Quote:
Originally Posted by afterburn 549
Appointed court defense is the worse !
They will tell you to plea anything . Never do they want to spend a minute in a trial.
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Some things are worth what you pay for them. In my experience watching DUI cases when sitting in traffic court, waiting for the minor moving violations to get called up, a judge won't let a DUI defendant just show up and plea. They'll get a continuance and are then told to come back with a lawyer. In VA the prosecutor would not talk to anyone unless they had a lawyer. You had to pay into the system to get into plea deal game.
I had a lawyer who, while standing in line with me, waiting for the courthouse doors to open, said he was gonna ask the prosecutor for a deal. Minutes later the prosecutor called him and said the arresting officers had sent him a note saying I behaved well and they wouldn't object to my getting a deal. (The cops had even driven me home and not towed my car after I refused the breathalyzer.) So, when you get offered a good deal and the state has either pretty strong evidence or is a state where you're almost always considered guilty of DUI for refusal, you take the deal.
If they have dash cam footage of your car weaving and then, after stopped, your stumbling through the field sobriety tests and your eyes jerking around while doing the astigmatism test with the pen light, even if you refused a breathalyzer, they have a strong case. And then you might want to consider a plea deal.
If they have nothing because you refused everything and you want to challenge the basis for the traffic stop, get your wallet out. You might win, but you won't do so without a lawyer. And you still will probably end up walking for a year for refusal.