You have ten days to save your license, and the strongest defenses are built early — while the evidence is fresh and the State's paperwork can still be tested. Call before you do anything else.
Call 904-383-7448A Florida DUI is prosecuted under section 316.193, Florida Statutes. A first conviction carries a fine of $500 to $1,000, up to six months in jail, fifty hours of community service, a year of probation, a ten-day vehicle impound, and a license revocation of at least 180 days — and those numbers climb when the breath reading is 0.15 or higher or a minor was in the car.
Every DUI arrest is really two cases: the criminal charge in county court, and the administrative suspension of your license under section 322.2615. The administrative case moves first, and you have only ten days to act. Call 904-383-7448.
The criminal case plays out in county court. The administrative case runs through the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, and it moves fast. Within ten days you must either demand a formal review hearing or make the election that lets you keep driving on a hardship permit. Many people lose the right to fight their suspension simply because no one told them the deadline existed. That ten-day window is the first order of business.
The State must prove three things: that you were driving or in actual physical control, that you were impaired or over the limit, and that the stop and arrest were lawful. Each is a place to push back. The stop has to satisfy the Fourth Amendment. Field sobriety exercises are scored by an officer on the side of a dark road, and the instructions, the surface, the lighting, and your own health all affect the result. The breath test runs on the Intoxilyzer 8000, which must be maintained and operated under the rules tied to Florida's implied-consent law, section 316.1932. When the maintenance log has a gap, when the operator skips a step, when mouth alcohol or a rising blood-alcohol curve is in play, the number on the printout is not the unassailable fact the State wants the jury to believe.
This is the work Graham Syfert concentrates on. He has taught other attorneys how to read the science and cross-examine the people who produce it. If your case turns on a machine, see challenging scientific evidence.
The results below are real outcomes from Mr. Syfert's practice, described with client initials. They are illustrations of past work only. Every case is different, the facts of your case will differ, and prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future case.
D.B. was arrested for DUI in Riverside and blew a 0.13. The officer said the reason for the stop was failing to remain in his lane. Mr. Syfert filed a motion to dismiss noting that the Riverside street in question has no lane lines that would require staying within a lane. The first DUI was dismissed.
E.P. was arrested for DUI in Riverside. The officer claimed she was traveling 39 in a 30. A review of the DUI video and the time stamps showed it was nearly impossible for her to have been over the limit at the moment the officer would have initiated his radar.
E.P. was involved in a three-vehicle accident with a 0.18 while on a suspended license. After Mr. Syfert filed motions to dismiss and to suppress, the State agreed to drop the DUI to reckless driving. The result was six months of probation rather than a DUI conviction.
P.O. was arrested for what the State charged as a fourth DUI, which would have carried a mandatory jail sentence. Mr. Syfert convinced the State it was a third DUI, and the case was resolved on that basis.
Ten days from the arrest to request a formal review hearing or elect the hardship review under section 322.2615. The window does not pause while you decide.
No. A first or second DUI is a misdemeanor. A third within ten years, a fourth ever, DUI with serious bodily injury, and DUI manslaughter are felonies.
It can be challenged, and sometimes excluded or undermined, when the machine or the operator did not follow the rules. Nothing is automatic — it depends on the facts of your case.
The call is free and confidential. Whether it is a traffic citation or a felony, the sooner a defense begins, the more can be done. Graham W. Syfert answers his own phone.
Call 904-383-7448Graham W. Syfert, Esq., P.A. · Jacksonville, Florida
Serving Duval, Clay, Nassau, and St. Johns Counties