DWI and DUI Defense Lawyer and Attorney

by William & Mary Law Library

BASIC FRAMEWORK Of an Dui OR Dwi CASE: Pre-Trial Motions and Trial

Most Dui or Dwi cases never arrive at this because the accused needs a plea bargain, admitting guilt in exchange for a smaller offense.

But if the plea bargain can not be reached, ultimately the truth goes to trial. The trial phase of an criminal case is normally what many people are familiar with from watching movies or TV. Inside criminal courts a jury of one’s peers will measure the evidence against you together with decide whether or not to convict you in the crime charged based on whether or not they believe that you are guilty, “beyond a good doubt.”

If your Dui or Dwi case does get to trial, it’s going to probably have a sequence of seven steps such as pre-trial motions, selecting jury members, opening statements, witness testimony and cross-examination, closing arguments, jury instruction lastly, jury deliberation and verdict.

PRE-TRIAL MOTIONS

These motions are usually arguments made by counsel for just one side or other requesting the court restrict their opponent from doing something at trial. Pre-Trial motions include requests to exclude certain evidence, to stop the use of certain witnesses, or to dismiss the truth completely. Your attorney could raise arguments that this breathalyzer test you took was flawed, or the police that arrested you searched you illegally or questioned you without advising you of your respective rights under Miranda. If your police acted inappropriately or unlawfully in anyway, it is now time to work with their mistakes against these to exclude government evidence and/or witnesses.

DUI / Dwi TRIAL

Jury Selection

On your trial date, a “jury pool” is assembled from various lists of local residents; these lists include voter registrations, DMV records and utility billing lists. The goal in creating the jury pool is always to achieve a fair cross portion of the local population. Therefore, if 40% of the inhabitants are Latino, then approximately 40% of the jury pool needs to be Latino also. However, the constitution only requires that the jury pool be representative, not the jury itself. So in the scenario above, it would not matter that only 30% with the actual jury members were Latino, will these were represented fairly inside wider jury pool.

Once the jury pool is assembled, the possible jurors are known as ahead of the judge, the prosecution and also the defense attorney, who each inquire further as a way to determine whether or otherwise they’re fit for trial. The best goal of the would be to make sure that the juror won’t be biased towards either side or perhaps the other. By way of example, if the potential juror had lost a young child in the accident involving a drunk driver, your attorney would move to dismiss them from the panel, because they could be unfairly biased against you.

Opening Statements

Once the jury is selected, the Dui / Dwi trial can begin. Opening statements is the time if the attorneys are first permitted to address the jurors about your case.

Witness Testimony and Cross-Examination

This is the point when each party bring out witnesses to speak about the incident in front of the judge and jury. If the witness is presented by the whites, sleep issues is often permitted to “cross-examine” them should they so choose. Cross-examination means how the attorney for the opposing party is questioning your witness: the defense cross-examines any witness brought forth by the prosecution; the prosecution cross-examines any witness brought forth with the defense.

Closing Arguments

This is how your lawyer along with the prosecutor each summarize their arguments and attempt to convince the jury that their side should win the case.

Jury Instructions

Jury instructions are issued by the judge towards the jury. They are usually a reason associated with a applicable law how the jury should know to gauge the important points and make a decision. In a Dui or Dwi case the judge will most likely read the relevant state statutes for the jury and explain any terms that are not easily understood by laymen (aka non-lawyers).

Jury Deliberation and Verdict

This may be the final part of the Dui / Dwi trial. The jury is going to be excused to some private area where they will discuss your case amongst themselves without input from both sides or in the judge. If they have started to a decision, they, the judge and the parties will return to the court room where they may read their verdict aloud on the court.

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