Broward DUI Lawyer Blog

A few days after the Thanksgiving weekend, the Sun Sentinel reports a 22-year-old woman, the daughter of two Broward County judges, was charged with DUI in Fort Lauderdale.

This story shows that DUI is a charge that does not discriminate and can happen to anyone. Even in cases where a person has no intention to commit the crime, they can be charged, arrested and booked into jail.

While statistics have shown a sharp decrease in the number of Americans charged with DUI in the last few decades, our Fort Lauderdale DUI defense lawyers also understand that police continue to step up their patrols.

On our blog, we have reported about police officers, celebrities and firefighters who have been charged with this crime. Even people who are paid to uphold the law and understand the ins and outs of Florida Statutes have been charged and convicted.

It is the most commonly filed charge in the United States because it is so easy to commit. And lawmakers have attempted to garner favor with voters by increasing penalties, even for first-time offenders.

In Florida, a person charged with DUI for the first time can face up to six months in jail, a fine of up to $1,000, probation of up to a year, combined with jail time, 50 hours community service, 180 days without a driver's license or up to a year, as well as having to complete DUI school and possibly having to install an ignition interlock device on the vehicle.

These are serious sanctions for a person who has made a mistake and if a person faces a DUI charge solely, it's likely he or she did no harm to anyone else. While there are programs designed for first-time offenders, they typically require an endorsement from a prosecutor and the mercy of a judge, which sometimes can be challenging.

These cases are never easy and given the penalties, a person can end up facing more sanctions than if they planned out a theft. But those are the laws on the books, so we must abide by them.

In this case, according to the newspaper report, the 22-year-old was found passed out behind the wheel of a vehicle in a parking lot, Plantation police reported. She allegedly told the arresting officer, "I'm drunk."

Witnesses told police she had been driving the wrong way in the parking lot and was lying in the grass when a woman picked her up and put her in the passenger seat. Police report she then slid into the vehicle's driver's seat and backed into a parked truck.

Officers reported she had slurred speech and bloodshot eyes. Authorities transported her to a local hospital and she was later released on bond. She faces three misdemeanor DUI counts and a traffic infraction, the newspaper reports.