Cyber Law 

What Happens After You Plead Guilty to A DWI

Have you been charged with a DWI? If so, you may want to hire an attorney, like those at Reid Goodwin, P.C., right away. If your blood alcohol level was over .08 or close to .20, your chances of being found innocent are slim. When you get arrested the most important thing is to remain silent. After all, that is your right once the police officer does what is called Mirandizing you.

If you have the feeling that you are going to be convicted, you may decide to plead guilty. What happens once you do? This article will explain what you can expect.

Pleading Guilty to A DWI Charge

Pleading guilty does a number of things. Yes, it admits your guilt but at the same time, in a legal sense, it helps you avoid having to incur the legal costs associated with fighting the charges that you have been convicted with. You will want to get a local attorney or get a DWI attorney in Little Egg, NJ because, in the event your BAC was not that high, pleading guilty may not be in your best interest.

If, however, you have a high BAC or your attorney advises you to plead, you can expect a few things to happen. First, either your attorney will hand you a form or the bailiff will. The bailiff will hand you this important form if your attorney has not yet been assigned your case or you do not yet have an attorney. The form states that you waive your constitutional rights.

In this instance, you will be signing off to the fact that you have a right to remain silent. You also state that you will not be able to cross-examine witnesses and have a right to a trial by jury.  The form also contains some of the punishments that you may face along with the consequences of those punishments.

The judge reads this form to you in an open court. This court dialog does not get put on the record but it does get noted. This way you cannot return to court and challenge your conviction based upon your lack of knowledge of what you were signing.  The judge reads it to you so that you do understand what the form entails. This is another reason you should have a competent DWI attorney there with you as you sign it. Keep in mind, you do not want a construction site accident attorney as they do not know the DWI laws the way a dedicated DWI attorney does.

Pleading guilty means you become convicted of the DWI.  This is the same thing as a jury finding a defendant guilty in a trial. Once the conviction is on the record, you cannot withdraw your plea of guilt. If you do not have an attorney with you, the prosecutor could make things very difficult for you by pressuring you into admitting ways in which you were at fault. They may force you to enter the guilty plea when, if you have an attorney with you, you would be less likely to do so unless you are sure the facts of the case point to your guilt.

Consult with a DWI attorney if you are ever in this situation. You can be sure that your plea is the best plea to make.

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