DUI Schools

Coy H. Browning is a native of Central Florida. He graduated cum laude from Charleston Southern University in South Carolina, where he majored in criminal justice. An All-American linebacker for the CSU Buccaneers, Coy was inducted into the University’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004.

After college, Coy graduated second in his class from the Florida Highway Patrol Training Academy, where he also earned the school’s prestigious Director’s Award for leadership. In five years as a Florida State Trooper, he participated in over one hundred DUI arrests.

Building on his successful law enforcement career, Coy earned a law degree from Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law in 2001. Soon after graduation, he returned to Florida with his wife, Elizabeth, and founded Browning Law Firm, P.A. in Fort Walton Beach.

Over the past several years, Coy has built a practice focusing on Florida DUI and traffic law. During that time, he has defended hundreds of motorists facing DUI charges.

Coy is a former President of the Okaloosa-Walton Bar Association. He stays up-to-date on the most recent developments in DUI law and criminal defense through his memberships in the National College for DUI Defense and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. He also belongs to the American Bar Association, the American Association for Justice, and the Florida Justice Association.

The Drivers Handbook to Surviving a DUI in Florida

Society at large tends to regard drunk driving offenses as dangerous and therefore often insists on harsh penalties for convictions.  Depending on your circumstances and the level of offense, the penalties go from bad to worse.  Recently, punishment for DUI became harsher.  And lobbying groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) push regularly to increase the severity of punishment.

Statistics may be on the lobbyists’ side.  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) credits the raising of the legal drinking age to 21 with preventing nearly 1,000 deaths annually.  In another study, researchers found that after blood alcohol limits were lowered, the proportion of night time single vehicle fatal crashes in younger drivers dropped 16 percent.

Potential penalties for drunk driving charges
Following are the penalties for the drunk driving offenses per Tennessee DUI laws:

DUI First Offense

Jail—up to 29 days

Probation—up to 11 months
Fines—up to $1,500
One-year license revocation
Possible community service
Possible DUI school
Possible ignition interlock device
2nd offense (http://www.tn.gov/safety/duioutline.htm#duisecond) (within 10 years)

Jail—up to 11 months

Probation—up to 11 months
Fines—up to $3,500
Two-year license revocation
Possible community service
Treatment program
Ignition interlock device
Possible vehicle forfeiture

DUI Third Offense (within ten years)

Jail—up to 11 months

Probation—up to 11 months
Fines—up to $10,000
Three to ten-year license revocation
Possible community service
Treatment program
Ignition interlock device
Possible vehicle forfeiture

DUI Fourth Offense (within ten years)

Jail—up to six years

Probation—up to six years
Fines—up to $15,000
Five-year minimum license revocation
Possible community service
Treatment program
Ignition interlock device
Possible vehicle forfeiture
Class E felony charge

Additionally, the following charges are felonies in Tennessee:

Vehicular assault—serious injury to another by a DUI driver
Child endangerment—DUI with passenger under age 13
Vehicular homicide
Aggravated vehicular assault while DUI

A conviction in the above felony charges means long prison sentences and a criminal record.

Legal advice for drunk driving offenses
Consult a skilled Memphis DUI law firm to determine your best legal options if you have been charged with drunk driving in Memphis, TN.

Originally published here.