Lugar was arrested in McLean after an officer stopped her, citing visible damage to her car and smoke coming from the hood. Police later determined she also hit an unattended parked car about two miles from where she was stopped.
Three hours after being stopped, Lugar's BAC measured .11.
Lugar plead guilty to DWI (the misdemeanor hit-and-run was dropped in a plea agreement). She will pay a standard $500 fine, lose her license for a year and complete an alcohol counseling program. Lugar also received a 30-day jail sentence, suspended pending completion of the above.
Lugar was fortunateassuming she completes her other obligations, she'll be able to avoid jail time. This is the sign that she was working with an experienced Virginia attorney.
Many attorneys will agree to take on your Virginia DUI or DWI case, but how do you determine if they are truly giving your case the attention it needs? A truly experienced defense attorney will be sure to get the following information from you in order to make sure they have all the information they need. You'll need to make sure you trust him or her and answer the following honestly:
1. What were you doing before you were arrested?
2. All about your consumption of alcoholic beverages, including how much, what type, when, where and who was present.
3. Whether you also used prescription or "street" drugs, including what type, how much, when and why.
4. All about the personal interaction with the law enforcement officer, police, deputy or state trooper.
5. Whether there are any potential witnesses to your driving behavior, the officer's stop of you, your performance on the field sobriety tests and your arrest.
6. What were the law enforcement officer's alleged reasons for pulling you over or stopping you?
7. What statements did you make to the law enforcement authorities on the roadside, in the patrol car and at the station.
8. How were the field sobriety tests administered?
9. Your performance, or lack of performance, on field sobriety tests.
10. What were results of any breath or blood alcohol tests?
11. All about the required 20 minute observation, or "watching," period prior to administration of the official breath test.
If your attorney doesn't have all of the above information, chances are they're missing something pretty big. You can bet Charlene Lugar's lawyer was very thorough when getting the details of her casemake sure you hire an attorney who does the same for you.
Copyright (c) 2010 James Parrish
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