Options Versus Going To Trial In A DWI Case

Interviewer: If I’ve been arrested for a DWI, could you give me a recommendation if I should go to trial, once you’ve gathered some of the facts? Are you able to come up with that at that point?

Evaluating the Case: Is This a First Offense? What Are the Facts and Circumstances?

Michael Kramer: With a DWI case the first thing to consider is whether it’s a first offense. The second thing to consider is whether there was a chemical test. The third thing to consider is if there was a chemical test, what is the particular blood alcohol reading? The fourth thing to consider is the facts and circumstances surrounding the stop of the individual. Was there an accident? Was there reckless driving? Were there injuries involved?

These are all things that go into the evaluation of a case. If for example, a person is charged with a DWI, and they refused the breath test, therefore there’s no chemical test to contest, that certainly would lend itself more to a trial. On the other hand, if a motorist took a chemical test and there was a high reading you might not want to contest it.

In a trial, there would be an expert witness presented by the prosecution with regard to the veracity of the chemical test. Which you would have to counter on behalf of the defendant, by presenting your own expert which would usually involve much more expense, and the consumption of much more time than if there were no chemical test to attack. That is another consideration in whether to go to trial.

Most DWIs do not go To Trial

Interviewer: Do most DWI cases end up going to trial?

Michael Kramer: No. On the contrary most people don’t go to trial. This is because the system has its own way of discouraging trials. After all, trials are very time consuming for the court and they’re time consuming for court personnel. They’re expensive to conduct, and there is a built in deterrent to trial in the system.

It May Be More Expensive to Defend a DWI in Trial Than It Is to Accept a Plea Bargain

That deterrent is basically the unwritten law that if you go to trial and lose, you’re facing worse consequences than if you choose not to go to trial. Most people make the decision not to go to trial, and it’s a decision based upon dollars and cents as well. It’s much more expensive to go to trial than it is to engage in a plea bargain.

Judges and Juries Express Their Displeasure in Frivolous Trials in Sentencing and in Verdicts

If you’re just going to trial for the sake of going through the exercise, and really don’t have a credible defense then that’s not going to make anyone in the system particularly happy. It certainly won’t please a judge.

In that case a judge is not going to act too favorably when it comes time to sentence. It’s basically comparing what you can gain by plea bargain to what you can gain by a trial. Most cases do not involve a situation where a defendant is totally innocent. Most involves a situation where a defendant has some culpability, did something wrong but not enough to merit the seriousness of the charges brought against them.

How Degree of Guilt Is a Factor in Going to Trial or Accepting a Plea Bargain

Now, we’re talking about degrees, and we’re talking about deciding whether it’s worth it to go to trial to obtain a lesser charge that you couldn’t obtain through a plea bargain. This is a big factor for a defendant to consider in terms of whether to go to trial.

Interviewer: It could mean the difference between a felony and a misdemeanor?

Michael Kramer: Correct. If you feel that all the defendant committed, at most was a misdemeanor, and they’re charged with a felony, and a prosecutor will not agree to a plea bargain to a misdemeanor. That would be a consideration as to whether to go to trial. In going to trial, the strategy is to win on the felony, and succeed in getting a misdemeanor.