Chapter 6: DUI Case Roadmap - I Have Been Arrested And Have A Court Date, What Happens Now? Your First Time In Court
Your first court date will not decide your case. Generally, the first court date will consist of: making sure you understand what you are charged with, the court finding out whether you have or will hire a lawyer, or whether you are applying for a public defender, and finally, setting a new court date for either negotiations or a hearing.
Do you need a lawyer for the first court date? Not strictly, but it is a good idea because even at the first court date there are things that can happen that could harm your case. In some circumstances, your lawyer may be able to request a change in your bond conditions on that very first day. In multiple offense cases, or cases where you are on another bond or probation, you definitely should not show up to court alone on your first court date. Even if none of those things apply to you, having a lawyer retained will make the process go much more smoothly and often you will not have to even show up to court at all because your lawyer can handle resetting the case for you and you will already know what statute(s) you are charged with violating.
“Status” or Negotiation Dates
Your second, and sometimes more, court dates will be a time for your lawyer to discuss the case with the district attorney who is prosecuting your case.
By the second court date your lawyer should have most or all of the materials, reports, videos, medical records, etc…, necessary to investigate and defend your case. The district attorney may or may not have also reviewed your case and any video evidence. In some instances, your lawyer may feel confident that the district attorney will eventually offer a better deal which may also result in your case taking additional court dates.
Most people are surprised to find out that their blood alcohol results can take 8-10 weeks to come back and as many as 6 months to come back in a drug DUI case with no alcohol involved. So, at your second court date, you may or may not know your BAC. If it is not back, you should not resolve your case on that second court date, even if you expect your BAC to be very high, because your BAC may surprise you and be beneficial to your case. Even if your BAC is ready, most of the time it takes more than one of these negotiation dates to resolve a case successfully.
Many cases will be resolved at one of these negotiation dates, either by a negotiated plea that you are happy with or with a dismissal of charges.
Preliminary Hearing
If no agreement can be reached, your case will be set for a “preliminary” hearing. I put preliminary in quotation marks because it can often take six months or more to get to this stage.
At the preliminary hearing court date, the officer who arrested you will receive a subpoena to appear in court. In most cases, he will show up. This is not like a traffic ticket where you can hope that the officer will not show up and the case will get dismissed. That does occasionally happen, but do not bank on it. Even if the officer does not show up on that first court date, the judge will allow the district attorney an additional court date for the officer to show up. If the officer fails to show up multiple times, then it is more likely that the court may dismiss your case for a failure to prosecute.
More negotiations will likely occur on this date, and if no resolution can be reached, your lawyer and the district attorney will conduct a hearing on your case in front of the judge. You will not testify. You technically can, but for many reasons that we can discuss in person, it would be the extraordinarily rare case, in which a client would testify at this stage.
The preliminary hearing is extremely important to your defense. Many lawyers “waive,” or choose not to have this hearing. Do not let this happen to you unless there is a very good reason to waive this hearing. There sometimes is, but rarely.
The hearing is an opportunity to get the officer under oath, and to have your lawyer cross-examine him about many topics that can be used in your favor and in some cases to get the case dismissed outright.
Even if your case is not dismissed at this stage, the officer’s sworn testimony can be used against him in criminal court. For this reason, a good lawyer will understand what he or she must get the officer to admit during the preliminary hearing to set up certain motions to file in criminal court, which will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 11.
At the end of your hearing the judge will decide whether there is “probable cause” to continue your case on to the next stage of court. Probable cause is not a particularly high level of proof, and it is far lower than beyond a reasonable doubt, so many times the judge will find at least some proof of DUI and send the case on to the trial court. However, the judge can also decide legal issues, like whether a stop or arrest was constitutionally made. If he decides these issues in our favor, he can and will dismiss your case.
The process described here often takes 4-8 months and several court dates. It occurs in “general sessions” court, rather than in “criminal court.” We can discuss the differences in person, but in general, jury trials happen in criminal court. Preliminary hearings and negotiated pleas happen in general sessions court.
Most DUI cases are resolved during this general sessions court process. If yours is a case that may end up in criminal court, we will discuss that in detail before we get to the preliminary hearing court date.
Attorney At Law, Managing Partner
Brandon D. Fersten is an esteemed Knoxville attorney practicing DUI, criminal defense, and juvenile law. Known for his empathetic approach and commitment to his clients, he brings a record of favorable case outcomes including dismissals and not guilty verdicts at jury trials resulting in Brandon being recognized as one of the “Top 40 Under 40” in Criminal Defense, U.S. News’ Best Lawyers: “Ones to Watch,” and Super Lawyers’ “Rising Stars”. Brandon’s professional accolades, combined with his passion for justice, position him as a reliable criminal defense advocate in the East Tennessee legal landscape, including Knox County, Blount County, Sevier County, Loudon County, Roane County, Anderson County, Cumberland County, Hamblen County, Monroe County, and McMinn County.
