Outcome Beyond My Wildest Dreams

I am a registered nurse who made a bad decision and almost lost my career. This is my story.

One day I was drinking in order to distance my mind from a series of recently discovered personal problems. Unfortunately, I thought I was ok to drive a short distance to get a bite to eat. I ended up having a minor accident and an unpleasant encounter with a group of people that were essentially arresting me.

When the police arrived I was in a state of mind that I really can’t explain. My behavior with the police resulted in additional charges.

When I was able to bail myself out of jail, I was facing felony DUI charges (driving under the influence causing injury), felony hit and run charges (attempting to leave the scene of an accident causing injury) and resisting arrest charges. 

I knew I needed a good attorney so I researched the best DUI attorneys in California. I ended up hiring a law firm based in San Francisco. I paid them a large sum of money and signed a contract to pay them even more over time.

Well, to make a long story short my attorney was a big disappointment. He told me that we didn’t really have much of a chance of avoiding a felony conviction and that he had no idea how I could go about trying to keep my registered nurse license. He also did no investigation whatsoever. I think the final straw for me was that he was so slow returning my phone calls, I would have to call him several times before I could actually talk to him. 

I realized I had made a mistake so I started researching attorney’s again. This time I came across Dan Koukol. I read his web site and set up a meeting with him.

I felt comfortable with Mr. Koukol right away. He seemed to understand my situation and he told me what he thought I should do. His plan made perfect sense. I told him about the other attorney that I had hired and he told me his advice was that I should interview attorneys until I find one that I really feel comfortable with and then hire that attorney. He said I should not worry about hurting people’s feelings because what matters most is that I take care of myself. This turned out to be very good advice.

I very quickly decided I wanted to work with Mr. Koukol. I let the other attorney know that I was changing attorneys and Mr. Koukol made the arrangements.

At this point things changed dramatically. Mr. Koukol and his investigator actually did the things that I hoped someone would do for me. They thoroughly interviewed me. They visited the “crime scene”.  They met with and interviewed witnesses. They ordered employment timecards for businesses in the area to discover who may have seen what happened in my case. They subpoenaed medical records and the victim’s prior criminal history records. Mr. Koukol also contacted my profession’s licensing board and talked to them about my options.

Mr. Koukol suggested that I attend AA (alcoholics anonymous) meetings because he told me that “actions speak louder than words” when it comes to convincing the judge or the prosecutor that I recognize that I made a mistake and that I will never let it happen again.

Over the course of six months I probably met with Mr. Koukol at least a half dozen times. I am sure I talked to him on the phone twice that many times. What a difference, most of the time I could reach him immediately. When I left a message,  I would generally get a return call within an hour or so.

Close to the end of my case,  Mr. Koukol and I met to go over the medical reports together. He also showed me the “defense discovery package” that he prepared and sent to the prosecutor. It included 1) crime scene photographs, 2) multiple witness interviews, 3) medical reports, and 4) telephone records.  He also sent the prosecutor proof of all the counseling and AA meetings I was attending.

Shortly thereafter, Mr. Koukol and the prosecutor met with me to negotiate my case. Mr. Koukol was able to show the prosecutor that the injury to the victim in my case was so minor that the case should be treated as a non-injury DUI. He also pointed out that I was essentially being attacked by onlookers and that I had called 911 to try to protect myself. The hit and run was not intended to flee the scene but rather to secure my own safety. He indicated that my behavior with the police officer, although inappropriate, was not sufficiently hostile to warrant a criminal conviction.

After seeing the records of my attendance in AA and counseling sessions, the prosecutor agreed that I had “earned” a break. When all was said and done I ended up with a single (non injury) misdemeanor DUI with no jail time whatsoever. When I first hired Mr. Koukol, the prosecutor said he wanted to send me to state prison.

Wow.  This outcome was beyond my wildest dreams.

I have never heard anyone say anything good about attorneys before. Well, my opinion has changed.   Every step of the way, Mr. Koukol did the right thing. In the beginning during our initial meeting, he told me that he would “do his best” and that “things generally work out better than expected”. During the process, he was willing to help me with my professional license and had an amazing calm demeanor during the stressful days. In the end, he accomplished the best possible outcome. 

Without a doubt changing attorneys and hiring Mr. Koukol was the best decision I could have made. If you would like to talk to me more specifically about any of my experiences in this case, I have given Dan permission to give readers of this story my phone number.

~ Anonymous