I just got a DUI in Portland
 

I pride myself on planning my drinking so that I don't have to drive if I drink too much. Last night I planned on three beers and a movie with a friend visiting from Texas. It turned into four beers because we were early, then we couldn't go to the movie for other reasons so I made the bad choice of driving home from Vancouver. Dropped my friend off in Gresham and was pulled over a mile from my house because I spun the tires at a green light. I failed a field sobriety test then blew a 0.10 at the police station. Got to watch MIB3 and two episodes of Law & Order downtown as they processed my arrest, then took a taxi back out to my car at 4:30am and drove the mile home.

Lemme tell you, this really screws things up. PLAN YOUR DRINKING!

I am going to detail the costs and inconveniences for this little deviation.

11/11/14 $50 Cost of eight beers (four for me, four for my friend)
11/11/14 $400? They didn't tow my car, but they could have!
11/12/14 $2500 Retainer for DUI lawyer (Ben Eder of Thuemmel Uhle & Eder)
12/8/14 $120 Interlock Device installation and first two months
12/12/14 $150 for Drug & Alcohol Abuse Assessment
12/13/14 $100 for Interlock Monitoring Fee (charged by city)
12/16/14 $150 for Weekly Group Session Entrance Interview, #1 session & UA
12/23/14-3/17/15 $750 #2-14 Weekly Group Sessions w/ four random UAs ($50/session, $25/UA)
1/12/15 $50 Victim Impact Panel
1/13/15 $125 Application for Hardship License Permit
2/2/15 $20 for gas round trip to get my hardship license in Salem (they lost mailed items twice)
2/2/15 $15 for SR22 filing through State Farm
2/5/15 $120 Interlock 60-Day Service for GMC
2/6/15 $50 Interlock Violation Reset Fee (warming van up on cold morning, forgot and left it idling for ten minutes)
3/10/15 $27 to reinstate full license privileges after suspension
3/25/15 $105 Weekly Group Exit Interview & Final UA
4/3/15 $120 Interlock 60-Day Service for GMC
6/2/15 $120 Interlock 60-Day Service for GMC
6/19/15 $120 Interlock 60-Day Service for Isuzu
7/30/15 $120 Interlock 60-Day Service for GMC
8/17/15 $50 Interlock Removal from Isuzu
9/30/15 $120 Interlock 60-Day Service for GMC
11/20/15 $490 Diversion Fine
12/2/15 $50 Interlock Removal Fee

TOTAL DUI COST AT COMPLETION: $5522

Because I hired a lawyer (Ben Eder) I didn't have to show at my arraignment, where he entered my please of Not Guilty.

I requested a DMV hearing to challenge the validity of the stop, and I met a judge and the arresting officer in a small room in Tualatin. If the officer wouldn't have shown up my license suspension would have been thrown out, but he did show. The judge basically made the officer go step-by-step through the arrest to confirm that it was a legally valid stop. The judge was thorough and probed deeply into each detail, but the officer was very competent and ultimately the validity of the stop was found to be legitimate. I did not have to answer any questions and sat quietly through the officer's testimony.

I had the interlock device installed in my van before my license suspension began, so things would be easier for me later when my license was reinstated. It took about an hour to install at a local car audio shop. Now, to start the van I have to wait about twenty seconds for the machine to be ready, then blow and hum into the unit for ten seconds until it beeps and registers that I have no alcohol in my system. On the first start on a cold morning it can up to two minutes before I can blow. Five minutes after starting the van the unit beeps again and I have to blow/hum while I'm driving, then again every thirty minutes if I am still driving that long. If I blow over a 0.02 then the unit will not let me start the car again anywhere from five minutes to 24 hours, and I have to pay a $50 fee. I have to have this unit installed on any vehicle I drive for the next year.

My big day in court was really not scary at all, because my lawyer prepped me and was there next to me. I qualified for diversion because I had no prior drug/alcohol issues, so I already knew what to expect. When it was my turn to go up I basically just answered a few easy questions like my name, etc, and the judge told me I was entering diversion and that I shouldn't operate a vehicle under the influence of any intoxicants from this point until diversion ended, when my misdemeanor charge would be dismissed.

Once my license suspension began I had to rely on my feet, bike, public transportation and friends to get around. It's a pain to always have to ask for help, but I have many friends willing to chauffeur me around so it's working out OK. After four weeks of mandatory suspension I qualify for a hardship permit, where I can drive for work during preset hours. I'm self-employed, so I will basically have free daytime driving privileges.

A drug and alcohol assessment that cost $150 was really just a fifteen minute sit-down in a cramped office downtown where an underpaid, overworked employee breezed through a three-page yes/no survey to determine if I was dependent on drugs or not. Total BS, but part of the deal so I can't complain.

Mandatory group counseling sessions ($50/session + $25/UA) are 5-10 people plus a counselor who sit in a circle for an hour and chat about their week, or maybe a particular topic chosen by the counselor. It mostly consists of one or two people talking about drama in their lives and is kind of boring, but it's only an hour. The counselor (John McMurry, Sunrise Counseling) is really chill and friendly, though, and made the group more than just bearable. I have to participate in at least thirteen sessions, with 90 days of clean Urine Analysis (UA) in order to complete counseling. UAs are "random, but we are giving a week's notice so they aren't really that random.

I went to the Victim Impact Panel at Emmanual Hospital ($50 cash). It was a two-hour presentation in a large (100+ seat) auditorium. The first hour was a retired trauma nurse talking about some of the worst DUI-related incidents that she had personally responded to. I was surprised that her slide show was not more graphic, more of a PG-13 show. I think that the shock value aspect of this presentation was undervalued. The second hour was supposed to be three different victims of DUI speaking, but one cancelled, so there were only two. The first was a Mexican guy who had been drunk and crashed his own car, severely injuring himself. The second was a 50's-aged guy who had killed a teenage girl who had been walking on the side of the road. He got eight DUIs in five states before this happened, and he was sent to prison for ten years. Wow.

Took my van in for the first 60-day interlock device service. $120. No big deal, in and out in five minutes. The next morning, it was a cold one, I started the van to warm it up. Ran in the house to grab something, then a neighbor popped in to say hi and I forgot about the van. Went out ten minutes later to a nice toasty interior -- and a red flashing light on the interlock. I had missed the five minute blow alert and a violation had been recorded. An inconvenient trip downtown to have the unit reset, and a $50 fee. Grrrrr.

Meanwhile, my insurance found out that I have a suspended license and sent me cancellation notices for all four of my vehicles. I just sold my FR-S and motorcycle, so I don't care about two of them, but I am hoping that I can get my hardship permit paperwork finalized before the cancellation begins on the other two. Getting the SR-22 paperwork from State Farm took three weeks, but only cost me a $15 filing fee so my fears about the cost were ungrounded. State Farm ended up canceling me, but I signed up with Progressive and actually SAVED money over State Farm, so there is a silver lining.

Overall not being able to drive hasn't impacted me as much as I thought it would. I have enough friends, family and neighbors that I haven't had any issues getting rides when I need them. I figured out the Trimet app and getting around on the bus/MAX hasn't been too much of a hassle. (With the exception of New Years Eve, when buses stopped running after midnight but I didn't know that because my phone had died).

After DMV returned my thick envelope containing the hardship application for having $0.15 too little postage (I even put an extra stamp on it to make sure it arrived!), then they lost some of the paperwork after I remailed the application, I eventually got my hardship permit a full month after filling out the application. With the hardship, I could drive from 10a-10p seven days a week, within the four counties that make up metro Portland. I'm thankful that I am self-employed so I could invent any reason to drive instead of being confined to just driving to work and back. After a month of my hardship I got my full license back and now I can drive anywhere, anytime, as long as I am driving a vehicle with the ignition interlock installed.

I finished out my 90 days of drug and alcohol group sessions, consisting of the entrance interview, fourteen weekly sessions and an exit interview -- along with six pee tests along the way. I actually started to enjoy the sessions as the weeks went by. It got entertaining and at 90 minutes they weren't really long enough to get too boring. Of course, now that I have finished with them I won't miss them!

At this point I just have to finish out the year with the interlock installed in any vehicle I drive, and not operate a vehicle under the influence of any intoxicants. It sounds easy, but 40% of offenders get a second DUI! I will not be one of them.

I only installed the interlock on my GMC van originally, but as the weather got nicer I wanted to be able to enjoy my 2001 Isuzu Rodeo Sport with the top removed, so I had an interlock installed in that... but it turns out that after June 1st a camera is required with the interlock... and I wasn't told that this would cause any difference in using the device, but it did. The model with the camera took nearly two minutes to "warm up" before I could blow into it. Since I was using the Isuzu as my fun car, I realized quickly that it wasn't fun at all to have to sit in the garage or wherever for two minutes every time I needed to drive. So I kept that installed for two months, then had it removed ($50 removal fee) and I just won't drive it again until next year.

On a Friday afternoon, just weeks from finishing the diversion program, I received a notice in the mail that I must appear in court the next week. The notice stated that I had not paid my diversion fees ($490) and if I did not go to court an arrest warrant would be issued. I was headed to NY for over a week and wouldn't be in town for the court date! You've got to be kidding me... I was aware that to complete diversion I had to pay the fine, so that was no surprise, but I had yet to receive any kind of notification of when to pay it. I assumed that I had to pay it when I completed the program since nobody had said a word. Well, luckily I found a friendly clerk in the Multnomah County collections department and she took my payment over the phone and walked the receipt down to the court office. It was that easy, no more court date and no threat of arrest. It seems to me that simply telling me when I should pay the fine would be a lot easier than assigning me a court date and threatening me... but that is our system.

I didn't end up having to go to court. My lawyer went for me and I got a letter in the mail telling me that I am clear of all charges and I am finished with this crap!

Whew. I now own my own Breathalyzer that I keep in the car and if I ever think I might have had too much I can tell for sure. But I plan better as well. I PLAN to use Uber or Lyft to get home if I know I'm going to be drinking. The $20 cost of the ride is WAY cheaper than the financial and emotional cost of a DUI!

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maybe @BRZPDX can help you out

That really sucks dude hope it all turns out ok in the end

Damn, sorry to hear dude. I'm curious as well, keep us updated.

Yeah, if nothing else maybe this can be a learning experience for everyone. I definitely felt fine to drive... and I actually own a breathalyzer so I have an idea of what it takes for me to be over the limit... but not eating all day was what really did me in. (well, the beer) I had no breakfast or lunch, and just three pieces of pizza about 30 minutes before getting pulled over. Fawk.

Not Portland, but if you blew more than the limit a lawyer won't help much IMO. Lawyers help when you declined to blow.

Wasting your money on a lawyer probably wont be a good route. Take whatever diversion they are willing to give you if it helps to get it off your record. A DUII report is written on par with a felony arrest report here in Oregon so there usually isn't much in the way of "loop holes", especially with the fact that you blew .10 (.08 being the "legal" limit).

So like I said take whatever diversion they are willing to give you and learn from the mistake!

Don't want to refuse to blow here in Oregon...automatic license suspension and huge fine....that implied consent that came with your drivers license ;)

It's the same here in Illinois. I've worked with a DUI attorney. Basically if you don't blow you're assumed (quote on quite of course) guilty and you gotta get a good lawyer to prove you are not. If you blew you're automatically guilty. So if you're sure you are over the limit the best choice is to decline to blow. There's is nothing worse that blowing more than the limit. That's just my personal experience with these cases.

That truly sucks. As others have said, take whatever diversion programs are offered to you, but I don't think there is a lot of wiggle room in Oregon DUI laws.

Sorry to hear about what happened to you.

I'm going to go against what everyone else has said and say most definitely get a lawyer. There are so many technicalities that you can get this thrown out on, if their procedures weren't 100% documented and by the book a good lawyer should be able to get you off or at least your sentence reduced.

I've had both a parent and a friend have similar incidents in Portland and both were able to get theirs thrown out with lawyers on stupid technicalities.

Akari might be right...getting a consultation will never hurt

It didn't happen in Portland, but my brother got a DUI in Monmouth just over a year ago (apparently he was at a 0.6, and still got charged with a DUI, but I never asked him for the details about that).

He went with the diversion program which, for him at least, meant not driving for a whole year, and attending meetings out in Salem once a month - AFAIK, you must attend every meet (and be there on time) to complete the program.

I can ask him for the details of what all was involved if you'd like; I think my brother met with a lawyer about it, but the lawyer told him it isn't worth it to fight these cases, and he was better off going with the diversion program, but that might have been for his case specifically, and not a generalization.

I'm sorry to hear that you got nailed for this, and only a mile away from home - when my brother got pulled over and slapped with his DUI, it was because he gave extra girth to a bicyclist that was turning right while he did so at the same time (it was night, and an empty road as Monmouth is just a small, quiet town).

Total BS to get pulled over for something like that on a Monday - I was driving home later in the evening last night, and had an older Corvette flaunting around in front of me and a Lancer that was driving behind me - I was in the right lane with my exit coming up soon, and this guy went from tailgating the shit out of the Lancer (who was already doing 80 + as he kept up with me, and that's what I was doing before I moved over for him since I figured I really shouldn't be doing that, and I had my exit coming up regardless) to swerving over to the right lane from the far left lane to cut me off. Then they pulled, and swerved back into the middle lane right in front of a semi, and cut off the Lancer in the left lane. He then proceeded to tail gate the fuck out of the next car that was up in the left lane, and pulled the same maneuver with him, causing the middle and right lane of traffic to break hard. It amazes me how people like you get nailed for something like that when I know you weren't sober, but you weren't going to endanger anyone - meanwhile people like that 'vette are out and about not much farther away getting away with all manner of reckless BS.

I hope this works out as well as it can for your Darren!

Yeah, I don't really have an intention of fighting it... but a having a lawyer through the process definitely can't hurt. Maybe he'll see a technicality even. I've been in touch with a couple, just none I' want to give money to yet.

Yeah, you definitely want to talk a lawyer or public defendant still, I don't think anyone was suggesting that he shouldn't do that, but that Darren will definitely want to do the diversion program regardless.

AFAIK with the diversion program, you are only offered it once, and you want to do it because successfully completing it means you won't have that DUI on your record.