When it comes to a DUI, the first thing you want to do is get in front of an attorney. Sit down with them and talk to them about your case, the circumstances of your pull over and arrest. Sometimes people aren't even pulled over. They're actually outside their car when the police come along, either because there was an accident, a flat tire. There can be various reasons why the person isn't pulled over, but that can also be a defense for a DUI case.
So, you want to have that first meeting, and when I have my first meeting with perspective clients, I try to get all of the facts and details that are specific to their case so that when we leave the meeting, we can leave with a game plan. They're going to know exactly what they need to do in their DUI case in Los Angeles and they're also going to have an idea of what I'm going to do to help them.
Receipt of Paperwork at the Arraignment
After the initial meeting, probably the next meeting will be after all of the paperwork related to the case has been obtained at the arraignment and also your attorney has had a discussion with the prosecutor to see what they position is. Once I speak to the prosecutors, I listen to what they have to say and then obviously, I'm going to give them my client's perspective — my client's version of events and try to talk about some of the mitigating circumstances surrounding the DUI arrest, listen to what they have to say, take notes and then tell them, let me talk to my client about it and see what we're going to do with this case.
Strategy Session
Then we'll have another meeting with the client to talk about what exactly needs to be done in your DUI case — whether it's going to be case that's going to be a jury trial, we're going to fight it, we're going to investigate it and we will think about what angles we can use to try to win the case.
Or, if it's a case where they have the evidence against you, but we need to present mitigating factors to the prosecutors or judge, then obviously we're going to talk about that, I'll have you collect any character letters if that's appropriate in your particular case. We'll talk about any potential defenses at the meeting and then we're going to decide strategy wise what we're going to do related to your DUI matter moving forward.
And then if we go into court, which will be the next meeting, we will go in with an eye towards trying to resolve the case if that's what we decide to do. There will be other meetings after that if we both deem it appropriate to meet. But really, the most important meeting is that one where we have all the facts and details related to your DUI case and we have both read those facts and details and then we can start getting down to the nitty-gritty of deciding how we're going to resolve your case — whether we're going to resolve it by way of fighting the prosecutors or whether we're going to resolve by way of negotiating with the prosecutors.
Either way, we're looking obviously to get you the best possible result based on the circumstances of your DUI arrest and get you out of the legal system as fast as possible, while still protecting your driver's license, your rights, your freedom, your reputation.
DMV Hearing
Another aspect of a DUI case that bears discussion has to do with the police taking your driver's license away after they arrested you, giving you that pink driver's license and basically dealing with the DMV. As you probably already know, once they arrest you and take your driver's license away, you've got ten days to call the DMV or have your attorney do it on your behalf, set up a hearing and you also want to ask for a stay on any suspension typically so that you can drive while you wait for your DMV hearing.
At the end of the hearing, the DMV hearing officer will tell your attorney that they are going to decide and they will send letters out to you and the client so that you will be notified of their decision related to the suspension of your driver's license.
So, after those meetings that I've mentioned, if there's any other meetings beyond that, it's something that the lawyer and the client agree upon and it's something that's obviously going to benefit the client in some way in order to meet — whether it be in court or the attorney's office.
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