If you have been arrested and charged with more than two DUIs, maybe it is time to hire a DUI attorney. It may also be time to try and turn your life around, considering that the punishments for consecutive DUIs only get much worse from here. If you are also charged with vehicular assault (i.e., hitting cars and people while driving under the influence), it is definitely time to do something about this situation. Working with your lawyer and the judge, here is what you can do.

Plead Guilty

Your track record speaks for itself. You have more than two DUIs on your record. Pleading innocent to this latest charge is not going to work in your favor. If you plead guilty, then your lawyer can make special requests for sentencing on your behalf. It also looks good to the judge when guilty parties accept responsibility for their actions by acknowledging that they know and accept that they are guilty.

Request to Be Sentenced to Inpatient Treatment

The next step is for your lawyer to request leniency, with the requirement of inpatient treatment at a court-approved facility for alcohol and drug rehabilitation. This is the first step in the right direction for you. You will not be jailed, but you may be confined to the facility until your doctor there has deemed your inpatient treatment complete. When your treatment is complete, you may either be on house arrest for a while, or you will be on extended probation. You will not be allowed to drive a car, and it is important that you follow this to the letter. Given your treatment program, you may also have to appear at the facility in the months following your treatment for urinalysis drug tests and screening as part of this arrangement/punishment.

Stick With It, or Jail May Be the Next Step

When your DUI lawyer argues for leniency and manages to get you into a treatment program, stick with the program. Lawyers are good at what they do, but a fourth, fifth, or sixth DUI would require a miracle to keep you out of jail. Most lawyers cannot argue leniency for these later DUIs when they have already successfully managed that for you early on. Additionally, most judges are not inclined to grant leniency when you seem to have failed your rehab program. There are only a couple of extremely rare instances where you may not have to go to jail for a DUI, and you should not assume that those conditions would or will apply to you on subsequent DUIs.

For more information, contact a local DUI attorney.