DUI defense lawyer Ari Trubitt admits he sometimes cracks wise rather than
answer truthfully when people ask him what he does for a living.
"I'll come up with joke answers just to avoid the whole controversy," he
says.
When he truthfully says that a large part of his practice involves defending
people charged with driving under the influence, the reaction usually is the
same. "First, they want to question my morals," said Wheeling resident
Trubitt, "Then, they say, 'What do I need to know if I get stopped?'"
It is that second question and the fact that Trubitt and other DUI defense
lawyers answer it regularly that aggravates police officers and anti-drunken
driving activists.
Trubitt, Wheaton DUI defense lawyer Don Ramsell, Chicago defense lawyer
Stephen M. Komie and others advise their clients to refuse to take field
sobriety tests and to consider refusing Breathalyzer tests when they are
stopped on suspicion of driving drunk.
Illinois law does not penalize drivers for refusing field sobriety tests.
Drivers also may refuse Breathalyzers. However, those who refuse
Breathalyzers or other tests to detect alcohol or drugs will see their
licenses suspended for three to 36 months, depending on the number of DUI
arrests on their records.
Roselle police Detective John Lawson, who has lobbied for four years to pass
legislation to require Illinois drivers to participate in field sobriety
tests, said: "The guy that has one or two or three or four DUIs, he
definitely knows not to take the field sobriety or any tests. This is the
loophole. This is the one all the defense attorneys know about."
Charlene Chapman, executive director of the Schaumburg-based Alliance
Against Intoxicated Motorists, complains that DUI defense lawyers lead their
clients to believe they can drive without consequences.
DePaul University law professor Jeffrey M. Shaman wonders whether DUI
defense lawyers come close to violating their ethical code by offering
advice that may ultimately help them beat drunk driving charges.
"I don't think lawyers, or anyone, should be in the business of doing
anything that might promote driving while intoxicated," he said.
Steven Lubet, a Northwestern University law professor who teaches ethics and
trial advocacy, said DUI defense work would never be his specialty, or one
he'd want his children to pursue because it would be tough to work for
clients who may have caused injury or death.
"The likelihood for recidivism is extreme and the likelihood of disastrous
consequences because of recidivism is likely," Lubet said. He noted, though,
that such legal representation is needed to provide a system of checks and
balances.
Trubitt said there are plenty of times when he has been called upon to
defend clients who were wrongly accused by overzealous police. He has
defended a few clients who were charged even though they took a blood or
other test and the results showed they were within the legal blood-alcohol
content limit.
"You have to have a guy like me who can challenge the cops' authority,"
Trubitt said.
Trubitt and Ramsell said they focus on the goal of doing the best job for
their clients. "I don't care if he's got 1 (arrest) or 20," Ramsell said of
his potential clients. "If you can beat it, you beat it."
Trubitt said he tries not to dwell much on whether clients are guilty. He
successfully defended former Arlington Heights resident Patrick Kolman from
what would have been a 10th DUI conviction on his public driving record by
convincing a judge the police officer did not have probable cause to stop
Kolman in the first place. "My job is not to decide what his punishment is or whether he's guilty," he
said, "My job is to defend him. Can the state prove the charge?"
Kolman was charged last month with robbing a suburban bank and now is in
federal custody.
"Do you say, 'What did I do?' On a personal level, yeah," Trubitt said of
dealing with chronic DUI offenders. "You may have personal feelings and you
have to override those feelings and you follow the law."
Sometimes, though, the personal feelings are difficult to quash. After
successfully defending chronic drunken drivers, Trubitt said: "I pray to God
that nobody I know has an accident with the guy. Sure, that'll bug me a
little."
Komie, a former Arizona police officer and founding member of the
Georgia-based National College for DUI Defense Inc., which trains new
lawyers in tackling drunken driving cases, said the general public's
perception of his clientele is stereotypical.
"We've had people who definitely deserve to be in a jail cell and people
who've just had one too many," Komie said. "We get to see people at their
best and their worst. Really, these cases are individual and you have to
consider them that way."
How and why do people get into DUI defense as a specialty?
Komie said most young criminal defense lawyers start out handling DUI cases.
"People don't call you up for the big cases like murder" at first, he said.
"They call you for the routine stuff."
Lubet noted, "It's one of the worst crimes committed by employed and
otherwise respectable people."
Trubitt said he knew in law school he'd do criminal defense work, but he
didn't set out to do DUI defense. "It's not like there's a personal calling
to do this kind of work. I've got family who are out on the roads."
Trubitt's firm has a contract with a union to provide pre-paid legal
services so much of his DUI defense work comes from that. Overall, DUI
defense work can be low-paying or profitable, he said, depending on clients'
ability to pay.
Komie stopped short of characterizing DUI defense as lucrative. "It's the
bread and butter of criminal defense work," he said.
Trubitt estimated "hall rats," who grab casework in courthouse hallways, may
make less than $30,000 per year, while others with an established name can
make as much as $300,000 annually.
It is, Trubitt noted, an "ever-expanding" area of legal practice.
