DUI Charges

DUI or Driving Under the Influence charges

If you or someone you care about is facing DUI charges, contact the attorneys at Shell & Nermyr immediately 480-775-4800. At Shell & Nermyr you will be represented by a firm partner, either Chad Shell or Mark Nermyr, with their 20+ years of experience each. Chad and Mark have obtained hundreds of DUI dismissals and acquittals over the past 20 years. When facing DUI charges, a person needs an experienced aggressive attorney that the courts and prosecutors respect. When you hire one of the partners at Shell & Nermyr your attorney will give you their personal cell phone number so that you can contact them at any time with any question. Try texting Shell & Nermyr at 602-284-0247.
Evening and weekend appointments are available and Shell & Nermyr offers payment plans in most cases.

DUI Charges?

In Arizona a person can be charged with DUI for alcohol or drugs. DUI is a very complicated field that requires years of experience to truly understand and defend. Chad Shell and Mark Nermyr have both been defending people charged with DUIs for over 20 years. You can have the experience of Chad Shell or Mark Nermyr represent you by calling 480-775-4800 or texting 602-284-0247. Shell & Nermyr will not take your money or your case unless they believe they can actually make a difference.

Alcohol DUI Levels

• DUI – Driving Under the Influence: a person can be charged with driving under the influence even if their blood alcohol concentration is below the legal limit of .08. If the police can prove that a person’s ability to drive a vehicle is impaired to the slightest degree by alcohol a person can be charged and convicted of DUI. This is often the first charge cited on a ticket. The minimum sentence for this charge is 10 days in jail, approximately $1800 in fines and fees, alcohol classes, and the requirement for an ignition interlock device on a vehicle for one year. The maximum sentence can include 180 days in jail, $3500 in fines and fees, and up to five years of probation. For a second offense DUI the minimum sentence is much higher.
• .08 DUI – DUI .08: this is the most easily understood of all the DUI charges. In every state in the United States a person can be charged with DUI if they are driving with an alcohol concentration of the .08 or higher. To prove a person’s alcohol concentration a police officer may require a person to provide a breath sample or a blood sample. If the results of that sample are higher than .08 but lower than .15 a person can be convicted of DUI. The minimum sentence for this charge is 10 days in jail, approximately $1800 in fines and fees, alcohol classes, and the requirement for an ignition interlock device on a vehicle for one year. The maximum sentence can include 180 days in jail, $3500 in fines and fees, and up to five years of probation. For a second offense .08 DUI the minimum sentence is much higher.
• .15 DUI – Extreme DUI: if a person’s alcohol concentration is above .15 but below .20 a person can be convicted of Extreme DUI. The minimum sentence for this charge is 30 days in jail, approximately $3000 in fines and fees, alcohol classes, and the requirement for an ignition interlock device on a vehicle for one year. The maximum sentence can include 180 days in jail, $4500 in fines and fees, and up to five years of probation. For a second offense .15 DUI the minimum sentence is much higher.
• .20 DUI – Super Extreme DUI: if a person’s alcohol concentration is above .20 a person can be convicted of Super Extreme DUI. The minimum sentence for this charge is 45 days in jail, approximately $4000 in fines, alcohol classes, and the requirement for an ignition interlock device on a vehicle for one year. The maximum sentence can include 180 days in jail, $5500 in fines and fees, and up to five years of probation. For a second offense .20 DUI the minimum sentence is much higher.
• DUI Drugs – A3 or DUI Drugs is one of the most common DUI charges today. There are two different types of DUI drug cases: prescription drug and illegal drug DUI. If a person has a valid prescription for the drug they are taking, there is an affirmative defense that can lead to a dismissal or an acquittal of the charges. If a person is charged with a drug DUI in which the drug is illegal, or the person does not have a valid prescription the person can be convicted of drug DUI. The penalty for a first-time drug DUI is the same as DUI and .08 DUI.
• Aggravated DUI – Aggravated or Felony DUI is when a person gets any one of the above DUIs in two circumstances: either their license was suspended at the time of this DUI or it is their third DUI within seven years. For an Aggravated DUI the minimum sentence allowed by law is supervised probation with four months in the Department of Corrections (prison). The maximum sentence for an Aggravated DUI is 3.75 years in prison.

Beating DUI Charges

DUI cases are as technical and complicated as DNA cases. The science behind blood-alcohol testing is constantly being challenged by experienced attorneys like Shell & Nermyr. Some jurisdictions in Arizona still use the Intox. 8000 to test breath but most use gas chromatograph to test blood. All experts agree that blood testing is more accurate than breath testing: however, neither process is infallible. It is important to hire an attorney with decades of experience in defending people charged with DUI to aggressively and fully challenge the test results. The attorneys at Shell & Nermyr are respected by every prosecutor’s office and every court across Arizona. Your attorney’s reputation with the court and state can make all the difference in how your case is resolved.

The attorneys at Shell & Nermyr have obtained many dismissals by filing motions to suppress the evidence. A police officer cannot randomly pull a vehicle over: they must have a basis (reasonable suspicion) to conduct a traffic stop. The attorneys at Shell & Nermyr have successfully challenged the officers excuse for the traffic stops and have gotten the charges dismissed in many DUI cases. Another basis for getting cases dismissed is often overlooked by less experienced attorneys. The first letter in DUI is “D”: in many cases the police are not even able to prove that a person was driving. This happens most often in vehicle collisions when the drivers are out of the vehicle by the time the police arrive or when a person has fallen asleep in their vehicle. It takes an experienced attorney to understand how to use these situations in negotiations and in trial and in negotiations.

Experienced and Aggressive representation for your DUI case

Many inexperienced or less than enthusiastic (lazy) attorneys simply go through the motions and have their clients plead guilty. The attorneys at Shell & Nermyr will not take your money or agree to represent you unless they believe they can make a difference. The partners at Shell & Nermyr will aggressively defend their clients with all of their years of experience.

MVD Consequences

If a person is convicted of, or even charged, a DUI there could be MVD consequences on a driver’s license. A DUI conviction assesses eight points on a person’s driver’s license and will require the person to attend traffic survival school (TSS). In addition, a person will be assessed a 90-day suspension of their driving privileges. If handled properly the person will be allowed to drive to and from work and school after 30 days. If handled improperly a person could have a full 90-day suspension and other costly consequences such as SR-22 insurance. The attorneys at Shell & Nermyr will handle the MVD portion as well as the DUI portion of the case. The attorneys at Shell & Nermyr will fight hard to avoid any and all suspensions of the driver’s license.

Call the attorneys at Shell & Nermyr 480-775-4800 or text them at 602-284-0247 and let them fight your DUI case for you.