Getting a D.W.I.

Anonymous writes: "I got nailed with a DWI (driving while intoxicated) very recently after leaving a party with a friend of mine. I drove because my friend had way more than I had to drink yet I still had a couple of glasses of wine. I wasn't drunk at all but I leaned over to pick up a CD and swerved and got pulled over for that and when they smelled the wine on my breath they had me do the breathalizer. After spending the night in jail I got bailed out by my father who told me that there might be a way to lessen the penalty fee and/or punishment if I mention my friend had something to do with it. I don't want to do that but I wondered what options I might have barring having to pay a lawyer to help me out?"

Surprisingly, getting a DWI without any priors is more damaging to a person than a triple-murder suspect getting a DWI. Yes, that's right! But since you're not going to go out and kill three people to make this DWI go away (the prosecuters would rather charge you with triple homicide than a lame little DWI) you're going to have to deal with this one head-on.

Your father is right in one way. If you must go to court and you do not have the money for a lawyer (which happens on TV all the time so believe me that this is true) you will be appointed one by the court. Now, if you can convince this court appointed lawyer that you are the other person (i.e., your friend), which can be accomplished through the use of fake I.D.s and what not (which I'm not encouraging, by the way) you may be able to convince them that your friend is really you. A switch like this, which happens often due to mistakes in booking practices, could cause your friend (who was under the influence as well) to be charged for the DWI and allow you to get off scott-free. But the more realistic option is to convince your court appointed counselor that your breath smells like wine all the time and that you have chronic asthma.

An asthmatic who has breath that smells like wine can also appear to be a driver under the influence due to the lack of breath and wine-scented odor -- but cannot be charged for a DWI. Such a legal precedent has been set in the past (Yasner v. Cook County, PA is one case to refer to) where an asthmatic was believed to be under the influence while she was, in fact, simply having chronic shortness of breath. She got off, and so can you.