What is the Court Procedure After I am Arrested for a DUI in San Diego?
You court date and the proceedings after you get a DUI are often confusing. Often, people think that their first court date is the trial as if they are on “Law and Order” when nothing could be further fromt he truth. Separating the DMV admin per se rules requiring that you successfully request a DMV hearing to protect your driving privileges have absolutely nothing to do with the court proceedings. But setting aside the DMV administrative hearings, what is a general description of what happens after you are arrested for a DUI. San Diego Defenders put together a video to briefly explain what happens in under 10 minutes.
The first thing that you should know is that hiring private defense counsel, i.e. San Diego Defenders is affordable and they do offer payment plan directly with the office. Secondly, Dan Smith and Jon Pettis of San Diego Defenders can make your court appearances without you being present. That is good news for many nervous people that do NOT want to go to the misdemeanor court proceedings. Unless Jon or Dan tell you that you need to be there, you can continue working, going to school and taking care of your family. What a relief!
However, if you go it alone with the Public Defender, you may find yourself in court and faced with a decision to plead Guilty or Not Guilty. The primary problem, in our opinion, is that you have very little information in the form of reports and less information regarding the potential issues that may be to your benefit. Pleading guilty to a DUI now carries more consequences than ever before. You may be passed up in the competitive job market for the person who does not have a DUI on his or her record. If you are applying for a license or filling out an application, you may have to disclose your conviction and the circumstances “please explain” in one or two lines! If you are applying for a visa, green card, or even travel to Canada, you may be refused entry or a Sentri pass by your DUI conviction. Today, there is more reason than ever to fight for your constitutional right of the presumption of innocence. In this Video, San Diego Defenders explains that it is more important than ever to challenge the accuracy of the breathalizer or blood test BAC that may mean a wet reckless or dry reckless instead of being pressured by the public defender to “take a deal” simply for their convenience.
DUI checkpoints have rules that must be followed. The Real gamechanger is the emergence of VIDEO evidence in the form of body cams or the MVARs (Mobile Video Audio Recording) device which now allows DUI defense lawyers to check the accuracy of the police reports against the visual evidence recorded. Did you really sway and was your speech really slurred as the officer claims in the report. It used to be that there was not way to challenge an absolutely awful description of your condition when you were just fine. Things have changed. But if you plead guilty at the first court date, you will never know.
The procedures that allow your San Diego DUI lawyer, like Jo Pettis, to challenge the constitutionality of the stop and arrest is never explained to you if you are in a hurry to plead guilty when there may be a question as to whether the officer or a complaining witness actually saw you driving! Driving is an element of the DUI VC 23152 offense. It is also a necessary element for the DMV to summarily suspend your drivers license. So, San Diego Defenders may bring a legal motion to dismiss the DUI case against you based upon your arrest without a warrant. Sometimes bringing such a legal motion puts the prosecutor on notice that you are going to fight your case. Maybe the DA will re-think the offer made by the DUI lawyer before the case is set for trial. And although most people do not want to go to trial, it is the true litigators, like Dan Smith and Jon Pettis at San Diego Defenders that the prosecutors think twice about going to trial against. Simply put, San Diego Defenders has earned the reputation as the most successful DUI trial team in San Diego. When we tell that District Attorney or City Attorney what we are willing to accept as plea negotiation for a lesser charge, many times, the offer or demand made by San Diego Defenders will be accepted. Our goal is to get your life back to normal as soon as is possible! Our goal is to do all we can to keep a DUI from affecting you for the rest of your life and your future career plans. Call us for a free consultation at (619) 258-8888.
