license hasn't already been revoked
Explain what penalties you could be facing if convicted and what your options are for jury trial or plea bargaining
Offer legal advice about what to do next
Evaluate whether law enforcement performed a legal stop
Check whether it was legal for officers to stop you to begin with.
Look for defects in the State's evidence and failures in police procedures.
Review the DataMaster's calibration and certification records.
Review how field sobriety tests were administered.
Investigate whether officers have properly informed you of your rights.
Review whether your rights to call lawyers and family members were respected.
Review whether you were properly informed of what would happen if you chose to take the Breathalyzer and failed and what would happen if you refused.
Check whether your right to independent testing was observed.
Ensure that your prior convictions in other states aren't counted against you as prior OWI convictions unless the State proves that those were substantially similar proceedings.
Guide you through DOT license revocation hearings.
Make sure your rights to speedy indictment and speedy trial are honored.
Help you get your license revocation rescinded if the state doesn't follow time restrictions they have regarding properly-submitted requests for hearings and reviews.
In a deferred judgment, you plead guilty to the offense of Operating While Intoxicated. You are placed on probation. As long as you successfully complete probation, the offense will be expunged from your record. If you take a deferred judgment on an OWI, you will face civil penalties of $1250 instead of criminal fines for the violation.
You aren't eligible for a deferred judgment if you have a blood alcohol breath test of .15 or more, if you have a previous DUI conviction or deferred in any state,
Drunk driving, driving while impaired, operating while intoxicated, driving under the influence, etc., are all terms that various states use to describe the crime of operating a motor vehicle while you are drunk, under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or have a blood alcohol concentration that exceeds the legal limit.
In Iowa, the limit is .08 for adults and .02 for anyone under 21.
DUI, DWI, and OWI are all essentially the same thing, but in Iowa, your charge will be called "operating while intoxicated."
Any criminal defense lawyer licensed in Iowa can give you legal advice. Some criminal defense lawyers specialize in DUI charges and related crimes. You might find a full-service law firm with a defense lawyer who handles OWI charges. It shouldn't be difficult at all to find an available Des MoinesDUI lawyer, but if you can't find the law firm you're looking for, you can check a lawyer directory. Look for an office near you that offers legal services for criminal charges.
After you are stopped, the police officer(s) talking to you will probably ask you to take a PBT (preliminary breath test) and/or FSTs (standardized field sobriety tests.) After you take these or refuse them, you will probably be arrested and taken to either the police station, the sheriff's office, or the county jail.
Once you're at the county jail, you will be offered the chance to call a family member or an attorney. Take that opportunity! Most OWI charges happen late at night, but some law firms have 24/7 or emergency numbers. Sometimes, a law firm will even have someone come out from the office to meet you at the police station or jail so that they can discuss the criminal penalties and the driver's license issues that you might face if you either take or refuse the DataMaster (breathalyzer) test. (They might ask you to take a blood or urine test if they suspect that you're under the influence of a substance other than or in addition to alcohol.)
You have the right to a separate test at your own expense if you want one.
After you either take or refuse the test, it's likely that you will be booked into the jail or released into the custody of someone who can drive you home. If you hadn't spoken to an attorney yet, this is the time to reach out and do that! If you've already spoken to an attorney, you should call them back and plan the next steps.
Shortly after receiving the police narrative from the arresting agency, the county attorney's office will probably file criminal charges. The state's attorney is going to demand your appearance at court, where they will begin the process of trying to convict you as a criminal. The prosecutor will not advise you on any legal matters. The prosecutor is only there to represent the State.
If you can't afford an attorney, the State will provide you with a public defender. Even people who are appointed counsel at State expense sometimes choose to hire other lawyers. Often, their friends or family members will help them defray the costs of hiring an attorney who can help guide them through criminallaw issues.
If the police officer doesn't take your driver's license at the time of your arrest, you will get a letter in the mail not long after your release. Unless you or your attorney file a request for a hearing, your license and your driving privileges will be revoked
If you've been charged with drunk driving in Iowa, you are facing an expensive situation. You need an OWI attorney.
An OWI conviction will expose to you to at least a $1250 fine (plus a 35% surcharge) -- and possibly thousands more -- and at least two days in jail for a first offense.
If you're convicted of Iowa OWI (Iowa DUI), you'll have to carry SR-22 insurance for two years from the date of your most recent license revocation. Your car insurance costs will increase -- possibly by hundreds of dollars per month, and probably for years.
Drinking and driving could affect your job standing and professional licensing. You could have difficulty trying to visit Canada. You will have to pay to install and maintain an ignition interlock device in any car you own or operate.
Your Iowa DUI conviction can't be expunged. If you plead guilty or are convicted at trial, that will never come off your record.
When you hire an attorney at Clark & Sears Law, you're paying to have someone explore your routes to evidence suppression and to reasonable doubt.
"OWI" is what Iowa calls what lots of other states call a "DUI" or "DWI." If you're looking for a DUI lawyer or a DWI attorney but you're in Iowa, what you're actually looking for is OWI defense.
You can be charged with OWI for being "intoxicated," OR for having a blood alcohol content of .08 or higher as measured by a test of your blood, breath, or urine, OR if you have any prohibited drugs in your system.
An Iowa OWI attorney can review the state's evidence and check it against the Iowa code and against existing case law to find out whether any searches were done correctly. An attorney will be able to help guide you through DOT license revocation hearings and help you get your revocation rescinded if the state doesn't comply with time restrictions they have regarding properly-submitted requests for hearings and reviews.
fter law school, we started work in criminal defense. We'll go to court to protect your criminal defense rights.
If you are placed on informal probation, you will still need to contact the clerk of court. Someone at the clerk's office will help you set up a payment plan for your court fees and the supervision fee for your probation officer. Your criminal defense lawyer can help you arrange the details with the county clerk's office.
