At your first DUI appearance, you will be asked to enter a plea. This is a crucial first step in your criminal case and one that you should not take lightly. An experienced criminal defense attorney from Crawford and Boyle, LLC can explain this process to you and help you every step of the way. Contact us today for a free, confidential consultation.

DUI Arraignments: Overview

The first court appearance in a DUI case in Georgia is called an arraignment. It is the first formal step in the criminal court process after you’ve been arrested. Defendants are usually expected to personally appear at felony arraignments in Superior Court for felony offenses. However, criminal defense attorneys can sometimes file a written plea and waive the defendant’s personal appearance, depending on local court rules and the judge’s personal procedures.

In Georgia, DUI is typically charged as a misdemeanor, but it can be a felony offense if it is the fourth or later DUI charge or aggravating circumstances exist. Therefore, you first need to know the severity of the charge to determine how the arraignment might proceed. Either way, you or your attorney must be able to attend the arraignment hearing to avoid you getting a bench warrant for your arrest for failure to appear. This could also result in forfeiture of any bond you have placed in your case.

Who Is Present at an Arraignment?

It can help give you a better idea about arraignments if you know who you can expect to be there. The following individuals are typically present at criminal arraignments in Georgia:

  • The judge: The judge is in charge in the courtroom. The judge presides, reads or confirms the charges against the defendant, explains the defendant’s rights to them, decides on bail or release conditions, and asks for the defendant’s plea.
  • The defense attorney: You have the right to be represented by a criminal defense lawyer. Your lawyer can largely speak on your behalf and review the charges against you.
  • The defendant: Unless your attorney requested and received permission to waive your appearance, you will most likely be present at the arraignment. You will be asked to enter a plea.
  • The prosecutor: The state’s attorney represents the prosecution and announces the criminal charges they have filed against the defendant.
  • The court clerk: The court clerk may call the case, read the indictment or accusation, and record the proceedings and your plea.
  • The bailiff: The bailiff is court personnel. They maintain order in the courtroom.
  • The court reporter: The court reporter uses special audio or video equipment to keep an official record of the hearing.

Arraignments are publicly held, so you may see other defendants there going through the same thing, as well as their families and other community members.

What Happens at the Arraignment?

The arraignment is the first formal step in the criminal trial process. Here, you can expect the following to occur:

  • Reading of the charges: The judge reads the charge you are accused of committing (DUI) that the prosecutor has filed charges for. Many courts allow defendants to formally waive the reading.
  • Entering a plea: You enter a plea of guilty, not guilty, or no contest. No contest means that you don’t dispute the charges or the government’s ability to make its case against you, but you don’t formally admit guilt. At this point in the case, most defendants plead not guilty, as there is not much upside to pleading guilty. A not guilty plea means that the prosecution will have to prove your guilt, and the case continues through the criminal justice process. If you plead guilty, your case would proceed immediately to sentencing. If you don’t speak up, the court typically enters a not guilty plea.
  • Asking if you understand your rights: The judge advises you of your rights and confirms that you understand them, including the right to have legal counsel.
  • Reviewing release conditions: The judge verifies or modifies your bail or bond. You may be given various release conditions, such as alcohol restrictions, required check-ins with a probation officer, and staying within certain counties.
  • Scheduling next dates: The court may schedule future dates for pre-trial hearings, calendar calls, and motions.

Importance of Arraignments

Even though your specific arraignment will likely only take a few minutes, your arraignment can shape the direction of your entire case. It serves as the foundation of your case. Making a mistake here could cause irreparable harm to your case, so it’s crucial that you work with an experienced attorney who can guide you through the process.

For example, if you enter the wrong plea, you could be stuck with it. If you agree to restrictive conditions without pushback, you could find yourself in trouble later. If you say something besides your plea, the prosecutor may find a way to use this information against you.

In contrast, handling an arraignment correctly can allow you to assert your legal rights, negotiate for fair release conditions, and position yourself for a solid defense. The decisions you make at the outset of your case can carry weight into the future. When you plead not guilty, you preserve your right to defend yourself against the charges, request evidence from the district attorney, and make certain legal challenges.

What Should I Do to Prepare for an Arraignment?

Understanding the critical nature of arraignments is the first step toward properly preparing for yours. Here are some proactive steps that you can take to make the best of the situation:

  • Hire a lawyer: Now is not the time to try to fight the justice system alone. Hire an experienced lawyer who has handled many arraignments in the past. If you don’t have a lawyer at the time of your arraignment, you might be able to ask the court to continue your case so that you can find one.
  • Request an Administrative License Suspension (ALS) hearing: DUI cases are unique in that two cases can be progressing at the same time: your underlying criminal case and a separate administrative case regarding the future of your driving privileges. However, to protect your driver’s license, you must request an ALS hearing with the Georgia Department of Driver Services within 30 days of your arrest.
  • Talk to your lawyer: Talk to your criminal defense attorney before the arraignment. They can explain what to expect, the purpose, and what will happen during the proceeding. You can also ask any questions to allay any concerns. You might not even have to attend.
  • Know where you are going: Be sure that you know which court your case is being heard at and which courtroom you will need to go to. You must arrive on time to avoid causing issues with the judge or your case. Allow extra time for parking, traffic, and security.

What to Do at the Arraignment

Here are some tips on what to do on the day of the arraignment:

  • Dress appropriately: Dress conservatively or in clean work clothes. Avoid any flip-flops, shorts, clothes that show too much skin, or graphic T-shirts.
  • Arrive early: Avoid last-minute surprises by arriving at your destination on time.
  • Be respectful: Be courteous to the judge, court clerk, bailiff, and other court personnel.
  • Turn off your phone: Do not be the embarrassing one who has their phone alerts going off during an active legal proceeding.
  • Remain calm: Even if the prosecutor or someone else says something that upsets or insults you, stay calm. You don’t want to give the judge a bad impression of you.

What Happens After an Arraignment?

As noted above, the arraignment is the first step in the criminal justice process. There are many more that follow. One of the most urgent is the ten-day deadline. Under Georgia court rules, your lawyer must file all pretrial motions within ten days after your arraignment, unless the court extends the filing deadline. Examples of pretrial filings that are subject to this strict window include the following:

  • Discovery motions: These motions ask the other side to turn over evidence that can help them prepare for trial, like the police body camera video and reports.
  • Motions to suppress evidence: These legal motions call into question the validity of certain evidence and ask the court to exclude evidence from your case.
  • Special pleas: Depending on the circumstances involved in your case, you may need to file a different plea than guilty or not guilty, such as challenges to the jurisdiction, special pleas in bar because the case took too long to bring, mental incompetency, or not guilty by reason of insanity.
  • Special demurrers: If the accusation or indictment was defective, your lawyer could file this type of legal motion.

If you happened to plead guilty or no contest, the next step would be sentencing.

The next step in the process if you plead not guilty is typically a new court date, which could be a status conference or a pre-trial conference, depending on the court. In these types of settings, both sides may discuss the evidence, identify information that they have not received that they should have received, and discuss the possibility of a plea.

Why Shouldn’t I Plead Guilty at the Arraignment?

Pleading guilty at the arraignment is usually not in your best interest for several reasons. First, you don’t know the other side. You don’t know if the police made a mistake in investigating your case, collecting evidence, or arresting you. Legal challenges could be present that could allow a skilled attorney to get the charges dismissed.

Second, you could have viable defenses to the charges against you. For example, you could have a medical condition that affected the test results. You won’t be able to raise these defenses if you plead guilty.

Third, by pleading guilty, you lose any leverage you had to negotiate a better deal. The prosecutor has no reason to try to get anything less than the maximum penalty for the crime.

When you have an attorney on your side, they can protect your legal rights and hold the prosecution to the highest standard. The prosecutor may be more likely to dismiss the case or agree to a more favorable plea agreement if they have to worry that the case will go to trial when they already have a large caseload.

How Can a Lawyer Help with Arraignment?

An experienced criminal defense attorney can help with every aspect of your case and arraignment. Initially, your lawyer can:

  • Review the charges against you
  • Explain the charges to you and the implications to your driver’s license
  • Help you determine which way to plead
  • Prepare you for any questions the judge will directly ask you
  • Review any information that you bring with your meeting to a lawyer, such as police reports, citations, test results, and the notice of suspension, which can help them prepare the case
  • Speak on your behalf at the arraignment so that you don’t have to worry about saying anything that could compromise your case
  • Argue for favorable release terms or bond conditions

As the case proceeds, your lawyer can work to identify procedural errors, constitutional violations, or problems with the evidence that they may use to challenge the foundation of the case. They can file pre-trial motions to have the evidence suppressed and/or the case dismissed.

They can act quickly to request discovery from the state to better prepare for your case. They can also represent you at your ALS hearing to try to minimize the impact of the incident on your driver’s license.

When you hire an attorney, you can rest assured that you have a seasoned legal professional advocating for the best outcome in your case.

Contact Crawford and Boyle, LLC for a Free Consultation

The criminal defense attorneys at Crawford and Boyle, LLC have over 50 years of combined legal experience. We have extensive experience handling arraignments and working with local judges and prosecutors. We can use this experience and first-hand knowledge to help guide you through the process. Contact us today for a free case review.