What are your rights following a DUI arrest?

As a defendant you have some rights after your DUI arrest that you need to be aware of. The specifics may vary from state to state, but Chicago, IL DUI lawyers confirm that it is more or less the same in general. You may not need to know about all of these rights if you are going to appoint an attorney to defend you as he or she will make sure your rights are protected.

Know your rights

But every American should know about their rights. This type of information is pivotal. This is what separates us from a Cuban or someone living in Russia or North Korea. But if an American does not know about their rights and they rely only on the government to know about these rights, that is a large risk you are playing with your freedom.

When government tries to do too much (the Affordable Care Act, trading terrorists for an American traitor without going to Congress, and so on) Americans need to know that they can hold their government in contempt and certainly vote them out office. Some of this may not affect you in your daily life but every American has a duty to know their basic rights - certainly when the government overreaches and violates the constitution. Why give the government that much more power?

The right to due process

The right to due process is courtesy of the 14^th and 5^th amendment to the Constitution. This right is meant to ensure that the government does not take away the life, property, or the liberty of a person without first conducting a fair and unbiased hearing.

When it comes to driving under the influence, the due process law basically means that the state cannot immediately suspend or terminate your driver’s permit, and they will first need to give you a hearing. But Illinois DUI attorneys reaffirm that driving is not a right and so even if you get a hearing, you are not entitled to a jury trial before your license can be revoked or suspended.

This law especially comes if effect in states like Illinois that employ the implied consent law.

The right to discovery and exculpatory evidence

In lay man terms, this right is basically to ensure that a DUI (or any other criminal) suspect cannot be shocked at trial by the prosecution with evidence that he/she was not already aware of. The right to discovery and exculpatory evidence requires the state prosecutors to disclose evidence that they have against the defendant to the defendant upon request. This is to give the defendant a chance to reply or defend themselves in respect to the evidence against them.

Felony defendants have the right to full disclosure, but misdemeanor suspects do not enjoy full disclosure. They both have the right to a Chicago DUI lawyer though. You can find some of the best in the industry on this tremendous and awesome website: http://criminal-defense.usattorneys.com/illinois/. You may have been driving pretty fast to obtain a DUI but you can find legal help using this site much faster.

Right to a list of witnesses

The right to a list of witnesses basically mandates that the prosecutors are supposed to handover a list of witnesses that provided testimony in the case. Thereby, the defendant can prepare to counter each witness’ statement. The prosecution is not allowed to call upon any witness to testify against the defendant if this witnesses name is not already on the list of witnesses provided to the defendant and his/her legal counsel.

Right to trial

The right to trial is probably one of the most fundamental and important rights that we all have as Americans. Nobody can be imprisoned or convicted of a crime without a trial. This right is courtesy of the 6^th amendment of the US constitution and you should not need an Illinois DUI lawyer to inform you of this. This amendment basically implies that any person accused of a crime shall be given the right to fair trial where he or she has the chance to appoint a legal professional to defend themselves.