Being charged with a DUI is an extremely serious situation that can result in severe consequences. In the state of Illinois, DUI is considered to be a major offense and most judges and law enforcement officers do not sympathize with those accused of driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. DUI offenders are often punished to the fullest extent of the law, especially when the offender has a history of DUI. Even if you are a first-time DUI offender, you could face jail time, fines, and a driver’s license suspension for a conviction, but a knowledgeable Illinois DUI defense lawyer can help.

Common DUI Defense Strategies

There are numerous ways an attorney can defend you against a DUI charge. Through an initial consultation and subsequent investigation, your lawyer can determine the best course of action. Here are a few common defense strategies:

Naperville City Councilmen recently voted to forbid neighborhood bars from offering major beer discounts as a response to an alleged drunk driving crash and a downtown street fight video gone viral. These regulations were proposed in an effort to combat irresponsible drinking that can result in serious drunk driving accidents and anger problems among patrons. According to the Chicago Tribune, the new regulations will also require bar security guards to undergo additional training to work with intoxicated patrons and to help prevent similar issues in the future.

While skeptics of the proposed law anticipated that the public would not allow the Naperville council to pass such restrictive regulations, there has been no public outcry. The new rules specifically forbid bars from reducing the price of a drink more than 50 percent. The public—primarily bar owners and managers—have, however, "taken issue with proposals to limit maximum beer sizes to 20 ounces … and barring patrons from entering a bar an hour before closing."

Most drunk driving accidents occur when a bar patron leaves intoxicated and drives home. Illinois has dram shop laws that forbid a bar from serving an intoxicated person, but these are rarely enforced. According to the National Council of State Legislatures, however, any person who is injured by a drunk driver who was served while visibly intoxicated has a "right of action" against the drunk driver. The trick is to be able to present the correct evidence to prove this in court.

Illinois has some of the toughest drinking and driving laws in the country, including a zero-tolerance policy for underage drinkers and felony charges for repeat offenders. Despite this, the problem of driving under the influence in Illinois continues to be a serious one.

According to the 2014 CyberDrive Illinois DUI Factbook, in 2012 there were more than 37,000 DUI arrests recorded by the Secretary of State’s Office. More than 300 people were fatally injured in an alcohol-related crash, accounting for 35 percent of all accident fatalities statewide in the same time period.

The penalties for drinking and driving are worse if the responsible person has an underage person in the car at the time of arrest. If the child is under 16, these penalties are even more harsh. A regular first conviction of DUI, for example, is a Class A misdemeanor, which results in the revocation of driving privileges and registration suspension. If a person is pulled over for DUI with a child under the age of 16—even if it is his or her first offense—the offender is additionally sentenced to a mandatory fine of $1,000 and 25 days of "community service in a program benefiting children," as noted in the Illinois DUI Factbook. Penalties are very strict if the child was injured while the driver was intoxicated. Any crash that resulted in bodily harm to a child under the age of 16 is automatically classified as a Class 4 Felony and carries an aggravated DUI charge.

Cherise Wardlow, 39, was charged with "aggravated driving under the influence involving a death and a count of misdemeanor DUI," after an early April incident in Aurora, reports the Chicago Tribune. Wardlow, of Montgomery, tested positive for marijuana after hitting and killing a homeless pedestrian at about 4am on a February night. "She told police she heard a loud thump and immediately stopped and discovered she had hit the pedestrian," states the Tribune. The man, Donald L. Early, 54, was pronounced dead at the scene. A warrant was issued for Wardlow’s arrest, but the next day, reports the Tribune, she turned herself in and posted the $7,500 bond.

Driving after smoking marijuana is as common as driving while impaired from alcohol. According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc. (NCADD), more than 11 percent of all drivers on the road during the weekend or nighttime tested positive for illegal drugs. "Even more concerning," the NCADD reports, is that a different study "found that 1 in 12 high school seniors reported driving after smoking marijuana."

While nearly 4,000 fatally injured drivers tested positive for illegal drugs in 2009, there is no blood test that can be definitively administered the way there is for alcohol. To combat this, many states—including Illinois—follow so-called per-se laws, which state that any amount of cannabis in one’s system when behind the wheel is a punishable offense, even if he or she has not smoked in days.

The superintendent of Schaumburg schools was arrested for a DUI in February and plead guilty in early March to a reckless driving charge, according to the Chicago Tribune. Andrew DuRoss was dining at a restaurant and called the authorities to report a missing purse from his table. When the authorities arrived DuRoss was warned not to drive. When he was pulled over near the restaurant, "his blood alcohol level was 0.117, according to court documents," and as reported by the Chicago Tribune.

After his arrest, DuRoss received court supervision and "agreed to undergo alcohol counseling, wear an alcohol monitoring anklet for six months and pay $2,500 in fines and court costs." Because DuRoss took this part of the plea the DUI case against him was not pursued. "It’s been a humbling and very difficult experience for me and my family," DuRoss said after his hearing in court, according to the Tribune.

While his legal battles may be over, DuRoss’s brush with the law could have far-reaching consequences. The Schaumburg Township District 54 school board is planning to further discuss the case’s outcome in March. DuRoss, according to the Tribune, did not tell the board that he would plead guilty to the charge.