I don't get this "no guilty" on DUI charge

[rasczak]

Originally posted by: Kanalua
My brother got busted for driving while highly intoxicated (In Hawaii BAC >.015), blew a .18. He plead not guilty, and his administrative license hearing his license was not revoked, and at his legal hearings, he was given one continuance and the state was given one, and at the last hearing the state was prepared, so my brother never showed in the court room and took the bench warrant. In Hawaii they will not move you from one county/island to the next for DUI, and my brother lives on a different island. Two years and the bench warrant drops and the case is dismissed...without and the prosecutor will likely not refile...

In the OP's situation, if the state isn't prepared a couple of times, the case will be thrown out...worth a shot...

ahhhh so THIS is why you became a lawyer

all kidding aside, while it's great for your brother that's a shitty law. what happens if an individual kills someone while driving drunk?

 

[Chiropteran]

Perhaps she got drunk AFTER being pulled over, and she was never operating a vehicle while drunk. Perhaps the breathalyzer was faulty. Perhaps she was wrongfully pulled over, maybe she was driving perfectly and had no reason to be pulled over, but the racist cop pulled her over because she is white/black/whatever. Perhaps the cop is corrupt, and she blew a .01 but the cop wrote down .17

OP has no imagination.

 

[hanoverphist]

Originally posted by: OCguy
One thing I learned going through the legal system on the wrong end......


Never...ever...ever..EVER plead guilty at your arraignment.

this man speaks truth.

 

[Kirby]

Maybe she was force fed beer?

 

[Taughnter]

Originally posted by: scorpious
Text

A Phoenix police report released Tuesday shows Taurasi's blood-alcohol level was 0.17 percent, or more than twice the Arizona legal limit of 0.08 percent.

Taurasi pleaded not guilty to the DUI charges and not responsible to the speeding citation.

Now, I know that guys have done this too, so I'm not saying anything about females versus males okay?

How can she plead not guilty when her BAC was twice the legal limit? I mean, what exactly would the defense intend to prove? If she wanted to settle, wouldn't she have pleaded no contest?

And how can she be "not responsible" for the speeding citation? I never knew you could plead that in court.

Abridged version:
Most people don't plead guilty or no contest until/unless they have a plea agreement worked out. Even then, our court system has a lot of ways to "beat the system" so it is fairly normal to plead not guilty at least until discovery/evidence has been exchanged.

Long version:
Like it or not, you may have committed all of the elements of a particular crime, yet due to a variety of reasons be found not guilty in a court of law. Like it or not, that is the way our system is designed.

Our Constitution and our criminal justice system provide a number of rights to criminal defendants, generally to prevent innocents from being punished or unfairly treated. Because of this, you don't have to prove your own guilt or prove your own innocence. Pleading not guilty is usually the "smart" thing to do if there is any chance that the government (prosecutor) will have problems introducing evidence proving beyond reasonable doubt that you are guilty of said offense.

In this particular case, as I would assume is the case in most DUIs, the defendant is most likely reserving their right to challenge the evidence (which they probably haven't seen yet) which is likely to include calibration info on the breathalyzer, any issues with Miranda rights, and pretty much a whole slew of things that can make you "not guilty" whether you actually committed a crime or not.

Also, to clarify something for the OP, No Contest doesn't mean what you think it does. It means you're not contesting the charges. It's like saying, I neither admit or deny these charges. In practice, its like pleading guilty and while it generally happens when there is a guilty plea, that is only because it is part of the plea agreement. (i.e. you're agreeing to plead no contest in exchange for whatever they're offering) You don't plead no contest if you still want to negotiate.

I'm not sure what a "not responsible" plea is, if I had to guess I'd think it is either:
1. Like a no contest plea
OR
2. A claim that while they performed the alleged acts, they should not be held responsible under the law for some other unnamed reason.

Anyway, hope that clears things up.