DUI Lawyer · Mount Pleasant, SC

1. Get a Mount Pleasant, SC DUI Defense Lawyer on Your Side Immediately.

You may have important deadlines that you must make to preserve important rights, so do not delay in calling your DUI defense attorney.

For example, if you are charged in the magistrate or municipal court, and you do not appear at your initial court date, you can be found guilty in your absence.

If you do appear at your initial court date without an attorney, the court might force you to either plead guilty or accept a bench trial with no jury and no representation (the court rules state that you must request a jury trial in writing well in advance of your initial court date).

Also, if the DMV does not receive an implied consent hearing request on the original implied consent notice form within 30 days, you will lose your right to an administrative hearing where you can ask a hearing officer to restore your license.

The State is preparing your case for trial, and, in most cases, there will be a trained DUI prosecutor on the other side of your case. You should also have a trained DUI defense attorney on your side.

3. Request an Implied Consent Hearing.

If your license was suspended because you refused the blood alcohol test or because your BAC was 0.15% or greater, you must request an implied consent immediately – your attorney can do this for you, or you can send the form in on your own if you do not yet have an attorney.

Implied consent proceedings are separate from your criminal charges for DUI – they are in separate courts (one is administrative and the other is criminal), and one has no impact on the other.

If you win your implied consent hearing, you must still fight the DUI charges in criminal court. Likewise, if you lose your implied consent hearing, you must still fight the DUI charges in criminal court and your license can be suspended in both proceedings.

2. Know your court dates and do not miss any appearances.

You will have court dates that could result in a bench warrant for your arrest if you do not appear or if you are not excused.

– Initial court dates

If you are charged with a DUI 1st offense in magistrate or municipal court, you must appear at the initial court date found on your blue uniform traffic ticket unless you or your attorney requests a jury trial in writing.

– Roll call dates

If you are charged with a DUI 2nd offense or greater or felony DUI in General Sessions Court, you must appear at your docket appearances and any subsequent roll call dates unless your attorney confirms that you have been excused.

– Other Court Dates

There may be other court dates that won’t necessarily result in a bench warrant if you miss them, but that could result in waiver of important rights or missing critical information about your case, including:

• Trial dates,
• Motion hearings,
• Implied consent hearings,
• Roster meetings or
• pretrial conferences, and
• Preliminary hearings.

Keep in close contact with your attorney, let them know when you receive any notices or correspondence from the court, keep track of your hearing dates, and diligently attend every court appearance unless you have confirmed with your attorney that you have been excused.

4. Do not drive if your license is suspended.

If your license is suspended and you are caught driving, you will be charged with driving under suspension.

If you are convicted of driving under suspension, your license will be suspended again – consecutive to the original suspension.

A DUI conviction or a driving under suspension conviction counts as a violation that can result in a license revocation under SC’s habitual traffic offender laws.

Many people get stuck in a “revolving door” of license suspensions, driving under suspension charges, and license revocation – avoid this by not driving until your license is restored, paying all fines and fees to get your license restored, and fighting any charges that would result in a license suspension.