DUI and DWI Part 3 Pre Trial Motions, DUI DWI Trials, and How it Works

DUI and DWI Part 3 - Pre-Trial Motions, DUI-DWI Trials, and How it Works

BASIC FRAMEWORK OF A DUI OR DWI CASE: Pre-Trial Motions and Trial

Most DUI or DWI cases never make it to this step because the accused takes a plea bargain, admitting guilt in exchange for a lesser offense.

But if a plea bargain cannot be reached, ultimately the case will go to trial. The trial phase of a criminal case is usually what most people are familiar with from watching movies or TV. In the criminal courts a jury of your peers will evaluate the evidence against you and decide whether or not to convict you of the crime charged based on whether or not they are convinced that you are guilty, "beyond a reasonable doubt."

If your DUI or DWI case does make it to trial, it will probably follow a sequence of seven steps which include pre-trial motions, selecting jury members, opening statements, witness testimony and cross-examination, closing arguments, jury instruction and finally, jury deliberation and verdict.

PRE-TRIAL MOTIONS

These motions are usually arguments made by counsel for one side or the other requesting that the court restrict their opponent from doing something at trial. Pre-Trial motions include requests to exclude certain evidence, to prevent the use of certain witnesses, or to dismiss the case completely. Your attorney could raise arguments that the breathalyzer test you took was flawed, or that the police officer that arrested you searched you illegally or questioned you without advising you of your rights under Miranda. If the police acted inappropriately or unlawfully in anyway, this is the time to use their mistakes against them 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 to achieve a fair cross section of the local population. Therefore, if 40% of the population is Latino, then approximately 40% of the jury pool should be Latino as well. 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% of the actual jury members were Latino, only that they were represented fairly in the wider jury pool.

Once the jury pool is assembled, the potential jurors are called before the judge, the prosecution and the defense attorney, who each question them in order to determine whether or not they are fit for trial. The ultimate goal of this is to make sure that the juror will not be biased towards one side or the other. For example, if the potential juror had lost a child in an accident involving a drunk driver, your attorney would move to dismiss them from the panel, since they would be unfairly biased against you.

Opening Statements

Once the jury is selected, the DUI / DWI trial can begin. Opening statements is the time when the attorneys are first allowed to address the jurors about your case.

Witness Testimony and Cross-Examination

This is the point when both sides bring out witnesses to speak about the incident in front of the judge and jury. If the witness is presented by one side, the other side is usually allowed to "cross-examine" them should they so choose. Cross-examination just means that 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 by the defense.

Closing Arguments

This is where your lawyer and 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 to the jury. They are usually an explanation of any applicable law that the jury will need to know to evaluate the facts and make a decision. In a DUI or DWI case the judge will probably read the relevant state statutes to the jury and explain any terms that are not easily understood by laymen (aka non-lawyers).

Jury Deliberation and Verdict

This is the final part of the DUI / DWI trial. The jury will be excused to a private area where they will discuss your case amongst themselves without input from either side or from the judge. Once they have come to a decision, they, the judge and the parties will return to the court room where they will read their verdict aloud to the court.

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