Practice Area
Arrested for DUI or DWAI? You have two cases now: one in criminal court and one at the DMV. We fight both, and your DMV hearing is included in our DUI flat fee.
Both of our founding partners started their careers as prosecutors. Before co-founding Smith & Weidinger, Bradley Smith served as a Deputy District Attorney in Mesa County and as a Denver Assistant City Attorney. We know how the government builds a DUI case because we used to build them, and that tells us where the weak points usually are.
Colorado has three main impaired-driving charges, and prosecutors often file all of them from the same stop.
Colorado criminal defense
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Bradley E. Smith
Founding Partner
Criminal Defense Attorney
Former Deputy District Attorney in Mesa County and Denver Assistant City Attorney. More than six years as a U.S. Navy officer overseas, in Japan, East Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. J.D. from the University of Kansas School of Law and a bachelor’s degree from CU Boulder. Licensed in Colorado state and federal courts.
That prosecutorial background matters in a specific way. Prosecutors triage. They decide which cases are worth the trial calendar and which ones are better resolved. A defense lawyer who has made those decisions knows what moves them — a suppression issue the officer can’t survive, a witness who won’t hold up, a discovery gap that never gets filled.
We look for those first, before anyone talks about a plea.
Every DUI case is built from the same pieces, and each one can fail:
Police need a legal reason to pull you over. If they didn’t have one, the evidence that followed may be thrown out.
Roadside tests are hard to perform on a shoulder at night, in cold weather, or with a medical condition. We compare the officer’s report to the body-camera and dash-camera video.
The officer must have probable cause to arrest you and must properly advise you under Colorado’s express consent law.
Breath machines need certification and maintenance. Blood samples need a proper chain of custody and a qualified lab.
A DUI per se charge depends on a test taken within two hours of driving. Timing matters.
We look at all of it. Then we decide, with you, whether to file motions, negotiate a reduction, or try the case.
The order below is the shape of most Colorado criminal cases. Where your case sits in it determines what can still be changed.
You will be advised of the charges, usually within 48 hours. You do not have to explain yourself to anyone, and you should not. The single most common way a defensible case becomes a difficult one is a statement given before a lawyer was involved.
The court sets bond considering the charge, your record, your ties to the community, and any perceived risk. Bond can be argued, and bond can be reduced after it’s set. A lawyer at that hearing is the difference between a number and an argument.
In any domestic violence case, a mandatory protection order issues immediately. It can bar you from your own home and from contact with your family. It can be modified — but only through the court, never by agreement with the other party.
We obtain everything the state has: reports, body camera footage, dispatch audio, lab results, officer histories. We also build what the state didn’t bother to — witnesses they never interviewed, video they never pulled.
Suppression of an unlawful stop, an unlawful search, or an involuntary statement can end a case outright. Several of our dismissals came at or immediately after a motions hearing.
Most cases resolve. Some should not. We prepare every case as though it will be tried, because that preparation is what produces the better offer — and because when a case should go to a jury, we are ready.
Recent outcomes in impaired-driving cases.
Jury acquitted our client of DUI and DWAI (drugs) despite a reported THC level of 27 ng/mL.
Jury acquitted our client of DUI/DWAI, swerving, and open container after 15 minutes of deliberation.
Jury acquitted our client of DUI and DWAI; he kept his commercial driver’s license.
Reduced to careless driving with no jail at the pretrial readiness conference.
Client granted a deferred judgment and sentence.
One week before trial, after a motions hearing.
Results depend on the specific facts and legal circumstances of each case. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome.
Unedited, from our Google profile. Traffic and impaired-driving matters are among the cases these clients hired us for.
Reviews are published on Google by the people who wrote them. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
These come up in almost every DUI call: what a first offense actually carries, what happens to your license while the case is pending, and what it costs to fight it. The answers below are general — your stop, your test, and your record decide how they apply to you.
No. A first, second, or third DUI is a misdemeanor. A DUI becomes a class 4 felony when you have three or more prior convictions for DUI, DUI per se, DWAI, vehicular assault, or vehicular homicide, from any state and any year.
Possibly, but not necessarily. A first DUI carries five days to one year, and the court can suspend the five-day minimum if you complete an alcohol evaluation and education program. If your BAC was 0.20 or higher, the minimum is 10 days, though alternatives like work release may be available.
In most cases, yes. The hearing officer can’t make your revocation worse because you asked for a hearing, and the hearing is a chance to keep your license and to hear the officer testify under oath. You have seven days from receiving the notice. Talk to a lawyer before the deadline passes.
Yes. A medical marijuana card allows you to use marijuana; it doesn’t allow you to drive impaired. But the prosecutor still has to prove impairment, and a THC blood level alone doesn’t prove it.
Generally no. DUI and DWAI convictions are excluded from Colorado’s record-sealing law. That’s one reason fighting the charge, or reducing it to a sealable offense, matters so much.
Yes. Our DUI representation is a flat fee, and it includes your DMV hearing at no additional cost. We’ll quote your fee at the free consultation.
