Daniel Martin Smith

Felony DUI's are always tough. The prosecutor (and the judge) usually want to give you actual jail time. In your case, Jon and I came up with a plan to successfully challenge the "injury component" that is an element of a felony DUI (with injury) offense. Our motto is to leave no stone un-turned. When we reviewed the body worn camera video, there was no evidence of a substantial injury to warrant a felony! One of the reasons we charge a flat fee that covers legal motions and trial, is that we will look for ANYTHING that will help our client. They know we mean business. Felony DUI dismissed!

I appreciate the vote of confidence. I do answer phone calls myself, although I am not sure which phone call I was responding to. In the end, I am happy I could get you going in the right directions.

Thank you. And again, this is a case that could have gone way South if we did not have a good reputation as litigators with the prosecution. That is, mutual respect can lead to a great negotiated result. We know a lot of the prosecutors and judges. When they know that your firm is the real deal and not a lawyer practicing out of his or her car trunk (that only is cool in the movies), that is a good place to start. I always tell potential clients to look at CA State Bar Attorney Search and find out where the lawyer is based. If the firm is not local, the results can be less than stellar. We have been in San Diego County since 1990 and that is local! Dan

Thank you! You might find it interesting to know that I talked with an agent of one of the ABC "agencies" yesterday. And it turns out that the officer that inputs the record probably "mis-recorded" the actual incident and he or she can go in an make a change. But when 29 years has gone by, it makes it difficult to locate the author of the record. After 28 years you might think you have seen it all. But that is never the case and that is why we have to latch on like a Bull Mastiff and keep on going. I am super glad we could clear your record of something that never happened. It can cost people their jobs and that is what I stressed in your case. Irreparable harm to your reputation and that is, in my opinion, what made it real for the reviewing agent! Dan

Thank you. Jon Pettis and myself, Dan Smith with our paralegal Layla Smith truly really want the best for our clients. That is why we limit the number of cases we take each month and we are willing to litigate and go to trial enthusiastically which is not common these days! Reputation to fight for our clients helps us to settle the cases to our clients benefit! Thanks for your review!

Thank you for the review. Cases can be dismissed for a number of reasons. But in this case it was unusual because we maintained the same defense throughout the case. This was a clear case where the prosecutor realized that there were two problems they could not overcome. First, we had a great defense. Second, they were up against San Diego Defenders Dan Smith and Jon Pettis. We try cases to win and they know it.

Thank you for taking the time to comment. Your son's case was and is important to his future and we, at San Diego Defenders take a "Baby Duece" VC 23140 as serious as a VC 23152(A). All background checks, whether military or civilian, bring up old cases due to the new data bases out there. So it is VERY important to get cases DISMISSED when we can. We had a plan and your son followed instructions well. Smart clients are a real plus when it come to obtaining the goal of dismissal! Marines, Navy, Army any of the armed services are getting to the point that a slip up may lead to an early admin separation. So for anyone out there that is facing a criminal charge on base or off base, give us a call and myself, Daniel Smith or my partner Jon Pettis will do our level best. You will always get a friendly voice of certified paralegal Layla Smith on the phone and we will get an appointment or handle the retainer with a payment plan over the phone. We want to help. We have egos too! We want to win every case! Thanks for your kind words. Dan

And what a case this was. A happy ending after some real gut-wrenching moments. All it takes for a misdemeanor DUI VC 23152 A to go to a felony is for someone to grab the back of their neck and say "it hurts!" and all of a sudden, the complaint changes to a VC 23153(A) felony DUI with injury. We fought the prosecutor on what exactly the injuries were and what made them substantial. The prosecutor and the judge finally sided with us. But the real problem is that, as a private lawyer, you can appear for your client in a misdemeanor. But when the DA changes the charges, all of a sudden, the client needs to be present or a warrant is issued. That is why we always call the DA a day in advance when there is an accident involved in the case to make sure it has not been filed as a felony. Important stuff. We get calls from defendants that find out the hard way that their DUI lawyers are not so experienced as the "founder" of the firm and they do not know what to do and the founder is no involved to any great degree in the case. At San Diego Defenders, I myself, Daniel Smith, have 27 years experience, my partner Jon Pettis has 21 years. We are the only 2 lawyers handling the cases. Period. And better yet, Layla Smith has been a criminal defense paralegal for about 18 years so she knows who to call and we do our best to avert problems. Also, it is important to take advantage of experience when negotiating, as we did in this case and got credit for time served that helped our client immensely since the DA caused the problem in the first place. Getting the best results sometimes means knowing who you are dealing with, whether a judge or prosecutor and knowing when to pull the trigger on the case. Timing is everything and we got this case reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor and got our client released immediately. Results! Felonies are bad news when you have a family to raise. We answer every phone call and get answers to the family on the spot. Teamwork got us a great result and we are happy for our client on this Felony DUI in San Diego reduced to a misdemeanor. That is why we call ourselves the best DUI lawyer team in San Diego. Two lawyers (and a great paralegal) for the price of one AND a payment plan. Where else can you find that? Thanks for letting us help you and your husband take care of your beautiful young family!

Michael, Thanks for your kind words. It is important to note that we took this case all the way through the system and set it for trial before the District Attorney caved to our demands and were given our investigation notes concerning the witness. This case was a real win for us too! We feel the DA has respect for our trial skills in litigation. Dan

I am late commenting on this case, but I had to! This was a bogus charge that was brought by the San Diego Port Police using code sections for assault and another specifically for use of pepper spray. The fact was our client was acting in self defense and we were not going to let him get shoved into a crime of violence that would end his job as a Lyft or Uber driver as soon as a background check was ever done. We had to beat it and we knew it. Myself, Daniel Smith, supervising attorney and Jon Pettis, my partner, worked this case until we got it dismissed. When a law firm has a reputation that they do not back down, and that IS our reputation, the prosecutor knows that we are good trial lawyers and we win cases. Bragging? Maybe a little, but it is true. We took a payment plan that is even lower than usual because our client impressed us as being a straight up guy. That is also why we do not quote fees over the phone, because we want to meet you and get an impression of who you are. Not all cases are the same and not all clients are the same! Call us and set an appointment. If the lawyer wants to quote a fee over the phone, beware! That is kind of like a auto body shop saying we charge the same to fix any fender on any car, Huh? How can you do that and do a good job? We want to continue to earn the reputation as the best criminal defense lawyer team in all of San Diego! Dan