Jail or College? A Skilled Attorney Made All the Difference
Posted on October 10, 2008
Filed Under Criminal Law, DUI, Expungement, Felonies, Law |
If it weren’t for the experience and skill of his attorney, my 18-year-old nephew could be sitting behind bars instead of in a college classroom today. My nephew’s not a bad kid; in fact, he’s a great kid. But like most barely 18-year-olds he doesn’t always make great choices. One of those choices got him arrested this summer.
It was one of those typical teen things. My nephew and some buddies got together at a friend’s Virginia vacation home when the folks weren’t home and had a few beers. Stupid, but not an uncommon when you’re talking about teenage boys. It was when my nephew got behind the wheel of his car to drive home that stupid could have turned tragic. Perhaps it was lucky that he got caught. As he was leaving his friend’s house, he drove over the neighbor’s lawn and the irate neighbor called the cops. My nephew was charged with underage drinking, driving under the influence (DUI) and destruction of property (the neighbor’s lawn).
One stupid decision and my 18-year-old nephew risked time in jail and thousands of dollars in fines, court costs and legal fees. He risked losing his driver’s license which would make it impossible to get to college classes or his job. He risked losing college scholarships. If convicted of DUI, a felony, he would have a criminal record that would prevent him being hired for many jobs. He would not be able to obtain certain state licenses or a security clearance. Many of the possible future jobs my nephew was going to college to pursue would no longer be available to him if he was convicted of a felony. When he was drinking with his buddies, he never imagined that a little fun might carry such a high price tag.
My sister and her husband were equally appalled at the seriousness of the trouble their son had gotten himself into. They put the kid under what amounted to house arrest and called a Virginia attorney. He advised that they continue the strict grounding until after the case was heard and that my nephew work hard to amass a minimum of 50 hours of community service before his hearing. It turned out to be excellent advice.
The attorney met with my nephew and his parents well before the hearing. He talked to my nephew about the questions he would be asked and how he would answer them. He told my nephew to address all his answers to the judge and to look him in the eye. “Pretend you’re talking to your grandfather,” he said. And he reminded him to get a haircut and wear his church suit with a tie.
The attorney explained that, like California, Virginia was very tough on DUI charges. With three charges against him, the Virginia prosecutor would demand a conviction on at least one charge. He recommended that my nephew plead guilty to the DUI charge because his blood alcohol content was very low. The attorney felt he could get the prosecutor to drop the two misdemeanor charges and that, with the community service hours, the judge would be inclined to grant probation since this was my nephew’s first brush with the law.
On the day of his hearing, my nephew and my sister watched as one man convicted of DUI received a $1500 fine and 6 months in jail. A woman was fined $500, another $500 in court costs and had her license suspended for a year. My nephew’s case was one of the last called so he had plenty of time to see “what might have been.” When his case was called, the attorney had gotten the prosecutor to drop the underage drinking and property destruction misdemeanors. My nephew pleaded guilty to the DUI.
In talking to my nephew, the judge asked whether his parents had punished him and how. Then the judge started to page through the community service record my nephew’s attorney had presented. As he looked at the first page, the judge commented, “Just 14 hours?” Then turned the page and saw a total of more than 50 hours of community service. He thought things over for a few minutes, then ruled: no fine, no court costs, one-year probation with his record to be expunged if there were no more infractions.
My nephew was one lucky young man. But as my sister said, their “luck” was in hiring an experienced and skilled attorney who knew the law, the prosecutor’s office, the police officer involved and the judge. He knew how they would act, what they would expect, how to negotiate and what to do to present my nephew’s case to the judge in the best possible light. Without an experienced and skilled criminal defense attorney in their corner, the outcome could have been very different for my nephew. Consider this a word to the wise.
-LegalPro
Comments
Leave a Reply