Yeah.

Stupid.

I was so excited about getting my horses going again this summer, after not competing for the last 2, as well as bringing students to events. Now I don\'t even know how I\'m going to get to the barn.

:wah: :doh:

I\'m really freaked out because I got an aggravated DWI, which is much, much worse. I really need to be able to get to and from the barn, which is a 25 minute drive from my house. No idea what to do. Might have to move or something. And def. need a good lawyer.

It also is really bad because I have students depending upon me to get them to and from events.

if your serious about beating the charge completely or at least reducing it to almost nothing I would recommend voluntarily getting into an outpatient rehab program asap, even if its only one day a week. An actual program at a drug and alcohol clinic is better than AA because its documentable and you can get positive review from a counselor. Its no guarantee to do anything and it most likely will not even need to be mentioned to the judge if you get the right lawyer but it can only help your legal situation even if you think its total bull.

As for a lawyer do your best to pick someone who at least somewhat regularly handles DWI cases in the court that you are assigned to.  Someone who knows and is friendly the DA and the judge and works with them on a semi-regular basis will have a much better chance at cutting you a deal with these guys than some outa-town hot shot.  That being said dont hire some scrub just cause he is local. I dont know specifically what the average retainer fee for your specific crime is especially with the aggravated thing in that area but if it were me I think I would be a leery of anyone who says less than a $2000 retainer.  Might be a lot more for the right guy. But dont hesitate to fork over the cash if you have a good feeling about a guy.  Its well worth it in the long run. Its a **** up system but if you pay the big bucks you can usually get out of almost anything. so dont stress it too much. stay up.

also beware of any lawyer who just says "dont worry we can make this all go away"

In fact a good lawyer wont make any promises whatsoever but will say "here is where we are at right now, we can definitely get this charge reduced, the question is how low can we go?" then he might give his opinion of how it looks based on the judge, the DA, the charge, circumstances of the arrest, etc.

dwi - driving while intoxicated
dui - driving under the influence

I forget which is which but one of them is not as bad as the other because one of them basically says you were trashed while the other one says you had something in your system but not much.

Its a risk we all take.

There are times (iron horse in october) when I got to my car and realized I was in no condition to drive.

I crawled into the back and had a very uncomfortable 3 hour nap before driving home. I probably would have still failed a breathilizer, but my actions by then were more just dead-beat tierd instead of drunk.