This is a broad overview of what to expect after you are arrested for OUI. It is written in very broad terms, as it is designed to give people a general idea. This is not meant to be a guide for how to litigate your own OUI case, nor is it written in sufficient detail to serve that purpose.

Arraignment

The first date a defendant is given is known as the arraignment. The arraignment takes place in court, and for OUI offenders it is generally a low pressure situation, as not much will happen. At the arraignment the Defendant enters a plea, "Not Guilty" is always the right choice at this stage. The Judge will inform the Defendant of the charges against them, briefly going over their potential penalties and ensuring the Defendant knows what's happening. Finally the Judge will consider if bail is necessary in the case. While the issue of bail can become quite contentious in many criminal cases, it is rare for a standard 1st Offense OUI.

Pretrial Conferences

The next appearence can be broadly classified as a Pretrial Conference. This is a general term for court appearances that are designed to check the status of the case. There are typically two primairy components to these conferences; Discovery issues and negotiation. Your attorney and the prosecutor will meet face to face before reporting the case status to the judge. The first issue is Discovery, which is a general term for materials the state has to supply to the defense. It is fairly common for delays to occur in the State's production of discovery, either in part or in whole, and as such these appearences serve to keep the Judge informed as to how the process is moving along. The other major issue typically discussed is negotiation of the case. This is an oppurtunity for the Defense and prosecution to meet and discuss a 24D probation or some other sort of deal.
These conferences make up the overwhelming number of court appearences, because as any attorney can tell you, it may take several of these conferences to move the case forward.

Motion Hearing

A motion hearing occurs in some, but not all cases. Broadly speaking a motion is a request by either side (but typically the Defense) to have the court make a decision on a particular issue. The issue most commonly litigated in these hearings are what is known as a 'Motion to Suppress'.  The 4th Amendment protects against unreasonable search and seizure. Whenever you are stopped by the police, it is a seizure of your person and property (as you are not allowed to leave).  Basically a Motion to Suppress is accusing the stop (or subsequent search) as being unreasonable, in the hopes of excluding all the proof of guilt that was collected afterwards from evidence. In an OUI case this is typically ALL the evidence, so if the judge grants the motion to suppress the case virtually always needs to be dismissed afterwards.  

Trial

Everyone has heard of trials. The Defense attorney questions and cross examines witnesses, admits evidence or attempts to prevent the admission of evidence, and make arguments in an attempt to convince the jury that the State has not and cannot prove your guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. 

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Email - Kyle.Mastro@gmail.com

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