Step 1: Investigation- Our attorneys will order any relevant bodycam and/or dash camera footage, 911 calls, medical records, and any other significant documents or pieces of evidence that will play a role in our defense strategy for your case.
Step 2: Status Dates- In most counties in East Tennessee, your first (and many times multiple) court dates after the arraignment are known as status dates (or other than trial dates). These dates provide us with the opportunity to negotiate with the prosecutor assigned to your case, convince them to watch (or rewatch) the body camera footage (or specific portions of the video), explain your side of the story of what happened on the night of your arrest, discuss any illegal seizure or arrest issues, and discuss any other suppression issues that will affect what evidence will likely be admissible to be used against you at trial.
Basically, these dates provide us with the opportunity to negotiate with the prosecutor and convince the prosecutor that your case is not as strong as the police officer's affidavit of complaint makes them believe. It also provides us the opportunity to discredit the officer's credibility by showing where he overstated things in the affidavit or a warrant simply to make probable cause.
Legal issues such as an illegal arrest, illegal breath or blood draw, or illegal seizure provide us with leverage because it is a way, we can potentially get the case dismissed or prevent a significant piece of the State's evidence from being introduced at trial. Thus, by our lawyers understanding the nuances of DUI law, we can create leverage to negotiate for the best possible resolution on your behalf.
Step 3: Preliminary Hearings- Most DUI cases get resolved through negotiations prior to a preliminary hearing date. However, we routinely have preliminary hearings for a variety of reasons. Sometimes we have a preliminary hearing to get a case dismissed where we believe the officer lacked probable cause for an arrest or we have a strong illegal suppression issue that a general session judge may agree with us on. Other times, we use a preliminary hearing to get the officer's sworn testimony to know what his testimony will be at trial, discredit the officer's credibility based on either overstatement in the affidavit of complaint or a warrant, or the officer's lack of recall of your arrest from the passage of time and lack of evidence against you, or to get the sworn testimony for a motion in criminal court.