The holiday season is an enjoyable time of year when families and friends come together in celebration. Many people reconnect with distant relatives, spend time with friends they haven’t seen in a while, and relish in long weekends and days off from work.

Unfortunately, the holidays also present motorists with dangerous situations. If you decide to get behind the wheel after a night of drinking, you could end up facing a DUI charge. If convicted, the consequences can affect your life and future. You might have to serve a jail sentence, pay an expensive fine, or complete community service.

You could avoid the ramifications of drinking and driving by following these tips, so you don’t get arrested or charged with DUI.

Call Someone for a Ride

A parent, sibling, or friend might live nearby, and you know they’re not celebrating the same night as you. Call them for a ride home from the bar or party so you know you’ll be safe. If you can’t get someone on the phone, opt for a rideshare service.

Get Home with a Rideshare Service

Lyft and Uber are excellent modes of transportation. More importantly, they’re much safer than choosing to operate your vehicle after consuming alcohol at a bar or friend’s house. All you have to do is download the app on your phone, enter your pick-up location and destination, and within minutes a rideshare driver can show up where you are to drive you home.

It might seem inconvenient to leave your car in the parking lot or at a relative’s home. However, it’s much more inconvenient to spend the night in jail. Rideshare services are affordable and the perfect option to choose when you’ve had a few too many and don’t want to risk a run-in with law enforcement.

Opt Out of Drinking

One of the best ways to avoid DUI is deciding not to drink when you go out. Better yet, offer to be the designated driver. That way, you’re pretty much forced to behave responsibly and sip on water during holiday celebrations.

If you don’t consume any alcohol at your office Christmas party or family dinner, you won’t have to worry about placing yourself and other people at risk of harm. You could potentially prevent a catastrophic accident and DUI conviction on your criminal record.

Find Someone Reliable to Be Your Designated Driver

If you don’t want to spend the night’s festivities sober, ask someone you trust to be your designated driver. Be sure to choose a person you know won’t feel tempted to participate in a champagne toast or succumb to peer pressure. You should know you can depend on them to stay sober the entire night, so they don’t put both of you in danger when you leave the party.

Host a Party at Home

Host a party if you want to celebrate the holiday season but don’t want to leave your home to do it. Invite your family and friends over for a night of tasty food and holiday-themed drinks. Since you won’t have to drive anywhere at the end of the party, you can consume as much wine or eggnog as you want.

Sleep at Someone Else’s Home

If you don’t host a holiday party, someone else might. Ask if you can crash there at the end of the night to avoid driving anywhere. You’ll be able to drink knowing you can stumble to the guest room or couch when the celebration ends.

Bring the Party to a Hotel

If you want to try something different, go to a hotel for holiday festivities. Many hotels host Christmas and New Years’ events in their bars and restaurants, complete with fancy decorations, unique beverages, delectable desserts, and upbeat music.

You can book a room, so you don’t have to drive home when the party’s over. Even better, turn your holiday celebration into a weekend trip. You can go to a different city and explore the fun tourist attractions the following day.

Contact The Morris Firm

A holiday celebration can turn into a dangerous and even fatal scenario with one wrong decision. Make the smart choice and avoid driving after drinking. Even if you only had one glass of wine or beer, you could face a DUI charge. Alcohol affects each person differently. You might think you’re sober, but the results of a chemical test could show you’re above the legal limit.

Take every possible precaution to keep yourself and those around you safe while attending different events during the holiday season. Driving under the influence is not only against the law but also puts your life and the lives of others at risk.

If you were arrested or charged with DUI in Florida, do not hesitate to contact The Morris Firm. We can review the circumstances to determine whether we can provide the legal defense you need. Call us at (850) 503-2626 now for a case evaluation.

Driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol or drugs is the one crime that is commonly committed by non-criminals. Meaning, people who don’t have a previous criminal history or who don’t typically engage in criminal behavior. As such, we often see normal people get arrested for DUI, including mothers and fathers, teachers, doctors, retail associates, salespeople, and other average folks. We also see Green Card holders (lawful permanent residents) arrested for DUI.

For the purposes of this article, we discuss what happens when a permanent resident is convicted of DUI in Florida, and whether a DUI conviction can lead to removal proceedings, which used to be called “deportation.”

Criminal Convictions & Removal Proceedings

When immigrants come to the United States to live for an extended period of time or to eventually become U.S. citizens, they are expected to be responsible members of our communities. When a Green Card holder violates U.S. state or federal laws, it can jeopardize their lawful permanent resident status. Since most Green Card holders are well-aware of this fact, it’s natural for them to wonder if a DUI will lead to deportation.

Does a DUI conviction automatically lead to removal proceedings? No, not necessarily but it depends on the facts of the case. Generally, a first-time DUI offense under Section 316.193 of the Florida Statutes will not trigger removal proceedings. However, that is not guaranteed. It can happen.

Under the following circumstances, a Florida DUI can be viewed negatively by an immigration judge and initiate removal proceedings:

• It was a felony DUI offense;
• It was a drug-related DUI, for example, the Green Card holder was driving under the influence of marijuana, methamphetamines, or another controlled substance;
• The Green Cardholder was previously convicted for a drug-related offense;
• The Green Cardholder has previous DUI convictions on their record; OR
• The Green Cardholder has a criminal history and this DUI is the final straw.

To learn more about deportable offenses under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), click here.

As a general rule, if the Green Card holder has no criminal history, it was a first DUI offense (not drug-related), and there were no aggravated circumstances (no children in the vehicle and no one was hurt), the DUI should not trigger removal proceedings.

On the other hand, if the Green Card holder is charged with felony DUI, or if it’s a drug-related DUI, or if the defendant has a criminal history, the DUI could lead to deportation. It’s fact-specific and handled on a case-by-case basis.

We hope this article cleared up any questions that you have. If you’re looking for DUI defense representation, don’t hesitate to contact the Morris Firm for a case evaluation by calling (850) 503-2626.

A large number of Americans are taking at least one, if not several medications at any given time. The number of citizens taking prescription drugs has grown so much that it has caused a serious concern over drugged driving. What a lot of people don’t realize is that drugged driving, even if it’s associated with lawfully prescribed medications, can be just as dangerous as drunk driving.

“Drugged driving is driving a vehicle while impaired due to the intoxicating effects of recent drug use. It can make driving a car unsafe—just like driving after drinking alcohol. Drugged driving puts the driver, passengers, and others who share the road at serious risk,” according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

Why Drugged Driving Is Dangerous

Certain drugs directly affect driving skills because of how they act in the brain. Some drugs, such as marijuana, impair a person’s judgment and slow reaction time. They can also decrease the driver’s coordination. Then there are other medications that cause dizziness, fatigue, nausea, aggression, and reckless driving.

According to the NIDA, prescription drugs like opioids and benzodiazepines impair thinking and judgment and can cause drowsiness and dizziness. With some medications, even the smallest amount can have a measurable effect, which is why a person can face driving under the influence (DUI) charges if there is “any amount” of a drug in a driver’s blood or urine.

While not all drugs affect driving ability, some definitely do. According to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), the types of medications that make it dangerous to drive include the following:

• Anxiety medications
• Some antidepressants
• Medicines that contain codeine
• Some cold and allergy medications
• Sleeping pills
• Pain relievers
• Tranquilizers
• Medications with stimulants, such as pseudoephedrine

To learn more about drugged driving from the FDA, click here.

In Florida, it’s illegal to drive under the influence of alcohol, prescription medications, and illicit drugs. You can face the same DUI penalties for driving under the influence of a prescription drug as you would for drunk driving. The penalties for a first prescription drug DUI in Florida include up to a $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail.

Next: Common Drugs That Cause DUI

Facing prescription DUI charges? Contact The Morris Firm 24/7 for a case evaluation.

Even though marijuana legalization and decriminalization is taking effect in various states across the country, it is still very much illegal in Florida. While some states, such as California, Nevada, and Colorado have loosened up their marijuana possession laws significantly, in all 50 states it’s against the law to drive under the influence of marijuana and Florida is no exception.

If you drive under the influence of marijuana, what are the penalties? Are they different than they are for an alcohol-related DUI? Like other states, the penalties for a marijuana DUI in Florida are the same as they are for driving under the influence of alcohol. In fact, the penalties for DUI are the same, regardless if the driver is impaired by alcohol, marijuana, another illegal drug, prescription drugs, or over-the-counter medications.

Does Marijuana Affect Driving?

Studies have found that marijuana affects driving, which is why it’s illegal to drive while you’re under the influence of the drug. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), “Marijuana significantly impairs judgment, motor coordination, and reaction time, and studies have found a direct relationship between blood THC concentration and impaired driving ability.”

The NIDA continues, “Marijuana is the illicit drug most frequently found in the blood of drivers who have been involved in vehicle crashes, including fatal ones.”

Florida’s DUI Law

Florida’s DUI law is covered under Section 316.193 of the Florida Statutes. In Florida, you break the state’s DUI law if you are under the influence of alcoholic beverages, any chemical substance, or controlled substance under Chapter 893 and your normal faculties are impaired.

There doesn’t have to be a “specific amount” of marijuana in your bloodstream to face marijuana DUI charges, all that matters is that the drug has impaired your normal faculties. The penalties for DUI, whether it’s due to alcohol, marijuana, or another drug or controlled substance are as follows for a first offense:

• A fine ranging between $500 and $1,000
• Up to 6 months in jail
• If the blood alcohol level (BAL) was .15% or higher, up to 9 months in jail

If you or someone you love is facing DUI charges for marijuana, please contact The Morris Firm at (850) 427-6514 to schedule an initial case evaluation.

Next: Don’t Get a DUI This Holiday Season!

Now that the holidays are upon us, it’s timely to discuss DUI arrests and crashes, which increase like clockwork during the holiday season. Why the uptick in DUIs? It’s because of all of the Thanksgiving dinners, the Christmas parties, and the New Year’s Eve parties – all of these celebrations tend to have alcohol flowing freely.

The problem is, too many people forget to plan ahead for a sober ride. They drive to the party or family dinner and don’t think about how they really should have taken a cab, an Uber, or a Lyft. Instead of asking for a sober ride home or using a rideshare service, they grab their keys and get behind the wheel with alcohol in their system. But don’t just take our word for it, listen to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over Campaign

“Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over drives home why it is so critical to always drive sober. Over the past 5 years, an average of 300 people died in drunk-driving crashes during Christmas through New Year’s holiday period. In December 2016 alone, 781 people lost their lives in drunk-driving crashes,” reports the NHTSA.

One aspect of the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign is the “No Big Deal” advertisement released by the NHTSA, which gives a vivid view of the type of destruction caused by a drunk driver. The ad includes a 360-degree virtual reality (VR) experience of an alcohol-related crash. The viewer gets to see first responders and how one bad choice can have grave consequences. To watch “No Big Deal,” click here.

As you celebrate the holidays, please be safe. Never drink and drive and think ahead. Before you celebrate, think to yourself, “How am I getting home?” Have a plan before you have any alcohol. Be honest with yourself. If you say you won’t drink but you know you’ll break down, just make sure you are responsible and don’t drink and drive.

Next: Can I Get Fired for DUI in Florida?

If you are arrested over the holidays for DUI, contact the The Morris Firm at (850) 503-2626 for a hard-hitting defense!

In Florida, it’s illegal to drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs, including lawfully prescribed medications, under Section 316.193 of the Florida Statutes. Under Sec. 316.193(1)(b) of the Florida Statutes, a person is guilty of DUI if he or she “has a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 percent or more of alcohol per 100 millimeters of blood” or a “breath-alcohol level of 0.08 or more grams of alcohol per 210 liters of breath.”

Generally, the term is “blood alcohol concentration” or BAC, which refers to the percentage of alcohol in someone’s bloodstream, but in Florida, we use the term BAL, which refers to both “blood alcohol level” and “breath alcohol level.” Both terms refer to the level of alcohol in a driver’s bloodstream, however, there are two different testing methods to determine the amount of alcohol in a DUI suspect’s bloodstream: a breath or blood test.

In Florida, a driver is considered to be legally intoxicated for the purposes of DUI if they have a breath or blood alcohol that is .08% or higher, but it’s important to note that a driver can be arrested for DUI with an even lower BAL. All that matters is that the state can prove that the driver’s ability to drive safely was reduced by the introduction of alcohol.

What Factors Determine BAL?

There are a number of factors that determine BAL, such as:

• Gender
• Bodyweight
• Medications that you’re on
• If there is food in your stomach and if so, what kind (protein and fats will slow the absorption of alcohol)
• The number of drinks that you had
• The strength of the drinks you consumed
• The rate of consumption (how fast you consumed the drinks)
• If you are ill or fatigued (sick or tired people are more affected by alcohol)

The BAL/BAC Reading

When you are pulled over on suspicion of DUI, the officer may ask you to take a preliminary breath test roadside, which is a handheld breathalyzer device that measures the BAL in your breath. If you take this test and you’re breath alcohol level measures .08% or higher, you will be arrested for DUI and taken down to the station where you will be asked to take a post-arrest chemical test in the form of a more sophisticated breath test via a breathalyzer machine or a blood test.

The “BAL or BAC reading itself,” simply refers to the level of alcohol in your blood that is determined through a breath or breath test. So, one of the first questions we’d ask if we got your case is, “What was your BAL reading?”

Are you facing DUI charges? To secure a hard-hitting defense, contact the Morris Firm today!