Inside a DUI Jury Trial

Navigating a DUI Jury Trial in California: A Comprehensive Overview

Under the United States and California Constitutions, defendants have the right to a jury trial in a criminal case. As a practical matter, DUIs, like most cases in the California criminal justice system, rarely proceed to a jury trial and are resolved through negotiation of a plea bargain, or dismissal of the case following a successful motion. 

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This article provides a detailed look into the various aspects of a DUI jury trial, including the request process, trial procedures, and strategic elements crucial for both defense and prosecution.

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The Structure and Procedure of a DUI Jury Trial

Timing when setting your case for a Jury Trial:

If you decide that you wish to proceed to a Jury Trial, you have to decide when you would like the Jury Trial to occur.  You have the right to a speedy trial guaranteed by the Constitution, and in California, that means for a misdemeanor charge, your trial must be set within 30 or 45 days of your arraignment or when you set the case for a Jury Trial.  If you want a jury trial beyond that timeframe, then the court will require you, the accused, to agree to waive your right to a speedy jury trial.  The prosecutor also has that right, and must also waive that right.  In some courts, if you do not set your jury trial within the required period of time, your case may be postponed repeatedly prior to actually conducting the jury trial if there are not enough courtrooms available to conduct your jury trial.  

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If you do not waive time, then your jury trial must commence within 30 days, or the case against you must be dismissed.

Picking a Jury: 

A DUI jury trial in California begins with Voir Dire (this is a french phrase that means “speak the truth”) a process in which the judge, defense attorney, and prosecutor interview potential jurors to determine whether they are competent to serve as a jury in this particular case.  The goal of voir dire is to uncover any bias or prejudice that a potential juror may have that will make them unfair to one side or the other.  The goal for the court and both sides is to find jurors who will listen to the evidence and apply the law to the evidence, and render a true verdict.  Sometimes a juror may not be fair to one side or the other based on a previous experience that may make them biased for or against one side of the case.  In a DUI case, this may be a person who grew up with an alcoholic parent, and they do not believe that anyone should drink alcohol.  That person may not be a fair juror to someone who is accused of drinking and driving a motor vehicle.  During voir dire, the court, and each attorney will ask the potential jurors questions to flesh out any bias they may have.  Ultimately, the goal is to find 12 unbiased jurors who will listen to the evidence and render a verdict in the case.  Given that life is uncertain, the Court may also seat some alternative jurors, so if a juror cannot continue to serve due to an unexpected circumstance, then an alternate juror can be seated on the jury.  

Challenges

During voir dire, attorneys from either side can ask the court to excuse a juror from selection through a challenge. Challenges fall into two categories: for cause and peremptory.

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If an attorney feels the need to remove a juror, and makes a challenge for cause, they must explain their reasoning. Examples of for cause challenges include things like prior convictions or some sort of involvement or interest in the case, or obvious bias favoring one side over the other.

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If an attorney wants to remove a juror but does not have sufficient reasoning, or does not want to provide a reason, they can make a peremptory challenge. The state of California limits peremptory challenges to ten per side in most criminal cases. Each side can excuse up to 10 jurors without stating a reason, but the reason cannot be based on a protected characteristic of the juror (race, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, etc.)

Opening Statements:

After jury selection is complete, the prosecution and defense present their initial arguments, known as opening statements. These statements serve to frame the case and provide the jury with an overview of what to expect. The prosecution and defense will outline their respective positions, though they cannot introduce evidence at this stage. The defense counsel is allowed to reserve the opening statement until after the prosecutor has presented their case.  This is a strategic decision, and is pretty rare, unless the defense has a secret defense.

Trial begins

Following the opening statements, the trial proceeds to the presentation of evidence. The prosecution bears the burden of proof beyond reasonable doubt and presents evidence first, including witness testimony, expert opinions, and physical evidence related to the DUI charge. The defendant’s attorney will be able to challenge the admissibility of the evidence, and cross examine the witnesses called by the prosecutor. Once the prosecutor rests his case or tells the court that they have no additional evidence to present, then the defense can present their own case.  They may want to put on witnesses who witnessed the incident, or an expert who has reviewed the evidence and maybe reached a different conclusion.  The prosecutor will be able to cross examine any witnesses called by the defense.  

Trial ends:

At the end of the trial, the Court will read the jury instructions to the jurors.  This is the law that the jurors need to apply to the facts that have been presented to them.  The jury instructions will include a description of the elements of the crime(s) charged, and what elements must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.  

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Either before or after the jurors are instructed, each side will be allowed to make a closing argument.  The prosecutor starts by giving their closing argument.  They will generally argue to the jurors that they have proven every element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt, and as jurors you should find the defendant guilty of the charge(s).  The defense closing argument will generally focus on the elements of the crime that have not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt or that were not proven at all, or the evidence that has been presented is not reliable, and therefore the jurors should find the people have not met the high burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, and the jurors should find the defendant Not Guilty.

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Because the prosecutor has the burden of proving the case beyond a reasonable doubt, the prosecutor is allowed to argue again, and respond to the arguments made by the defense counsel.  

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Then the jurors go into the jury room, pick a foreperson. Review and discuss the evidence and the law, and attempt to reach a unanimous verdict.

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Strategic Considerations in DUI Trials

If the jury finds the defendant not guilty, then they will have no criminal record of a conviction related to the offense. However, if a defendant is convicted of a DUI following a jury trial, the judge will decide what the appropriate sentence should be after hearing all of the evidence.  The sentence issued by the judge may be higher or lower than what was offered as a plea bargain prior to the jury trial.   This is an unfortunate risk of exercising the constitutional right to a jury trial. For this reason, many clients will decide to plead guilty or “no contest” to the charges in order to have a specific sentence guaranteed, even when they believe they are not guilty. Some considerations are whether there is a question of fact for the jury to decide–issues like time of driving or whether the defendant drove at all.  An experienced trial attorney is in the best position to advise a client about the strengths and weaknesses in the prosecution’s case, to help in making this important decision. 

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Another result of a jury trial may be a hung jury. This happens after the entire case is presented to the jury, and the jurors deliberate and try to reach a verdict, but are unable to reach a unanimous verdict in the case.  (for example, five jurors do not believe that the prosecutor has proven the case beyond a reasonable doubt, and seven jurors believe that the prosecutor has proven the case).  If the jurors are hopelessly deadlocked and no additional evidence or time will change that, then the court will declare a mistrial, and the prosecutor will have to decide if they want to proceed to another jury trial and try to get a guilty verdict with a different jury.  There is nothing stopping the prosecutor from trying a case repeatedly until the jurors are unanimous in their verdict (either Guilty or Not Guilty).