As any experienced criminal defense attorney will tell you, there is much more to a misdemeanor trial than arguing in front of the judge and jury. Your Sacramento misdemeanor criminal attorney must begin advocating for you before the trial even begins.
Perhaps the best example for this is jury selection. During jury selection, which is also known as voir dire, your attorney will interview potential jurors in an attempt to screen out those who might be unfairly biased against you.
Voir dire is an art. Your attorney must ask potential jurors a series of questions regarding their background and their personal beliefs without coming across as invasive. Because people are often unaware of their own biases, your attorney must ask questions designed to indirectly reveal these biases. It requires your attorney to ask questions that are open ended enough so that potential jurors have a chance to articulate their opinions and the reasons behind them; yet, the questions must be specific enough that the potential jurors aren’t left wondering why the question is even relevant.
All of this is necessary because biased jurors can put innocent people in jail. Biases often lead otherwise rational people to ignore solid arguments that conflict with their beliefs. It’s easy to see how this could compromise a misdemeanor trial.
If you have been charged with a misdemeanor in the Sacramento area, you will need a dedicated Sacramento misdemeanor criminal attorney who will advocate for you during all steps of your trial. Make sure you have the right attorney on your side. Call Sacramento misdemeanor criminal attorney Param Pabla today for a free initial consultation.
After you have your initial interview with a Sacramento DUI attorney, a few things must happen before the attorney agrees to take your case. Your attorney will evaluate your case for the likelihood of trial or plea negotiation, and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the state’s case against you. The question is whether the state can prove each element of the case beyond a reasonable doubt. Your attorney will also examine the state’s evidence, including field sobriety tests, chemical evidence, witnesses, and your own prior criminal record.
The attorney will also analyze the respective strengths of your own case, including lay and expert witnesses who may testify, potential defenses available to you, and relevant case law and statutes.
The first critical element is whether the state can prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. This means that the prosecution must prove not only that you were guilty of the DUI offense you are charged with, but also that the state had probable cause to stop you based on your appearance, demeanor and driving symptoms, as well as how you reacted to the police officer once you were stopped. If you immediately pulled over to the side of the road and were cooperative in answering questions and later show that you have a good recollection of the events, it may be argued that a high blood-alcohol content reading is inconsistent with your behavior and memory.
If you have any further questions about defending a DUI charge, contact experienced Sacramento DUI attorney Param Pabla today for a free initial consultation.
Your Sacramento criminal defense attorney will make it a priority to get you out on bail as soon as he can. Not only is this important that you get out so that you can continue with your life, it can also facilitate your attorney in defending you, increasing the odds for a favorable outcome for your case.
There are many logistical reasons why your being out of jail will help your case. It makes it very difficult for your attorney to meet with you and discuss your case while you are incarcerated, as he will have to spend considerable time traveling and waiting for space in the interview room.
Furthermore, the crowded interview room is a less than ideal environment in which to meet your attorney, as the limited space in the interview room will prevent him from showing you things like video or audio recordings. There is also less table space to hold documents and the like. That’s not even going into the numerous privacy concerns that arise from having a discussion with your attorney right next other inmates and their attorneys. Though technically illegal, it has not been unheard of for other inmates to inform the DA as to what they heard you discussing with your attorney, especially in high-profile cases.
An experienced Sacramento criminal defense attorney can work around these inconveniences, and since bail is not guaranteed, having such an attorney on your side becomes all the more important. Call Sacramento criminal defense attorney Param Pabla today for a free initial consultation.
When building your defense, your Sacramento drunk driving lawyer will assess every element of your case, including your criminal history, as well as the witnesses brought forth by the state.
Any prior convictions, especially related to driving, will be carefully considered by your Sacramento DUI attorney. This is an important element of the state’s case against you. Your Sacramento DUI lawyer will determine whether or not those convictions were valid. Depending on the specifics of the situation, your Sacramento DUI lawyer might be able to stop the state from using a past conviction against you. Some aspects of prior convictions that might determine whether they can or cannot be used in the prosecution of your DUI charge include whether or not:
- It was a juvenile DUI.
- You had counsel.
- The conviction occurred a long time ago.
- The conviction was the result of a plea.
Just as it is important for your Sacramento DUI lawyer to know of any possible witnesses for your defense, he or she must also find out if the state has any witnesses who can testify supporting what the officer claims. Your Sacramento drunk driving attorney can fine out the names and contact information for those witnesses through discovery, as a list can be found on police reports. A qualified Sacramento DUI lawyer will contact and interview all witnesses as soon as possible.
A DUI is a serious charge with consequences that can have a profound effect on your life. If you have been charged with drunk driving, call Param S. Pabla at (916) 285-7900 for a free initial consultation.
An issue that continues to challenge Sacramento criminal defense attorneys is wrongful conviction. The most common cause of wrongful convictions is mistaken identification. If the prosecution heavily relies on a stranger’s account identifying you as the one who committed the crime, it could be very detrimental to your case. This is because witness identification is not always reliable. For example, some eyewitnesses can have a fuzzy recollection of the events that transpired. In one reported incident in Baltimore in 2002, an eyewitness identified a man in a photo lineup as the perpetrator. Unfortunately, the alleged perpetrator had actually been dead for over a year before the crime was committed.
Another reason that some misidentifications occur is the use of leading questions during eyewitness questioning. Leading questions can have the effect of distorting an eyewitness’ memory. In one research study conducted by University of Washington Affiliate Professor of Law, Elizabeth F. Loftus it was found that using suggestive language could affect how a witness remembered things. Asking witnesses “How fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?” led to higher estimates of speed than if the question substituting a more neutral verb like hit.
Another thing that makes witness misidentification so powerful is that it is rarely reviewable during the appeals process. This issue has been highly debated by commentators and lawyers, including Sacramento criminal defense attorneys, since the early 20th century. In recent years, the legal system is showing that it is open to new and effective remedies to witness misidentification. For example, law enforcement is becoming more amenable to adopting more reliable identification procedures. Even some courts are now allowing the defense to participate in pre-trial identification procedure discussions and allowing expert testimony that exposes potential weaknesses of eyewitness identification testimony.
If you believe you may be on the receiving end of mistaken identification, please contact dedicated Sacramento criminal defense attorney Param Pabla for a free case evaluation.
One of the main types of evidence that the state uses in DUI cases is the field sobriety test. However, field sobriety tests can be very unreliable, and if a majority of the state’s case against you depends on such a test, your Sacramento DUI attorney may be able to fight the charges.
The unreliability of field sobriety tests lies in the fact that they can be affected by external factors. Consider the police officer’s old standby, the walk-and-turn coordination test. This passing this test requires the suspect to walk in a straight line without stumbling. But what if the test was administered on a sloped shoulder of a road covered in gravel? These tests are also unreliable because the officer has nothing to compare your results to. Perhaps you are naturally uncoordinated and would have failed the test even while sober.
There are still significant problems with field sobriety tests that are based on physiological evidence of intoxication. The police officer may administer a horizontal gaze nystagmus test. Nystagmus is the medical term for the involuntary twitching of the eyeball and can in some cases suggest intoxication. However, using this test does not account for naturally occurring nystagmus, and if your eyeballs move that way even when you’re sober, it may dramatically weaken the state’s case.
If you have been charged with a DUI in Sacramento, you need an experienced Sacramento DUI attorney who can find the weaknesses in the state’s case against you. Call Sacramento DUI attorney Param Pabla today for a free consultation.
If you have been arrested, you may be wondering how the process of setting bail for your release works. A Sacramento criminal defense attorney will be able to answer your questions and try to minimize your bail.
There are several factors the court will use to determine when setting bail, such as the seriousness of the offense you are charged with and the strength of the prosecution’s case against you. The court may also consider your prior criminal history, especially whether you have a history of honoring release and probation or parole conditions. If you have strong community ties, including family ties, your attorney might use that to argue in favor of lower bail. Additionally, your employment history and financial assets will be taken into account.
The most important factor is usually the seriousness of the offense. The more heinous the crime, the more severe the likely penalties if you are convicted and the more incentive you have to flee or tamper with witnesses.
The judge will be attempting to evaluate the question of whether you can be trusted to return to court, even if you are facing a near-certain criminal conviction, refrain from further criminal activity, and refrain from contacting any witnesses.
Your Sacramento criminal defense attorney may try to argue that your crime is not that serious, that the likelihood of conviction is not as strong as the prosecution is claiming, and that you are a reliable figure with community ties.
If you have further questions about how bail is set, contact experienced Sacramento criminal defense attorney Param Pabla for a free initial consultation.
Anyone with a cellular phone can call authorities to report drunk driving. If a tipster was involved in your DUI case, your Sacramento DUI lawyer can help you respond correctly to the prosecutor.
In many cases, tipsters identify themselves, but sometimes the informant is completely anonymous. This gives the informant less credibility than those that have revealed their name. The reliability of the information provided by the tipster is the main issue, not arresting officer observations.
Police must have enough information to pursue a DUI stop. In Utah, for example, the girlfriend of a defendant called police to report a non-violent domestic dispute she was having with her boyfriend. The woman was intoxicated at the time and reported that her boyfriend had been drinking and was driving away. The girlfriend gave further information about his description, the car he was driving, and driving direction. The police officer was mistakenly told by the dispatcher that the defendant was intoxicated. A police sergeant caught up with the defendant and observed him driving slowly but not breaking any traffic laws. He was then arrested anyway by the police sergeant for driving under the influence.
The defendant’s motion to suppress was denied by the trial court, and the Court of Appeals in Utah found the tip lacking specific information about his intoxication level. Without this information, the Utah Court of Appeals could not support detaining him.
If you are facing DUI charges in Sacramento relating to a tipster, contact an experienced Sacramento DUI lawyer so that you may guarantee the best possible outcome. Sacramento DUI lawyer Param Pabla is here to help. For a free initial consultation, simply fill out the form on this page.
If you have been charged with DUI in the Sacramento Area and the prosecution has breathalyzer results to use against you, do not panic. An experienced Sacramento DUI attorney knows that breathalyzer tests are not completely reliable. If there is reason to believe that your breathalyzer results have been compromised, he will know what evidence he needs to prove that the test results were wrong.
The validity of any possibly incriminating breathalyzer evidence can be challenged several ways. Your attorney could look for evidence that suggests that the officer performed the breathalyzer test improperly. Examples of evidence that suggest this include records indicating the officer has not been trained to use the machine. The manufacturer’s manual for the machine could also be used if there are likely to be discrepancies between proper test procedure outlined therein and the officer’s account of the test.
Your attorney could also challenge the accuracy of the device itself. This could be done by checking the machine’s calibration records, as well as any accuracy checks that may have been performed on it. The device’s usage in other DUI cases may also be a factor, especially if those cases were lost by the prosecution or were thrown out.
Do not be a victim to false positives or improperly administered breathalyzer tests. If the prosecution is relying on breathalyzer results in its DUI case against you, a competent Sacramento DUI attorney can still help you fight the charges. Call today to schedule and appointment with experienced Sacramento DUI attorney Param Pabla; the initial consultation is free of charge.
If you have been arrested for driving under the influence, you may be wondering if a Sacramento DUI attorney will agree to represent you. This depends on the facts and specific circumstances of your case. In your initial interview with a Sacramento DUI attorney, the attorney will probably ask you several questions similar to the below questions. Having the answers ready will be helpful to your attorney.
- Regarding your arrest, did the police search your car? If so, did he find anything?
- Was your stop recorded, either on videotape or audiotape?
- When were you told you were under arrest, and were you read your Miranda rights? Were you handcuffed?
- Did you say anything and waive your right to remain silent, or did you stay silent? Did you request a lawyer?
- Your health at the time of your arrest may be important. Were you taking any medication at the time, and how much had you slept the last two nights? Do you have any balance issues or physical disabilities, and have you ever suffered a head injury? Do you have blood or liver disease, or diabetes? And do you have any mental health issues?
- If you were given a breath test, how many samples did you provide, and did you have any difficulty providing a clean sample? Did the operator interrupt your breathing or tell you to hold your breath before the test? On how many machines were you tested?
- Do you have an existing criminal record, including drunk driving arrests?
If you have more questions about defending a DUI charge, contact experienced Sacramento DUI attorney Param Pabla for a free initial consultation.
