DUI Case – Worst and Best Case Scenarios?

Question by Arial: DUI Case – Worst and Best Case Scenarios?
My twin sister is facing DUI charges, and feels that her attorney or anyone else can not provide her a valid idea on how her case will turn out. Perhaps you all can provide some “real” insight, so she is prepared. Below is the story, and yes it is very sad but please do your best to provide insight, not just opinions.

2 aggravated DUIs in one day (4 accounts total) (BAC slightly higher than .15 for both), but in 2 different jurisdictions.
The first was an Injury Accident, but involved a fender bendor. Injuries were not relevant or reported right away, however, the victim went to physical thearpy for a strain and collected $ from her insurance company. 2nd DUI, after being released from the police station for the first one, she took a cab to her other car. Upon driving home again (still thinking she did not have “a problem” apparently), she totaled her other vehicle, and was airlifted to the hospital where a sample of blood was obtained for investigation. She was the only one injured in this accident.

It has been about a year now, and neither of the cases have been filed with the courts. She already endured a DMV suspension for the first one.

She was severely chemically dependent on alcohol. If she did not maintain a certain level of booze in her body, she would shake violently, and detox from it. She suffered not only a mental addiction to it, but also a physical one. Her tolerance to it is high – for example, when I went to her house, she would have drank half a pint of Vodka by noon, and not seem intoxicated in any way (she just smelled like it).
She took it upon herself to go to rehab because the DUI incident indicated her life was not manageable without help. She went inpatient for 30 days (including detox), then signed up for outpatient for 6 more weeks, and a relapse prevention program that followed for 3 weeks. She even volunteered to take random drug/alcohol tests just to prove to her family, that she could be trusted and was clean and sober. She completed over 100 AA meetings in the first two months after rehab and also completed the 12 step program. She did a full 360, and her recovery has been remarkable and her life is turning around as she’s able to function normally in society again, and has learned her lesson. Just a few months ago, she was awarded back custody of her children, was promoted at work, and graduated with her Master’s degree.

but the DUI is still there… While we try and advise her to take it a day at a time, she can’t help but worry what will happen.
Here’s the catch:
Police officer who reported to the scene took her down to the station, and took her blood. He is friends with her ex-husband as well, and told her ex husband all details of her case and even “over stated” some information (about the BAC being higher, which it wasn’t) on the initial report so he could use it to prove she was unfit and gain full custody of the kids (he was never that involved with the kids before the incident, she raised them all on her own and they were happy, healthy, and provided for… but he gets more $ for having them as his dependents, which is what he was trying to do even before the incident occurred. She thinks he did this to leverage the situation to obtain full custody (which I am glad he did, at first, because she needed time to get well).

The police officer has also been in contact with the person from the first incident who experienced the strain, and was advising him to collect as much $ as he can from the insurance company.

As you see, her case also involves politics.

The officer initially (in my opinion), should have physically taken her license and not have sent her off in a cab with a BAC still that high with her kids too. He released her drunk into public, no holding tank, jail cell, etc. I feel he should have also called CPS (yes, the children were involved), but he didn’t.

Any insight is welcome. Occured in AZ.

Arial

Best answer:

Answer by Lee
How do you know what her BAC was at the time, and that the police officer overstated it on his report? If you want realistic answers, you need to first be realistic with yourself and accept he probably didnt make it up or lie and that your sister is the one at fault here not anyone else.

It is a great thing that your sister has worked so hard to show improvement and turn her life around and I am sure her lawyer will be able to use that in her defense an help minimize her punishment. She is absolutely facing some serious trouble though and needs to consider herself lucky that no matter what happens she is still alive and didnt seriously injure anyone else. Best of luck.

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!