Seattle DUI Process – Pretrial Hearing Explained

Posted on 2009-11-21, 02:37, by Smalls, under Law.

If you have been charged with a Seattle DUI, chances are it is the first time you've ever been in much trouble. As a Seattle DUI defense attorney, I find that most of my clients are normal people who, for whatever reason, find themselves facing a DUI charge. They aren't bad people. They aren't alcoholics. They just made a bad decision (or got in the path of an overzealous cop) and are now trying to figure out how to move on with their life.

And what makes things even worse is that these people, who have never been in any trouble before, have no idea what the criminal process is like, what to expect or what can and cannot happen at their court appearances. So I've decided to help them out by explaining as clearly as possible what you can expect at each court hearing. Although I am doing this for your educational gain, I must also tell you that this is not intended to be legal advice, and should not be relied upon as such. If you are charged with a DUI or other crime, you should call a DUI attorney as soon as possible to get help.

With the formalities out of the way, let's get to the reason we are here – the pretrial hearing. I've already discussed the DUI arraignment, which I'm sure will be linked to below, so you should read that first if you haven't been to arraignment yet. The pretrial hearing is the second stage of the Seattle criminal process, and is often where many cases are resolved. Between the arraignment and the pretrial hearing, your DUI lawyer usually has a chance to look at the police reports and evidence against you and speaks with the prosecutor about what they think about the case. If an agreement can be reached at this stage, then at the pretrial hearing it will be entered into (otherwise known as a plea agreement). Often deals are close to being agreed to, so a continuance of the pretrial hearing will occur to give both sides the opportunity to finalize the resolution of the case.

But sometimes a plea agreement can't be reached, either because the two sides can't come to a deal, or because the defendant wants to go to trial. In either case, at the pretrial hearing the parties will let the court know what is going on and schedule the next round of dates in the case. In a DUI, for example, there will likely be a motions hearing date, to hear motions to exclude evidence, statements, and whatever else may need to be excluded, along with any other motions that need to be filed (often there will be motions to keep out irrelevant evidence or other matters like that). At the pretrial hearing the court will set the date for the motions to be completed, for the motions to be heard by the court, for the jury readiness hearing, and the trial date. Once those dates are done, the pretrial hearing is over and you are free to go about your life until the next hearing date.

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