If you have been arrested and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) or drugs (DUID) in Nebraska you may be contemplating the benefits of hiring an attorney to represent you. Though it seems obvious that hiring an attorney would be a wise idea, you may be convinced that the State of Nebraska can convict you, leading you to question the wisdom of paying a lawyer for a case you may lose anyway . Ultimately, only you can decide whether or not to hire an attorney; however, there are some important points that you may not have considered that could sway your decision.
Chances are good that when you were arrested the law enforcement officer made it sound as if you were already convicted. If you have already appeared in court, the prosecuting attorney likely gave you the same impression. Keep in mind that it is their jobs to arrest and convict you. If you don’t fight back by defending yourself you make their jobs much easier. Police officer would have you believe that they never make mistakes – that they administer all field sobriety tests by the book and interpret them objectively. Likewise, the prosecuting attorney would like you to believe that the breath test results are 100 percent accurate and that the case against you is airtight. The reality is that in most cases none of this is true. Law enforcement officers rarely follow the book when conducting a DUI stop and the breath test results are routinely off by as much as 50 percent. The bottom line is that although you may have been led to believe that you are already convicted, the truth is that you may have a number of viable defenses available to you that could prevent a conviction altogether.
Even if the evidence is stacked against you and it looks like you will be convicted of a Nebraska DUI/DUID, you could still benefit from hiring counsel. If you plan to plead guilty, you should at least get the best plea agreement possible. The prosecuting attorney is not going to offer you a plea agreement that is favorable to you for obvious reasons. An experienced Nebraska DUI attorney, however, can negotiate a plea agreement that is as favorable toyou as possible under the circumstances.
Before you decide that an attorney cannot help you, take the time to consult with an experienced Omaha DUI lawyer. For a free case evaluation, contact Petersen Law Office 24 hours a day at 402-513-2180.