Below I will give a general outline of what happens after you arrested for a DUI. If you were given a ticket to appear at a later date that is considered an arrest and citation, just because you were not handcuffed and put in a patrol car does not mean you were not arrested.
You should seek legal advice right away. I have been practicing criminal defense for more than 13 years and I have tied DUI cases as both a deputy district attorneya and defense counsel. And have more than 50 trials under my belt and more than 5 first degree murder trials.
And have handled many hundreds of DUI cases.
First, when looking at a DUI case if you hire an attorney if in Fresno County you will not have to go to court. Your Attorney can appear for you on a 977 basis.
At the Arraignment and sometimes before I will get your discovery, meaning police reports etc.
I will make an informal request for
Body cam
Dash cam or mvers
review reports for possible motions to suppress or ingersoll motions, an Ingersoll motion is the motion to to suppress evidence after an illegal DUI checkpoint
ask for callibration logs
and dispatch logs
I will do a thourough review of your legal rights and give you my opinion as to the merits of your case and we can make a decision as to whether or not you should go to trial.
WHAT IS A MOTION TO SUPPRESS
a motion to suppress is a motion to suppress evidence illegally obtained such as evidence gathered after an illegal traffic stop. Every case is different; however, I have won motions to suppress in both DUI cases and other cases. One case saved my client from spending many decades behind bars.
WHAT ARE CALIBRATION LOGS
Calibration logs are the logs police must keep on file to make sure the machines that measure blood alcohol are properly calibrated. This ensures the machine is properly read your breath alcohol. Calibration logs sometimes show the operator which can be important if an officer is constantly pulling people over and claiming the objecitive symptoms of intoxication, yet the calibration logs show he is consistantly having low bac readings when he logs in, this could cast doubt on his judgement and help your case.
WHAT ARE DISPATCH LOGS
Dispatch logs are the communications between the officer and the dispatcher these communications show what time the call was called in and what time the officer arrived at the scene and what time the arrest was made and other things which are important to show the timeline, of events and make sure that things happened the way the officer claimed that they happened.
Only after reviewing all the evidence will a good competent Attorney give you his opinion on what your next steps should be.
1. File appropriate motions
2. set the case for trial.
In DUI cases I think even more than other cases the case is about the proper paperwork and procedure by the officer. In other words did the officer make a bunch of mistakes in his paperwork and procedure such that the entire case should be thrown out?
Only after looking at all the evidence can this be ascertained. And, trial in DUI cases can be technical and more complicated than they may first appear.
You must also take into consideration how much risk and expense there is to trial. If you are truly innocent of all charges than you cannot plead guilty. And regardless of the risk you should definitely consider your trial options again after we examine all of the evidence.
If you have any questions do not hesitate to call today.
