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Felony & Aggravated DUI Defense · Farmington Hills

Felony and Aggravated DUI Defense in Farmington Hills

A felony OWI charge in Michigan puts your freedom, your record, and your license on the line. We handle the whole case and pick up the phone.

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What we install

What a felony or aggravated OWI means in Michigan

Most first drunk driving charges in Michigan are misdemeanors. A felony is a different animal. Under state law, a third OWI on your record becomes a felony, no matter how many years passed between them. So does an OWI that badly hurts someone or causes a death. Driving while impaired with a child in the car raises the stakes too. These charges carry prison time, steep court costs, and a long license loss. We know how Oakland County treats them, and we build the defense around that.

The hours after an arrest matter. The state moves fast, and so should you. Your license can be held before you ever see a courtroom. Evidence gets logged, witnesses get interviewed, and the prosecutor starts shaping a story. We want to be in that story early. When we step in at the front of a case, we can question the traffic stop, the breath machine, and the blood draw before those details harden. The sooner we look, the more room we have to work.

  • We take felony and aggravated OWI cases ourselves, from the first call to the last hearing.
  • We pick apart the traffic stop, the breath test, and any blood draw for weak points.
  • We work the license side at the Secretary of State so you know your status from day one.
  • We deal with the prosecutor and the court for you, and we explain each option in plain words.
  • We answer when you call and keep you posted, with no runaround and no call center.
A felony charge is not a conviction. We have seen these cases shift when someone looks hard at how the evidence was gathered.

Every felony OWI case starts the same way for us. We read the police report line by line. We pull the dash camera and body camera video. We check whether the officer had a real reason to stop you and whether the field tests were given the right way. Breath and blood results get a hard look too, since machines drift and samples get mishandled. From there we map out the path. Sometimes that means fighting for a dismissal. Sometimes it means trimming a felony down to something far smaller.

You do not have to face an Oakland County felony OWI alone, and you should not wait to get help. Call us today and tell us what happened. We will walk you through where your case stands, what the next steps look like, and how we would defend it. The first conversation is simple, and it starts the clock in your favor.

The evidence

The evidence that decides a felony OWI case

We do not lean on slogans or promises about your case. Evidence wins felony OWI cases, and most of it can be questioned. The breath machine has to be kept and calibrated on a fixed schedule, the logs prove whether that happened, and a single missed service date can put every reading it produced into doubt for the whole period in question. Machines drift. A blood draw has to follow a clean chain from your arm to the lab, and any gap in that chain gives us room to argue the result cannot be trusted. People cut corners. The traffic stop itself has to rest on a real and stated reason. We read each of these the way the prosecutor will, then we hunt for the cracks.

The same goes for the field tests at the roadside. Those checks carry strict instructions, and officers skip steps more often than you would ever guess, especially late at night on a cold shoulder of the road. We compare what the officer wrote against what the video actually shows. When the two do not match, that gap becomes part of your defense. None of this is guesswork. It is slow, careful work, and it decides whether a felony sticks or falls apart.

  • Breath machine upkeep and calibration logs
  • The blood draw chain from your arm to the lab
  • The reason the officer gave for the stop
  • Roadside field tests against the video
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What about the alternatives?

Ways to handle a felony OWI charge

When a felony OWI lands on you, the path you pick early shapes everything that follows. Here is an honest look at the common routes, and where each one tends to lead in an Oakland County court.

Bring in a defense lawyer right away

You get someone questioning the stop, the breath test, and the blood draw before the evidence hardens. This is the route that protects the most.

Recommended

Apply for a court appointed attorney

Better than going alone, though heavy caseloads can mean less time spent digging into the machine records and video that win these cases.

Acceptable

Ask for an adjournment to plan

Buying time can help when it is used to gather evidence. On its own it does nothing, and the license hold keeps running.

Acceptable

Take an early plea offer

Sometimes a fair deal exists, but accepting one before the evidence is tested often leaves real defenses on the table.

Acceptable

Handle the felony on your own

The rules of evidence, the state deadlines, and the court calendar are not built for someone doing this for the first time.

Skip

Wait and hope it goes away

Charges do not fade, and missed deadlines cost you your license and your standing. Delay only helps the other side.

Skip
How it goes

From first call to your defense, fast.

01

Your inquiry

Call or send the short form with what is going on at your place. A sentence or two is plenty for the first step.

02

We talk it through

We go over the situation on the phone, ask the questions that matter, and tell you what we would do next.

03

A clear plan

You get a plain-language rundown of the work, the order it happens in, and what to expect on the day.

04

The work gets done

Our crew shows up when we said, does the job, and walks you through the result before leaving.

Before you book

Straight answers about felony and aggravated OWI

These are the questions we hear most from people staring down a felony charge in Farmington Hills. Here are plain answers, with no spin.

Is a felony OWI always prison time?
Not always. A felony carries the threat of prison, but the result depends on the facts, your record, and how well the evidence holds up. We push to keep you out of a cell and to shrink the charge wherever the law allows.
What makes an OWI a felony in Michigan?
A third drunk driving offense becomes a felony no matter how old the earlier ones are. So does an OWI that seriously hurts or kills someone, and driving impaired with a child in the car raises the level too.
Can my license be saved?
The license side runs on its own track through the Secretary of State, with tight deadlines. We move on it early so you know where you stand and so no hearing slips past you.
How soon should I call after an arrest?
Right away. The first days are when evidence is freshest and a license hold can take effect. The sooner we look at your stop and your test results, the more we can do.
Can a felony charge be reduced?
It happens. When the stop was weak or the testing was sloppy, we have room to argue for a smaller charge or a different result. Each case turns on its own facts.
What will the first call cost me?
The first conversation is just a conversation. You tell us what happened, we tell you where you stand and how we would defend it, and you decide from there.
While your case is open

What to do while your case is open

A felony OWI case can run for months, and the choices you make in that long window will shape how the court and the prosecutor come to see you well before anyone walks into a courtroom. They are watching. Small, steady choices can strengthen your position and keep new problems from piling on top of the ones you already have. We give every client a clear set of steps for the stretch between the arrest and the final hearing, so nothing catches you off guard.

  • Write down everything you remember about the stop while it is fresh
  • Keep every paper the court and the Secretary of State send you
  • Make every court date and arrive early
  • Stay sober and follow each condition the judge set
  • Save names and numbers for anyone who saw what happened
  • Call us first, and talk to no one else before you do
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What changes once we are on your case
FAQ

Felony and aggravated OWI questions we hear in Farmington Hills

Ready when you are

Let's make your next steps easier

Tell us what is going on at your Farmington Hills home and we will walk you through the options. One call or one short form is all it takes.

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