The DUI case of the former Tuscon City Manager Mike Hein shows just how valuable a skilled Arizona DUI attorney can be. The Arizona Daily Star reports that Mr. Hein and his attorney entered a plea deal with the Pima County Attorney's Office last week.
While Mr. Hein initially entered a not guilty plea earlier this year to charges of extreme DUI and DUI of 0.08 or more, both of these charges were dropped. Instead, Mr. Hein pleaded guilty to being impaired to the slightest degree. Now he will have to to serve 10 days in jail and pay more than $1,400 in fines.
Yet this is far more lenient of a punishment than the one he would have faced if he had been convicted of the other two charges. FindLaw states that extreme DUI offenders in Arizona are sentenced to at least 45 days in jail and typically pay between $3,000 and $4,000 in fines. It's unclear of what Mr. Hein's BAC level was at the time of his arrest, but we do know that an extreme DUI charge is typically for people with a blood-alcohol level of .20 or more.
"It's the same plea we'd offer to anybody with the same facts in his case and the same BAC (blood alcohol level)," Casey McGinley, the deputy Pima County attorney, told Arizona Daily Star.
Or perhaps Mr. Hein just had a good Arizona DUI attorney on his side. It's also possible that as a former public official, he had good relationships with some people in Pima County. His DUI attorney, Christopher Wencker, said in a statement that Mr. Hein is accepting the consequences of his actions and wants to "acknowledge the mistake quickly."
Related Resources:
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Defenses to Drunk Driving (FindLaw)
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Drunk Driving: Elements of the Offense (FindLaw)
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