Need a lawyer for driving ban? Get free advice!

Questioner

Recently I drove under the influence (720 prom.) and the prosecutor decided to keep my driver's license for 7 months. Which I think is very long. I have to appear before the police judge in 2 months. My question is whether it is necessary/useful to take a lawyer with me (800 euros) to the hearing or can I just do the defense myself? If the chance that I get my driver's license back is greater with a lawyer, then it might be worth it. I have also received a letter from the CBR stating that I have to participate in the alcohol lock program that costs thousands of euros. I would also like to indicate this as one of the arguments to get my driver's license back during the hearing. There has previously been a case law on this that an alcohol lock program is a reason for the return of the driver's license. My question about this is: when do you indicate during the hearing that there has previously been a case law (ruling)? Do I have to indicate it myself or does the judge already know it? And I am actually also curious to what extent the judge normally goes along with the demand of the public prosecutor in practice? Will appreciate if my 4 questions are answered. Thanks in advance.

Lawyer

Assuming that you are not a novice director, you fall under the regular guidelines of the court: http://www.rechtspraak.nl/Organisatie/Raad-Voor-De-Rechtspraak/Agenda-van-de-Rechtspraak-2011-2014/Documents/20110211_OrientatiepuntenenafsprakenLOVS.pdf This shows that with a blood alcohol level of 720 ug/l you can indeed be given a 7-month driving ban. The judge will generally follow these guidelines. However, the judge may deviate from these guidelines if your personal circumstances give urgent cause to do so. There is limited case law on the retention of driving license in combination with the Alcohol Lock Program. Zwolle ruled that the importance of the collection was thereby lost: http://zoeken.rechtspraak.nl/resultpage.aspx?snelzoeken=true&searchtype=ljn&ljn=BW1512&vrije_tekst=alcoholslot++ontzeggen When case law comes into play depends on whether you hire a lawyer or not. I would always advise you to hire a lawyer, because they have specific legal knowledge, know their way around, can file a complaint for you and have access to laws and case law. However, this does not guarantee a better result. The judge will in any case discuss the matter with you and, if you do not engage a lawyer, you can bring up the case law yourself. In any case, I wish you the best of luck!

Questioner

Thanks for your response/answers. Is it true that I am not a novice driver? You indicate that there is limited case law on the combination of driving ban and the alcohol lock program. Isn't 1 case law sufficient to rely on? If I read it correctly, this lady got her driver's license back because she received an alcohol lock program from CBR? I mean more at what point should I start talking about the case law during the hearing if I go without a lawyer?

Lawyer

Of course you can rely on this one statement. You can bring this up in the conversation with the judge, At the time you see fit. I do advise you to get a copy to take the verdict with him and hand it over to the judge. This also applies to the papers you received from the CBR.