I received a DWI
I graduated today, on a sunday. I celebrated last monday the fact that I graduated. I was pulled over by a cop and got a DWI (no crash) I contacted a lawyer and I plan on fighting it. IF I lose how would this affect my chances of ever getting a job on the street?
I assume you are in the united states? I am not familiar with their laws, but in Canada a DUI is a federal criminal offence which is equivalent to a felony in the United States.
Really negatively. They'll also ask about it if/when you apply to business school.
Really fucking stupid thing to do. It will show up in all background checks and will have to be disclosed. Find an articulate way to handle the it when it does come up.
If you already have a FT job lined up, make sure to read through the fine print. I've heard horror stories from a lawyer in my family about people getting fucked, because they failed to disclose. I doubt this is a common thing, but since you're already lawyered up, you might as well cover all your bases.
If you disclose it, you will not have your offer rescinded. If you are interviewing, you do not disclose until you have an offer and you fill out some sort of official application where it asks if you have ever been convicted of a misdemeanor. They won't pull your offer at that point either.
Obviously, this is very embarrassing and was a stupid thing to do. Do NOT EVER do it again. You have Uber now, which makes it very easy to not drink and drive. Consider this a painful, but valuable lesson. At least nobody got hurt.
....."plan on fighting it..."? You got caught and in the day of Uber/Lyft that is pretty bad.
I doubt you lose an offer but it will be something you have to disclose going forward. It'll be something you'll have to face for the next 3-5 years.
Fight it? Were you or were you not driving while over the legal limit?
WHEN you lose, as the above commenters have stated, be forthright and fully disclose the incident. Be honorable, do all that’s required of you, and move on. You will not lose your offer.
No one’s perfect – this happens to a lot of professionals. But never do it again, and maybe do some internal reflection on whether your actions are right or wrong, not just focusing on how you can weasel out of their consequences.
I've got a buddy who was going to school in a smaller college town recently. I wouldn't call him a big drinker, but he probably would go out once a week. As the year draws to a close, one of his friends is having a party at a house a few miles away so he calls up an Uber and goes over for a few hours. The party starts to wind down a few hours later but a bunch of his friends want to go to the bars so they get an Uber over there. Closing time rolls around, he's been black out drunk for what he estimates to be about 3 hours, and he calls an Uber which takes him back to his place.
Well, apparently like an hour after he gets home, while he's still blacked out, he decides he's hungry so he goes to grab a burger. Had he not been blacked out, or had his roommate been there, he would have NEVER even thought of picking up his keys let alone walking outside and getting into his car. He heads the mile or so and grabs his food and heads back, and then it happens, he blacks back in. To see blue and red lights in his mirror. The cop pulls him over and he blows a .17, so he now has an ignition lock for 2 years and missed out on jail time by .02 and that's partially because he was the epitome of cooperative (required/self-imposed abstaining from alcohol for 18 months).
He was able to do enough to get it off his record but it will have ended up costing him over $10k, 200 hours of community service and 2 years of not really being able to drive anyone.
So, if you get black out drunk, that doesn't mean that you won't drive. The solution is to get drunk and not black out, and then take an Uber.
First off, with the exception of DickFuld, who is right on disclosing, all of the advice here is somewhat moot. Everything depends on three major factors. What state did you get your DUI in, what your BAC was, and did you refuse to get a Brethalyzer/Blood Test done to check your BAC. If you didn't agree to get a test, you are kind of fucked because you will be prosecuted against the highest standard given the circumstances associated with your DUI (ie injuries, car crash, just a simple pull over). Implied consent is a real bitch. The first thing you should have done before even asking about what your job situation is was research the god damned law. Mind you, this does not include any extra fees, costs, etc. associated with your DUI.
For example, in New Jersey, a first offense with a BAC between .08 and .10 you are going to get a 3 month suspension of license, between $250–$400 in fines, $230 in Inotixcated Driver Resource Center fees, $100 to drunk driving fund, $100 to Alcohol Education Relief Fund, a $1,000/year (for 3 years) surcharge paid to the state, $75 to Neighborhood Services Fund, up to 30 days in jail and 12–48 hours of community service. If it's a BAC above .10, your suspension is now between 7 months and a year, your fines are now $300–$500, and if that BAC is above .15, you can get an ignition interlock installed in your car for 6 months to a year following the restoration. Except, here's the thing - DUI in NJ is not a criminal offense, it's a traffic offense. Traffic Offenses are not required to be disclosed.
In New York, DWI falls into two categories - DWI and Aggravated DWI. DWI, which is a BAC between .08 and .18, means you're getting a $500-1000 fine, up to one year in jail, and at least a 6 month license suspension. Above a BAC of .18, you're getting hit with Aggravated DWI, which means you'll get hit with between $1,000-$2,500 in fees, up to one year in jail, and your license suspended for at least one year. New York first timers are hit with a misdemeanor.
In PA, DWI falls into three classifications. For the first category, your BAC falls between .08 and .09999. You'll get hit with 6 months of probation, a $300 fine, Mandatory alcohol highway safety school and Alcohol and drug treatment, plus community service. If you are a first time offender as well, you may be able to get into ARD - accelerated rehabilitative dispensation which effectively allows you to be on probation for a set time and have the entire record expunged. If your BAC is between .10 and .15999, you will have your license suspended for 1 year, 48 hours to 6 months in prison, fines ranging $500 to $5,000, mandatory alcohol highway safety school, alcohol and drug treatment, and community service. If you're above a .16 BAC, you will have your license suspended for 1 year, 72 hours to 6 months in prison, fines ranging $1,000 to $5,000, mandatory alcohol highway safety school, alcohol and drug treatment, and community service. PA treats DUIs on a sliding scale, from ungraded misdemeanor to felony depending on the circumstances.
So... you see what's going on here. Without even getting into the specifics of your case, you have 3 different states with three very different sets of rules that affect how you have to disclose this as well as what the potential problems may be. My advice to you is figure out what the state you got your DUI's laws are and come back and ask an intelligent question instead of what does this mean for recruiting. This may have no effect. This may change your disclosure strategy.
And if you fight it, be prepared to go in for the long haul. When you lose, and I'd bet dollars to donuts you will, that will make disclosing this significantly harder. If you already have the offer, you better damn well disclose it before anything happens - especially if you plan to fight it. If you don't have a job, when you get the question, go right ahead and disclose it as soon as you can. It's an expensive lesson to learn... just count yourself lucky.
Career stuff aside, don't take anything you're reading on here at face value, you need to retain legal counsel that is experienced in handling DWI's / DUI's in the county you committed the offense ASAP. You can certainly try to fight it, very good counsel can find an error or legal loophole in most DUI cases, and potentially get dismissed; but, you're probably looking at fees of at the low end of $25k and could get as high as $50k-$60k and could take up to a year and also run the risk of losing the case. If you take a deal from a DA and plead guilty, probably avoid any jail time, be significantly cheaper and if you tackle all your requirements from the judge / state, be done in 6mon. to a year.
TLDR; if you've got the cash to fight it, you could potentially get it dismissed. If you don't, take a deal from a DA and get it over as soon as possible. Good luck.
I can relate to this, I blacked out and drove into a street pole, somehow got out of the event without any charges, and insurance did not go up. I was 15 so that probably helped. Biggest thing is to just own mistake. Like Dick Fuld said it will not hurt you being honest. I know lots of good people get DUI/DWI do not let it define you, but definitely learn from it. I know I sure as hell did. Best of luck man, know you are not alone.
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