What to Expect from a Santa Barbara DUI

Santa Barbara County features a diverse landscape of tourist establishments, college party places, upscale nightclubs, military hangouts and old-fashioned barrooms. It is no wonder, with so many places selling alcohol, that law enforcement finds drinking drivers an easy mark for DUI arrests. Indeed, nine different law enforcement agencies are patrolling the county, and any one of them may make a DUI arrest.

A person arrested in Santa Barbara County will be jailed either in Goleta or Santa Maria, whichever is closer to the arrest. If charged with a DUI, a citizen will be prosecuted in Santa Barbara, Santa Maria or Lompoc, again whichever is closest to the place of arrest.

If the Department of Motor Vehicles starts an administrative action against the license of a person stopped in Santa Barbara County. That person demands a hearing, which will be conducted at the Driver Safety Office in Oxnard or San Luis Obispo.

Punishment for a DUI in Santa Barbara County varies depending on the statutes involved, the courtroom location and judge hearing the case, the deputy district attorney handling the case and the specific facts of a particular case. An attorney specializing in DUI cases can minimize the punishment in a given case by identifying all the weaknesses in the prosecution’s case and stressing the defense strengths.