What happens when you go to court and plea guilty to a DUI without a lawyer?
Thursday, April 15th, 2010 at
10:56 am
Some people say not to plea guilty the first time in court but I don’t see a point in going back to court again when your really proven guilty with failing buy antibiotics online the breath test.
Thank you for your question.
If you plead guilty without a lawyer, then you are sentenced at the mercy of the court. The court has the ability to sentence you between the minimum and the maximum. Since it is the prosecutor, and not the court, that is filing charges against you, you will not have the opportunity others have to negotiate a reduction of charges to a different offense that will not have the same impact as a DUI long term.
Also, breath testing is done with a machine, and all breath test machines are subject to a margin of error, bad maintainance, improper calibration, be based on improper information or a contaminated sample, or can just test wrong. Don’t give too much power to the breath test.
I hope that helps, but feel free to ask if you need any further information. And one more thing: best of luck to you.
Actually, it’s about the same difference with a lawyer as without should you be talking first offense. If, on the other hand, you are looking to plea on a repeat offense, my advice would be to definitely seek a lawyer. The judges throw the book at you on repeat DUI — he/she wants to look tough to re-elected. The jails are overcrowded and process time 3-for-1 day and sometimes 10-for-1 when the sentence is over 13 years. That is, on the 3-strikes rule and that includes DUI, you can get 15 years to life, but the jails don’t have room.
A Person should never just pled guilty. With or without a lawyer you are going to have to pay some sort of fine, This may be lower if you can afford an attorney and having one will probably save you from jail time and losing your license. At least try to fight it. Pleading guilty leaves you open to what ever the court decides & the time and amount of money will be decided by the judge and you can not fight or change that after admitting guilt. The court will apppoint you a public defender to help in court. " Hey" Don’t drive drunk you’ll kill your self or some one else*