That means that, according to the highway patrol, at least 2,500 arrests were made for driving under the influence in Mississippi. And I’m willing to bet that many of those were given by overzealous patrolmen who were out just to hit their “quota” without regard to whether the driver was actually impaired.

Remember, if you have anything to drink be extremely careful before you decide to drive any type of vehicle. If you are pulled over the deck is stacked against you, even if you aren’t drunk. Officers are simply looking to arrest as many people as possible, and if you have even the faintest smell of alcohol on your breath that could mean a quick one way visit to the local jail and end up with you receiving a DUI.

If you have been arrested for a DUI in Mississippi know your rights. Don’t go to court alone, hire the best DUI attorney you can, don’t give up without a fight, and read our FREE book “How to Select a Mississippi DUI Lawyer“. To receive our free dui lawyer book just go to our contact page now and we’ll email it to you today!

We’re working on making the interface easier to navigate, loading the site full of great new content concerning both Mississippi and Tennesse DUI and possession of marijuana laws, and adding an easy download section for our highly requested MS DUI and TN DUI books.

Hopefully we’ll have all of this ready by August, so keep checking back in with us. In the meantime please browse our current site to get great information on Mississippi and Tennessee DUI laws and possession of marijuana laws.

Jamie Spencer over at the Austin Criminal Defense Lawyer blog is holding a survey to see which criminal law blogs are among the best in the country. Email Mr. Spencer and let him know about your favorite criminal law blog at jamie@austindefense.com. Any mention of our mississippi and tennessee dui blogs would of course be appreciated.

If you want to avoid being convicted for a DUI here in Mississippi then memorize these tips. They may come in handy and if you are pulled these tips might help you when you speak to a DUI lawyer about your ticket.

1. If you drive during the summer holidays, and you plan on having a cocktail or two, make sure you know where your license, registration and proof of insurance are. Police historically write in their DUI reports (putting only facts that harm you in them) that the suspect “fumbled for his wallet” and couldn’t find his registration. They use this to try to show you were impaired. Be prepared.

2. When you get signaled by the officer to pull over for a DUI assessment, do so immediately and safely. Roll down your window and put your hands on the steering wheel. Don’t get out and don’t say anything.

3. When the officer comes up to you and asks asks “Do you know why you are being pulled over”, remember you don’t have to answer and you shouldn’t answer his question. What a dumb question! He knows why he is pulling you over. He is pulling you over to assess you for drunk driving, and he’s using the fact that you might have committed some minor vehicle code violations as an excuse. Don’t make any admissions to him. Just say “no”!

4. The next question the officer is likely to ask is, “Have you had anything to drink tonight.” Remember your rights? You are not required to speak to officers. I know, I know, you think, “But if I don’t talk to the officer, he will be mad.” Let him be mad. You are not at a social gathering; he is not invited to your New Year’s day party. So don’t worry about how he feels. He is collecting evidence against you. Don’t give him any. It is best to say, “Officer, I appreciate what you do for a living, but I don’t wish to answer any of your questions.” You do NOT have to answer. The less from you he gets, the better for you in the long run. He is gathering evidence. But, you say, maybe he will let me go if he knows I’m being honest with him. NO. Most people who are pulled over and have alcohol on their breath get arrested. It’s just a fact of life. Don’t give him anything to put in that report that he can use against you later.

5. He may then say, “I’d like you to complete a series of tests for me.” Again, let him know that you do not wish to participate in any tests. You are not required to comply. Officers try to give a series of field tests to determine if you are impaired. I have NEVER known any officer to do these as per the standardized protocol. Cops learn how to do these, and then promptly forget them, making up their own “tests.” Do not do them. Do NOT let the officer collect more false “evidence” against you. Just reiterate that you do not wish to perform and tests. It’s your right.

6. The DUI investigation officer may then tell you he wants you to take an in field breath, hand held, breath test. Do not take this “test.” It is unreliable, and regularly exhibits blood alcohol numbers higher than what you really are. The cop really, really wants you to do this now, because you have made no statements, and you have refused his field “tests.” He wants this badly. He NEEDS some evidence. Do not do it. You are NOT required to blow into the little hand held machine.

7. The officer will most likely arrest you, cuff and take you downtown. You will then be given the chance to blow into the “Breathalyzer”. It is up to you whether or not you wish to blow. However, you should be aware that if you do not blow then you are guilty of violating the Mississippi Implied Consent law. This is a civil law and not a criminal law however. If you do not blow then you will automatically lose your license for 90 days. However, this is not the same as a DUI. You can be guilty of violating the Implied Consent law but NOT guilty of a DUI.  If you choose not to blow and have followed these tips then the officer will have little evidence of to prove that you were intoxicated. This doesn’t mean that you will be found not guilty, but it can help your chances.

A few pointers: If you are still absorbing alcohol, the breath test will read high. It is also an INDIRECT measurement of blood alcohol level. 

You that you, or your DUI lawyer, must call the Department of Motor Vehicle within ten days of the arrest to secure a hearing to determine whether or not the DMV will take your license. Do not miss this deadline or you will be suspended automatically.

So, be careful. Don’t drink and drive if you can help it. Drive safely. Don’t talk to cops. Be polite, but do not let them gather inculpatory evidence against you. And when you get home call a Mississippi DUI Lawyer.

 According to the Starkvill Sheriff’s department and Starkville Police department, in 2007 there were roughly 340 DUI arrests made in Starkville. There is a rough population of 22,000 people in Starkville plus a student population of around 16,500. However many of those students are actually counted as both students and Starkville residents. So for this post let’s just assume that one-third of the student’s are also counted as residents. This would mean that there are around 33,000 people living in Starkville.

Using these figures (which are just rough numbers) we can see that  out1 of every 97 people living in Starkville is arrested for a DUI each year. This is a staggering number.

To give you something to compare this against we can look at Memphis DUI statistics. Memphis has metro population of about 1.1 million people. Last year there were around 2,100 DUI tickets given in Memphis. That means that in Memphis 1 person out of every 523 received a DUI last year. That’s an enormous difference in the percentage receiving a DUI.

What this means is that you should be sure to not Drive Drunk in Starkville. But if you do make sure to request our FREE BOOK “How to Select a DUI Lawyer and MS DUI Defense Guide”. It let’s you know what questions to ask when trying to find the best dui lawyer to represent you. Just go to our contact page and request it now or call us at 888-323-1384.

A. You should always have a DUI attorney look at your case and analyze the facts. It’s possible that the officer giving the test did so improperly or didn’t follow the correct steps in your arrest. An experienced DUI Lawyer could possibly have you found “Not Guilty” under the best circumstances or at least have the charges reduced. This could mean lower fines and reduced or even no jail time for your dui arrest.

It’s also possible that the arresting police officer did not have what is called “probable cause” to pull you over. If this occured then your breath test is not admissible in court.

However, this isn’t the only reason for such high numbers of DUI arrests in Starkville and Oxford. The real reason is that these towns find themselves in a “witch hunt” to arrest as many people for DUI as possible. As a former clerk with the District Attorney’s office in Oxford I saw this firsthand.

Many times the police and sheriff’s department are so overzealous that they become a detriment of those living in these communities because of their blatant abuse of authority. What usually happens is that the police will often illegally stop students with no probable cause just to see if they have been drinking. This is illegal, the police must have a valid excuse to pull over anyone. Simple suspicion of DUI is not an excuse.

Police in Starkville and Oxford seem to believe that anytime you drink and drive it is illegal. But this is not the case. The fact is that anyone can drink in drive in any of the 50 states. Millions of people do this each and every day. What you can’t do is drive while being drunk. In Mississippi driving while drunk means having a blood alcohol content of .08 or higher. Unfortunately Starkville and Oxford police seem to believe that drinking anything and driving is illegal.

Remember to never drive while being drunk. But if you have been arrested for a DUI make your first call to an experienced DUI Lawyer. A good DUI attorney can often times find issues that will allow them to help have your charged reduced or dropped altogether. 

Before you select a DUI Lawyer to represent you make sure that you request our FREE BOOK “How To Choose a  DUI Lawyer and The Unauthorized Guide to DUI Defense”. Just request it from our homepage here or call our office at 888-323-1DUI (1384)

He had been pulled over by the Tunica County Sheriff’’s office and had failed the breathalyzer test after being pulled over for weaving. The charge for DUI second offense in Mississippi comes with an automatic 5 day jail term and would have cost this client his job.

 We where able to have the possession charges dismissed because of lack of evidence and the DUI charge reduced to 1st offense DUI because of lack of authority evidence showing proof of the intitial DUI. Our client was very excited to be able to drive back home that same day without serving any jail time and without losing his job.

If you’ve been arrested for a DUI and need the help of an experienced DUI lawyer make sure to give us a call at 901-754-1340. We serve Olive Branch, Southaven, Horn Lake, Starkville, Oxford, Tunica, Holly Springs and all of North Mississippi.

The first thing to look at is defining what possession with intent means. It’s really quite simple, it just means that you have possession of marijuana with the intent to sell it. Although the definition is simple proving that you had the intent to sell it can be quite difficult unless they catch you in the act, and even then it can still be difficult to prove. Often times the police try to convict using circumstantial evidence such as the possession of several different wrapped baggies, but an experienced mississippi and southaven criminal lawyer can usually bring up points that makes it difficult for the prosecutor to prove intent.

Now that we have looked at what intent to distribute means let’s review the fines and jail time that you can receive for a conviction.

A conviction in Mississippi for possession of less than 30 grams with intent to distribute comes with a fine of up to $3,000 and up to 3 years in prison.

If you are unluckly enough to found with over 30 grams then the fine jumps to $30,000 and jail time of up to 30 years.

What are the fines and jail time for being convicted you’re probably wondering? Well, the fine for the first offense can be up to $1,000 and up to 90 days in jail!

If you happen to have more than 30 grams and less than 250 grams then the fine can go up to $3,000. But that’s not the worst part. You could face up to 3 years in the penitentiary. After 250 grams the fines really go up and so does the jail time. The Mississippi Code section 41-29-139 lists all of the penalties for possession, the highest of which is a $1,000,000 fine and up to 30 years in the penitentiary.

By now you should be realizing that a simple conviction in Mississippi for any type of Misdemeanor possession of marijuana is nothing to be taken lightly. As soon as you are arrested you should hire a capable mississippi criminal defense lawyer to defend your rights. Our lawyers serve Olive Branch, Southaven, Horn Lake, Tunica, Hernando, Marshall County, Desoto County, Oxford, Starkville and Memphis. If you are arrested give us a call at 901-754-1340 for a free consultation.