Virginia DWI dealing is an art that needs to be backed up by full trial readiness, says Fairfax DUI lawyer

Virginia DWI dealing is not a science but an art, that needs to be backed up by full trial readiness. As a Fairfax DUI lawyer, I proceed to every settlement / plea negotiation with that approach. This trial readiness is necessary in and of itself, and the fringe benefit of full trial readiness is that the threat of an effective defense at trial is essential for achieving a desirable settlement. By a lawyer’s being fully trial ready, s/he is fulfilling the attorney’s ethical obligation for the Virginia DWI defendant client themselves to decide whether to proceed to trial or settle the case. F]urthermore, Virginia prosecutors / assistant commonwealth’s attorneys have no obligation to make nor accept any plea nor settlement deal at all, let alone to agree to a desirable settlement deal. That is but another reason that a Virginia DUI lawyer must be fully ready for trial.

Not all chief commonwealth’s attorneys will agree to Virginia DWI dealing to a reckless driving plea

A Virginia DUI charge alleging driving under the influence of alcohol, beer, wine or drugs / medication pursuant to Virginia Code § 18.2-266is not going to be amended to a reckless driving plea without the agreement of both the defendant and the prosecutor. The elected and long-sitting commonwealth’s attorneys / chief prosecutors in the smallest Northern Virginia jurisdiction and a neighboring county have directed their line prosecutors rarely to agree to Virginia DWI dealing that results in reckless driving dispositions. Ask your Virginia DUI lawyer what your chances seem to be of achieving a reckless driving settlement, and what both of you need to do to approach such a result. Of course, you may simply want to proceed to trial whether or not a reckless driving plea is offered. Also ask your lawyer what your chances are of winning your trial, and what your prospects are at any potential sentencing, and, again, what you both need to do to enhance your prospects for the best possible outcome no matter what in court.

How do I know that my Virginia DUI lawyer is fully fighting for me, my interests, and a great outcome in court?

You will not be present with your DUI lawyer when s/he negotiates with the prosecutor — whether for Virginia DWI dealing or otherwise — in your case, and you will not be present with your attorney when they are doing the bulk of their work for your case. This is a reason to take a holistic approach in selecting your lawyer, including considering my short guide for selecting your Virginia DUI attorney. After you have hired your lawyer, you want to make sure that your attorney is showing caring for your case outcome, drive to obtain a great result, good communication for keeping you informed on the developments in your defense, and respectful responsiveness to your inquiries and concerns.

Why should I engage in pretrial self improvement efforts if doing so is an uphill battle?

Success against Virginia DUI prosecutions is obtained only through focused, relentless and skillful work. Do not let any seeming uphill battle daunt you and your lawyer from fully defending you in court. For you as a DWI defendant, it is important that you discuss proactive steps you can take before court to assist with Virginia DWI dealing and all other settlement negotiations and any sentencing. Whether you are sentenced by a judge pursuant to an agreed plea deal or after being convicted at trial, the judge decides your sentence, and your efforts to show you are on the road to not repeating your alleged offense might make a big difference to whether the judge accepts the parties’ agreed plea deal or not and gives you the most favorable sentence or not.

How a Fairfax DUI lawyer obtained a wet reckless plea on a 0.20 BAC prosecution in his Virginia DWI dealing

Recently I obtained contrarian wet reckless driving pleas in two Virginia DUI prosecutions. In one instance, my client was stopped for allegedly weaving out of his lane several times on the Capital Beltway and driving at least 30 percent below the speed limit. Despite the police officer’s efforts, he was unable to obtain a Spanish-speaking interpreter to break through the language barrier for such steps as asking my client how much he drank, initiating and instructing on field sobriety testing (FSTs), and conducting pre-arrest and post arrest blood alcohol content (BAC) testing. Even if I had successfully gotten the FST results excluded, the risk existed that the judge would have found probable cause to arrest my client based on his alleged driving behavior (which was confirmed on the police officer’s dashcam video footage) and claim of the officer that my client had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath and bloodshot eyes. If the judge had okayed the arrest of my client, then we have the implied consent law for conducting post-arrest BAC / breathalyzer testing when the police officer has probable cause to arrest for suspicion of DUI, which may have convinced the judge that no language was interpreting was required at the breathalyzer stage. Nonetheless, I successfully talked to the prosecutor about how my client should not suffer for the language barrier on the roadside after he was arrested. The prosecutor agreed and settled for wet reckless driving (with the caveat of no driving for a month in Virginia, but my client lives out of state and does not need to drive in Virginia for that timeframe).

Obtaining a wet reckless result on a 0.13 blood alcohol concentration test

In another recent successful example of Virginia DWI dealing, with a 0.13 BAC DUI charge, my client was stopped driving on a bent wheel with a flat tire. After his arrest, his BAC reading was 0.13. Here, I my client had nothing to lose by proceeding to trial, in that he was unlikely to receive a worse outcome at trial than by pleading guilty to DWI at the outset. I showed the prosecutor documentation of my client’s going above and beyond the call of duty with self improvement — including having added over fifty hours of voluntary community service to the mix — and how my client’s being an H-1B visa holder with the need to leave the country briefly soon and ultimately to apply to renew his visa, that a DWI conviction could have required him to leave the United States for renewing his visa and caused him thereby to wait outside the U.S. during that renewal process. The prosecutor agreed to a wet reckless driving result.

Should my lawyer bare fangs when negotiating my Virginia DWI case?

Fang-bearing is not necessary for successful Virginia DUI plea negotiating. When your lawyer is fully prepared for trial and involved in powerfully persuasive in-the-moment negotiating engagement with the prosecutor, then the prosecutor’s choice is either to give your lawyer what you want, or to take the time consuming task of a trial, where you may well win.

Fairfax DUI lawyer has successfully defended hundreds of DWI defendants and has successfully brought hundreds of such cases to trial. Call 703-383-1100 for your free in-person confidential consultation with Jon Katz about your prosecution that is pending in court.