What’s Next? Procedure After DUI Arrest
Lights, sirens, a voice over a loudspeaker…these
are all the first things that you may
have seen/heard when you were being
pulled over or contacted by a police
officer/sheriff’s deputy before you
were arrested for a suspected DUI.
You were probably thinking to yourself
“What did I do? What, if anything,
have I had to drink? Are there any
drugs in my system? What will I say?”
Then, it all goes so quickly…the officer’s
questions, the field sobriety tests,
the breath or blood test, spending
time locked up, paperwork, court dates,
etc… Going through a DUI investigation
can be very scary, especially if it
is your first offense.
At WILL & WILL, LLP, our skilled
DUI lawyers, made up of former prosecutors
and experienced DUI attorneys are here
to share their knowledge, explain the
process that lies ahead, and answer
all of your questions. The following
is some basic information to help get
you started on understanding what the
DMV’s interests are with regard to
your license, what will happen in the
court system and any effect this may
have on your criminal record, and how
to choose the right DUI attorney to
represent your interests.
Your Driver’s License
After you were stopped and/or contacted
by a law enforcement official, went
through an investigation, and were
arrested for suspected DUI, your driver’s
license has generally been taken away
(except in a few specific cases, such
as out-of-state licenses) and a pink
slip entitled "Suspension Order
and Temporary License" allowing
you to drive for 30 days was given
to you. The pink temporary license
is riddled with information and fine
print. Something many people fail
to notice on this piece of paper is
the fact that, in addition to being
your temporary driver’s license, it
also serves as a notice that unless
an APS (Administrative Per Se) hearing
is reserved through your local diver’s
safety office within ten (10) days
of the date of arrest, your license
will automatically be suspended.
The purpose of scheduling an APS hearing
through the local driver’s safety office
branch of the DMV is to put them on
notice that your lawyer will present
an argument that you were not driving
while under the influence, and attempt
to have your license fully reinstated.
As previously mentioned, there is a
limited time within which the APS hearing
must be scheduled. You (or your
lawyer) has ten (10) days from the
date of the arrest to contact the DMV’s
local driver’s safety office to request
an APS hearing and a continued stay
on your license (thereby extending
your temporary driver’s status until
the outcome of the hearing is decided).
Once this is done, the license suspension
is automatically postponed pending
the outcome of the APS hearing. You
will receive a notice in the mail telling
you what date your temporary driving
privileges have been extended to. Generally,
however, the APS hearing will take
place, and a decision will be rendered
prior to the expiration date provided
to you. You also have a right to elect
either an in-person or telephonic hearing.
At WILL & WILL, LLP, our DUI attorneys
feel it is important to demonstrate
the seriousness of maintaining driving
privileges to our clients and to try
and individualize each and every one
of our clients to the hearing officer
that will ultimately decide the fate
of their license status. Thus, our
DUI attorneys schedule live hearings
for our clients.
At the APS hearing, the following are
the three main issues discussed:
- Did you violate a section of the California Vehicle Code or was there some other probable cause for an officer to stop/contact you?;
- Did the officer observe enough objective symptoms of being under the influence of an alcoholic beverage to effectuate a lawful arrest?; and
- Was your BAC at the time of driving .08 or greater?
The DUI attorneys at WILL & WILL, LLP scrutinize everything the arresting officer puts in his/her report. Our DUI lawyers will find as many defenses as possible to present on your behalf. We are looking for arguments to prove that at least one, if not all three, of the above issues at debate do not apply in your case. In order for the DMV hearing officer to uphold a suspension of your license, he/she must find that each and every one of the above three issues applies to your case. If the skilled DUI attorneys at WILL & WILL, LLP are successful in disputing any of the three issues, your license will be fully reinstated.
The Court Process and
its Effect on Your Criminal Record
Once you are released from custody,
you are provided with a date to appear
in court. You will find this date
either at or near the bottom of the
citation that was given to you, or,
if you signed a promise to appear form,
it will be noted on that document. This
is your arraignment date. Even
though the paper you are given generally
says “on or before,” the date written
is usually the date your arraignment
will take place. The only time this
is not true is if the D.A. has not
filed your case by the date given.
If that happens, your DUI lawyers at
WILL & WILL, LLP will check the
status of the filing on a daily basis
until a new date is assigned.
Arraignment
At the arraignment, your DUI defense
attorney from WILL & WILL, LLP
(1) is given a copy of the complaint
against you; (2) obtains the initial
discovery packet which normally consists
of a police report, any breath/blood
test results report, and a copy of
your driving record; (3) enters a plea
of "not guilty" on your behalf;
and (4) will set a pre-trial date to
begin negotiating your case with the
District Attorney’s office (this normally
occurs 2-4 weeks later).
Generally speaking, if you have been charged with a misdemeanor DUI and have retained the experienced DUI defense lawyers at WILL & WILL, LLP to represent you, you will not need to appear in court at the arraignment, or at any of the pretrial proceedings(see below). In certain cases, your expert DUI lawyer from WILL & WILL, LLP can appear on your behalf. This does not negatively affect your case in any way. Nor does it necessarily help you to attend proceedings. The arraignment is considered procedural in nature and at the pre-trials, the deputy district attorneys will deal directly with your experienced WILL & WILL, LLP DUI attorney, not with you. If, however, you have been charged with a felony DUI, the courts require you to be present at each and every court hearing, including the arraignment. There are also some exceptions to the aforementioned rule in certain misdemeanor cases and your knowledgeable DUI defense attorney from WILL & WILL, LLP can explain when your appearance is required and/or suggested and why.
Pre-Trials
Pre-trial conferences are meetings
that occur between your WILL & WILL,
LLP DUI defense attorney and a deputy
district attorney. These conferences
sometimes take place in a private room,
not necessarily inside the actual courtroom
which will hear your case. The
pre-trial conferences are an opportunity
for your experienced and knowledgeable
WILL & WILL, LLP DUI defense attorney
to negotiate and/or discuss your case
with a deputy district attorney. While
in some cases, a good deal may be worked
out at your first pre-trial, some cases
can take 2, 3 or even 4 pre-trials
before our DUI defense attorneys either
get the deal they were looking for,
or know they have hit a dead end.
Once your top notch DUI lawyers at WILL & WILL, LLP have received a copy of the discovery in your case, we review everything provided to us to determine what the best defense is in each individual case. We do not treat every DUI case that we handle the same. On the contrary, our goal is to separate and personalize each of our clients to the D.A.’s we are negotiating with. If further discovery exists, we will make a formal request for a copy of it from the D.A.’s office. Some examples of additional discovery that may be available in your case are:
- A recording of the incident captured on audio/video by the arresting agency
- Photos, if associated with another crime, such as a hit & run
- Maintenance & calibration records if a breath machine was involved
Furthermore, your knowledgeable and experienced WILL & WILL, LLP DUI attorney may decide that further investigation needs to be done, depending on the circumstances surrounding your case. For example, if you are also being charged with hit & run, along with the DUI, there may have been witnesses to the alleged hit & run who initially reported the incident. We may want to have our experienced DUI investigator re-interview that witness and/or take new/additional photos of the location. We also might want to consider have an accident reconstructionist review the discovery to see if there are any defenses to the accused conduct. Or, if your WILL & WILL, LLP DUI attorney feels that a blood result might be improper based on your drinking pattern or medications you were taking at the time he/she can request a sample of the blood that was drawn from you in order to provide it to an independent criminologist for re-testing. These are all things we accomplish through pre-trial meetings with the D.A.
Ultimately, depending on the facts
in each individual case, there may
be several pre-trials before the DUI
case against you is resolved or brought
to trial. This process can usually
take anywhere from two to several months.
It is during this period that your
WILL & WILL, LLP DUI attorney
will work on putting together the best
defense for your case.
At the pre-trial conferences, your
WILL & WILL, LLP DUI lawyer will
discuss the mitigating factors of your
case that weigh in your favor in an
attempt to reach an agreeable result
either with the D.A. or with the judge. Furthermore,
if more discovery exists that we are
not in possession of, we will make
a request for any and all outstanding
discovery (as mentioned above). Sometimes,
motions will be argued in front of
the court during a pretrial hearing. For
example, your WILL & WILL, LLP
DUI defense lawyer might have felt
that the probable cause to stop/contact
you was lacking and may bring a motion
to suppress all evidence under Penal
Code section 1538.5, based on that
lack of probable cause to have stopped/contacted
you in the first place. If your
WILL & WILL, LLP DUI lawyer reaches
a settlement that everyone is happy
with, we can enter your plea to the
court at the next pretrial, either
with you being present, or through
a notarized plea that would not require
your attendance. In a misdemeanor
DUI case, if a plea agreement is reached,
we can either (1) bring you to court
to enter the plea, or (2) have you
sign the relevant documents, get them
properly notarized, and have your WILL & WILL,
LLP DUI attorney bring the documents
to court to enter a plea on your behalf.
If you were charged with Misdemeanor DUI, your presence is not required at these hearings. Your WILL & WILL, LLP DUI lawyer will appear on your behalf. Often, when our clients elect to appear, they end up sitting in the courtroom and waiting for us to do our work for anything from ½ an hour to several hours. This can be very frustrating when you do not know the system well. The deputy district attorneys are usually not willing to speak with you but would rather discuss your case directly with your WILL & WILL, LLP DUI defense attorney. A WILL & WILL, LLP DUI lawyer will always call you after a pre-trial conference has been had in your case and fully discuss what took place so you are fully informed of what is happening each step of the way. If you have been charged with Felony DUI, your presence is required by the court at all hearing dates, including pre-trials.
