Patient negotiating can spell the difference between a great deal or not, says Fairfax DUI lawyer

Patient negotiating is an essential approach and art before rushing to a trial when such results have a high chance of losing. As a Fairfax DUI lawyer, I have repeatedly experienced this truism, where on the first trial date the prosecutor does not budge or budges little from a mandatory minimum charge of a repeat DWI offense or elevated blood alcohol content (BAC) and on the second court date we get a different prosecutor who recognizes to themselves that this time is showtime, where the only two possibilities likely are to proceed to trial if the case does not settle. As much as part of many Virginia criminal defendants “want to get it over with” rather than labor with the unknown of their case result, time is a commodity in Virginia criminal defense that often pays off handsomely with such patience.

An example of patient negotiating changing a Virginia DUI prosecution for an alleged second offense within five years, to wet reckless, misdemeanor refusal, and a traffic infraction

Police stopped my Virginia DUI defendant client for an alleged moving violation, found out he had a bad knee, still put him through roadside field sobriety tests, and arrested him. My client lives in an adjoining state that does not penalize refusal in another state to submit to BAC testing after a DWI arrest. Bless his heart that he declined a BAC test, and the police did no bother applying for a search warrant to force a blood draw from my client. Police responded by getting my client charged with a second Virginia DUI offense within five years of a prior convicted DWI incident, misdemeanor BAC refusal after a prior Virginia DUI conviction, and a traffic infraction for allegedly not maintining his lane. On the first court date, we did not obtain the wet reckless driving disposition we sought, even though my client followed my suggestions for self-rehabilitation by engating in my recommended Virginia DMV-approved driver improvement class, attending many Alcoholics Anonymous meetings (not as an admission of alcoholism but as a confirmation that he is devoted to being responsbile with alcohol consumption), and attending an online Victims Impact Panel of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. This case was in a Northern Virginia county (not my Fairfax home turf) where the judges tend to be lenient for granting either side a continuance on the trial date. Engaging in patient negotiating — backed up by full and persuasive trial readiness, including full prepardedness to connect my client’s bad leg to the vast majority of grounds for claiming probable cause to arrest him for violating the Virginia DUI law and for claiming proof beyond a reasonable doubt ofVirginia DUI culpability. The line prosecutor on this first trial date spoke of the chief commonealth’s attorney’s preference to convert fewer DUI cases to reckless driving.

Oh what a difference two months make- Snagging a no-Virginia DUI disposition on our return trip to court

Through being patient, on our second and final trial date, we got ourselves a different prosecutor from the last time, where in the Virginia Generral District Court in this county, the entire coutroom is commonwlty assigned to one or two assistant commonwealth’s attorneys / prosecutors, with the prosecutors rarely staying with a misdemeanor case into its next Virginia General District Court date. After I showed this new prosecutor all the self-reabilitation my ciients had angaged in, and underlining how I planned to win the Virginia DUI offense count by focusing on my client’s bad knee, we obtained a deal of converting DUI second offense to wet reckles driving with no active jail and six months of suspended driving with no restricted driving privileges, the traffic infraction, and refusal misdemeanor with no active jail, with the statutorily required three years of suspended driving without restricted driving privileges. Had my client been a Virginia resident or had a need to drive in Virginia, this three and one-half years of suspended driving in Virginia only, may have been a deal breaker. Here instead this was an availabel talking point to say that in exchange for avoiding a Virginia DUI conviction, let alone had it been for a second offense within five years, my client was being taken off the road for three and one-half years in Virginia.

How do I find the right lawyer to defend me in Virginia DUI and criminal court?

Look no further than Fairfax criminal lawyer Jonathan Katz for pursuing your best defense against Virginia  DUI, misdemeanor and felony prosecutions. Jon Katz is highly experienced in the art of courtroom battle not in order to be artistic for the sake of being artistic, but for the purpose of going for the proverbial jugular vein on the road to obtaining as much victory as possible for the Virginia criminal defnese. Find out how Jon will do this for you — including the patrient approach if needed — through your free initial in-person consultation with Jon about your court-pending case, at 703-383-1100.