Nashville DUI stats and facts.

Several years after I had begun practicing criminal defense law in Nashville, I realized that some of the attorneys were approaching defending a DUI much differently than I was. I had this realization just at the time that I, along with several other attorneys, began to focus my practice primarily on those charged with a DUI. A few attorneys had started spending some serious money advertising and marketing for DUI business. Concern over my approach led me to request from the clerk’s office certain court records showing the disposition of all cases pertaining to DUI’s.

After several requests, I obtained the data I wanted as it was also provided to the “Tennessean.” From this raw report, I gleaned information that allowed me a certain comfort level in the way I was handling my clients’ cases. It struck me at the time that this information could be quite helpful to those facing a DUI charge. I thought about and even spent some time developing this idea. Eventually, after a bit of effort, I decided the money it would take to develop my plan might put me in the same position as those attorneys taking a different approach. At the same time, I did not think I was ready for the controversy that might result from these revelations.

My observation is: the more an attorney pays for advertising and marketing, the more they have to charge their clients. My theory is: one reason some attorneys approach a case differently from me is to justify the higher fees they must charge to pay their marketing and advertising bills. In many cases, their clients on average spend more days in court, have more mental anguish, and in many cases end up with more days in jail.

A few months ago I met Stephanie Messer and shared my ideas with her. She was interested enough to spark a fire in me to complete the plan I came up with several years ago. After several requests and through the assistance of some fine people in the court system, we have received what we have been assured is a complete record of all DUI arrests from the years 2000 through 2003. We have placed this information into a data base, and I’ve practically lost my mind and eyesight trying to decipher what this information actually means.

The deeper you try to get into the numbers, the more difficult it becomes to trust what they mean. We’ve tried to keep from using the data to get too specific. We have used four years of statistics in order to get a more general outlook on what’s going on. We believe these figures give a pretty good taste of what is happening to persons charged with DUI in Nashville.

My initial concern was that my clients were getting a lesser deal by pleading guilty early rather than later in the process. I noticed that in many cases, the defense attorney was preparing for trial. My impression was and still is that the further you get into the system, the more grief you give the District Attorney, and the more punishment your client receives. I needed to know if the tactics being used by these few attorneys were successful. Were they going to trial and winning? I didn’t believe so.

CAVEAT: The clerk's office provided the statistics upon which this study is based. While it is believed to be accurate and complete, it is based on that data. Four years of data was obtained in order to spread out any short term trends. It is not believed or represented by us that this data is entirely exact. We realize we may be off by a case or two. However, we believe this is an accurate representation of what is happening in Davidson County DUI cases. We encourage your comments, and we will gladly add or change any aspect of this site in order to make it as true and accurate a representation as possible of what is happening with Nashville DUI.

The information most interesting for our purposes involves the number of cases actually making it to trial. Our research conclusively shows that hardly any make it this far. From over 16,000 cases, only 60 trials resulted in over 4 years. Almost everybody charged with DUI in Nashville eventually enters into a plea agreement. Only 388 of those 16,000 had their case dismissed, retired or nolle prosequi. 86 of those were owners who let an intoxicated person drive them home. Only 13 were found not-guilty after a trial. One case resulted in a hung jury and the defendant pled guilty to reckless driving and went to jail for 48 hours. Of the 13 cases resulting in not guilty verdicts, two were vehicle owners charged for letting an intoxicated person drive their automobile. One case was a DWI where the defendant blew .08. In the eight remaining cases five defendants who won their DUI case at trial went to jail for a different charge, one of them a felony. One of those who walked was driving a backhoe and did not speak the English language.

The truth is that almost 98% of those charged with a DUI offense in Nashville end up pleading guilty to something. The other 2% have their case dismissed, retired, nolle prosequi, or else they died.

So what have we learned from all this data compilation and evaluation? It depends on the circumstances. We take this information and use it in our evaluation concerning what we expect the actual outcome of a particular case should be. We share this information with our clients in order to help prepare them for the potential consequences of their conviction.

Let us point out a few somewhat obvious conclusions which we have reached through our evaluation of this research and our experiences in the Nashville court system. First, if you are like most and charged with a DUI 1st, the overall odds of your case being reduced appears to be better than 50%. Most of this data was compiled when the District Attorney had the option of reducing a DUI charge to DWI. Now the only choice is to reduce the charge to Reckless Driving in that DWI no longer exists under law. We suspect the number of DUI 1st cases reduced will lessen with this change in the law.

Over 1/3, or 4,832 persons charged with a DUI offense were also charged with Implied Consent for refusing to take the breath or blood test. Our experience is the most likely DUI 1st cases to be reduced are those where the defendant refused to take the breath or blood test and there are no other aggravating factors. The logical basis for this is that these cases are the hardest for the state to win. The next most likely cases to be reduced are those where the defendant took the breath test but registered in the lower ranges of intoxication. So it follows that those most of those who pled guilty as charged took the breath test and registered in the higher ranges. Consider that a little less than 1/2 plead guilty as charged and a little over 1/3 refused to take the test. That leaves 1/6 or less to have taken the test and registered in the lower ranges or have gotten lucky and had some other reason or basis for their case being reduced. Our experience and observation is that very few who take the breath test in Nashville and register in the higher ranges have their case reduced. Almost all eventually enter a plea of guilty to DUI 1st.

The most difficult DUI cases usually involve those charged with DUI 2nds. We’ve told our clients for years, a DUI 1st changes your life, a DUI 2nd ruins it. The minimum jail sentence for those convicted of DUI 2nd is 45 days. If found or pleading guilty to DUI 2nd, the law requires you to go to jail immediately. Most people can not take that time out of their life without a major change occurring. There are many options available for those charged with a DUI 2nd. We are aware of those options due to our experience in Nashville’s criminal courts.

In most cases a person charged with DUI 3rd knows and expects the difficulties they are facing in the court system. Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, the District Attorney’s office, the Judges, and State Legislators all focus on persons with serious drinking and driving problems. Most persons charged with DUI 3rd are facing a considerable amount of jail time. The minimum sentence for someone convicted of DUI 3rd is 120 days. Over half of those charged with DUI 3rd resolve their case in Criminal court. Many can not afford attorneys. Over half of the cases are reduced, but most still serve at least half or more of the minimum sentence. We often focus on finding a client in this situation a treatment program to off-set some of the jail time.

Those charged with DUI 4th or higher are facing having a felony conviction on their record. Besides carrying time in prison, a person convicted of a felony has certain restrictions on their civil rights. Not being allowed to own or possess a firearm, losing the right to vote, and not being able to obtain a passport are all consequences of a felony conviction. The most important aspect of settling a DUI 4th or higher is avoiding the felony conviction.

Each year roughly 100 people are charged with DUI even though they are not driving. Whether or not these individuals have been drinking or are impaired at all is not even at issue. They are charged with allowing an impaired person to drive an automobile which is owned by them while they are a passenger. This is known as “DUI owner.” These are the cases most likely to be dismissed, nolled or retired.