The Dui Court Process

By Author: Matthew Nebeker
Total Articles: 15
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In order to be able to successfully navigate your way through the process that is involved with the DUI case you have to have a thorough understanding of the of the laws of the court pertaining to these type of cases. That is why having a DUI defense attorney is so important for anyone who has been arrested for driving under the influence. By having this knowledge of the court system behind you while defending your case helps to reduce your stress levels and allows you to focus on the job at hand. Every court varies a little bit and how they run things depending upon the state, the laws and the judge will be presiding over your case. When you have committed a crime and have been arrested there are several different court dates that you will have to attend. The first time that you stand before the court will be going through what is called an arraignment followed by a pretrial as well as appearances at a motion or a trial.

The first time that you are in court for your arraignment the judge will explain to you the exact charges that have been brought against you by the state. When a DUI is involved you are aware of these ...
... charges prior to entering the courtroom. Often times however you may find that the court has brought additional charges against you that were filed after you had been arrested for the original DUI charge. It is important you are on time to each of these court appearances and is probably wise if you show up a few minutes prior to the time you are scheduled to stand before the judge. When you arrive you will find a printed piece of paper that has the names of each person who is scheduled to appear before the court that day. This is called a docket. Your name along with any other information that you need to know about your appearance including the courtroom number will be on this printout. You could sit down and have a discussion with your DUI defense attorneyif you have already hired one. You will be made aware of your rights during your arraignment via a video or a piece of paper. If these are given to you on a piece of paper you will need to sign that with your name stating that you are fully aware of and understand the rights that have been stated above. At the arraignment the only thing that you are responsible for is letting the judge know that you understand your rights and whether you are pleading guilty or not guilty. If you plead guilty were more likely to have a harsher punishment than if you fight the charges so it is important that you do not plead guilty at this time. If you do not have a lawyer at this time the judge will give you the option of having a public defender assigned to you.

Once the issue of an attorney has been addressed by the judge the status of your release will then be taken into account. If this is your first time in court you will probably be released of your own recognizance. If however you have a criminal record there may be a bail set so that the judge can be sure that you will show up for court again in the future. You will then have a date assigned to you that you need to come back for your pretrial hearing and this is the time to let the judge know if there is anything conflicting with this date and you need another one set. Your next court date will be a pretrial hearing. Here the judge will want to hear from the prosecution and the defense what the status of the case is. At this point in the game you will likely not have any need to say anything or make answers to the judge as you will have an attorney who will be doing so for you. Your attorney will let the judge know if you plan on making a guilty plea, if they want to set a time for motion hearing or go straight to a trial. It is also possible that if your attorney has had insufficient time to build a case to defend you they may ask for a continuance that gives them more time to do so. Your DUI defense attorney will handle all of these proceedings and most likely you will only be asked if you understand what has been said and what is going on. This hearing should also be relatively stress-free for you and will likely end very quickly.

If your DUI defense attorney has asked for a motion hearing that will be the next phase of your case. A motion is illegal argument in writing that states why your attorney believes that any of the evidence that has been presented against you should not be admissible in court and thrown out. The purpose of a motion is to either suppress evidence that will allow you a better chance of winning your case or help to strengthen your case that can help to force the prosecution to offer you a plea that you may actually want to accept. A motion hearing takes place in a courtroom and in front of a judge. Sometimes there are witnesses involved for both the defense and the prosecution and both sides will state their cases to the judge and allow him to make rulings on the issues that have been set forth. Your next set of court dates will be for the trial itself. At this stage the prosecution has the most responsibility as they have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt every piece of evidence that they have brought forward against you. It all boils down in the end to one of two outcomes: you either win or you lose.

Matthew L. Nebeker, known as Mr. DUI is a top-rated Salt Lake City DUI Lawyer who concentrates on Drunk Driving, DUI & DLD Defense. Matt dedicates himself and his law practice to aggressively defending those accused of driving under the influence. You can contact us at tel. no. (801) 988-9617 or visit us at http://www.mrduilaws.com/mr-dui-limousine/