You did everything right, just like we talk about at the DUI Attorney in Seattle Blog. You didn't tell the cops you were drinking, you said no to Seattle field sobriety tests, and you asked to speak to a DUI attorney the moment the cops asked you to take a breathalyzer test. But you were still arrested, and you still have to work through the process to get your DUI in Seattle taken care of.
In the mail the other day you received a notice of arraignment a couple of weeks away. You've never been in any trouble with the law, so you have no idea what an arraignment is, except you know you have to go to court. And you are pretty nervous about that, about being up in front of the judge, being asked questions you may not know how to answer, and having to face the fact that you have been charged with a Seattle DUI.
You have hired a Seattle DUI lawyer, who has promised to be at the arraignment with you, and he kind of explained the process, but you still aren't sure.
Hopefully this post can help you out so you can understand what a Seattle DUI arraignment is like, and what you can expect. As you will soon see, the arraignment is, for the most part, a procedural matter set up to make sure your Constitutional rights are protected.
Basically, the arraignment is the stage of the criminal process where the prosecutor has to let you know specifically what you've been charged with, and where you get to enter your plea to those charges. Arraignment must occur within fifteen days of your arrest if you are in custody. If you are not in custody, the arraignment must occur within fifteen days of your first court appearance (though your first court appearance is often the arraignment). In almost every Seattle DUI case you will not be in custody, and your arraignment will happen several weeks to several months after your arrest.
When you go to your arraignment, if possible, you should already have hired your Seattle DUI attorney. If you have already hired your Seattle DUI lawyer, then you really won't have to do much of anything at your arraignment - your attorney can do everything for you. But if you don't, you don't have to worry. You'll get the chance to hire a lawyer later, and the court will ask you basic questions and schedule your next court appearance (usually the pretrial hearing).
When your name is called for arraignment and you go up in front of the judge, a few things will happen to ensure that all procedures are followed. First, the judge will ask you if your name is as it appears on the complaint. The judge may also ask you for your address. After that, if you don't have an attorney, the prosecutor will usually give you a copy of the complaint and read a little bit of it so you know what your charges are (if you've hired a Seattle DUI attorney they can waive the reading for you).
After they read the complaint, they'll ask you if you have an attorney, if you are going to get one, or if you need a public defender. After that they'll ask you how you want to plead (by the way, no matter what, you always want to plead not guilty, particularly if you are up for Seattle DUI), you say not guilty, and they'll assign you your next court date.
One other thing that will occur, and why you might want to have a Seattle DUI lawyer with you at arraignment, is the setting of your conditions of release. Conditions of release are supposed to be set to ensure that you will return to court on your court date, and to ensure that the public remains safe. If you have a high BAC or a history of DUI, the prosecutor may ask for more stringent levels of conditions of release. If this happens, it is critical that you have someone there that can speak on your behalf and advocate for less stringent conditions of release.
In the end, most of the time arraignment is the first step in the criminal process. It usually takes about 3 minutes when you finally get up in front of the judge, and for all intent and purpose is a procedural matter. With that being said, it is nice to have a Seattle criminal lawyer there with you just in case.
Up next, the pretrial hearing.
Related Posts:
Seattle DUI Attorney | Field Sobriety Tests
Seattle DUI Attorney | Search Incident to Arrest
