It’s customary that someone has to testify to the court that they saw you violating specific Tennessee traffic laws or criminal statute. Do they have you on video (or maybe a youtube)?
Loach’s remarks (that the attorney will see all the discovery evidence/testimony) seems to imply (though not say outright) that the defendant himself will not be privy to all that.
Is that true? Does discovery take place behind closed doors, where even the defendant himself may not see it? If so, that sounds grotesquely Kafkaesque.
It sounds like the OP’s appearance before the court was a hearing, not a trial. His trial, if he doesn’t reach a settlement, will be sometime in the future, where the arresting officer will likely be present. In the real world, these things take weeks / months to play out. On TV, the trial date may appear to be the next day, but that’s not real.
If this guy has little money to spend, the lawyer will advise him to do a plea. All I’m saying is for this guy to not accept any type of plea deals and fight it and if money is tight, tell the lawyer you will pay him later.
Being in control of a vehicle is enough to get a DUI. That includes being parked under certain circumstances. But remember he was not charged. It was just a question that was brought up at a preliminary hearing. I would bet that he will not be charged if he hasn’t been yet but I can’t be 100% sure.
No of course not. The attorney receives all the discovery. That includes copies of all reports and copies of any recordings. He just doesn’t get to see it. He gets his own copies. (Of course not including physical evidence that can’t be copied (DNA, blood, weapon etc. But he will get any lab or forensic reports and access to see the evidence). The defendant is privy to all of that. If the defendant acts as his own attorney he gets the discovery directly. I’m sorry if somehow I gave a wrong impression.
But an experienced lawyer is in a much better position to interpret what is in the discovery and know what your chances are at trial.
I know what you are saying. And I am saying that to give advice to say fight till the end regardless of the circumstances is horrible advice. It worked out for you in your own anecdote. That’s one case. Sometimes that is the best course, other times it will be in your best interest to plea down to a lesser charge or have other charges merged into one. Because if you are most likely to lose badly then you will be out thousands more in legal fees. You will face much higher penalties. You may lose your license for much longer and you may be found guilty on multiple charges that could have otherwise gone away. To say that always fighting till the end is just as bad a piece of advice as saying to never fight and always take a plea. Someone who has seen all the evidence and has been through many cases is in a better position to tell than some guy who got charged once under much different circumstances.
I informed my supervisor about the incident and he told me he already knew. The arresting officer had come by afterward and informed him. The gist of what I was told was that I was taken into custody for my own safety as I was in a bad neighborhood. I spoke to one of his colleagues last night and was told that he probably just cut me a break because he “knew” me through my job and that they’ll often try to help out people with lesser charges when they can. He also said that the DA normally goes with the officers’ suggestions and that this robably just literally means he just wants to know why, and that I won’t get the greater charge.
It depends on the state. Here in Ohio we have the charge of Physical Control of Vehicle while Under the Influence, which applies if you’re drunk and sitting in a parked car w/ keys in the ignition. The penalties are not as bad as a full-blown DUI. The primary difference is that no points are put on your D.L.
I am unfortunately acquainted with the consequences of such a charge. 
It might be that DUI requires a higher standard of proof (or something or other) than Public Intoxication.
Thanks for the update, Meloy. I assume you live in a really friendly, or closely-related, or very small town. It’s interesting that the cop stopped by your job to inform your boss that you were drunk. Or had he stopped by to do business and happened to mention your predicament as part of a friendly/non-official conversation?
Just to satisfy my curiosity, was your first appearance before a judge considered a preliminary hearing or a trial?
Did you appear in traffic court or criminal court?
Just a thought, but the DA didn’t need to postpone your hearing/trial if he was only curios about why you weren’t charged with DUI. The DA could have questioned the arresting officer at any time (or emailed him). It seems that the DA wants the court to hear the officer’s answer. just sayin’
This. I was convicted of DUI (well, it was still DWI back then) in 1992. I learned my lesson. If I’m drinking, the car stays parked at home, and I walk to/from the bar, or call a cab. Of course, I realize that not everybody lives within walking distance of their favorite bar.
As my dad, a police officer, always told me, “Admit nothing, deny everything, and make them prove it.” Of course, I didn’t follow his advice. I admitted to the arresting officer that I was drunk, and pleaded “guilty” in front of the judge the next morning. I’m an intelligent man, and concluded that I would just make myself look stupid if I pleaded “not guilty” after blowing .23 on the breathalyzer. And I wisely refrained from correcting the judge when he tried to tell me that .3 was “dead from alcohol poisoning”.
This. You may be at fault, but never admit this.
I think all would agree that drunk drivers should not be on the road, but the police can seriously fuck with you at any late night traffic stop and charge DUI and it’s up to you to prove otherwise.
With regard to sitting in the vehicle being considered being “in control” - What if you’re not in the drivers seat? I hope that doesn’t sound like a stupid question, but if sitting in the driver’s seat with the keys NOT in the ignition counts as “being in control,” I’m not going to make any assumptions.
So, if, due to a combination of odd circumstances, I find myself mildly intoxicated and away from home with no reasonable place to go instead of my car, and I decide to take a nap in my car, I now know that I should not do so in the driver’s seat. That’s good to know, because I thought you had to actually be driving to get a DUI. So if I got in the passenger seat and took a nap and a cop came by, and wanted to know what was going on, would I be on the hook? (in NJ)
Come to think of it, what might constitute probable cause for a cop to question me if I were sitting in my parked vehicle somewhere that I was allowed to park normally? Does there have to be probable cause? (Probable cause is probably not the right term to use here)
In NJ probably not. Probably. But really it is fact specific to each case. State v. Sweeney stated that being in the driver’s seat with the key in the ignition is enough to prove intent to drive. However, in State v. Daly in the same circumstances the driver was not found to be in control of the vehicle because he was parked for an extended period of time. In other words there is no statute which lays out specifically what rules to follow to prove you did not intend to drive. I would think that being in the passenger seat without yours keys would be enough under almost all circumstances but I am not willing to say it could never happen.
A police officer does not need probable cause to talk to you in your parked car. He can talk to anyone he wants just like you can. Circumstances may dictate whether he is allowed to go further with his investigation. The circumstances may give rise to a reasonable articulable suspicion. I think logically you can see why an occupied vehicle alone in a dark parking lot would seem suspicious. There is also the community caretaking role of the police. An unconscious person alone in a parking lot could need medical attention. I once found a dead guy in traffic at a red light with his foot on the brake so you never know.
Yes, I can see that. I ask, really, because occasionally when I get home, I stay in the car for 5-10 minutes to finish listening to something on NPR. Given that I park on the street and live a block and a half from the police station, cops drive by pretty often, so I’ve been known to wonder whether one might knock on my window one day. I expected that if that ever does come to pass, my answer of “I’m listening to the end of a program” will be sufficient to convince him or her that a. I’m not dead, and b. I’m not up to no good, but it still makes me vaguely nervous.
Just tell him you know me. We all know each other of course.
For anyone curious, the end result was a single digit fine plus court costs and a public intox charge that they’re allowing me to divert after 30 days and another $450 fee.
Single digit as in $9?
Regards,
Shodan
They took one of his fingers.
The Japanese mafia is all over southeastern Tennessee’s court system.
Note to chicagowhitesox1173: sometimes, plea deals are good ones.
Less than ten dollars, yes.