Converting high blood alcohol concentration (BAC) DWI cases to reckless driving can be accomplished with the right defense, says Fairfax criminal lawyer

Converting high BAC Virginia DUI prosecutions under Virginia Code § 18.2-266 to wet reckless dispositions can be accomplished, with the right defense. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I recount one instance in Fairfax County General District Court of obtaining a wet reckless where my client’s car veered far off the slick road and slammed into a tree, and his breath testing score on the Intox EC/IR II breathalyzer machine was 0.20, which is two and one-half times the legal limit. How, you might ask, can such a wet reckless result be possible? It certainly comes from hard work and total defense preparation, and not from any wishful thinking. Read on.

Converting high BAC Virginia DUI prosecutions to wet reckless calls for total analysis, trial preparation, and synthesizing of the evidence, allegations, truth and the law

In this 0.20 BAC Fairfax DUI prosecution, the incident video showed my client admitting to being the driver (and admitting to driving too fast on the slick road), and admitting to having consumed beers and hard liquor prior to the incident. Fortunately, my client’s performance on the field sobriety tests gave him a chance — I say chance, not high chance — for a judicial finding of no probable cause to arrest him, meaning bets to hedge for both sides for converting this to a wet reckless disposition, and talking points about weak probable cause to arrest, and absence of a breath technician’s signature on the certificate of analys’s attestation clause, which presented evidentiary conundrums for the prosecution.

Obtaining a favorable negotiated sentence calls for convincing the prosecution and your Virginia trial judge

In little time, the prosecutor in this Fairfax DUI case agreed to every aspect of my offer for converting the prosecution to a wet reckless disposition with no active jail time. That left my being ready to persuade our judge to accept the agreed sentence, which he did. By proceeding with a guilty plea, the judge did not know about the allegation that my client’s car had slammed into a tree. If asked, I would have been ready to provide the judge documentation of my client’s successful completion of several self improvement steps.

Always be ready for trial

Nothing assured converting this high-BAC Virginia DUI prosecution to a wet reckless disposition. Well before the trial date, we were fully prepared to proceed to trial in this Fairfax DUI case. Prosecutors know that they will have a trial on their hands with me if we do not settle the case. One former prosecutor one day volunteered to me:  “Jon, my colleagues and I would sometimes chat about which criminal defense lawyers we were going against for the day. When one of us said Jon Katz, someone would ask ‘How did you draw the short straw?’, in the light of my arrival at the courthouse with my proverbial guns blazing and often with a court reporter in tow, showing all the more how much my client was ready for trial. I asked if that helped my clients, and he responded: “It did with me. I was lazy.”

Fairfax criminal lawyer Jonathan Katz defends you with a full court press against Virginia DUI, felony and misdemeanor prosecutions. Be more confident and knowledgable about your defenses by scheduling your free in-person confidential initial consultation about your court-pending prosecution, by contacting Jon’s staff at  703-383-1100, info@BeatTheProsecution.com and (text) 571-406-7268.