Seattle DUI Attorney | Bench Trial or Jury Trial?

So you've been charged with a misdemeanor. Possibly a DUI, perhaps an beating, perhaps a larceny. And the state isn't offering you anything you feel contented taking as a plea bargain. Your Seattle DUI attorney informs you the solitary alternative, if you don't desire the proposal, is a trial.

You're okay with that, but are slightly tentative about the minutiae. In particular, you are not certain if you should ask for a jury trial or ask for a bench trial. Your Seattle criminal attorney is promoting a jury trial, but you just don't know if you can have faith in a group of individuals you don't know to make the right conclusion.

Picking between a jury trial or a bench trial (where the judge makes the judgment of your guilt or innocence) can at times be difficult for any DUI lawyer. Let's look at a pair of scenarios that might need you to go one way or another.

To begin with, the jury trial. You like jury trials since jurors typcially are not as jaded as judges (they've heard a large number of excuses over the years and start to stop attempting to ascertain the disparity). They endeavor fiercely to do the fair thing and will frequently furnish you at least a fighting chance. However they can be unpredictable as well.

You commonly desire a jury trial when the case is fairly unstable, when you have various inconsistencies in the evidence that just don't add up, and when you require the fact finder to give you the benefit of the doubt (most DUI cases fall into this category). Juries are capable of doing this. With judges it's slightly more complicated.

Next, the bench trial. You habitually like to have these when you possess a exceedingly technical defense, the particulars of the case are truly atrocious (the jury will almost be certain to be hostile to you from the start), or you are going to establish your argument on a legal issue that you imagine the judge will appreciate better than a jury. This also is a crap shoot, as judges, while not unpredictable, tend to tilt in the direction of the prosecution.

In the end, the pronouncement to go jury trial or bench trial ought to maybe be completed by your Seattle DUI attorney. They have the familiarity to appreciate which one to make use of, and they recognize the intricacy of the decision. No matter which you pick, though, it's doubtless going to be an uphill war. Good luck!