First DUI
Hey all. Like the title says, first DUI offense. No accidents or injuries occured. 24yo male, California. Around 1:30 AM i left my friends house after maybe 5 or 6 drinks (seltzers) and roughly 2 small cups of wine. Hoped inside my car and started driving. Made my left turn and I see the lights of the cop behind me. Stopped in front of a Panda Express and he stated he noticed I was speeding (over 50 mph, or 55). Long story short, he made me hop out the car and did a field sobriety test, which I failed. He asked me if i had drank tonight, I said no. He asked me once again as he smelt the alcohol, and I said only a few. My driving skills were not impaired excessively, I was feeling buzzed however not extremely drunk, since my last drink was roughly 1 hour and a half ago before the arrest. He asked me for a breath test, initially i refused and he gave me the option of performing a blood test instead, which I agreed to (my subconcious told me i had a better shot by doing that as I wanted my test not to be high of BAC). I got my DS-367 form and we headed to the hospital. By the time my blood was being drawn I was feeling better (not buzzed, little brain fog). Spent the night in jail (about 6 hours) and left with a court date I must attend next month. This Monday morning I filed my SR-22 with progressive and asked how much my insurance will increase (around 100$), called the DMV due to the 10 day deadline and got a hearing already scheduled. Dont know if I should get an attorney for this and I dont wanna spend anymore time without getting further help to lessen my punishment. Has anyone had a similar situation to mine? An attorney I called earlier this day said a blood test may take months to be processed.