Get a good lawyer. Bargain. Sometimes you can plead guilty or no contest, and end up with no record.
I love US justice. A positive breath test in Europe is as good as convicted, the court is a formality that confirms your ban and fine
Matt
The same applies to parts of Canada. It is really a good system for ONE time offenders. The blood alchohol levels for conviction have gotten lowered to the point of ridiculous. My girl had an afternoon birthday get together with friends where she had two glasses of wine in two hours. driving home she ran across a RIDE* checkpoint and was arrested for impaired driving. She only weighs 100 pounds. If convicted she would loose her job. I convinced her to get a lawyer, not the 200$ lawyer, but the 900$ lawyer. He pled guilty for her and bargained with the Crowns attorney. She got 40 hrs community service and no recorded charges unless she had any further altercations within the next 12 months. This was her only brush with the law in her life.
There would have really been no point in ruining her life over two glasses of wine. If she weighed in at 200 pounds she would not have blown over the limit.
The sad thing is, that repeat offenders often use this method. And that isn't the fault of the law.. it's the fault of the judges. :)
*RIDE= Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere. ( Police checkpoints)