After you have been arrested on
suspicion of driving under the influence or driving while intoxicated, you will
be asked to appear in front of a judge for the purpose of an arraignment. For
those who are not familiar with an arraignment, it is basically a formal court
proceeding where the suspect is formally charged and then asked how they plead.
In this article we will discuss how an
arraignment works, what your options are when dealing
with the DUI charges, what a plea bargain is and how it works with
the help of leading Marietta, GA DUI lawyers.
What will happen at your arraignment?
As already mentioned, you will have to
either plead guilty, not guilty or with no contest to your charges during the
arraignment. You may not know the consequences of pleading one way as opposed
to the other and so to fully understand the repercussions of your plea and what
the pros and cons are for pleading a certain way, it is best to consult with a Cobb
County, Georgia DUI attorney as soon as possible. During your arraignment, bail
may be set depending on the severity of the offense.
Generally, defendants who have been
charged with misdemeanors and who have not already posted bail are released on
their own recognizance. However, when it comes to more serious charges, it is
mandatory for DUI defendants to post bail or bond in order to be released from
custody to ensure that they actually turn up at the next court proceeding and
not take off.
Please keep in mind that if you have DUI
convictions, the best route to take would be to flat out deny these accusations
since your legal representative can at a later stage challenge the validity of
these convictions.
Now if you want to see someone deny an
accusation just watch Season 5 of the fabulous show The Good Wife with Julianna
Margulies who plays Alicia Florrick and Josh Charles who plays Will Gardner.
When Will Gardner accuses Alicia Florrick of planning to quit, start her own
firm, and to take clients with her from Lockhard/Gardner, Alicia denies this.
She knows she is caught but she is hoping one denial is enough but she soon
realizes her assessment is wrong.
Regarding a DUI, you do not need to
divulge any information like this to any police officer on the street.
Another option that you have during an
arraignment is the right to request for a jury trial. This is where a jury
votes to decide on the verdict at the end of the trial rather than one judge
who will make this decision.
Distracted driving is as dangerous as DUI driving. |
Marietta, GA DUI lawyers and the best in
arena can be found on this state of the art website DUI-USAttorneys.com suggest that in most cases
it is prudent to just plead not guilty during an arraignment especially if your
legal counselor is not present with you, since even if you decide that a guilty
plea is the way to go later, you can change your plea to a guilty plea or a no
contest plea later on.
A no contest plea is sometimes preferred
to a guilty plea because when the defendant pleads with no contest then the
outcome of the criminal case cannot be used as evidence in a related civil
lawsuit against the defendant.
Plea Bargain
A plea bargain is basically an
arrangement or a deal between your DUI lawyer and the prosecution where in
exchange for pleading guilty you are charged with a lesser crime such as wet reckless.
A wet reckless comes with far more lenient consequences when contrasted to the
legal punishments which accompany a DUI conviction.
If you have been busted
for a DUI, it is not easy to take on and beat the prosecutor and so
we strongly recommend that you consult a Cobb County, Georgia DUI lawyer for
help as soon as possible.
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