Michigan Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

In the first part of this article, we examined the steps in a DUI case from Arrest to Pre-Trial. In this installment, we'll pick up at the Trial stage. This assume that any prior Pre-Trials have been unsuccessful in bringing about an agreement to resolve the case.

If there are doubts as to the validity of the Traffic Stop, or the evidence collected, or method of collection, then an Evidentiary Hearing is set where the Defense Lawyer challenges the Stop of the Evidence, and seeks to have it excluded, or "thrown out." This type of Hearing takes place before any Trial is commenced.

A Trial is either conducted by Jury, or by a Judge sitting without a Jury. This latter proceeding is called a Bench Trial. Often, when it seems that the case will be resolved, one way or another, without the need for an actual Trial, the matter is scheduled for a Bench Trial so that the Arresting Officer, and any other necessary witnesses will be present along with the Prosecutor and Defense Lawyer.

If a case actually goes to Trial, the result of that Trial is called a Verdict. A Verdict in a DUI can either be Guilty, Guilty of a Lesser Charge, or Not Guilty. If a person goes to Trial and beats the case, then the matter is over, period.

Very few DUI cases actually go to Trial. Instead, and as mentioned above, the vast majority of DUI cases are worked out though the Plea Bargaining Process.

If the person enters a Plea, or is found guilty after a Trial, then 2 more dates are set. The first is for the legally required Alcohol Assessment. The second is for the actual Sentencing date.

By Michigan Law, prior to being Sentenced, a person must undergo a mandatory Alcohol Assessment. This is often called a PSI, which means "Pre-Sentence Investigation." The PSI is conducted by the Court's Probation Department in every Court except the 72nd District Court in Marine City, which farms it out to one of a few local Substance Abuse Counseling Programs. This is by far the most important part of any DUI case, because the end result of this process is a written recommendation to the Judge advising him or her what should be done with and to the person who got the DUI. And in almost every case, that recommendation can be considered a blueprint for what the Judge will do.

Continue reading "The Steps in a Michigan Drunk Driving (DUI) Case - Part 2" »

As a DUI Lawyer who also writes this Blog, I have tried to explain how a DUI case works in detail. I think my Drunk Driving section pretty much examines every aspect of a DUI case under a microscope. One thing I haven't done yet, however, is to really just lay out the steps in a typical DUI case without a lot of in-depth examination.

This article will cover the steps anyone facing a DUI will inevitably go through as the case goes from beginning to end. Because of the amount of material we'll be covering, even this somewhat topical review will require the article to be broken into 2 installments.

First, lets begin with what precedes a DUI case. Before a DUI "case" can be made, there must be an Arrest for Drunk Driving. And note that an Arrest for a DUI does not actually begin a "case." The "case" part of things only comes about when that Arrest results in a Court-authorized charge for DUI.

So an Arrest is a necessary prerequisite to a DUI case. Following the Arrest is the trip to the Police Station, and the Breathalyzer (or blood) test. Typically, a person is held in custody until their Bodily Alcohol Content (BAC) is low enough for them to be legally and safely released. If the Police let an intoxicated person post Bond and go home, they would be liable if the person was injured, or injured someone else because of their intoxication.

In most jurisdictions, a person will be released the next day, after either posting a small, interim Bond out of their own money, or having someone come up to the Police Station and post the Bond for them. While most often in the amount of $100 to $300, sometimes a person can be required to put up as much as $500 before the Police will release them.

In these jurisdictions, the Police let the person post a Bond with an understanding that they'll either be contacted by the Court, or have to contact the Court on their own within a specified number of days.

In a minority of jurisdictions, a person is brought before a Judge or a Magistrate the next day for an Arraignment. Arraignment is the very first step in what can be described as making a case "official." At an Arraignment, the Defendant is told exactly what charge or charges are being brought against them, informed of the maximum legal penalties that can be imposed upon them for each charge, advised of their Constitutional Rights, asked how they plead (to which everyone should respond "Not Guilty"), and then have their Bond amount set. This Arraignment can either be done in person, by bringing the person into an actual Courtroom, or by closed-circuit video, where the Jail has the person sit in a "video room." At the conclusion of the Arraignment, the person will either be given their next Court date, and/or will be told that a Notice of that date will be mailed to them.

Continue reading "The Steps in a Michigan Drunk Driving (DUI) Case - Part 1" »

In Part 1 of this article, we had an overview of what it means to get "the least amount of consequences possible" in a DUI case. As we ended that general discussion, I observed that "the least amount of consequences possible" really means "the least amount of consequences possible in your particular case."

In this second part of the article, we'll examine what that specifically means.

As an example, earlier today I handled a DUI for a fellow in an Oakland County District Court. This particular Court is FAR AND AWAY the toughest Court on DUI's in the Metro-Detroit area. It's easily twice as tough as the next toughest Court, at least where I go. The outcome of this case will invariably be different than the outcome of an identical case pending on the other side of Dequindre, in a Macomb County District Court. To put it mildly, a person who got "pounded" in a typical Macomb County District Court would still have far less "consequences" than a person who catches as good a break as possible in the Oakland County District Court where today's case was heard.

Oakland County is generally tougher on DUI's than Macomb, and Wayne County (at least those Courts in which I Practice) can be described as somewhere in the middle. Some Wayne County District Courts are as "lenient" in a DUI as many Macomb County Courts, while others are much more like their Oakland County counterparts. Those are essentially geographic factors.

In any Court with more than one Judge, each will have his or her own perspective on these cases. This means that a case assigned to one Judge may turn out differently than if it had been assigned to another Judge in the same Court.

There are other factors which affect a case, as well. In an earlier article, I examined how a person's Breathalyzer results can affect their case. A person caught with a .12 Bodily Alcohol Content (BAC) will be treated differently (meaning less harshly, which really means "less consequences") than a person caught with a .21 BAC, all other things being equal.

When someone is Arrested for a DUI and has a child under 16 in the car, they are usually charged with Child Endangerment. this ramps things up. If there was an accident involved, things likewise get ramped up a bit. It's the Lawyer's job to turn those lemons into lemonade, and help everyone cool down about the situation.

Can you see how a person with a really high Bodily Alcohol Content (BAC), who had a 12 year old in the car, was involved in an accident, and got popped in a tough Oakland County community will be looking at a very different picture than a person who got caught, driving alone, with a low BAC, in Macomb County?

Continue reading "Michigan DUI - The Least Amount of Consequences Possible in Your Case - Part 2" »

In my DUI Practice, I speak daily with people who have been Arrested and have to deal with Drunk Driving Charges. In most of the DUI articles on this Blog, I have tried to explain the DUI Process, and many of the things that are involved in such a case.

One phrase that comes up quite often is that the person facing the charges will tell me that they want to resolve the case with "the least amount of negative consequences possible." While I think a closer reading of the many articles on this Blog would clearly show that "damage control" is job number one for any Lawyer, I thought that, in this article, we'll discuss that issue alone, and not as an implied subject in a larger discussion.

From my point of view, that's what you hire a Lawyer for in the first place. A Lawyer has a very simple mission in a DUI (or any Criminal Case, for that matter) case: Either get the case thrown out, beat it at Trial, or work it out in the best way possible for the Client. Given that relatively few cases are simply "thrown out" or beaten at Trial, this means that the overwhelming majority of cases will involve some kind of a Plea Bargain, and/or a Sentence Agreement or Recommendation.

Let's be very clear here: Statistically speaking, if you're facing a DUI and you are hoping that some Lawyer can just get the case "thrown out," or that the Police screwed up the Arrest and the Evidence gathering so badly that the case can be easily beaten at trial, you're betting on an extreme long-shot.

In a previous article about How the Rich and Famous Beat DUI Charges, I pointed out that, in fact, they usually don't. The purpose of that article was to demonstrate that even for those with unlimited financial resources to "Lawyer up" and fight every facet of a DUI case, every celebrity that I've heard of who got popped for a DUI wound up cutting a deal. None of them gets the case "thrown out," and none of them winds up being acquitted of the charges after Trial, either. They step up, admit responsibility, and (hopefully) move forward while they put the whole episode behind them.

What does that mean to you, if you're facing a DUI? It means that (again, statistically speaking), absent some bizarre circumstances in your case, you'll be working out a deal to minimize the negative consequences of your case. And that means your Lawyer will be doing damage control.

Continue reading "Michigan DUI - The Least Amount of Consequences Possible in Your Case - Part 1" »

At the outset, I'll admit that the tone of this article is sarcastic. My DUI Practice involves handling real-life cases for real-life people. From time to time, I hear about someone having spent a royal fortune in an attempt to "beat" a case, only to wind up "discovering" that the case against them was rock-solid. Then they cut a Plea deal, having spent thousands more than they otherwise would or should have if they had been told, up front, what the real chances were that some high-priced Lawyer could just get the whole thing "thrown out." That makes me mad.

I find it frustrating, at times, to accept that people are far more willing to shell out money for what they want to hear, rather than for what they need to, or ought to, hear. In other words, the appeal of having a DUI case dismissed outright is so strong, that any number of people will plunk down a ton of cash just for the chance to buy into that hope.

So that got me wondering about all those Hollywood Celebrities who seem to get popped every week for DUI. Why is it that for every one I hear about getting arrested, I hear about another being placed on Probation for an earlier arrest?

From what I can tell, they certainly have the money to hire some big-time Lawyer who can challenge the evidence every which way under the sun in an effort to get the case dismissed. And if getting the case dismissed costs only what can be called "pocket change" to them, why would they do anything else?

Because, for a very good reason, the overwhelming majority of DUI cases are resolved by a Plea bargain. Most cases are "solid." For almost every case where some aspect of the DUI process has been held to be unlawful, or legally unsound, there has been a corrective action on the part of the Police to eliminate the problem. The DUI process is designed to comply with the Law. When some aspect of that process is found to not be in compliance, and adjustment is made.

Why do you think we have Breatlayzer tests in the first place? To provide evidence of a person's Bodily Alcohol Content (BAC) at or near the time of their arrest. While there is a certain protocol that must be followed when administering these tests, and while there is a certain "margin of error" inherent in these tests (and every test I've ever heard of, for that matter), those cases which are so profoundly flawed in failing to follow that required protocol, or in which the margin of error, for some reason or another, renders the test results so unreliable, are the exception, and not the rule.

Otherwise, every single celebrity popped for a DUI would just "Lawyer up" and get the case dismissed. But that doesn't happen.

Continue reading "Michigan DUI - How the Rich and Famous Beat the Charges" »

In Part 1 of this article, we examined the range of realistic outcomes in a DUI case, particularly a 1st Offense case. In this second part of the article, we'll focus on how and why those outcomes happen, and what can be done to help insure that the most lenient, as opposed to a more severe outcome, is produced.

By Law, prior to the Judge imposing Sentence on a person with a DUI conviction (meaning they've pled to some alcohol-related charge, or were found guilty of one), the person must undergo a mandatory Alcohol Evaluation. This means they take a written test. This test is scored. The score a person gets determines, in essence, what will happen to them. The higher the score, the worse things are, whereas the lower the score, the less likely the person is to have, or to develop, an alcohol problem.

Beyond the test, every Court in the Tri-County area requires that the person also be interviewed by its Probation Department. The whole of this interviewing and testing process is often called a "PSI," or Pre-Sentence Investigation.

The Probation Department then makes a written report to the Judge, to be reviewed for Sentencing, advising what they think, based upon their interview and the person's test score, needs to be or should be done to them. In other words, the Probation Department recommends what the Sentence should be.

As I have noted in numerous places in both my Blog, and on my Website, these "recommendations" are more accurately called "blueprints" for what will happen, because in pretty much every Court, and in every case, what the Judge orders is usually either exactly in line with the recommendation, or darn close to it.

Think of it this way: If the Probation Department said Jane Doe had the potential to develop an alcohol problem, and was currently at the stage where it appeared she is abusing alcohol, and therefore should complete some classes, what do you think the chances are that some Lawyer can come along and convince the Judge that that's baloney, and no classes should be ordered? Do I hear a "zero" anywhere?

Thus, at the point where the Probation Department has made its recommendation, the Lawyer's influence in the way the rest of the case will play out has been reduced to minimal, at best.

So beyond negotiating a Plea Bargain, or getting a Sentence agreement to "no Jail" in a 2nd Offense case, what more can the Lawyer to do? Lots. Let's look at specifics:

Continue reading "Michigan DUI - What Really Happens in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne County - Part 2" »

A substantial part of my Practice involves handling DUI cases. In that regard, I have noticed that much of what's said or written about Drunk Driving involves the legal particulars of the Stop, the Arrest, and the Evidence. Beyond that, the next most common topic seems to be staying out of Jail.

I think those two subjects appeal to most people's hopes and fears, more than anything else. What I mean is that suggesting to someone that there is a chance of having the whole case thrown out because of some technicality with the evidence appeals to their hopes. Telling someone they can be kept our of Jail appeals to their fears.

The point of this article is to explain that, at least in the Detroit-area, the vast majority of DUI cases result in neither outcome, and that perhaps a better, more realistic examination would focus on what's likely to happen in most cases. Rather than look at the rather unlikely outcomes that could happen when a person gets an OWI, we'll look at what really happens to the overwhelming majority of those facing such a charge.

Let's sharpen the focus even more: We're are pretty much saying that those who shout "get the case dismissed because of the Traffic Stop...!" and things like "the Breathalyzer machine isn't believable...we can beat this case...!" have an approach that seeks to capitalize on what may or may not exist in a small percentage of cases. Meanwhile, those who shout "I can keep you out of Jail...!" are promising a result that is already the likely outcome of a DUI (at least a 1st Offense, in pretty much every Court in the Detroit-area), even without their help.

What is it that a DUI Lawyer can really do, in most cases, to benefit his or her Client?

The answer, it turns out, is pretty simple: Make things better.

Let's talk about specifics: When a person gets a DUI, all sorts of things go through their mind. Obviously, we've covered 2 of the biggest: "Beating" the case, and staying out of Jail. Beyond that, however, are plenty of other, real life concerns: Will I lose my Driver's License? Will I be sent to Rehab? Will this cost me my job?

It's managing (meaning minimizing) those consequences, except in the unusual case that may be dismissed because of some fatal weakness, that is the honest business of a real-life DUI Lawyer.

Continue reading "Michigan DUI - What Really Happens in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne County - Part 1" »

As a DUI Lawyer, my focus is on extracting my Client from as much trouble as possible. While Legal Fees are an important issue to both me, and my Client, those fees are just one of several costs involved in a Drunk Driving case. In the same way that a physician generally cannot and does not concern themselves with the associated costs involved in properly treating an ailment, (meaning things like bandages, physical therapy, prescriptions, etc.), a Lawyer does not have a specific price figure available to tell someone how much a DUI will ultimately total once all associated fees and costs are calculated.

It can be generally observed that the better the consequences are managed, the less the whole debacle will cost.

There are a few things that are pretty much written in stone, however, when it comes to the cost of getting popped for a DUI. Here are 2 that top any list:

1. It's going to cost, and it's going to cost a lot. Even if you have been completely and totally wrongfully arrested for a DUI (which is, in itself, not a very common occurrence), just demonstrating that is going to require a substantial Legal Fee.

2. Unless the case is somehow dismissed, or "knocked out," there will be lots of additional costs and fees for about 2 to 3 years to come. They run into the thousands of dollars.

I was motivated to write this article precisely because, as a Drunk Driving Lawyer, my primary concern is to protect my Client from as many potential consequences of a DUI charge as possible. Some of those consequences are purely financial in nature, but others, like going to Jail or getting stuck in some Rehab, are not. Let's examine some of the money consequences of a DUI charge in the following paragraphs.

First, let's assume we're talking about a case that is not so weak that it will be "thrown out," or dismissed for some unlikely reason. Instead, we'll assume that we're talking about the garden variety, "got-pulled over for weaving at 2 a.m." kind of DUI.

The Arrest itself will cost money. Many cities and townships have "cost recovery statutes" that mandate that a person pay back the municipality for the police time, and supplies involved in their arrest, booking, and jailing. These costs can range from $150 to $350.

Getting out of jail the next day will often cost money. Sometimes, a person is let out after someone comes up and posts a $100 "Interim Bond," while in other cases, the person is held until they can be brought before a Judge or Magistrate and have a formal Bond set. These bonds can range from $100 to $750.

Continue reading "Getting a DUI in Michigan - It's Going to Cost a Lot!" »

As a DUI Lawyer, almost every case I handle involves the Client having performed some Field Sobriety Tests before being arrested and charged with the Misdemeanor Offense of DUI. Sometimes, the Client will tell me that they did well on them, but the Police Officer just kept giving them more and more to do, until they eventually failed.

Of course, what any DUI Lawyer hopes for is that the Police Car was equipped with a video camera, which was running, while the Client did, in fact successfully perform all the field sobriety tests. To say those cases are in the minority, however, would be a rash understatement.

In most cases where I have obtained the video, it either shows the Client clearly impaired by alcohol (even though her or she may not have thought so at the time), or fails to show anything one way or the other, leaving the Police Officer's report of the person's failure of one or more of those tests un-contradicted.

There is a whole science to Field Sobriety Tests. That's far outside the scope of this article, and in fact would require a rather long series of them to even scratch the surface. For our purposes, we're going to talk about the generally well-recognized reality that, at the point a Police Officer asks a Driver to perform Field Sobriety Tests, they have essentially made up their mind that the person is going to be arrested.

In fact, I have never even HEARD of a case where a person was given Field Sobriety Tests and then let go. Now, no one calls me when they HAVEN'T been Arrested for a Drunk Driving, so it's not like I'm in any position to hear both sides. Still, I doubt anyone of us has ever met, or heard of a case where a person was pulled over, given Field Sobriety Tests, and then told to be on their way.

Just as a preliminary matter, in every Police Report I have ever read in a DUI case (and as a matter of course, a DUI Lawyer MUST read the report before even thinking about what to do in any particular case), the Officer notes that the Driver's eye's appeared "red," or "bloodshot," or "glassy," and that their speech was "slow,' or "slurred," and that they noticed a "strong odor of intoxicants" coming from the driver as he or she spoke.

Continue reading "Michigan DUI - Field Sobriety Tests in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne Counties" »

As a Lawyer who is in Court for DUI cases multiple times every week, I read more Breathalyzer results than you can imagine. This article will focus on a very important, but often-overlooked aspect of what's called the "BAC" in a DUI case. This is NOT an article which will discuss the theory of Breathalyzer accuracy and all that. Instead, this article will focus on how Breathalyzer results can and do affect every DUI case that makes it into Court.

Earlier this week, I handled a DUI for a fellow who had been stopped for swerving across the road. After his Arrest, he was taken to the Police Station and given a Breathalyzer test using the Datamaster machine. His test results were .21 and .22. We'll get back to his case, and the example it provides, later. If you are facing, or have had A DUI, then you have most likely met this machine. If not, you probably had your blood taken.

At the conclusion of the breath testing, the machine prints out a form and the person tested receives a copy. That copy is usually pink and looks like a big store receipt. It list details of the test, and the results are titled "BAC." This stands for Bodily Alcohol Content." Sometimes, people mistakenly refer to BAC as "Breath Alcohol Content," or "Blood Alcohol Content."

One of the questions any Lawyer who regularly handles DUI cases will quickly ask a prospective Client is something like "what was your BAC?" That BAC score is very important in determining the severity of a person's case. In fact, that score often provides loads of information about a DUI case, and what's likely to happen as a result.

For starters, the BAC is often used as a "wet thumb test" to make an on-the-spot determination if a person is a big drinker or not. Now I'm not saying that this is scientifically accurate, but I am saying that Cops, Prosecutors, and, most importantly, Judges, look at the BAC as a sort of barometer to determine if a person is a real lightweight, or a big drinker.

Let's look at a few examples: If a person is arrested on a Thursday night for a DUI, and their BAC is .23, then the Judge (or Magistrate) who handles their Arraignment is going to know that their Bodily Alcohol Content was about 3 times the legal limit of .08. That means they were very, very drunk. On the other hand, if they weren't very, very drunk then they are a hardcore drinker. A lightweight, newbie drinker could never get a BAC that high. In other words, a .23 BAC means a person is probably a big drinker, whether they were drunk out of their minds, or not.

Continue reading "DUI in the Detroit Area - How the BAC Breathalyzer Result Affects Your Case" »

As part of my Drunk Driving Practice, I handle lots and lots of DUI cases. The first question any DUI Lawyer has for a potential Client is "Do you have any priors?"

Often, the Client will indicate that they don't have any prior DUI's, but will mention that they had an MIP (which stands for Minor in Possession of Alcohol) when they were younger. This article will look at how a prior MIP (or several prior MIP's) can complicate a DUI charge.

The biggest concern in any DUI case (besides Legal Fees, Court Costs and staying out of Jail) is determining if the person charged has either an alcohol problem, or at least the potential to develop one.

This is why, BY LAW, prior to being sentenced for a DUI (and it doesn't matter whether it's a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd offense), a person must undergo a mandatory alcohol evaluation, sometimes called a PSI, or a Screening, or and Assessment. The Court is supposed to order a DUI Driver into the appropriate counseling or treatment if it is determined that they either have a problem, or present a potential or risk of developing one. This facet of any Sentencing is part of a person's Order of Probation.

Beyond the increased statistical risk that anyone with a growing number of alcohol-related Criminal Offenses has, the simple fact of the matter is that anyone in the Judge's seat sees a prior MIP as evidence of more inappropriate drinking. I often tell my Clients that, in a very real way, the Judge can write the date of that first MIP on a board, and then put the date of the new DUI to the right of it, and connect them with a line, and say "this is how long we know you've had a problem." A person may not be an alcoholic, but having more than one Drinking Offense in your past sure kills any notion of the DUI being an "isolated incident."

It is, of Course, the job of the Lawyer to educate the Client about that mandatory alcohol assessment, to make sure the Client avoids tallying up a score that indicates a problem, or a problem more severe than could otherwise be the case. On these alcohol assessment tests, the higher a person's score, the more severe their alcohol problem, or the greater the likelihood or potential there is for them to develop one. The lower their test score, the better things are.

Continue reading "DUI in Michigan and why Having a Prior MIP Complicates Things" »

Most Lawyers who write anything at all about DUI cases tend to focus on the Evidence and ways to beat the case. However optimistic those sales pitches may be, the plain truth is that the overwhelming majority of DUI charges result in some kind of conviction. In most cases, after the Arrest, and after a person has been Arraigned, their Lawyer will work out some kind of "Plea Deal" that either reduces the severity of the offense or results in a Sentencing agreement or bargain.

This article will focus on what I consider to be, by far, the most important (and least talked-about) aspect of a DUI case. If the case is not dismissed on some technicality, or unless a person has gone to Trial and been found "Not Guilty," some kind of Plea deal will have been worked out by the Lawyer. By law, after a Plea (or conviction, if a person has gone to Trial and lost), but before the Sentencing can be imposed by the Judge, a person must undergo a mandatory alcohol evaluation.

This consists of a written alcohol-use questionnaire, along with an interview by a Probation Officer. This whole process is called the PSI, or Pre-Sentence Investigation. The end product of this process is a PSI Report, or Sentencing Recommendation. Michigan law requires that this Report be provided to the Judge at or before the time of Sentencing to help him or her decide what to do. On the date of Sentencing, both the person being sentenced and their Lawyer are required to read this Report before going in front of the Judge.

It is accurate to say that, almost without exception, whatever is recommended by that Report is exactly what the Judge is going to order. In other words, it is less accurate to call that Report a Recommendation than it is to call it a "blueprint" for what's going to happen.

I know that anyone reading this who has ever been through the DUI process before, (whether for themselves of with someone else) knows this to be true. In fact, I can safely say to anyone who has been through the DUI process before that whatever was recommended in that Report was, likewise, ordered by the Judge.

This means that unless a person is charged with a DUI where the Evidence is weak enough to be dismissed by the Judge, or otherwise has a Defense to the charge strong enough to "beat" it at Trial, they will be undergoing this PSI. And it also means that when the test has been taken and the interview with the Probation Officer completed, the final outcome of their case will have pretty much been determined. The Probation Officer "scores" the person's alcohol test. All of these test are "graded" with a numerical score; generally, the higher a person's score, the more likely they are to have or to develop and alcohol problem. Conversely, the lower a person scores, the less likely it is that they have an alcohol problem, or have the potential to develop one.

Continue reading "Michigan Drunk Driving - What Happens in a DUI Case " »