DUI Plea Bargain: Negotiating For a Better Penalty or Charge
Let’s say that you want to resolve your case with a plea and you don’t necessarily want to go to a jury trial, however, maybe the prosecutor is making you a bad plea offer. Sometimes we do what’s called a Plea Conference where we discuss it with the judge, we present your case to the judge and tell the judge about you, your family, what led up to this event, any mitigating circumstances the judge may not be aware of and the prosecutor in turn then has an opportunity to address the judge as well. And the judge will ask him; does this person have any prior criminal history and the prosecutor would tell him that.
So it could affect what the judge thinks or could sentence you to. Unfortunately, if you go to a jury trial, obviously the prosecutor can always advise the court of any prior charges that you have. And obviously, the prosecutor is human like anyone else. So in making a plea offer resolving the case, they’re going to take your background into consideration. It’s our job as your attorney to present to them the person you are and give them all the favourable evidence about you, about your life, your career, your family and what positive things you can tell about yourself to us that we can give to the prosecutor to kind of hopefully help you and not be seen as this person reflected in this background check that they think they know.
