- Board Certified Criminal Trial Attorney
- Former Assistant Public Defender
- Licensed to Conduct Breath Alcohol Testing
- Open 24 Hours
Fort Pierce DUI Attorney Robert Malove Trained on the Machine That Produced Your Number
The central piece of evidence in most DUI files is a number printed by a breath machine, and Robert Malove learned that machine from the operator's side. He completed the Metro-Dade Police Academy course in field sobriety testing and earned Florida Department of Law Enforcement certification to administer breath tests on the Intoxilyzer, the training built for the officers who make the arrests. The Florida Bar has certified him as a criminal trial specialist, a distinction held by fewer than 400 of the state's more than 100,000 active members.
- Board Certified Criminal Trial Attorney, The Florida Bar
- FDLE certification in Intoxilyzer breath testing
- Metro-Dade Police Academy field sobriety testing course
- Master of Forensic Science, The George Washington University
- Founding member, National College for DUI Defense
- Former assistant public defender and DUI training attorney
Board Certified criminal trial attorney Robert Malove of The Law Offices of Robert David Malove has held a Florida Department of Law Enforcement breath-test certification that few Florida DUI defense lawyers have ever carried, and he applies that training to the breath number in every Fort Pierce case the firm takes.
Robert's advice for anyone comparing lawyers is to ask about background, education, and experience, because the answer is as individual as the attorney giving it. If you interview more than one of the Fort Pierce DUI lawyers taking calls this week, put one question to each of them: whether they have ever been certified on the machine that produced the number in your file.
The Defense Starts With the Machine's Own Paperwork
A breath result over the legal limit is where many people assume their case ends. It is where the firm's work begins, and the first requests go out for records, not for a plea form. Robert describes the sequence for a client who has already blown over the limit:
"First thing we do is we want to find out if the breath testing equipment was properly calibrated, and met all of the ... department's standards, as it has been recently serviced, was taken offline ... Are there arguments to be made to challenge the reliability of the specimen?" Robert Malove, recorded interview
That is the working playbook in every file: the Intoxilyzer's calibration records, the department standards the instrument is required to meet, its service history, any period it spent offline, and the reliability of the specimen itself. The stop and arrest footage gets read against the number too, because what a camera shows about a person sometimes carries more weight than what a machine printed about them an hour later.
DUI defense in Fort Pierce runs on the same records that exist in Florida's biggest counties. The machine that produced your number kept paperwork, the agency that operates it answers to standards, and the firm requests all of it in a St. Lucie County case exactly as it does everywhere else. What survives that review shapes every conversation that follows, from program eligibility to trial.
The 10-Day Clock After a Fort Pierce DUI Arrest Starts With the Citation
The citation issued at arrest works as a temporary driving permit for 10 days, and by the 10th day paperwork must reach the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles: either a demand for a review hearing or a waiver of that hearing in exchange for hardship eligibility. Both 10-day windows come from section 322.2615 of the Florida Statutes.
The stakes on that choice are concrete. Refusing the breath test brings a 12-month administrative suspension with no driving at all for the first 90 days. Testing over the limit brings a 6-month suspension with 30 hard days. For qualifying first-time drivers, waiving the hearing avoids the hard sit-out entirely and opens the hardship application, which covers driving to and from work, necessary on-the-job driving, and educational, religious, and medical purposes, plus maintaining livelihood.
The license case and the criminal case then run separately. The administrative track at the FLHSMV decides only your driving; the criminal track in county court decides guilt and penalty; winning one does not decide the other. On the criminal side, section 316.193 sets the .08 limit and, for a standard first conviction, a fine of $500 to $1,000 with up to 6 months in jail, rising to a 9-month ceiling at .15 or higher or with a minor in the vehicle. A plea also locks in mandatory minimums: an adjudication of guilt that Florida law does not allow to be sealed or expunged, at least 6 months of probation, 50 community service hours, DUI school, 10 days of vehicle immobilization, and the license suspension.
Those permanent consequences are the reason the records get pulled before any plea gets discussed. A decision made on day 9 with the file unread is a decision made blind.
An Honest Read of the File Beats a Promise, in Fort Pierce and Everywhere Else
After the records come back, the conversation turns to what the case is worth: resolve it, pursue a program, or litigate. That call depends on the strength of the surviving evidence and on where the case sits, because Florida's courtrooms do not run identically. Robert's observation from four decades of DUI work is that "different parts of the state are more rural, and the judges are ... more ... heavy-handed" in how they handle these cases.
That is a statement about variance across Florida, not a forecast for any courtroom in Fort Pierce. Nobody can tell you in advance what a particular judge will do, and Robert has tried cases he expected to win and watched the verdict go the other way. That experience is exactly why the firm does not sell predictions. No result in litigation can be guaranteed, and the advice to fight or resolve is built from the file, the records, and the local practice, in that order.
Board Certified criminal trial attorney Robert Malove of The Law Offices of Robert David Malove pulls the calibration records, the service history, and the video in a St. Lucie County DUI file before he advises anyone whether to fight, resolve, or wait.
The Firm's Fort Pierce Office Is on Indian River Drive, Open 24 Hours
130 S Indian River Dr, Ste 202, Ofc 245
Fort Pierce, FL 34950
Open 24 Hours
(954) 861-0384The office sits in downtown Fort Pierce, minutes from the St. Lucie County Courthouse at 218 S 2nd St. If you searched for a DUI lawyer near me from anywhere on the Treasure Coast, this is the local address, and the same round-the-clock answering that serves the firm's largest offices serves this one.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a DUI lawyer in Fort Pierce cost?
No single honest number fits every case, because the fee follows the work in the file. A refusal, a crash, a prior conviction, or a contested license hearing each adds work, and a St. Lucie County DUI lawyer has to read the file before quoting it. Robert frames the other half of the math for clients this way: a conviction raises your insurance sharply, if a carrier will keep you at all, and that cost runs for years. Paying for a defense is often the smaller number over time.
Does St. Lucie County have a DUI diversion program?
Many Florida counties run first-offender DUI diversion programs, and none of them are required to. As Robert explains, "each jurisdiction is in control of their own program ... it's not a statewide requirement ... They don't have to offer a diversion program if they don't want to. In some places in the state, they don't." Whether a program is open to you in St. Lucie County, and on what terms, is a question the firm puts directly to the state attorney's office handling your case. Ask about your county's program before making any court decision that could close the door on it.
Where are St. Lucie County DUI cases heard?
Misdemeanor DUI cases from Fort Pierce are heard at the St. Lucie County Courthouse, 218 S 2nd St in downtown Fort Pierce. The court sits inside Florida's Nineteenth Judicial Circuit, which covers St. Lucie, Martin, Indian River, and Okeechobee counties. The firm's Fort Pierce office on Indian River Drive is minutes from the courthouse.
Does it matter which judge hears a DUI in Fort Pierce?
Courtrooms are run by people, and practices differ from circuit to circuit and judge to judge across Florida. Robert has watched enough of that variance in four decades of DUI defense to refuse to predict any courtroom, including the ones in Fort Pierce. What the variance changes is not the outcome but the preparation: the decision to litigate or resolve gets made after the records are read and the local practice is weighed, never on a promise.
What happens in the first days after a DUI arrest in Fort Pierce?
The paperwork that came home from the jail is the place to begin. The traffic citation is also the notice of license suspension, and it works as a driving permit for only 10 days. Keep it, note every date printed on the arrest documents, and get the file in front of a lawyer while the 10-day clock is still running. The Fort Pierce office answers 24 hours at (954) 861-0384.
Talk to a Fort Pierce DUI Lawyer Before Your 10 Days Run Out
Robert Malove is a Board Certified criminal trial attorney, one of fewer than 400 in the state out of more than 100,000 active members of the Florida Bar. The distinction requires at least 25 contested cases and a minimum of 20 jury trials every 5 years.
If you are under investigation, have been arrested for DUI, are facing a second charge, or have a conviction on your record and want an expert criminal defense attorney on your side, fill out this form or call us now at (954) 861-0384.
The Law Offices of Robert David Malove serves clients across Florida, with DUI defense teams in nine offices: Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Orlando, West Palm Beach, Fort Myers, Fort Pierce, Gainesville, Key West, and Sarasota.