Obtaining Discovery for Your DUI Case

An Entire Team of DUI Attorneys in Bakersfield

Criminal defense cases may be likened to a sports contest in the way that two sides are competing for high stakes, but they are dissimilar in the way that you may access the information or “plays” the opposition intends to use against you during trial. This is a process known as discovery, and although it is generally reserved for more severe criminal violations, such as a violent crime or a drug crime, it may be used for your driving under the influence (DUI) charges.

While you might not be privy for everything, anything you can discover can be incredibly useful. It all relies on how you go about obtaining that information, and if you do it in a timely manner. At Campbell Whitten, you can retain our Bakersfield DUI attorneys to handle this tricky yet crucial aspect of your DUI defense on your behalf.

Requesting Discovery and Reacting to the Opposition

Even though you have a right to see some or all of the information the opposition is going to use as evidence against you in your case, the law enforcement agency that arrested you is unlikely going to make this easy for you. Due to its rarity in traffic-related citations and DUI arrests, it could be possible that they are not even aware of your right to discovery. Regardless of what they know, you need to know what to do to get that information, and get it soon.

If you are given copies of all the pertinent information for your case, you have successfully used discovery methods. If your request is ignored, you must continue pressing forward, take the matter to court, and file a pretrial motion of discovery. Bring your original statement given to the police and the prosecution to show the judge as evidence that your original request was denied or ignored. If you still have not been granted discovery of the prosecution’s evidence by the time the trial begins, you can move for a dismissal of the case due to a denial of your rights and unreasonableness of the opposition.

Using the Information Provided

In an ideal situation, you will get the officer’s notes and any relevant data as soon as possible in your case. Once you obtain it, what do you do with it? Law enforcement officials need to write a lot of information down in just a short amount of time, so the notes are probably heavy with jargon, abbreviations, and even scrawled diagrams. For someone who is unfamiliar with how the police operate, the notes can cause more headaches than relief.

Allow our DUI attorneys in Bakersfield to come to your aid. Not only can we help you obtain the evidence through discovery, we can use our knowledge of the law and police procedures to use the information to your advantage.