Broward DUI Lawyer Blog

Baseball player Miguel Cabrera avoided jail time after entering a no contest plea in connection with a February DUI charge in Fort Pierce, TCPalm.com reports.

With his trial set for January and jury selection around the corner, he decided to enter a plea rather than risk going to trial. Our Fort Lauderdale DUI defense lawyers have chronicled this case and have wondered whether Cabrera would go to trial or settle on a sound plea agreement.

Being charged with DUI in Fort Lauderdale can be a stressful experience. There's an initial amount of fear and embarrassment for the driver, who now must figure out what to do next. Having to attend many hearings and appearing in public doesn't help.

But as in Cabrera's case, there is hope. He was even able to get his driver's license back after requesting a Florida DMV administrative hearing. Anyone charged with DUI must request a hearing within 10 days of their arrest.

The hearing is largely technical and is separate from the criminal case. Whatever happens in that hearing won't affect the DUI charge itself.

And as Cabrera's case shows, a first-time offender can sometimes end up with a somewhat positive outcome. According to police, Cabrera was on the side of the road in his broken down Land Rover on February 16 last year.

Officers stated that Cabrera's speech was slurred and his eyes were bloodshot and watery -- all signs to officers that the person has been drinking -- and they handcuffed him for not following orders. Before being arrested, officers said Cabrera grabbed a bottle of Scotch and drank from it in front of police.

He was initially charged with two counts of resisting officers without violence as well as DUI. Prosecutors dropped one count of resisting officers without violence early on in the case and as part of the plea agreement, the second resisting charged was dropped.

In entering a no contest plea, Cabrera was ordered to pay $1,436 in court costs, attend DUI school and a victim impact panel, perform 50 hours of community service and endure a driver's license suspension for six months. He was also placed on probation for six months and had to pay a $500 fine.

As you can see from the penalties, even a misdemeanor DUI charge is a major crime in the justice system. For a multi-millionaire, the price tag isn't bad. Cabrera can also opt to pay $500 to cover his community service time. But, he can't buy his way out of attending DUI school and a victim impact panel or dealing with six months of probation and without a driver's license. And the real cost of a DUI conviction can approach $20,000, counting skyrocketing insurance premiums, missed work and other costs.

Those are major inconveniences that can be tough to live with. And while someone with a lot of money may be able to afford a driver, what about the rest of us? Imagine being in the position of not being able to afford cab rides or not having someone who can drive you around? It's a major inconvenience.

In this case, it was better than the alternative of going to trial and possibly being sent to jail or facing other sanctions if convicted. That's the gamble of taking a plea instead of going to trial. Every DUI defendant must take an aggressive approach to these charges and that means scrutinizing every piece of evidence and looking for holes in the state's case.