Dui Court Process

DUI Defense Strategies

Choosing an attorney

When you do have a court date set, the next step in the process is to choose an attorney who can help you with the situation. You have three possible choices in most DUI cases. You may choose to represent yourself. You may choose (if you qualify financially) to have the public defender represent you. You may also choose to hire your own attorney.

Representing Yourself

Most people suggest that it is a terrible idea to represent yourself when you are facing criminal charges, and while "most" people are usually wrong, in this case, they're absolutely right. A DUI is a fairly technical case, and lawyers tend to have the specialized knowledge necessary to make things run a bit smoother. Good DUI attorneys can look carefully at your case and find the issues that will ring in your favor while you're in court. Moreover, the right lawyer can decide where your case should be heard, and get you a better deal if you plan to plead guilty. You can spend as much time researching in the library or online as you want, but you can't possibly be as prepared to defend yourself against DUI charges as a specialized DUI attorney will be.

The Public Defender

If you don't have the money to hire an attorney on your behalf, you may be considering using the public defender's office to ensure that you get a fair trial. This option, though, is nearly as bad as representing yourself. While public defenders certainly aren't the tired, haggard attorneys television wants you to think they are, there are lots of logistical issues you may not have considered about using the public defense system.

First, you have to qualify on a financial basis for their services. The amount of money you can make to qualify varies from area to area but in most cases, it's not much.

Moreover, you can't pick which public defender you get. You are simply assigned the first available attorney. If things don't work out for the two of you, you're stuck together until the end of the trial

Also, in most states, DUI charges involve an administrative DMV based hearing. This is part of your DUI case, but because it's not criminal in nature, your public defender won't be able to help you with the hearing.