pending dui

[ohio power]

I just completed my first year in a Nuclear Engineering Tech program and am due to start an internship in June. Problem. I have a first offense dui case going to court a week before the intership starts. Any advice on how to handle this or how a conviction would effect my employment status with the nuclear plant would be appreciated. Thanks.

[BetaAnt]

GET A LAWYER!!!!!! Don't plead out. If you can, get the charge overturned on appeal. Otherwise, a DUI can mean up to 5 years of security denial at a Nuke plant (unless you marry the CEO's daughter). Dude, you hosed yourself, badly

[SloGlo]

git a lawyer!!! 'n i mean, don't just hire a lawyer, interview a hole bunch of them 'n hire one that understands what is at stake for you!  plan on rejecting 80% of the ones you talk with.  if any of them advise you to just go nolo contendre, guilty, or any thing immediately, reject them on the spot.  you want one who understands what a nuclear engineering career is worth and how a security clearance will interact with that career.  you want one who understands how to deal with the legal system and how to deal with utility security and how to deal with you.  btw, you are the number one thing he has to deal with.  get one you are comfortable with.  and do it this week.  next week may be too late for effective action.  i ain't kidding.  do it now!

[retired nuke]

git a lawyer!!! 'n i mean, don't just hire a lawyer, interview a hole bunch of them 'n hire one that understands what is at stake for you!  plan on rejecting 80% of the ones you talk with.  if any of them advise you to just go nolo contendre, guilty, or any thing immediately, reject them on the spot.  you want one who understands what a nuclear engineering career is worth and how a security clearance will interact with that career.  you want one who understands how to deal with the legal system and how to deal with utility security and how to deal with you.  btw, you are the number one thing he has to deal with.  get one you are comfortable with.  and do it this week.  next week may be too late for effective action.  i ain't kidding.  do it now!

If you even had a clue how rare it is for Slo to actually converse in English, you would understand how important his advice is....

Lawyer, best your future can afford, not what you can afford now... really.
Then fix whatever judgment error led to the dui

[ohio power]

Really appreciate the straightforward advice you guys are giving me. My lawyer's already talkin about gettin it reduced and I now know the importance of having it reduced. Thank you.

[SloGlo]

ohio power...... good luck.... reduced is good, dissmist is better.  butt dat's only mho.  keep lines of comm open wit da lawyer.  remember, itsa a too weigh conversation wit him.  he'll listen two ya 'n advise yew.  again, good luck.

[X-Nuke]

I haven't got much to add other than you need a lawyer and I would really take to heart the advice on sorting out the personal judgement issue that got you into the spot in the first place. I think of all the hard drinking HP road techs I worked with back in the day and I'm getting to the point where it takes a couple of hands to count up the ones that aren't with us anymore between drinking and driving.  Pretty sad story and I miss all of them.

The biggest issue I saw in the post (not making light of the seriousness of the DUI) was SloGlo resorting to english.  I almost posted to see if it was the real deal or if some fiend had taken over SloGlo's login. I thought we were going to need to assemble a posse for a potential rescue.  Glad to see you turned up!

Good luck Ohio Power!  I don't mean to preach but you've worked hard to get where you are and I'd really like to see you make a good go of it.

Bill

[NukeLDO]

Kinda late now with your court date only a month away, but better late than never....when you walk into that courtroom and stand before the judge you ought to be able to talk to him/her about the lapse in judgment and what you have done about it.  I've said it before and I'll say it again....From the court's perspective, one of the best things you can have done for yourself is attend AA meetings on your own...before you are court ordered.

[30378wby]

I just completed my first year in a Nuclear Engineering Tech program and am due to start an internship in June. Problem. I have a first offense dui case going to court a week before the intership starts. Any advice on how to handle this or how a conviction would effect my employment status with the nuclear plant would be appreciated. Thanks.

First offense is a misdemeanor and should not impact employment at all, except with regards to integrity or trustworthiness but does not automatically exclude you from nuclear power.  Speaking hypothetically get the best lawyer around and pay him whatever he asks and do not argue.  He really is worth every penny that you give him when you and he are in front of the judge and the judge says this or that and he says, nay, nay moosebreath how about this and the judge agrees.  Remember that a felony is disqualifying but means you can be sentenced to one year or more and a misdeamenor offense means that you cannot be sentenced to a year or more.  A felony on your record pretty much means dead meat in the nuclear industry unless it can be expunged after a period of time and you make the effort to expunge it.

[dnml70]

I just got arrested for a misdemeanor DUI during the holidays. My case will be pending for this upcoming (Spring 2011) outage season. Will there be any problems getting clearance? Any help would be appreciated.

[Sun Dog]

I just got arrested for a misdemeanor DUI during the holidays. My case will be pending for this upcoming (Spring 2011) outage season. Will there be any problems getting clearance? Any help would be appreciated.

No problem at all.  They embrace diversity.

[Graphic]

Getting a lawyer is always a good thing to do in a DUI case no matter what. Especially with what they cost nowadays!

I work in access so I can give you a little insight but as I tell everyone ---- EVERY utility/site handles it differently. Obviously there is a set procedure but in today's world with so many people out of jobs etc a lot of times they will go above and beyond those standards simply because there isn't a shortage of people that can do the job.

As for being denied or not denied that's really a tough one to give a concrete answer. Did you do any type of rehab yet? That's the first thing the psych will want to know when he interviews you is what are you doing to "correct" the issue. So I believe if you have already taken it upon yourself to enter substance abuse classes then you will have a great advantage.

If you get convicted then you will most likely get probation or have to enter some type of rehab etc ... even if you plead down a lot of times it is contingent upon completing rehab or drug court etc. People call it different things in different areas of the country but I think you get the gist of what I'm saying.

Getting it reduced or dismissed is better than having a DUI on your record. Plenty of big wigs etc have DUI's on their records so that won't necessarily get you denied later on down the road but since it is recent and is still pending that is what will hold you back the most. It hasn't really been "resolved". I work with 8-10 different psychs at least and I can tell you most of them will deny you for substance abuse issues within the past year and no proof of any type of substance abuse treatment classes etc... and if they didn't deny you whoever is over access at that plant more than likely would. You would probably be referred to the MRO as well and they would more than likely not recommend you until you complete the classes as well.

Maybe I stressed the classes a little but that will help you more than anything.  

If you get convicted of the dui my suggestion is to wait on the internship for a short while. I know that's hard to do but time heals all wounds in essence. The reason I say to wait is if you go through the process and end up getting DENIED then you will be denied for at least a year and have to wait and then when you try to gain access again it will show up that you were denied previously. Whereas if you were convicted and wait for a few months complete your rehab and show that you have taken steps to get better it will look way more favorable and you won't have that "DENIAL" status hanging over your head. That is just my honest opinion with my experience in access and I've been here for 2+ years now. I'm not saying don't go for it cause it's not something that will hinder you FOREVER but I just feel that right now with your status up in the air you wouldn't have the easiest path in gaining access.

Find a certified substance abuse counselor and get into the classes ASAP is also another suggestion. If you can get it dismissed then obviously that's better but we don't know the whole story so we can't speculate.

Goodluck

[Graphic]

Didn't realize how long ago this post was from 

Oh well it helped someone else out who PM'ed me ! I didn't have to retype everything.