There a funny thing about DUI charges – they are great to litigate, to take to trial, because so much of the case is subjective. Was there sway or no sway? Was the speech slurred? How did the information you have get you to the conclusion that the person was too drunk to drive a vehicle (which is the ultimate decision to be made in a DUI case)? But the thing that makes them great to litigate also makes them difficult to litigate – putting clients in the proverbial rock and hard place.

I’m a Salt Lake City DUI attorney. While I do handle other criminal and traffic matters, the majority of my practice is focused on defending people accused of DUI. That’s how I know about the sticky situation they are in, and I’ll give you a little bit of background so you understand too.

The typical DUI case goes like this. First, obviously, is the arrest. Once the arrest happens a person is charged. After the person is charged there are a couple of hearings set, typically 30 days out, to give the DUI attorney time to investigate the allegations and to give time for plea bargaining to happen (try to resolve the case without a trial). At some point the prosecutor, the person trying to put the person accused of DUI in jail, is going to say “this is out best and final offer, take it or go to trial.” And that’s where the rock and hard place start.

The rock and hard place are simple – there are people out there charged with DUI that may not actually be guilty. They may not be guilty because the case can’t be proven. They may be not guilty because they were actually driving sober. There are many different reasons they might win at trial.

What often happens though, is the prosecutor give an offer that is nearly too good to pass up. See, the thing about the offer is, it’s concrete, you know what it is. You pretty much know what you are looking at as far as punishment (or lack thereof). That can be hard to turn down even if you actually believe you are not guilty. And at the end of the day I, as a Salt Lake City DUI lawyer, can’t tell you what to do. You’ve got to decide for yourself.

I just finished up a case where this exact thing happened. My client was under .08, but had some other things going against him. The offer to resolve the case was basically a slap on the wrist, but the guy didn’t think he did it. All I could tell him was you never know what’s going to happen with a jury, even though I told him I thought the case was a good one and I’d love to crush the prosecutor on a case like this. He ended up making his decision, and we’ll never know if it was the right one or not.

There you have it, the rock and the hard place of a DUI case. I hope you never find yourself there, but if you do, make sure you’ve got someone by your side that you trust.