Aim for great court results in your Virginia DWI case, says Fairfax DUI lawyer

Aim for great results in your Virginia DWI defense, not merely passable results. As a Fairfax DUI lawyer, I repeatedly see the beneficial results from such an approach, including when I pursued that path this week to get two DWI prosecutions alleging driving under the influence of alcohol, in alleged violation of Virginia Code § 18.2-266, converted to wet reckless driving. The first case involved a police stop of my client’s car for not having his headlights illuminated. After abbreviated field testing — which was shortened due to my client’s orthopedic ailments. For that case, the prosecutor and I knew that the absence of much field sobriety testing and the totality of the circumstances gave me a real shot at convincing the judge to invalidate my client’s Virginia DUI arrest, and and to win if the judge had invalidated the legality of the traffic stop and arrest of my client. I told the prosecutor that our previously-announced forensic toxicology expert was present, and that he would testify: (1) my client blew four times into the post-arrest Intox EC / IR II machine, but only two airblank self checks were made by the machine, which, I argue, makes for an unreliable test; my client’s invisalign braces were able to trap mouth alcohol, thereby making the test results unreliable; and the Virginia Department of Forensic Science (DFS). This being a 0.16 blood alcohol concentration (BAC) testing result, obtaining a wet reckless was no shoe-in. Nonetheless, I resolutely presented a wet reckless proposal to the prosecutor, and the prosecutor agreed to that offer within a few minutes, which was a big improvement over the mandatory five days in jail faced by my client if convicted of the original charge.

A rear-ender Virginia DUI prosecution gets converted to wet reckless driving

Also this week, I took aim at and obtained a wet reckless settlement where my client allegedly slammed into another car, refused field testing, and refused pre- and post-arrest field testing. I pointed out to the prosecutor that the absence of such testing created a challenge for the prosecution to prove a lawful arrest and proof beyond a reasonable doubt of DWI. My client still had a chance of being convicted, and a good chance at any sentencing to receive some active jail time for the strong rear-end impact involved in this incident. In my estimate, for both the Virginia DUI cases that I address today, we had among the more challenging judges to obtain an acquittal. The prosecutor certainly could have pointed that out during negotiations, but at the end of the day, the prosecutor obtained a conviction, but just not a DWI conviction. That was my accomplished aim in both these cases, which was, to obtain a wet reckless disposition,

Must my aim be to overprepare for my Virginia DWI trial?

As a Fairfax DUI lawyer, I know the importance of overpreparing for trial so that the risk level is all the better tackled and managed. Not only does this approach improve your Fairfax DUI lawyer’s ability to obtain great court results for you, but also puts the prosecutor on notice of the firepower carried by your attorney, to help the Virginia assistant commonwealth’s attorney to agree with a settlement that is satisfactory to all involved. Never prepare one’s Virginia DUI defense to settle, rather than preparing the case to go to trial? The latter approach is an essential aim in this theme.

Will the judge accept the parties’ agreed sentenced in this case?

Hopefully your Virginia DWI lawyer has told you that no matter the hard work advanced by the parties to reach a favorable case negotiation, sometimes the judge will not accept the agreed sentence, With my two foregoing wet reckless achievements, for both plea deal presentations to the judge, the judge asked the prosecutor to explain why he had agreed to such a significant break for my clients. My two clients in these wet reckless cases, having fully followed by four-stage self improvement approach, the prosecutor was easily able to explain to the judge the significant extent that my clients had already substantially self improved. As was our aim, the judge accepted the party -recommended sentence.

Fairfax DUI lawyer Jonathan Katz relentlessly pursues your best defense against Virginia prosecutions alleging DWI and other offenses. For your free initial in-person confidential consultation with Jon Katz about your court-pending case, call 703-383-1100.