Nashville DUI Lawyer

You Need an Attorney to Fight Your Impaired Driving Charge

If you’re facing charges for DUI, DWI or BUI in Middle Tennessee, contact Nathan Cate to discuss your case.

Being arrested for Driving Under the Influence in Tennessee can affect your job, insurance rates, driving privileges, and even your liberty. The fines and penalties become more severe if this is not your first DUI, meaning you are a Subsequent DUI Offender. If you or a family member has been charged with a DUI/Impaired or Drugged Driving, you need an experienced Tennessee DUI attorney to represent you.

I understand this can be an uncertain time and that you may be nervous about what happens next. I help clients facing DUI charges. Let me put my experience to work for you.

I will develop a strategy to defend you

I have a thorough knowledge of the Tennessee DUI statute, police guidelines and general orders, and police procedures. All of which will assist me in developing a winning strategy for your case. When you retain my services, I begin an exhaustive investigation into the circumstances surrounding your case. I break down every element of the charge and investigate each element fully and completely. In this process, I look for errors committed by law enforcement, violations of your constitutional rights, and I use these issues to try to suppress the evidence that the State has against you.

I believe your best defense happens before I ever step into the courtroom

Careful preparation is one of the hallmarks my DUI defense. Every DUI case has the potential to go to trial. Knowing this, I prepare for each case as if it were going to trial. I will, however, use my negotiating skills to try to work out a deal with the State in order to reach your best possible outcome. Being fully prepared for trial allows me to negotiate from the strongest possible position, meaning I negotiate based on my terms, not the State’s.

If you are facing criminal charges in Tennessee, contact me now. I can help.

Tennessee DUI Penalties at a Glance

Tennessee has some of the strictest DUI laws in the country. Every DUI conviction carries mandatory minimum jail time under Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-10-402, and the penalties climb fast with each prior offense.

  • 1st offense: 48 hours to 11 months 29 days jail (7 days mandatory if BAC ≥ .20), up to $1,500 fine, 1-year license revocation, mandatory DUI school.
  • 2nd offense: 45 days to 11 months 29 days jail, $600–$3,500 fine, 2-year license revocation, vehicle seizure possible.
  • 3rd offense: 120 days to 11 months 29 days jail, $1,100–$10,000 fine, 6–10 year license revocation.
  • 4th offense or more: Class E felony. Minimum 1 year TDOC custody, $3,000–$15,000 fine, 8-year license revocation.
  • Vehicular assault / vehicular homicide by intoxication: Class B or Class A felony under Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 39-13-106 and 39-13-213. Decades in prison.

Those are the statutory floors. An experienced Nashville DUI attorney may be able to fight the charge outright, suppress the evidence, or negotiate below the mandatory minimums if the prosecution’s case has weaknesses.

What to Do Right After a DUI Arrest in Nashville

  1. Do not talk to the detective. Invoke your right to remain silent and ask for a lawyer. Everything you say is on body-cam and will be used at trial.
  2. Preserve everything. Save receipts, texts, ride-share history, and witness names. The State’s case is built on minutes you may not remember — yours should be built on evidence you capture now.
  3. Act fast on your license. If you refused the breath or blood test, Tennessee’s implied-consent law triggers an automatic license revocation. The window to challenge it is short.
  4. Hire a criminal defense lawyer, not a general practitioner. DUI defense is technical — the breath machines, the blood labs, the field sobriety protocols. Use a lawyer who handles DUI cases every week.

How I Defend Tennessee DUI Cases

I prepare every DUI case as if we are going to trial. That is the only way to negotiate from a position of strength when the district attorney decides whether to offer a reduction.

The Traffic Stop

Every Tennessee DUI case starts with a traffic stop. Did the officer have reasonable suspicion to pull you over? I pull the dashcam and body-cam footage and compare the officer’s report to what the video actually shows. If the stop was not legal, everything that followed — the roadside tests, the arrest, the breath test — can be suppressed.

Field Sobriety Tests

The three standardized field sobriety tests (HGN, walk-and-turn, one-leg-stand) are not as reliable as officers claim in court. The NHTSA manual requires specific conditions — level surface, proper footwear, medical disclosures — that almost never exist on the shoulder of I-40 at 2 a.m. I look for every deviation from protocol.

Breath and Blood Testing

Tennessee uses the Intoximeter EC/IR II for evidentiary breath testing. It is a machine, not a lab technician, and it makes errors. I request the maintenance logs, calibration records, and the officer’s certification. For blood cases I subpoena the TBI lab chain-of-custody and look for contamination, fermentation artifacts, or mislabeled vials.

DUI-Related Charges I Handle

The Nashville DUI Court Process

If you were arrested in Davidson County, your case starts in General Sessions Court at the A.A. Birch Building. Most DUI cases pass through these stages:

  1. Booking & release. You are held at Metro’s Downtown Detention Center until bond is posted.
  2. Arraignment. First court date in General Sessions — you enter a not-guilty plea and the case is continued for investigation.
  3. Discovery & motions. I subpoena all evidence — video, breath records, lab data — and file suppression motions if the evidence was unlawfully obtained.
  4. Negotiation. Where weaknesses exist, I negotiate with the DA to amend, reduce, or dismiss the charge.
  5. Preliminary hearing or grand jury. If not resolved, the case either goes to a prelim or is bound over to Criminal Court.
  6. Trial. You have the right to a jury trial. I prepare every DUI case for that possibility.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a Tennessee DUI be reduced to reckless driving?

Yes, but only in a minority of cases and only when the State’s proof has real problems. Tennessee prohibits judicial diversion of a DUI, so pleading down is not automatic — it requires leverage. That is why fighting the charge from day one matters.

How long does a DUI stay on my record in Tennessee?

Forever. Tennessee does not allow expungement of DUI convictions. That permanence is the single biggest reason to fight the charge now rather than plead out to avoid the stress.

Do I have to give a breath sample if I’m stopped?

Tennessee’s implied-consent law says refusing a post-arrest breath or blood test results in a 1-year license revocation — and officers can often obtain a warrant for a forced blood draw anyway. That roadside decision is a big one. If you are reading this after a refusal, call me — there are deadlines.

What’s the difference between DUI and DUI by drugs?

Tennessee’s DUI statute covers impairment by alcohol, controlled substances, prescription medication, or any combination. DUI-by-drugs cases do not depend on a BAC number — the State has to prove impairment through other evidence, which opens a different set of defense arguments.

Should I just plead guilty and get it over with?

No. A Tennessee DUI conviction never goes away, and the collateral consequences (job, insurance, immigration status, CDL) often cost more than the case itself. Even when a conviction looks inevitable, a serious defense can reduce the jail time, preserve limited driving privileges, and keep aggravating language off the judgment.

Call Nathan Cate — Free DUI Case Review

DUI cases move fast. The best evidence — video, witnesses, lab protocols — starts disappearing within days. If you or a family member has been charged with DUI anywhere in Middle Tennessee, call or text me directly at (615) 664-8083. I answer the phone, and the initial consultation is free.

N. Cate Law
222 2nd Avenue North, Suite 220
Nashville, TN 37201
(615) 664-8083

For the complete guide to defending a Tennessee criminal case in Davidson County and the surrounding counties, see our Nashville Criminal Defense Attorney overview — the full procedural map from arrest through trial, with every practice area linked.

If your case is in Williamson County (Franklin, Brentwood, Spring Hill), see our county-specific guide: Williamson County Criminal Defense Attorney.

If your case is in Rutherford County (Murfreesboro, Smyrna, La Vergne) or you’re an MTSU student, see our county-specific guide: Rutherford County Criminal Defense Attorney.

If your case is in Sumner County (Gallatin, Hendersonville, Portland) or involves a lake DUI/BUI on Old Hickory Lake, see our county-specific guide: Sumner County Criminal Defense Attorney.

If your case is in Wilson County (Lebanon, Mt. Juliet, Watertown), see our county-specific guide: Wilson County Criminal Defense Attorney.

Related Reading on Tennessee DUI