Virginia DUI Arraignments  

A DUI attorney can explain Virginia DUI arraignments. An arraignment is an opportunity for a court to advise the person of the charges against them. Between a person’s arrest and their arraignment, the court will receive all the paperwork associated with the case from the officer and from the magistrate who issued the warrant. Once they receive that paperwork, they will create a file and a case number and that case number will be that person’s case number throughout the duration of that person’s experience in the court system. When a person is arraigned on their case, the court will have their file in front of it and will proceed according to whatever is in that file.

The role of the attorney during an arraignment is to get the hearing waived if the attorney is hired ahead of time. A qualified attorney can file documents with the court indicating that they are coming to represent that person on their trial date and therefore the arraignment process is no longer considered necessary. Contact one today.

Arraignment Process

During a Virginia DUI arraignment, the court will advise a person regarding what it is that they are charged with, the right to an attorney and or a court-appointed attorney, and the date of the trial. In some jurisdictions, a person does not have to appear at arraignment if that person has hired an attorney ahead of time and that attorney has submitted paperwork to the court letting them know that is the attorney will relay the relevant information to the individual. In this case, the arraignment would be waived. A person should check with their lawyer to make sure that the arraignment is waived or can be waived prior to not showing up for it.

Setting a High Bail

Virginia judges almost never set bail during a DUI arraignment. If a person remains in jail and is arraigned from jail, the court will simply advise the person that their lawyer can file a bond motion. Because arraignments are generally not adversarial, which means that the prosecutor is usually not even in the room, the court wants to give the prosecutor an opportunity to respond to any requests for the bond. Therefore bond is usually not addressed at the arraignment of a person’s case.

Plea Deals

They do not take pleas at arraignments for DUIs in Virginia. In Virginia, the arraignment process is not a true arraignment. True arraignments occur when the court advises a person of the charges and asks them to enter a plea, but that is not what happens at the initial appearance for DUI cases in Virginia.

Expert Witnesses

There is a nationwide standard in terms of what constitutes an expert witness. A case that tends to come up very often when talking about what constitutes an expert witness is called the Daubert case. The Daubert criteria are many, but they include the person’s expertise in that particular field, their level and frequency of training in that field, whether or not they have previously been certified as an expert witness in that field, whether they have published any materials or trained other people in that field, and more. It is a designation that is not taken lightly by the court. Contact a professional attorney if you have more questions about a Virginia DUI arraignment.