Thursday, August 6, 2009

Class X felony aggravated DUI. Six to thirty years prison. DUI dismissed without a trial.

Cook County DUI attorney Lewis Gainor represented a client charged with aggravated driving under the influence, a felony Illinois DUI charge. This client was a six-time DUI offender, and he was facing 6 - 30 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

The driver had been out with a friend in the far northern Chicago suburbs when they were pulled over in Waukegan. It was November 4, 2006. The Waukegan police officer smelled the odor of alcohol coming from the vehicle immediately and began a DUI investigation. The client was handcuffed and his car towed.

The Lake County State's Attorney sought a long prison sentence for the driver. At a minimum, the man was facing six years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, with a possibility of much more. Being a Class X felony (6 - 30 years), the DUI was nonprobationable. That is, the man wasn't even eligible for probation.

Lewis Gainor took over the case. He filed numerous motions in court before the trial, taking the State's Attorney to task on proving the charges beyond a reasonable doubt. He demanded full discovery of the prosecution's evidence.

As a result, the People of the State of Illinois filed a motion dismissing the felony DUI charges.


The client was able to plea to a lesser charge which was not felony DUI. It happened that the man had driven on a license revoked for DUI on twelve occasions. As a result, that charge itself was a nonprobationable Class 3 felony (2 - 5 years). Lewis Gainor helped the man receive a good deal on the charge of driving while license revoked.

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