You are drunk or stoned at your friend’s place. Something comes up and you have to leave for work. Reaching home to your family on time, after an office-party is important, but at what cost? You are super-tired and you decide to stop your vehicle at a service lane and treat yourselves with a sip or two of alcohol.
You probably must be wondering why am I telling you these unrelated series of events. These are independent events, but they have a single element in common – Driving or Operating your vehicle while Intoxicated. Normally, it is understandable that 2-3 sips of alcohol won’t make you drunk, but OUI Laws in Maine simply disagree. OUI Laws in Maine or any other state for that matter, believe that alcohol, or any other type of drugs, impairs your judgment and therefore, it becomes dangerous for you to drive under their influence.
Laws were constructed around the basic idea of protecting the right of citizens and maintaining the decorum of the society. But, at times, the strictness of the definition of a particular law can put you into a lot of trouble, for even petty reasons such as driving with an open bottle of alcohol! So, in the process of learning how to deal with an OUI Case, let’s start with the basics – What is an OUI?
What is an OUI?
Operating Under the Influence or OUI in Maine is the same as DUI/ DWI laws in other states. The common gist projected by all the different types of these DUI Laws is – driving under the influence of alcohol, or any other drugs is a crime and an offender will have to face consequences. The legal Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) level is less than .08%; which means if you are found operating or driving a vehicle with a BAC Level of 0.08% or above, you are committing an OUI offense.
OUI Laws in Maine considers impairment of even the slightest degree by alcohol or any other drugs as a serious offense. For example, DUI in Maine bars you from driving your vehicle under the influence, even within the boundaries of your private property! An OUI in Maine is dealt in a Criminal Court, which could be quite hectic and embarrassing. The next question that comes to your mind probably is – What are the consequences of being charged with an OUI in Maine?
What are the consequences of being charged with an OUI?
The consequences of an OUI depends on the number of offenses you have committed in the past. OUI in Maine are pretty strict even for the first offenses. For a non-aggravating first offense, there is license suspension of 150 days and a mandatory fine of $500. The graveness of these punishments increases with repeated offenses and includes – increase in fine amount and days of license suspension, with jail-time and a mandatory installation of an Interlock Ignition Device (IID). The obvious question is- what to do now?
What to do next?
One of the most intelligent things you can do after being charged with an OUI is – call your OUI Defense Lawyer. Every moment you go unsolicited with your OUI Case, the prosecutor’s case becomes stronger. To avoid this from happening, contact your OUI/DUI Defense Lawyer as soon as possible. This will take the burden off your shoulder and your OUI lawyer will use his/her experience to minimize the penalty and reduce the offense charges.
You’ll be left with two options once the case reaches the court. First one being – go with the public defender provided by the court or hire a private defender. This option is ill-advised because public defenders, usually, have a huge load of cases on them. This makes it impossible for them to go through each of the cases thoroughly, which is very important for positive results in an OUI case. So, they follow a standard procedure to approach any OUI Case assigned to them which yields minimum results.
The second option is – hiring a private OUI Defense Lawyer. Hiring a DUI? OUI Defense Lawyer is not as easy as it might seem, given the number of OUI Lawyers available!
Hiring an OUI Lawyer
It is in your best interests to contact an OUI Defense Lawyer right after you are charged with an OUI. If you don’t contact a lawyer just after your offense, you’ll be needing a trained and experienced professional to assess your DUI Case for its strength and weaknesses. This is important because it will decide the course your case is going to follow. Most of the OUI/DUI Lawyers offer a free consultation a case.
Meeting various OUI Lawyers will definitely help you gauge your tune with a lawyer. The OUI in Maine can be pretty complicated and thus it’s important to ensure that the lawyer you choose is an exclusive OUI Lawyer. This will guarantee a better plea bargain by an experienced professional who understands the blind spots of the OUI Laws.
There is always a way out to save yourself from being charged with a DUI charge. You could always book a cab to your work, if you under the influence. Ask your sober friend to drive you home after that office party. If you are really tired and at a distance from you home, check in a hotel for the night and enjoy your drink! Now that you have a clear understanding of OUI in Maine and its consequences, hire your OUI/DUI Lawyer!
