Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Plea Bargain: The Judge Has The Final Say



Orange County DUI Attorneys



When someone
is arrested for
DUI in Orange County, the police officer completes an
arrest report and forwards the report to the Orange County District Attorney’s
Office. The report is eventually read by a deputy district attorney who then
decides what charges to file. Sometimes the deputy DA decides not to file any
charges if there are problems with the case. Sometimes, the defendant’s
Orange County DUI Lawyer will call the deputy DA and try to persuade them NOT
to file charges. If the DA decides to file DUI charges, the DA will draft a “Complaint”,
which is an official document listing the charges against the defendant. The deputy
DA will then file the Complaint with the court.






The
arraignment is the first court appearance and at the arraignment the judge will
read the charges to the defendant and/or the defendant’s
Anaheim DUI Lawyer. The judge will also review bail and decide whether bail is
sufficient in the case. Often times, in Orange County at least, for a
first-offense DUI, the judge will allow the defendant to remain out of custody
on his or her own recognizance.


After the
arraignment, there will most likely be several “pretrial conferences”. These
are sometimes called settlement conferences and, as the name implies, these
conferences are for the DA and the defendant’s
Orange DUI Lawyer to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the case and see
if they can arrive at an agreement to settle the case without going to trial.
This agreement is referred to as a plea bargain; if defendant pleads to a
particular charge then the DA will offer specific terms that are acceptable to
the defendant and his or her
Santa Ana DUI Lawyer.


Once this
plea bargain has been reached, there is only one more thing that must be done.
The plea bargain must be presented to the judge presiding in the court. The
judge may reject a plea “in exercise of sound judicial discretion.” Santobello v. New York (1971) 404 U.S.
257. So if the judge doesn’t like the deal, perhaps because he or she thinks
the defendant is getting off “too lightly”, then the judge can reject the deal,
in which case the DA and the defendant’s DUI
Huntington Beach DUI Lawyer go back to square one.


If you are
charged with a DUI in the Orange County courts, call The Law Offices of EJ Stopyro at (949) 559-5500 to consult with an experienced Orange County DUI
lawyer. You can also visit our website at
www.ejesquire.com
for more information about how to fight a DUI charge. We have offices at 32072
Camino Capistrano, 2nd floor, San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675 and at
3901 Newport Blvd., Suite 350, Costa Mesa, CA 92627.

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