Expert Grand Rapids Drunk Driving Attorney
Limit DUI Consequences & Protect Your Future
A DUI (officially known as an ‘OWI’ or ‘Operating While Intoxicated/Impaired’ in the state of Michigan) charge will significantly impact your criminal record and your future. Whether it’s your first OWI offense or your third, an experienced Grand Rapids DUI lawyer can help you fight charges, reduce your penalties, and protect your rights.
Why Should You Hire a DUI Lawyer?
Navigating the Michigan DUI court process is not simple. Which is why it’s always worth the investment of finding a drunk driving defense lawyer to guide you through your specific needs so you can achieve the best possible outcome for your future.
- Limit your conviction
- Reduce penalties and consequences
- Reduce the length of your driver’s license suspension
- Lower the offense on your criminal record
- Ensure you have the best chance at employment and housing opportunities
Take the best first step in protecting your future. Provide some basic information in the contact form below. We will then connect with you promptly (typically in the next 24 hours) to set up a free consultation:
Already have a DUI on your record? Learn more here about how Mark Caldwell can make that go away.
How Attorney Mark Caldwell Helps His Clients Win Cases and Protect Their Future
So you know you need legal counsel, but how do you find the best drunk driving lawyer in Grand Rapids for your specific needs? Mark Caldwell understands the anxiety and stress that comes with an DUI charge. That’s why he offers a free consultation to answer your questions, address your concerns, and build a defense strategy that’s specifically tailored to your needs.
Here’s how Mark Caldwell helps his clients WIN:
There are an overwhelming amount of options for legal representation. Here are some honest and practical tips on finding the best one for you:
When you get an OWI the process through the courts is you have to have an arraignment first, a pretrial after that, a settlement conference, and then a plea on sentencing.
However, in some courts, you can have a plea in sentencing at the pretrial and take care of it all at once. In other courts, you have to have each stage of the process. Some courts are very efficient and some are not.
I would say the whole process on average can be three weeks to up to six months.
At the arraignment is where the judge puts bond conditions on you. The typical bond conditions are going to be no drugs and alcohol, and you can’t leave the state without permission. Then, they’ll have you sign a bond condition form.
Those bond conditions will continue with you until your sentencing date. Once you’re sentenced, if you get probation, then you’ll have probation conditions, which will be the same typically as your bond conditions.
When you’re on bond they can test you for drugs and alcohol. If you do test positive, they can revoke your bond. And then you’re going to be sitting in jail for the duration of your case, which could be quite a long time. For the pretrial conference?
When you want to prepare.
It’s generally a good idea to try to get your assessment completed, which is required by the state of Michigan, as well as completing classes such as the victim impact panel or the Highway Safety seminar.
The victim impact panel you can do online. It’s about an hour and a half and cost $35.
The highway safety seminars, also online. It’s $125 and it takes about four hours.
If you go to the pretrial and you have that all completed, generally you can also be sentenced at that pretrial as well. As it looks good to have that completed when I’m trying to get a reduction from the prosecutor.
When you go in to do the assessment?
Usually you’ll call me a couple days before the assessment, and I’ll prepare you on what questions you’ll be asked at the assessment. The assessment is a drug and alcohol assessment.
So I’ll ask you questions such as:
- “When was the last time you had a drink?
- “How often do you drink?”
- “When you drink and how much do you drink when you drink?”
- “Have you used any other drugs? If so, what drugs?”
They’ll also ask you routine questions, such as where you’re employed at.
Do you have a family additionally at the assessment, they’re going to have you fill out a 135 form, yes or no, a questionnaire called the Needs Assessment.
When you go to court, after you’ve completed the assessment and the two classes or additional counseling, if need be, if this is a second or third drunk driving.
Then I submit those documentation to the prosecutor, in hopes of trying to get a reduction in your plea.
It varies from county to county in West Michigan as to what kind of reductions I can get. And when you’re sentenced, it varies from judge and judge. You can have one courthouse with two different judges and get completely different results.
In the sentencing for an order, we would typically include probation, community service fines and costs and possibly jail on a first offense.
Usually jail is not going to be a part of that outcome.
A jail sentence also depends on a couple of additional factors such as:
- How high your BAC (Blood Alcohol Content) level was.
- Did you hit another vehicle?
- Do you have prior drunk driving?
You have any of those, jail becomes more likely.
So the judge, at their discretion, can impose different penalties upon you with a Michigan OWI charge. The first would be probation: Do you get probation at all? If so, how long will your probation be?
The most probation that they could give on an OWI first would be two years of probation. But again, you can cut that probation in half.
Most judges are inclined now to not give probation if your BAC (Blood Alcohol Content) is low enough and you’ve completed the assessment, a victim impact panel and a highway safety seminar.
The other penalty a judge can impose on you would be community service. In a lot of courts, you don’t have any community service at all. And other courts you can have upwards of 120 hours of community service. It really varies by judge to judge how much community service they’re going to impose on you.
The fourth penalty a judge can impose on you as jail. Typically there’s no jail for an first offense with an OWI
Second, the minimum amount jail they can give you is five days. If you get into sobriety court, however, you don’t necessarily have to do any jail at all, but it really varies from judge to judge.
There’s one judge in particular who – regardless if you’re going into sobriety court or not – will give you 15 days in jail (minimum) for a second OWI offense.
When you get an OWI the process through the courts is you have to have an arraignment first, a pretrial after that, a settlement conference, and then a plea on sentencing.
However, in some courts, you can have a plea in sentencing at the pretrial and take care of it all at once. In other courts, you have to have each stage of the process. Some courts are very efficient and some are not.
I would say the whole process on average can be three weeks to up to six months.
At the arraignment is where the judge puts bond conditions on you. The typical bond conditions are going to be no drugs and alcohol, and you can’t leave the state without permission. Then, they’ll have you sign a bond condition form.
Those bond conditions will continue with you until your sentencing date. Once you’re sentenced, if you get probation, then you’ll have probation conditions, which will be the same typically as your bond conditions.
When you’re on bond they can test you for drugs and alcohol. If you do test positive, they can revoke your bond. And then you’re going to be sitting in jail for the duration of your case, which could be quite a long time. For the pretrial conference?
When you want to prepare.
It’s generally a good idea to try to get your assessment completed, which is required by the state of Michigan, as well as completing classes such as the victim impact panel or the Highway Safety seminar.
The victim impact panel you can do online. It’s about an hour and a half and cost $35.
The highway safety seminars, also online. It’s $125 and it takes about four hours.
If you go to the pretrial and you have that all completed, generally you can also be sentenced at that pretrial as well. As it looks good to have that completed when I’m trying to get a reduction from the prosecutor.
When you go in to do the assessment?
Usually you’ll call me a couple days before the assessment, and I’ll prepare you on what questions you’ll be asked at the assessment. The assessment is a drug and alcohol assessment.
So I’ll ask you questions such as:
- “When was the last time you had a drink?
- “How often do you drink?”
- “When you drink and how much do you drink when you drink?”
- “Have you used any other drugs? If so, what drugs?”
They’ll also ask you routine questions, such as where you’re employed at.
Do you have a family additionally at the assessment, they’re going to have you fill out a 135 form, yes or no, a questionnaire called the Needs Assessment.
When you go to court, after you’ve completed the assessment and the two classes or additional counseling, if need be, if this is a second or third drunk driving.
Then I submit those documentation to the prosecutor, in hopes of trying to get a reduction in your plea.
It varies from county to county in West Michigan as to what kind of reductions I can get. And when you’re sentenced, it varies from judge and judge. You can have one courthouse with two different judges and get completely different results.
In the sentencing for an order, we would typically include probation, community service fines and costs and possibly jail on a first offense.
Usually jail is not going to be a part of that outcome.
A jail sentence also depends on a couple of additional factors such as:
- How high your BAC (Blood Alcohol Content) level was.
- Did you hit another vehicle?
- Do you have prior drunk driving?
You have any of those, jail becomes more likely.
So the judge, at their discretion, can impose different penalties upon you with a Michigan OWI charge. The first would be probation: Do you get probation at all? If so, how long will your probation be?
The most probation that they could give on an OWI first would be two years of probation. But again, you can cut that probation in half.
Most judges are inclined now to not give probation if your BAC (Blood Alcohol Content) is low enough and you’ve completed the assessment, a victim impact panel and a highway safety seminar.
The other penalty a judge can impose on you would be community service. In a lot of courts, you don’t have any community service at all. And other courts you can have upwards of 120 hours of community service. It really varies by judge to judge how much community service they’re going to impose on you.
The fourth penalty a judge can impose on you as jail. Typically there’s no jail for an first offense with an OWI
Second, the minimum amount jail they can give you is five days. If you get into sobriety court, however, you don’t necessarily have to do any jail at all, but it really varies from judge to judge.
There’s one judge in particular who – regardless if you’re going into sobriety court or not – will give you 15 days in jail (minimum) for a second OWI offense.
In the state of Michigan, there’s a law that nobody knows about. It’s called the implied consent law.
Implied consent means that law by getting a driver’s license, you’ve implied that you consent to a breathalyzer at the police station.
If you refuse that breathalyzer at the police station, then you’ve triggered the implied consent law, which is a one year license suspension. You can refuse the breathalyzer on the side of the road.
That’s called a preliminary breath test. If you refuse that, that’s just a $150 civil infraction.
When you refuse the breathalyzer at the police station, the officer will send that paperwork over to the secretary of State.
Now, you have 14 days to request a hearing with the Secretary of State, and they will give you a request for hearing form when they release you from jail.
Once you receive that request for hearing and you don’t submit that request for a hearing within 14 days, then you will not be getting your license back for a year.
When you submit the request for hearing within 14 days, it’ll trigger a hearing with the Secretary of State, which will be done online. Prior to the hearing, I usually have my clients write an apology letter to the officer, trying to get them to withdraw from the hearing.
Before we run the hearing, I will ask the hearing officer if I can have a minute to speak with the police officer. I will speak with the police officer. See if they’ve got the letter that you had written to them, and see if they’re willing to withdraw from the hearing.
If they’re not willing to withdraw from the hearing, we’re most likely going to lose the hearing because they only have to put four elements on the record.
The chances of winning an implied consent hearing are probably around 5%. So really, the only way to win the hearing is to get the officer to withdraw from the hearing.
If the officer won’t withdraw from the hearing and we lose the hearing, then the only other way to get your license is to do a circuit court hardship appeal, and that would be in the county that you were arrested in.
I rarely lose circuit court hardship appeals. I can only think in my lifetime I’ve lost one.
My name is Mark Caldwell, and I’m here to talk to you about the sobriety court process. Individuals that may be interested in sobriety court are people that have two drunk drivings within seven years or three in a lifetime.
The process to get into sobriety court requires that we submit an application. That application is typically submitted at the beginning of your court process, because sometimes the sobriety court is full, and then you get put on a waiting list. So the earlier you submit your application, the more likely you’re not going to be on a waiting list if they are full.
Now most courts you do submit that application at the beginning the 61st District Court, you will not know if you’re into sobriety court until after you put a plea on now, most courts, you’re going to know if you’re in sobriety court before that plea is even entered. The benefits of sobriety court are that there’s usually no jail involved or a reduced amount of jail. Now that’s not a guarantee, because there is one court in particular where even if you get into sobriety court, you’re going to be looking at most likely 15 days in jail. But that’s the rarity. That’s not what normally happens when you enter the sobriety Court program.
You’re going to wonder what it entails. Typically, it’s 12 to 24 months of probation. On that probation, you’re going to be meeting with your probation officer, usually weekly. You’re going to do testing. Your probation is going to be in phases. There’s typically four to five phases. In sobriety court, the testing that you do is going to be a lot more in the first phase than it is going to be in the later phases.
Additionally, in sobriety court, you are going to have community service, going to be fines and costs, which are going to be, typically more than your normal fines and costs, because there’s a sobriety court oversight fees. Additionally, on top of that, there’s AA that you would have to do, typically around five times a week. There’s intensive outpatient therapy. And then there is usually involved with the beginning of the sobriety court that you be put on a SCRAM tether, which monitors you for alcohol, or a silver link device, which connects with your phone and you blow into it.
There’s one court in particular where you have to blow into that four times a day, but that’s an abnormal court that would be up in Montcalm with sobriety court. If you live in a different county than the sobriety court that you want to get into, you can ask to transfer into that sobriety court. Not all sobriety courts allow transfers. So for transfers, let’s say you get a drunk driving in Ionia County. You’ve had two drunk drivings within seven years. You want to do sobriety court, but you don’t live in Ionia. You live in Kent County. Then what we have to do is put in a request for transfer, which would be to the 61st district court or the 62b Kentwood District Court, the 63rd District Court does not allow transfers, but transferring is always an option. If you’re unable to transfer from that jurisdiction, then you would have to move basically to that jurisdiction and do the sobriety court there if the sobriety court won’t allow for a transfer.
The requirements of sobriety court, you have to be a US citizen. You cannot have. You can’t be a sexual offender. You can’t have violent criminal history, which is like a violent felony criminal history. You also have to be physically and mentally able to attend it. In addition, you must reside in the county that you’re doing the sorority Court in.
You can call me at 616-915-6576, you can email me at mark@markmcaldwell.com, it is kind of important to get the application in as soon as possible, in case the sobriety court fills up.
When you get an OWI the process through the courts is you have to have an arraignment first, a pretrial after that, a settlement conference, and then a plea on sentencing.
However, in some courts, you can have a plea in sentencing at the pretrial and take care of it all at once. In other courts, you have to have each stage of the process. Some courts are very efficient and some are not.
I would say the whole process on average can be three weeks to up to six months.
At the arraignment is where the judge puts bond conditions on you. The typical bond conditions are going to be no drugs and alcohol, and you can’t leave the state without permission. Then, they’ll have you sign a bond condition form.
Those bond conditions will continue with you until your sentencing date. Once you’re sentenced, if you get probation, then you’ll have probation conditions, which will be the same typically as your bond conditions.
When you’re on bond they can test you for drugs and alcohol. If you do test positive, they can revoke your bond. And then you’re going to be sitting in jail for the duration of your case, which could be quite a long time. For the pretrial conference?
When you want to prepare.
It’s generally a good idea to try to get your assessment completed, which is required by the state of Michigan, as well as completing classes such as the victim impact panel or the Highway Safety seminar.
The victim impact panel you can do online. It’s about an hour and a half and cost $35.
The highway safety seminars, also online. It’s $125 and it takes about four hours.
If you go to the pretrial and you have that all completed, generally you can also be sentenced at that pretrial as well. As it looks good to have that completed when I’m trying to get a reduction from the prosecutor.
When you go in to do the assessment?
Usually you’ll call me a couple days before the assessment, and I’ll prepare you on what questions you’ll be asked at the assessment. The assessment is a drug and alcohol assessment.
So I’ll ask you questions such as:
- “When was the last time you had a drink?
- “How often do you drink?”
- “When you drink and how much do you drink when you drink?”
- “Have you used any other drugs? If so, what drugs?”
They’ll also ask you routine questions, such as where you’re employed at.
Do you have a family additionally at the assessment, they’re going to have you fill out a 135 form, yes or no, a questionnaire called the Needs Assessment.
When you go to court, after you’ve completed the assessment and the two classes or additional counseling, if need be, if this is a second or third drunk driving.
Then I submit those documentation to the prosecutor, in hopes of trying to get a reduction in your plea.
It varies from county to county in West Michigan as to what kind of reductions I can get. And when you’re sentenced, it varies from judge and judge. You can have one courthouse with two different judges and get completely different results.
In the sentencing for an order, we would typically include probation, community service fines and costs and possibly jail on a first offense.
Usually jail is not going to be a part of that outcome.
A jail sentence also depends on a couple of additional factors such as:
- How high your BAC (Blood Alcohol Content) level was.
- Did you hit another vehicle?
- Do you have prior drunk driving?
You have any of those, jail becomes more likely.
When you get an OWI the process through the courts is you have to have an arraignment first, a pretrial after that, a settlement conference, and then a plea on sentencing.
However, in some courts, you can have a plea in sentencing at the pretrial and take care of it all at once. In other courts, you have to have each stage of the process. Some courts are very efficient and some are not.
I would say the whole process on average can be three weeks to up to six months.
At the arraignment is where the judge puts bond conditions on you. The typical bond conditions are going to be no drugs and alcohol, and you can’t leave the state without permission. Then, they’ll have you sign a bond condition form.
Those bond conditions will continue with you until your sentencing date. Once you’re sentenced, if you get probation, then you’ll have probation conditions, which will be the same typically as your bond conditions.
When you’re on bond they can test you for drugs and alcohol. If you do test positive, they can revoke your bond. And then you’re going to be sitting in jail for the duration of your case, which could be quite a long time. For the pretrial conference?
When you want to prepare.
It’s generally a good idea to try to get your assessment completed, which is required by the state of Michigan, as well as completing classes such as the victim impact panel or the Highway Safety seminar.
The victim impact panel you can do online. It’s about an hour and a half and cost $35.
The highway safety seminars, also online. It’s $125 and it takes about four hours.
If you go to the pretrial and you have that all completed, generally you can also be sentenced at that pretrial as well. As it looks good to have that completed when I’m trying to get a reduction from the prosecutor.
When you go in to do the assessment?
Usually you’ll call me a couple days before the assessment, and I’ll prepare you on what questions you’ll be asked at the assessment. The assessment is a drug and alcohol assessment.
So I’ll ask you questions such as:
- “When was the last time you had a drink?
- “How often do you drink?”
- “When you drink and how much do you drink when you drink?”
- “Have you used any other drugs? If so, what drugs?”
They’ll also ask you routine questions, such as where you’re employed at.
Do you have a family additionally at the assessment, they’re going to have you fill out a 135 form, yes or no, a questionnaire called the Needs Assessment.
When you go to court, after you’ve completed the assessment and the two classes or additional counseling, if need be, if this is a second or third drunk driving.
Then I submit those documentation to the prosecutor, in hopes of trying to get a reduction in your plea.
It varies from county to county in West Michigan as to what kind of reductions I can get. And when you’re sentenced, it varies from judge and judge. You can have one courthouse with two different judges and get completely different results.
In the sentencing for an order, we would typically include probation, community service fines and costs and possibly jail on a first offense.
Usually jail is not going to be a part of that outcome.
A jail sentence also depends on a couple of additional factors such as:
- How high your BAC (Blood Alcohol Content) level was.
- Did you hit another vehicle?
- Do you have prior drunk driving?
You have any of those, jail becomes more likely.
The difference between a PBT and refusing the breathalyzer at the jail is that the PBT, (which is also called the preliminary breath test) is $150 civil infraction.
Usually that gets dropped so it’s not a big deal. However, if you refuse the breathalyzer at the jail or when read your chemical test rates in your refuse that triggers the implied consent violation, which nobody knows about.
But it ends up being a one year license suspension. So it’s a big deal.
Now there are different sobriety courts here and around West Michigan. In Kent County, there’s one at 61st District Court. There’s one at 63rd and then one in Kentwood at the 62b District Court.
In Ottawa County, there are sobriety courts in Hudsonville, Holland and Grand Haven. Allegan has a sobriety court. Barry County has a sobriety court, and there’s also a Tri County sobriety court that entails Montcalm, Gratiot and Clinton County.
There’s also a veterans court, which, if you have two drunk drivings within seven years, you are eligible for veterans court if you’re a US veteran. Veterans court is more encompassing though it takes in any criminal offense, but it’s actually a court that’s more suited for veterans because it’s composed of veterans and that is run by Judge Cortez in Wyoming.
Facing a DUI/OWI charge can be scary and confusing.
The best thing you can do is schedule a free consultation right away. But it also helps to educate yourself about how the Michigan Court system works so you can feel confident about making the right decision.
Here’s what you should know about Michigan drunk driving offenses and their associated penalties:
1st Offense
Low BAC Offenses (.16 or lower)
OWI (Operating While Intoxicated) or Operating With Any Presence of a Schedule 1 Drug or Cocaine (OWPD)
$100 to $500 fine and one or more of the following:
- Up to 93 days in jail.
- Up to 360 hours of community service.
- Driver license suspension for 30 days, followed by restrictions for 150 days.
- Possible vehicle immobilization.
- Possible ignition interlock.
- Six points added to driver record.
1st Offense
High BAC Offenses (.17 or lower)
OWI (Operating While Intoxicated) or Operating With Any Presence of a Schedule 1 Drug or Cocaine (OWPD)
$200 to $700 fine and one or more of the following:
- Up to 180 days in jail.
- Up to 360 hours of community service.
- One year license suspension
- The Secretary of State may issue a restricted license 45 days after the suspension starts if the person is otherwise eligible.
- Proof of installation of an ignition interlock device is required before a restricted license will be issued.
2nd Offense
Any combination, second offense within seven years:
OWI (Operating While Intoxicated) or Operating With Any Presence of a Schedule 1 Drug or Cocaine (OWPD)
$200 to $1,000 fine and one or more of the following:
- Five days to one year in jail.
- 30 to 90 days community service.
- Driver license denial/revocation for a minimum of one year.
- License plate confiscated.
- Vehicle immobilization 90 to 180 days unless vehicle is forfeited.
- Possible vehicle forfeiture.
- Six points on driver record.
3rd Offense
Any combination, third offense within ten years (felony):
OWI (Operating While Intoxicated) or Operating With Any Presence of a Schedule 1 Drug or Cocaine (OWPD)
$500 to $5,000 fine and one or more of the following:
- One to five years imprisonment.
- Probation with 30 days to one year in jail.
- 60 to 180 days community service.
- Driver license denial/revocation for a minimum one year.
- License plate confiscation.
- Vehicle immobilization one to three years unless vehicle is forfeited.
- Possible vehicle forfeiture.
- Registration denial.
- Six points on driver record.
Know Your Rights
Legal resources and guides so to understand the Michigan OWI process:
Child Endangerment DUI Laws in Michigan
What Should You Do When Facing a DUI with a Minor Under 16 in the Car? Operating while intoxicated (OWI) … Read more
How to Get Your Driver’s License Back After a DUI
A Step-by-Step Guide for Michigan Driver’s License Reinstatement Losing your driver’s license is a daunting setback. Not only does this … Read more
What To Do if You Hit Someone While Drunk Driving
What Happens if You Hit Someone While Drunk Driving? If you hit another car or a person while driving drunk, … Read more