Impressing your judge with your self-development can make a big difference for your case disposition, says Fairfax DUI lawyer

Impressing your judge with your post-Virginia DWI arrest self improvement steps — when prosecuted for allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs in violation of Virginia Code § 18.2-266 — can make a critical difference in your case. As a Fairfax DUI lawyer, I routinely advise my clients to take the following four steps for self-improvement / homework (and in some instances self-recovery): Eight hour DMV-approved driving improvement class (online, but a more intensive in person class if the alleged driving behavior is more egregious); evaluation at a substance program (if your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) or drug concentration has been tested by a blood draw, it can be ideal to wait to have your test results first), attendance at live or online Alcoholics Anonymous  (AA) meetings or their equivalent (which is to show a commitment to being responsible with drinking and not meant to admit to a problem with alcohol or drugs), and attendance at a victim impact panel (VIP) of the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) (which can be completed online, unless your case negotiation or sentence requires in person VIP attendance). For me to understand these steps better, I have obtained a self-alcohol evaluation (scoring me as a social drinker through the MAST test), have attended a live AA meeting (which is a real eye opener about how severe is many people’s alcohol issues), have completed a four hour driving improvement class (which zeroed out my points for an out of state ticket), and have attended an online MADD victim impact panel. By my having undergone all of these experiences, I am better able to encourage my clients to complete these steps and to help them and me articulate to the court how much they help assure that my Virginia DUI client will not recidivate.

Am I wasting my time engaging in self improvement before my trial date for impressing my trial judge and assisting with settlement negotiations?

Many of my Virginia DUI and criminal defense clients tell me that their work and personal lives are too busy to engage in my recommended self improvement steps. I would not recommend such steps if I have not personally see them work in innumerable ways, including helping obtain better settlement negotiations, helping with more favorable release conditions, helping to obtain dismissal through satisfaction and discharge, helping obtain a more favorable sentence, and helping convince the judge to accept the prosecutor’s and criminal defense lawyer’s agreed sentence. In one instance, I appeared in front of a judge who emphasized that he does not automatically accept a Virginia Code § 19.2-298.02 / dismissal disposition without first knowing the justification. That was for an assault case, and I was able to show the judge that my client had already completed dozens of hours of community service and an impulse control program, and had obtained a very good prognosis from a psychologist not to reoffend, which particularly impressed the prosecutor, whose profession was in health care before attending law school. In another instance, I was sent to a judge who was not guaranteed to accept the standard wet reckless sentence agreed to in my client’s Fairfax DUI case, and the judge stated his usual reluctance to allow more than six days of weekly driving when the ignition interlock device is not used for restricted driving on a wet reckless. The judge accepted our deal (other than the number of driving days) without knowing my client’s self improvement steps. The judge agreed to seven days of weekly work driving after learning that my client had fully completed all my above-listed four recommended self improvement steps and his livelihood in driving. Considering that my client’s blood alcohol concentration (BAC) result in his post-arrest Intox EC/IR II breathalyzer test was only 0.01 below the threshold for five days mandatory minimum in jail, it was wise for negotiating a wet reckless deal that my client had engaged in such extensive self improvement. (I emphasize that the importance of impressing your judge is not for the judge to merely see you as a fine person, but for your case outcome to be better as a result.)

Will I be traumatized by the MADD Victim Impact Panel experience?

As much as I depart from MADD’s efforts to overcriminalize drinking and driving I credit the group with the for doing an overall good job with the victim impact panel I attended, in making people think twice about any unsafe driving (whether driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, distracted driving with cellphones and otherwise, exhausted driving, or driving with insufficient vehicle equipment). The progression of the online program begins with signing in, listening to a five minute introductory video from the narrator, and then paying $65 for attending the panel. What happens next is heartbreaking for the loss the three sets of speakers have suffered, whether or not the people who collided with them were in violation of the drinking and driving laws. The first collision involved a man struck after driving his prom date to her home. His injury was so severe that he has had over twenty surgeries, has a rod to hold up his spine, and has considered suicide over the excruciating pain he has suffered. The next family’s story is even more gut wrenching, where the other vehicle t-boned the family’s car so badly that the rear seating compartment was sheared away from the front passenger compartment. The thirteen year old daughter was killed in that collision. The third family’s story not only involves a fatal collision, but also the loss of the victim driver’s six month old child she was carrying. A common message among all of them was the selfishness of people to drive impaired rather than calling an Uber or otherwise, at the expense of the person they maimed or killed.  It is not inconsistent for me to be both a Fairfax DUI lawyer who knows I am on the side of the angels and to urge people never to drive unless fully sober, awake, and focused, and with your vehicle in a fully safe condition. MADD focuses on continually an widely impressing on people the dangers of impaired driving.

How do I pass the quizzes and handle the procedures of the MADD Victim Impact Panel? Do I need a camera?

You need a camera on your device to snap your photo at the beginning and end of the MADD Victim Impact Panel, which helps avoid anyone’s obtaining a substitute attendee. Your photo will become part of your panel completion certificate; mine is here, for an example. You will be asked if your case is for court or if you are attending only for curiosity. The videos are prerecorded and there is no intra-audience participation, so you can attend the online panel instantaneously. You will have easy four question quizzes after each of the three videos. You are permitted to re-test apparently without limit. To save yourself time from retesting or rewatching the videos for the testing, pay close attention even to such minutiae as the victim’s favorite color. The quizzes otherwise are easy. At the end, you will be asked to give three examples of a person’s poor actions and how it made you feel. You will also be asked whether you will commit to not driving after drinking or taking medication or drugs that would affect your driving performance. Even though the VIP is only two hours, that helps in impressing your trial judge, including in Fairfax court, where the judges do not see the MADD VIP being done as often as in the county northwest of here where the District Court judges commonly expect the VIP for a Virginia DUI sentence.

Do I need to articulate to my judge what I learned from my self improvement for my Virginia DUI defense?

Merely going through the motions of doing self improvement may not be seen by your judge as much more than merely going through motions. Be ready for the judge to ask you what you learned from the programs I have recommended for Virginia DUI defendants. Were I the DUI defendant being asked such a question, for impressing my judge and out of full honesty, I would say that the statistics themselves are enough of a wakeup call for me always to be driving fully alert and sober. Alcoholics Anonymous meetings include attendees saying they would be dead without AA and that they learned they were drinking their dinner; that helps me assure myself that I will continue my eighteen years of no longer drinking (which was social drinking). The driver improvement class reminds us that there are already too many unsafe people on the road for us to add to that. The MADD Victim Impact Panel (plus my experience defending people who have caused serious injuries with car crashes) makes me know that it will be difficult for me to look in the eye anyone or their family whom I have injured (or worse) by my own wrongful actions.

How do I score as a social drinker on the Michigan Alcohol Screening Test (MAST)?

You of course must be fully honest in everything you do with your Virginia DUI defense and the rest of your life, including when you get evaluated by a state licensed alcohol / drug / substance treatment / education program. This means to pay full attention to understanding the questions posed to you and to answer accurately. The questions for the MAST test (here) can be tricky, for instance with a distinction between attending an AA meeting or an alcohol to help your court defense rather than doing so for an alcohol problem. Answering affirmatively to doing so for an alcohol program will take you away from being scored at only three or less (out of a possible highest score of over 50), which is the social drinker level that is ideal for helping in impressing your judge.

Fairfax DUI lawyer knows the realities of the dangers of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and will help you weave in your self improvement efforts to show that you have taken full responsibility for your situation (which is not an admission of guilt) and that you are a low risk of violating the Virginia DWI law in the future. Call 703-383-1100 for your free in-person confidential consultation with Jon Katz about your court-pending DUI prosecution.