Fully engaging the decisionmaker is essential for great defense, says Fairfax criminal lawyer

Fully engaging the person an attorney wants to persuade is essential. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer that truism was again proven when I negotiated a wet reckless disposition (without active jail time, a modest fine, and liberal restricted driving privileges) from a Virginia DUI prosecution alleging a 0.16 blood alcohol concentration (BAC), where such a conviction would have carried a five day mandatory minimum jail sentence. How did I accomplish this great result? Only by preparing for trial and settlement negotiations, working with my client as a team, and having a client who engage well with my recommended self improvement steps (documented driver improvement, self-help meetings and a victim impact panel) and produced an excellent evaluation supporting that he only is a social drinker. What swayed the prosecutor the most was the arresting police officer’s (who also was the breath test technician) confirmation that he did not check my client’s mouth for foreign substances at least twenty minutes before my client submitted to post-arrest BAC breath testing, despite that being a requirement on page 22 of the commonwealth’s Department of Forensic Science (DFS) breath testing operator’s manual.

How does a Fairfax criminal lawyer proceed with fully enaging the assistant commonwealth’s attorney / prosecutor?

Fully engaging the prosecutor in your Virginia criminal case is not about manipulation, incantations, nor cookbook approaches. Instead, it is about proceeding to court entirely ready to proceed effectively with trial, backing up settlement/ plea negotiations from a position of strength, paying attention at all times, and deeply listening (not only by sound) to the prosecutor. With my above-described achievement of a wet reckless for a 0.16 BAC DWI case, I started off by talking briefly with the prosecutor as just folks. We are, after all, human beings, and it is natural not only to talk shop. Then, when the police officer was standing right next to us, I asked the law enforcement officer (LEO) whether he had my client open his mouth at least twenty minutes before blowing into the BAC testing machine. This way, the prosecutor heard the officer’s answer to the way I wanted the question most effectively posed, and without any filtration of the officer’s reply.

Giving the prosecutor space and time to help a Virginia criminal defendant

After the police officer gave his foregoing answer about not having my client open his mouth, the prosecutor told me that my proposal for a wet reckless disposition was not unreasonable under the circumstances and that he woudl give it some thought. I replied that this was my only case for the day and that I had plenty of time for him to take to make his decision. Fully engaging another person in working to persuade them includes knowing when to disengage from them so they can be by themselves or with the police officer alone, to decide how to proceed with a defense settlement proposal. Five minutes later, in the courthouse hallway, the prosecutor called my name, and told me he had accepted the defendant’s wet reckless proposal.

Getting the judge on board with a favorable Virginia criminal case settlement

Fully succeeding with a Virginia criminal case settlement does not finish with your Fairfax criminal lawyer and Virginia prosecutor, unless the judge is also on board. In this instance, the judge asked the prosecutor what the basic facts of the case were, and the prosecutor made the persuasion of the judge for me, by telling the judge that the issue with the reliability level with the BAC results was of such a concernt that her preferred not to state the results, and the judge accepted that and the deal. This favorable reckless driving plea outcome may have come out differently had I bared fangs or been overbearing, rather than persuasively engaging with the prosecutor in the space that made him most willing to agree to a favorable outcome.

Fairfax criminal lawyer Jonathan Katz approaches you and your Virginia DUI, felony and misdemeanor defense as the fully unique and vital situation that it is, including his work engaging with prosecutors, judges and jurors. Your start to a great Virginia criminal defense is only one meeting away. Call Jon Katz’s experienced staff to schedule a free in-person strictly confidential consultation with Jon about your court-pending case, at 703-383-1100, info@KatzJustice.com, and (text) 571-406-7268.