WTDW Podcast | Episode 28: What To Do When… Avoiding A Juvenile DUI.

by | Sep 2, 2022 | Audio, Jackie Critzer, Media, Scott Cardani, Video, WTDW Podcast

What To Do When... Avoiding A Juvenile DUI.

Juvenile DUI in Virginia…

WTDW Podcast | Episode 28: What To Do When… Avoiding A Juvenile DUI.

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WTDW Podcast | Episode 28: What To Do When… Avoiding A Juvenile DUI.

Intro 0:01
Welcome to What To Do When….A podcast from real lawyers with real perspective, where we explore a variety of legal issues and scenarios. Each week we focus on a new topic and discuss What to do When, and if any of these legal scenarios ever happened to you or a loved one. With over 40 years of combined legal experience, our hosts offer their unique perspectives and insights on a range of real life legal situations.

Jackie Critzer 0:28

Hi, and welcome back to another podcast with Critzer Cardani. Here in Richmond, Virginia. What To Do When…

Scott Cardani 0:37

What’s on the docket for today?

Jackie Critzer 0:38
What To Do When… Avoiding a Juvenile DUI?

Scott Cardani 0:43
Whoa, Baby DUIs as we call them sometimes. And I think the key is to realize that is completely different in the sense of a adult DUI, and it’s 21, not 18. And there’s all these things that people need to know. But as a parent, when your kid starts to drive, they really need to understand what this what this means. So if you’re driving a car, and you’re under the age of 21, and you have any intoxicant in your body whatsoever, the amount doesn’t matter. If it shows up, you’re under the influence for driving. So it’s a real misnomer. Most kids think they can go to a party and drink a beer and drive, right? Sure. So you know, you’re driving home and you get a flat tire, you or you run a stop sign, and the cop pulls you over. All of a sudden, you’re like, Well, I didn’t drink only drank a beer,

Jackie Critzer 1:46
Or someone hits you right? Sometimes that is the part of the process of helping our our teenagers think through what could the consequence be? It’s not Oh, I don’t trust you to get from point A to point B in a safe way. The question needs to include Well, what are you going to do if somebody rear ends you? Or somebody doesn’t stop at a stop sign and hits you. Then what sort of consequences are you looking at?

Scott Cardani 2:08
Yeah, this is really important. Because I think because we’re so ingrained to the point 08 kind of mentality that most people think they get, you know, parents will drink a beer and drive. And it’s usually no big deal because they’re way under the limit. Right? You’re not impaired in any way. So kids take a cue from us sometimes. But they’ve got to learn and have to realize that the standard for them is so different that drinking a beer and driving or smoking marijuana, which seems to be like the new thing for beer.

Jackie Critzer 2:42
Using a vape pen with CBD, not CBD, but I guess the THC oil, the marijuana stuff in it.

Scott Cardani 2:48
And so, you know, there’s lots of ways they can test you. But if it’s in your system, and then it registers basically is the real way to look at it. I mean, we get into all the science of it and all the things but we’re not here to do that. What we’re trying to tell you is that when it registers, you’re in trouble.

Jackie Critzer 3:06
Well, how do they can we address that? How did you mean register? I mean, we know a DUI can be I guess field sobriety tests, if they do that on juveniles that are you can talk about that, but a breathalyzer or blood test. But what about? So so let’s talk about that first, then we’ll talk about maybe the other intoxicants and how they measure those?

Scott Cardani 3:24
Well, the bottom line is they’re going to have to do most of this is going to be like a hospital kind of blood draw. You can still do the blood breathalyzer at a police station and blow into a breathalyzer. The what people don’t understand is the field sobriety test, I’ll handle that real quickly. Field sobriety tests are the tests they give you on the side of the road. One of them could be the breathalyzer, the portable breathalyzer that they use, which is to a level inaccurate and they can’t use it as evidence against you. That’s why you should never agree to do that. The field sobriety tests on the side of arrow to the you know the agility test, you follow a pen with your eyes, you walk 10 steps, heel to toe and all those things. Those are all indications of your ability of where you are if you’re impaired, and there’s a lot of factors that go into that. But what we’re really talking about is your driving, you had a beer, you are completely unimpaired. And they pull you over and they smell the odor of alcohol and they push through and decide to arrest you because you go oh yeah, I did have a beer. Like every kid does. And you know we are teach our kids to be honest. But there’s a difference between being honest and telling on yourself. You don’t have any obligation to tell on yourself. You have an obligation to, you know, be honest, but not in that context. When a cop ask you have you been drinking, you have every right to say, with all due respect. I’m going to talk to my parents and a lawyer before I answer that question. Sure. That’s always the answer. Because no matter what you say in that situation, you’re not helping yourself.

Jackie Critzer 4:55
Well, because understand this, that situation is likely going to get you or maybe to a hospital for a blood draw, okay? If you say, No, I haven’t had anything, then they’re going to take the next step and try to figure out whether you have, if you say, Yes, I have, then certainly you’re going to go. So no matter what you say, it’s not going to help you.

Scott Cardani 5:14
You just, you know, some officers may be nice enough to think you’re not impaired and in decide that not to do anything. But the bottom line is, you’re putting yourself at risk. And the best thing you can do is make them prove their case, that’s their job, they have to do the work to prove it, you don’t have to help them in any way, shape, or form. So you’d be polite. You hand them your driver’s license, you hand them your registration, you show them your insurance, and that’s the end of the conversation. And you don’t have to answer any of the other questions, but they’re gonna try to find out if you have anything in your system, and they do that, that, you know, if it’s alcohol, they can take the breathalyzer at the station, but they have to arrest you to do that. And if that doesn’t work, and at some other intoxication, they may take a blood draw or a urine screen or whatever it may be. And you remember this, folks? I don’t know that we figured out in Virginia, exactly how we’re handling marijuana, quite frankly. But it stays in your system. 30 days, normally, that’s the average. Right? So think about that. You smoked it Billy’s 30 or 28 days ago, and you’re driving they pull you over because you got in a wreck. Are you under the influence? Are you legally responsible in the sense of a DUI, driving under the influence, potentially. So that’s what we’re trying to say is possession. You certainly in possession, because possession means it’s in your system, what we’re just trying to help you understand is, it’s the process that you have to think through, we as parents have to extract our kids. Because even if our kids are really good kids, they may have a beer and drive. And the consequence of that beer could be a loss of license, you know, six months loss of license, all those things that can happen in a DUI. So it’s a misdemeanor charge. And, you know, there’s just a lot of downside to it. And if you don’t know, and you’ll get pulled over and go, Oh, yeah, I had a beer, I’m totally fine.

Jackie Critzer 7:11
Well, and I think it’s important to excuse me, you know, our kids learn by our example. And they are far more likely to do what we do than do what we say. And that includes, maybe you’re on your phone, when you’re driving, what do you think they’re going to do when they’re behind the wheel, they’re gonna think it’s okay, they’re gonna think they’ve mastered it like you think you have. And if you have taken them to a family get together, or you’ve gone out to dinner, maybe at a restaurant had a glass of wine, two glasses, one beer a couple of years. And then now the whole family gets back in the car, and it’s time to go home. And it’s really probably not a big deal. You’re probably not impaired, depending on your metabolism. But what example are you setting for your, for your young people? And what are they going to expect to have happen when they become drivers? They may know in their mind? Well, I shouldn’t do that. But they’re going to follow the lead, and the lead of the people that are in their life. So if they go to the party, or God forbid, they’re at your house, and they sneak a drink, and then they leave, okay, and maybe they’re just going for a drive up to the pool in the neighborhood and somebody pulls out in front of them or somebody rear ends them or something happens, that isn’t even their fault. And here comes the local police. They’re looking at a much bigger consequence, then than they had originally anticipated. But what sort of consequence? What does that mean? So if let’s say this 16 year old, 17 year old, has left a party left home, whatever the case may be, they have a license, right? They’re not under a learner’s permit. So we’ll just presume that they’ve already been licensed. And they are it’s determined that they have some sort of alcohol in their person, what what consequence could that be if they’re found guilty?

Scott Cardani 8:54
Well, they potentially face technically jail time, okay. They potentially face or detention time. And if it’s a juvenile, or obviously, they potentially face a loss of license, their insurance rates going to go up? Over the other one, sorry,

Jackie Critzer 9:11
is it going to be a DUI?

Scott Cardani 9:12
It’s going to be a DUI, it’s going to be a misdemeanor, all the things that are bad about a DUI for an adult. And again, this is why it’s so important, because when you get a DUI adult, you’ve actually done something wrong. I mean, and again, you’ve done something wrong, because you’re not supposed to drink until you’re 21. So right, that’s the point. But my point is, you may not be impaired in the least because you have something in you you’re gonna be charged with a DUI, which makes you on the same level as the person who drink five beers and got behind the wheel.

Jackie Critzer 9:45
Well, and and there’s a potential that that impacts college admissions, all those things. Yeah. Because is it sealed? Scott is there does a DUI gets sealed in a juvenile record?

Scott Cardani 9:55
Well, somebody smarter than me has to figure that out sometimes because sometimes the juvenile record It’s completely expunged. And with this new expungement law that Virginia has passed, there’s a lot of quirks to it yet, I think eventually, yeah, it’s not gonna be on your record.

Jackie Critzer 10:08
But as of today, it’s a risk. And in you would and even if it’s not on your record, every college admissions form is going to ask for convictions, misdemeanor convictions, even traffic infractions. And I know, it’s been a minute since I was in college. But they all ask those questions, traffic infractions, and criminal misdemeanors or felonies. And that’s it. And if they, if you lie about it on your admissions paperwork, and then they find out doesn’t matter how they find out, if they find out, then the consequences get even bigger and bigger and bigger.

Scott Cardani 10:40
And I think the problem really becomes when you become 18, then you knew you’re 19, and then you’re 20. And you’re 21, you don’t think about it anymore, you’re an adult, you’re off to college, and you really don’t think about your fact that you’re still under 21. And, you know, we understand what goes on in college, we’re not naive, and you know, but the point is, our kids have to know what the real consequences of that are. So they make decisions based on facts, not based on some fiction. And I think I can’t tell you how many kids I’ve represented. In my lifetime, who are 18,19, and 20, almost 21 are getting charged with a DUI for almost nothing in the sense that they had a beer maybe had two beers over a 10 hour period, you know, just enough to even think they’re nearly register. But they’re still under the influence. And I’ve seen judges handle in a whole bunch of ways. And that’s why you need an attorney, you need some experience in juvenile law, you need somebody who knows what they’re doing, and knows how to work the angles that may come up. But the bottom line is, there’s quite a lot less angles, when it comes to a juvenile DUI than there are as adult.

Jackie Critzer 11:55
Scott, one more question on the topic. So we’ve talked about marijuana, and the potentials there alcohol and the potential DUI there. What about prescription medication? And does it make a difference if it’s prescribed to you, or you’ve been given some from a friend who it’s been prescribed to?

Scott Cardani 12:12
Yeah, that’s really tricky. But I’ll answer it this way, under the influence is under the influence. And if it’s a narcotic, you’re probably under the influence. And if you give it to somebody else, you probably just committed a crime of distribution. So when you have your Adderall, and you give it to Johnny, you just, you just gave away a controlled substance, a controlled substance, and that’s going to be possession, or the intent to distribute, or distribution. And those are big, heavy charges. And those are no fun for anybody, and most people. And most people again, this is something we do as adults say, I’ve never done this, but I know people who Oh, you have back pain, I have a couple back pills left over from when I had, you want you want to take what am I to help you? You just committed a crime. And you know, we do those things kind of naturally, we don’t think much about it. But then our kids are watching us. So Billy’s in the car with Johnny, and he’s freaking out, Oh, why don’t you just take one of my Adderall and calm down, you know, sure. But they’re under the influence. And that’s what we’re trying to get here. You don’t want to be under the influence of a narcotic, you don’t want to be under the influence of marijuana, you don’t want to be under the influence of alcohol. But remember, a baby DUI, you don’t really need to have to be under the influence. It just has to be in your system. So that it registers you’re getting charged the DUI.

Jackie Critzer 13:33
Whether that that’s blood breath, or your urine, blood breath or urine.

Scott Cardani 13:40
So three takeaways real quick are number one, any is any? So if it’s in your system, it’s in your system, and you are subject to the DUI laws under the age of 21 under the age of 21 and we are talking about possession I know it’s not really part of it but possession is it in your system a lot of people think well I had a beer here but it means in your in your possession means in your system. So that’s a whole nother we can talk about possession laws and but I just wanted to bring that up, they realized that you had a beer, it’s in your possession, it’s in you know.

Jackie Critzer 14:14
So you can even get this pause real quick. Does that mean you can get a charge for possession and a charge for a DUI?

Scott Cardani 14:21
Yes, you could. And I guess that’s very, very charge. Very true, very charge. And the other thing is, excuse me. Remember, you have no obligation to prove the case against you. So don’t do it. You’re not You’re not as gifted as you are. There’s some people get out everything I get that. I had a friend who got out everything. Some people say I got out everything but I wouldn’t say no. But anyways, the bottom line is there are people who are very gifted and they know how to work people and they get away with stuff but I don’t trust that and I know cops know how that works. They’re doing their job right Every day, right? The best thing you can do is just say, You know what, I’m not going to talk about that. I’m going to talk to a lawyer. I appreciate it. Thank you very much and move on. Give them what they need. license, registration, proof of insurance. That’s it. That’s all you have to talk about. Leave the rest to us.

Jackie Critzer 15:17
So thanks again for listening to our podcast on juvenile criminal defense, how you can find other juvenile criminal defense podcasts on our website, tune in to wherever you listen to your podcasts and be looking for our next juvenile podcast juvenile criminal defense podcast where we talk about possession and what that means we’ve talked about a little bit a little bit today. I’m gonna try to get Will out here for that one. We’re gonna try to get well back involved, so be looking for him. Thanks again. See you soon. Bye bye.

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