(My first traffic ticket since 1987 is also)
Driving drunk is stupid, and I did it. I suggest that you don't. In this world that is becoming a police state, the cops have all the rights, you have none, and you'd better not say anything bad about the system--at least not while you are in it. I am keeping track of all things related to this incident for many reasons. The last moving violation I had was a speeding ticket in 1987 (I was 22); boy how things have changed. Speaking of change, Oregon DUI laws got more intense here in 2011--so this commentary is already old. But it gives you some ideas of what to expect...
I left the bar, and the cop came from out of nowhere, and was right behind me. The cop was, seriously, 10 feet from my back bumper, and cruising behind me at 30 mph--definitely NOT a safe following distance. His bright lights blared into my rear-view mirror, and that's on purpose, duh, because then they can pull you over and say 'it looks like you were having trouble seeing'. No kidding. At my driver's window, the cop said he pulled me over because I 'was going a little too fast back there' (his words). Later, on the 2nd ticket, the one that was not the DUI, the cop wrote up that I had swerved across the middle lane, TWICE, and almost hit another oncoming car. I have never swerved over the middle line in 27 years of driving, but that's not the point. Also; there were NO other cars anywhere on the road, but that's not the point either. The point here is that the cop can "make up" any reason to pull you over, and then the cop can make up any OTHER different reason for a 2nd ticket--after the DUI is established. And you WILL get 2 tickets--everybody does. You can hope that the cop car has a dashboard videocam so that the police account of the incident can be verified. Then you must hope that your attorney will at least ASK if there is video to back the cop's "story". My lawyer didn't even ask--but it's all part of the scam.
Be prepared for the cop to make up, create, fabricate, and directly LIE on the police report. Mine did. My cop never asked me about having eye problems, head injuries, or physical limitations that might prevent me from doing his little "drunk dance" (but the ticket says he asked me about all of these things). I have all 3 (eye problems, head injuries, physical limitations), and can prove all 3 of those problems, thank you; not that it would change anyything about a terrified civilian trying to perform this little cop "ritual" that THEY practice daily. Yeah; cops stand around and "practice" their own little drunk dances in their free time--trying to make it look even easier. But now I'm getting ahead of myself.
I broke the law; I drove drunk, and I got caught. I am guilty. I was placed under arrest. I am evil, pure evil--possibly the most pure evil person in the world. Regardless of the bullcrap surrounding HOW it went down, I was in the wrong. I do deserve to be punished. I am going through the punishment right now, literally. I start my Diversion program next week (ha), but I want to relate my experiences so far. I wouldn't wish this scenario on hardly anyone. No exaggerations, and no embellishments. My story sucks, as you will see, but there were others (in court, on my court date) who suffered even more.
The "day after" your DUI: First you have to go downtown and pay at least $100 (mine was $110) for a "receipt" from the courthouse that will "allow" you to go and pay more to pick up your impounded vehicle. If you don't get your vehicle back the next day, then whatever towing company that was used to tow your vehicle can start charging you daily "storage" on your vehicle. I was lucky to only have to pay another $160 to get my ride back--and the towing company was in town. Other people I know have had to pay up to $300 (for one night), and travel 20 miles just to get to their vehicles.
The "hearing": Two citations were issued to me on 12-4-09 (just after midnight on 12-3-09). The first thing I had to do was go to the "hearing" on 1-8-10. This is where you have to admit that you broke the law, then the judge sets an official "court date", and now you will need to get your attorney. Because I am unemployed, and on food stamps (low income), my hearing judge suggested that I go out and talk to the registrar to see if I qualified for a discounted attorney. I qualified for both the "Modest Means" program in Oregon (lowered cost attorneys), and I qualified to get a court-appointed attorney 'for only $20.' My understanding of the Modest Means was that I could get an outside attorney for a total of $50. Look at the 2; $20 vs. $50. Which would you choose? It turns out, much later--and long after it can be changed, the $20 for the court-appointed attorney is MERELY the "application fee" for the court-appointed attorney. In court, your judge will tack on additonal charges at his/her own discretion. I do not know the total cost of a for-profit attorney, and it may be much higher. But the lady in the courthouse who approved me for a court-appointed attorney said, and I quote, "It's only going to cost you $20." But remember; this is just the application. I think that these ladies lie to you because you'll never actually have to deal with them again. Get used to things like this, and keep reading.
Next up is the court date; 1-29-10. Before the court date, you will meet with whomever your attorney is, and attempt to fill out the Diversion agreement. The attorney should file it about a week before the actual court date. I don't know how it works with real attorneys, but my court-appointed attorney (a seemingly competent law student who claimed to have gone through the Diversion program himself) had standardized ideas on what to advise me. There's nothing wrong with standardized ideas; I mean, if he's done this a few times as a lawyer, and did this himself as a drunk college kid, then maybe he knows how this all works, right? I want to ask the judge about a dashboard videocam that will show how my cop lied multiple times; but my little attorney says 'no'. Law School Boy says that it's better to not piss off the judge directly, in his own courtroom. Don't ask lots of questions; in fact, don't talk at all--that's what he (my attorney) is for. It seemed to make sense at the time; and at any point where I had legitimate concerns in our interview, my attorney would change gears and say things like 'I think I can get this other charge dropped (the 2nd ticket), as long as you don't say anything in court.' And my law student said things like 'This Diversion program is a life saver; you're very lucky. A DUII can wreck your life; it definitely would have wrecked mine.' More on this later. Let's go to court.
Everything in court was delayed about 90 minutes, but that's not too bad. Listening to the court cases ahead of me (all DUII's this day--the big money-maker for the city), you start to see trends. Everybody else also has at least TWO tickets; the DUII, and some other b.s. ticket that was the "initial reason" they got pulled over. And; everybody gets their "other" charge dropped, as long as they don't contest the DUII, and agree to go through (and pay lots of money for) the Diversion arrangement. There are no cops here today; you'll probably never see the cop who arrested you again (this is not how it was in traffic court back in 1987). My attorney today never asked any of the questions I wanted him to, and again said nothing when the judge went off on a couple of tangents. The judge even said something to the effect of 'how lucky I was to have the Diversion program', and this was the first confirmation, for me, of the entire scam. Law School Boy tells me how lucky I am to get Diversion in our meeting the week before, and now the big scary Judge says pretty much the same thing. Then the Judge starts rattling off my requirements, and what all I am agreeing to. Okay. Then the judge says that I will be ordered to pay an additional $90 in court-appointed attorney fees--for a total of $110 (remember, I was told it was only $20). But I can't say anything now, because we 'don't want to piss off the judge in his own courtroom'. Because my vehicle is totalled on insurance, and virtually worthless trade-wise, I do not have to set up an "approved ignition interlock device" in my vehicle (an extra $100 installation charge, and monthly fee between $49 and $64). The judge sets me up to pay $20 per month to the court for my charges (low, because I am unemployed). Then he sets me up for the next Victim Impact Panel, and tells me that I have to check in with a representative from the Quality Research Associates at the back of the courtroom. I did. Looking over the documents that I left court with, it was shown that I "need not" pay an additional $90 in attorney fees. That felt good--perhaps I had heard the judge wrong.
So; already we have a registrar who lies about the attorney fees (I recommend that you find out the full cost of a REAL, for-profit attorney--if you do qualify for the Modest Means program). My little Law School attorney has a list of things to say in our meeting, and then the judge echoes the same crap about how lucky I am to have access to the Diversion program. Oooo, the "fear factor". Some sheep in the court actually fell for this 'we're doing you such a big favor right now' thing; I saw it for what it was. So I checked in with the QRA lady, and told her I'd be by her office next week.
Looking over my paperwork at home, I discovered that my $20 fee for my court-appointed attorney was due within 48 hours (according to the application). So I went back down to the courthouse to pay my fee. I would also pay my monthly $20 for February, as well. (It turns out that the $20 payment was not actually due; it just gets added on to the entire total that you get 12 months to pay off.) At the courthouse, the cashier ladies have a different set of totals than the documents I left court with. Huh? There HAS been an increase of $90 put to my totals, even though my court documents don't reflect that. (These ladies have different court documents from mine, with different totals--shouldn't that be illegal?) So I ask the ladies how it is possible for somebody to change my court documents after I have already left the court, with my documents. And the ladies responded by saying that 'this happens all the time'. I told them I now had about an hour's worth of questions for them, starting with who, exactly, has the authority to change court documents? May I change them, can my attorney change them, who else CAN change them, etc.? And after they have already said that this happens all the time, they start to get frustrated with me--like it's MY fault that judges cannot fill out their own paperwork properly. I don't know if all judges are having these same problems, or just my judge, but again the cashiers said; 'it happens all the time'. So I paid $40 down on my total, and left a note for my judge, asking how my court documents got changed, and can he please withdraw the attorney fees, because if I had known about them then I would have had different legal representation (a $50 Modest Means attorney). I left a very polite note, and assumed that he would be extremelly apologetic about doing something so highly suspicious. I expected the attorney fees to be waived entirely. I mean; is this judge incompetent?
A week later, I got a letter in the mail from the judge, with an apology for changing my court documents. However; he said that he would not delete any attorney fees. To this day, nobody has explained to me exactly who has the right to change court documents, or what that staute is, or when it was introduced; is it local, state, national, etc.? This is a complete money scam--in my opinion. I am kind of happy to be so poor as I'm going through this, so that I do question every charge, every fee, and every mistake that's been made so far. And there will be more.
Next up; the Victim Impact Panel on 2-11-10. These happen monthly, on Thursdays, and take place at the courthouse; and all the Diversion people have to do it. It's roughly a 3-hour study hall of about 300 people who all pay $30 a head to be there. You listen to a few ladies talk about how alcohol wrecked their/their spouse's life, and you see some mangled car pictures. This VIP is a good idea--if only to see that there are hundreds of others going through the same thing. About 1/3 (100 people) in my total group were going through this Panel NOT for the first time (the guy sittting next to me was 22, and on his third DUII). I have nothing bad to say about this "Panel". But when the lady said that these meetings happen every month, and are very expensive, and that they need volunteers to help on a monthly basis, I did some quick math. 300 people, $30 a head; that's $9000 minimum made on this night, for 3 hours of "display". Volunteers? Again; I see the profit potential; no, make that the profit "actual", of this system. I'll WORK for the VIP's, and work hard, for a decent wage and full government benefits, but I'm not volunteering--thank you. After the Victim Impact Panel, you must go to Quality Research Associates.
Quality Research Associates: the office is out off Coburg rd, near Beltline. I've been out there physically twice so far, and on both trips neither lady there told me what they actually do. I assumed that this is where I would be going to Diversion classes, and I would apply for a discount of the weekly $50 fees for the classes. It took a couple of weeks to get updated papers on my current unemployment and food stamps (I changed unemployment program tiers that week), but I submitted full paperwork on my 2nd visit there, with new copies of my unemployment and food stamps allowances, and asked for the fee to be only $20 weekly, since I am currently losing hundreds of dollars per month. The #2 lady in charge spoke with me, took my paperwork and faxed it, while the #1 lady was laughing on the phone and talking loudly to somebody about one of her pet dogs at home. Again; neither lady explained what they do there, on either of my trips, or originally in the courtroom, and the #2 lady now understood that I thought this QRA was to be a weekly fee thing. She said nothing to correct me, but assured me that I would have an answer (approval or denial) by the next morning. This was a Thursday, 2 weeks after my VIP. I called them the next day (Friday), then called back on the following Monday, Tuesday, + Wednesday to find out my status, and was told that no answer had been reached. On the next day (8 days later), Friday, I was told by the #1 lady that I had been approved to pay only $100 for my evaluation. I asked about the weekly fees, and was (finally) told that weekly meetings are not what QRA does. QRA merely does a single evaluation, and that my weekly payments and schedules would be determined later--by someone else. (I guess the QRA women are not legally or morally inclined to volunteer ANY information about anything.) However; since they (QRA women) didn't process my paperwork in time, now I have to go back to court and get re-referred to this same QRA circus (again) for evaluation. I could hear the #1 lady smiling on the phone as she said this, too. So; it will take a total of THREE trips to this QRA place to do this simple evaluation of what, 30 minutes? And these (lying, smirking, scamming, delaying) ladies are making some bank here; imagine 300 people per month, paying $150 per evaluation. Wow; that's $45,000 per month--just from this one government contract! And remember; every DUII person has to go do this at QRA (I wonder if Quality Research Associates also needs 'volunteers'.) I'd also like to work at QRA; there are no men there, and it's not like those women do any hard work, or take anything seriously. I haven't even seen a Dr. in that building yet--just a couple of women who make a lot of personal phone calls from their desks.
Back to court, for the re-referral: It only took just over an hour to get a new referral of 14 days. This judge today was actually a good guy--where was he on my original court date?
To the actual mental evaluation at QRA. My Dr. has a medium-sized dog, in a cage, behind her desk (dogs must be popular with these QRA ladies). I talked to the mental evaluator lady for about an hour. Her job (I guess) is to see if I have a pattern of bad behavior. When I told her that this was my first ticket since 1987, our meeting was pretty much over. Other questions that I had came into play; such as, is/was my drivers license suspended? If so, then when did the suspension begin? When does it end? According to the mental evaluator at QRA, because I am jumping through the hoop$ of the Diversion program, my license was (only) suspended for 90 days, starting on the date of my arrest (December 4th, 2009). So I have been driving on a suspended license for 3 months; but as of March 4th, 2010 my license was again valid (like it says on the actual citation. It's nice to know that all 3 times I drove out to QRA, I had done so on a suspended license.) She and I talked about how I had to complete this program in order to get my medical marijuana card, and I got my referrals (8) for the actual Diversion classes. Now I will go and call these 8 different places to find out which one has the lowest prices--sliding scales for unemployed folks and such. Before I left, I went back out front (to the phone ladies) and asked if I had done all there is to be done at QRA. Lady #2 told me a definite "Yes.". The next day, lady #1 from Quality Research calls me back to tell me that there is at least one more form I need to come back and fill out. So; along with the two phone calls, it took a total of FOUR trips to QRA to get everything done. Let me repeat: Because of incompetent women, it took FOUR driving trips to get this QRA evaluation done. Now I'll go home and get on the phone to find out the best place to do my classes.
In my calling around to the different places, I found out that many places of this type of business do not want to answer questions on the phone. Some are downright unfriendly--which is quite odd for any business that needs customers to survive. Right? Turns out that this place "Emergence", which is in downtown Eugene--fairly near the bus station AND bike path, was the only place that had a pleasant person answering the phone (who would also answer questions). Emergence also has the lowest rates (for unemployed/low income people like me) on their sliding scale. Classes will be $35 per week (regularly $45), after their initial evaluation meeting, which is $90 (all places have an initial evaluation meeting--usually over $100)...I must pick out a place to do these classes within 7 days of the QRA mental evaluation. Even if the place of the actual classes (Emergence) cannot see me for 30 more days (they could not), I still must choose the place to do my classes--and report it back to QRA within 7 days.
In April, 2010, I went back to the "Emergence" place to do my evaluation (I had $90 cash on me), and find out more about the program. In more questions to the "Emergence" place, they could not guarantee that my classes would drop into the "free" status after my unemployment insurance was exhausted. I said that I might not be able to pay for classes if I had no income. I was told that I could be put on a waiting list to do the classes for free--if I had no income However; I could not start the program, and then lower my pay status to "free" while I was in it. So; since I would be losing my unemployment sometime during May (I had paperwork showing this), it was best to not start the program yet--and for me to be put on the list to get classes for free. It was very respectful of Emergence to give me the opportunity to apply for the free slot--I've heard about arguments with other people at other places.
I still have to "check in" every week with the Emergence place, and let them know my employment status. This could take months...It is taking months. They changed my "advisor", the person I check in with weekly. May, June, and July pass with no explanation of how long this will take. Then in mid-August I was told, during one of my weekly check-ins, that I was now at the top of the list, and I would get the next slot. It could be as early as next week, or, it would not take more than 8 more weeks, tops. The people at Emergence were helpful.
Finally, on the last day of August (2 weeks later), 2010, I have my "assessment" meeting set up for Friday September 3rd. However, as part of the free classes, I'll be doing this assessment at a different location that is much further away (MLK boulevard). I drove out there--my license is good. We did some "assessing"; it took about 2 hours of boring and remedial questions. Many of the questions are so obviously geared to ask women if they are being abused somehow (childhood, current home, current companion, at work, etc.)--you would think there would be different "assessments" for men and women, but apparently not. I was honest, and forthcoming with all information; unlike the court registrar, the court cashiers, the VIP, or the QRA ladies.
I got some questions of my own answered, as well. Even if I already had a medical marijuana card (I do not), I would still have to pass urine analysis tests (no THC allowed) for Emergence (remember--they had the lowest costs). I explained that marijuana had nothing to do with my DUII, but that doesn't matter. I explained that my Dr. medically "prescribes" marijuana for me (and I can provide proof), but that does not matter either. The only drugs allowed are prescription drugs that the client already has filled, and that can be refilled. I have current prescriptions for allupurinol (gout medicine) and morphine (to help get to sleep). There will be no alcohol or marijuana for me during the next 16 weeks--and there is no way around it. Then came my first urine analysis--at the end of this assessment. They'll get the results in a couple of days, and I'll have to get obviously "cleaner" after my first class on 9-9-10. In the meantime, I have learned that it's easy enough to ride my bike to the place where I'll be doing classes. I could even walk, if need be. Next up; (finally) week 1 of my Diversion classes at Emergence; September 2010.
This concludes my experiences with the initial punishments/requirements/court costs of an Oregon DUII in late 2009. Other resident citizens of Oregon who had also been through the DUII experience were VERY helpful to me in explaining what I was about to go through. I paid that forward by talking to/explaining things to others who got their first DUII's after I got mine.
In addition to discussing things with people when I can, I thought it might be very helpful to have THIS COMMENTARY available on my website, and also available as a seperate document for ANYBODY who wants information about this process. I don't always have time to explain, and others don't always have time to listen; so now if somebody wants this info, I can just get their email and send them this. I am not bragging, and I am not complaining. I am merely relating my DUII experience. Let's recount those standard fees one more time:
The "day after" your DUI: First you have to go downtown and pay at least $100 (mine was $110) for a "receipt" from the courthouse that will "allow" you to go and pay more to pick up your impounded vehicle.
At the towing company, you'll pay for the actual towing ($50 to $100), and for at least one night of "storage" ($100 to $300).
In court, if you have a court-appointed attorney, the judge will add on your additional attorney fees (my total was $110).
(Still in court) Unless your vehicle is already totalled, you will pay at least $100 for an "approved ignition interlock device" in your vehicle (breath-alyzer), and a monthly fee between $49 and $64.
(Still in court) The judge will also set you up for the next VICTIM IMPACT PANEL; (3 hours on a Thursday night) it costs you $30...After you leave court, CHECK YOUR COURT DOCUMENTS. Look for any discrepencies, and find out when your first payment is due. DO NOT miss your first payment--again, I've heard horror stories.
The first evaluation at Quality Research Associates (QRA); $150.
Choose one of the "Diversion class" places from the list of many (8 or so) they give you at QRA. (Emergence was the closest AND least expensive for me.) Wherever you decide to do these classes, there will be another initial evaluation ($90 to $300, depending on the place). And there will be weekly fees for the actual classes ($45 to $150 per week). These classes go for at least 16 weeks. (If you already have a medical marijuana card, then there MAY still be Diversion classes that allow THC in your system. Call places and ASK QUESTIONS--obviously it's going to cost MUCH more to be in a Diversion program that allows you to keep using marijuana.)
There is a part 2 to this story; my stint in rehab did not begin until September 2010. If you want to glimpse into what the "cleansing process" is like, then click here: Rehab 2010.