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Tennessee DUI Laws?
Ugh, I just wrote a post and I lost it. 
I'm a Los Angeles Nestie, but I was hoping you ladies here could help me. My 23 year old sister (who previously had a clean driving/criminal record) drove her dumba$$ home drunk last night, hit a curb, flipped several times, and was eventually stopped by some trees, then she crawled out the windowshield. She's amazingly ok with only scrapes and bruises - everyone that saw the car thought that whomever was in the crash should have been dead.
So I was expecting that she would have spent the night and jail and lost her license immediately, but neither happened. Her ex-BF said that he thought she'd only have to pay a fine and go to traffic school and some MADD meetings. It would be a lot worse out here, so I was wondering if any of you have experience with this and can give me some advice on what to expect? Thanks in advance for your help.
Re: Tennessee DUI Laws?
No first-hand experience to offer, but my only advice is to direct her to a good DUI lawyer. If there's any semblance of lieniency for her, it's going to be through the lawyer no matter what state. I get the impression that all penalties are at the discretion of the judge and situation.
I know there was some legal wrangling about the constitutionality of on-site license revocation in TN, not sure how that worked out.
And get her a$$ in AA if the court doesn't mandate it. This stupid incident may be a manifesting symptom of something that's been a problem for a lot longer than you may think.
I'm not an expert on the laws either but I can tell you that I have a friend here (in Nashville) that got a DUI, first offense and had to spend a weekend in jail. Has she been charged with a DUI? Do you know if she took the breathalyzer or had blood drawn? If she was charged with a DUI then she will definitely need a lawyer. I would think losing her license would be a minimum, along with fines, community service, alcohol classes and possible jail time. I don't mean to scare you..... just want you to be prepared.
On the other hand, another friend of mine had a very similar situation (single car accident while intoxicated). The officer on the scene asked her if she had been drinking, she said 2 beers, he asked her to take a breathalyzer, she refused, he told her she would then be given a DUI. They then took her to the hospital, the officer for whatever reason did not go with them. She never received the DUI. We are not sure what happened. A friend that is a lawyer seems to think that because the officer did not have a breathalyzer, eye witness, etc. and no one else was involved that he didn't bother to follow through (small town). I am not saying that it is okay because I think drinking and driving is terrible, but find out more info. She may not have been charged with anything.
Tiggy - Thanks for the information. That's what my sister's ex-BF said, and I was pretty amazed at it. Can you give me information on your firm because we are definitely looking for a lawyer (she's in Knoxville).
And this is definitely a systemic problem, and she definitely needs to get into AA. Alcoholism runs in our family. I got a DUI when I was 20, so I'm plenty scared enough because I know what can happen. I've totally turned around, but unfortunately she didn't learn from my horrible example.
Good luck! I'm glad you were able to get some advice from someone that is close to the justice system. Maybe Nashville is just cracking down harder or maybe my friend just had a horrible lawyer (she and I were talking about it last night actually and she said hers wasn't the best because she couldn't afford one of the high powered DUI lawyers).
I hope everything works out for your sister. Sometimes it takes situations like this to wake people up and make them understand how valuable (yet fragile) life really is.... It sounds like she has a good support group with you and other family to help her get the help she needs.
http://www.volunteertv.com/news/headlines/19395114.html
My sister is being a real @-hole about the whole situation. Everything happened to her, she's not at fault for anything. I am so frustrated. I actually wish she would get 48 hours in jail. Maybe it would shake her up and make her accept reality.