OWI Third Offense - Washtenaw County
Now that we’ve made it to the Circuit Court with Jennifer’s example, the case is usually set out about a month or two after the last court date at the 14A-1 District Court. The name of the first court date is a Pretrial; there is no testimony, trial, guilt or innocence determination or anything other than somewhat of a status update on the case. Your attorney and the prosecutor handling the case have likely had some conversation about the case before court, and this court date is to bring the judge up to speed on things.
The 22nd Circuit Court feels more formal, because it is; serious felonies are handled in this building and the stakes are higher. Depending upon which judge is assigned to your case, your attorney will check-in with the court staff, and the cases are called on a first-come first-serve basis with limited exceptions. Your attorney should be motivated to be one of the first attorneys to arrive so they can garner the full attention of the prosecutor when they arrive, and have first crack at speaking to the judge.
At the Pretrial, your attorney is likely to “approach” the judge with the prosecutor and have a conference “off the record”. The conversation is quite useful to all parties as both the attorneys and the judge can speak a bit more directly about things without being part of the public record. Common topics are setting a case for trial, a motion or evidentiary hearing, requesting an adjournment or working out a sentencing agreement with the judge.
Once a case is at the felony level at the 22nd Circuit Court, a reduction down to a misdemeanor is quite rare, so a client is faced with filing motions to have the case dismissed, going to trial or pleading guilty or no-contest, but with a sentencing agreement in place. At the felony level, prison time is on the table along with a strong likelihood of jail. You and your attorney may set a goal to avoid prison time or jail, and be granted probation. This off the record conversation can test those waters with the judge, and possibly gain an agreement with the judge and prosecutor on the sentence. It’s also for an opportunity for Jennifer’s attorney to tell the prosecutor and the judge about her progress on the proactive program she started weeks or months ago.
Depending upon the charge, the client’s criminal history and the judge, the case can now go in a number of directions. Here are the different directions:
Option #1 - After an extensive review of the evidence and the options in the case, Jennifer decides she wants to avoid a lengthy prison or jail sentence, and her attorney at this first Pretrial works out a sentencing agreement with the judge. From here, the judge would take Jennifer’s plea of guilty or no-contest, and the case would be set for Sentencing in about four to six weeks. The client will be interviewed by probation before Sentencing and Jennifer’s final court appearance would be her next appearance.
Option #2 - Progress is made at the first Pretrial, but there are additional issues to sort out, and an adjournment is sought where all parties agree to come back a few weeks later. The next court date will also be called a Pretrial.
Option #3 - Either after one or multiple Pretrial conferences, a case can be set for a Motion Hearing where the parties will submit motions and briefs to the Court for review of various issues. A common motion to file would be a Motion to Suppress Evidence, where Jennifer’s attorney has identified an issue in the case where a good argument can be made that some evidence was illegally seized and the judge could suppress the evidence, which could lead to a dismissal of the entire case. Sometimes a judge will determine that not only a motion needs to be filed, but testimony needs to be heard by the court with an Evidentiary Hearing
Option #4 - Assuming that Jennifer has not resolved her case with Option #1, and she never elected Option #3 or the case was not dismissed after exploring that option, Jennifer is now faced with electing to go to trial on the charges. In Michigan, Jennifer is entitled to a bench or jury trial on the charges. She will either be found guilty or not guilty at trial. If there are more than one charge, you can be found guilty or not-guilty on some or all of the charges. If found not-guilty on all charges, the case is over; if found guilty on at least one charge, the case will be sent for Sentencing where the judge will determine the sentence. For felonies in Michigan, this could be prison, jail, probation, a mix of these or none at all.
Now that we’ve made it to the Circuit Court with Jennifer’s example, the case is usually set out about a month or two after the last court date at the 14A-1 District Court. The name of the first court date is a Pretrial; there is no testimony, trial, guilt or innocence determination or anything other than somewhat of a status update on the case. Your attorney and the prosecutor handling the case have likely had some conversation about the case before court, and this court date is to bring the judge up to speed on things.
The 22nd Circuit Court feels more formal, because it is; serious felonies are handled in this building and the stakes are higher. Depending upon which judge is assigned to your case, your attorney will check-in with the court staff, and the cases are called on a first-come first-serve basis with limited exceptions. Your attorney should be motivated to be one of the first attorneys to arrive so they can garner the full attention of the prosecutor when they arrive, and have first crack at speaking to the judge.
At the Pretrial, your attorney is likely to “approach” the judge with the prosecutor and have a conference “off the record”. The conversation is quite useful to all parties as both the attorneys and the judge can speak a bit more directly about things without being part of the public record. Common topics are setting a case for trial, a motion or evidentiary hearing, requesting an adjournment or working out a sentencing agreement with the judge.
Once a case is at the felony level at the 22nd Circuit Court, a reduction down to a misdemeanor is quite rare, so a client is faced with filing motions to have the case dismissed, going to trial or pleading guilty or no-contest, but with a sentencing agreement in place. At the felony level, prison time is on the table along with a strong likelihood of jail. You and your attorney may set a goal to avoid prison time or jail, and be granted probation. This off the record conversation can test those waters with the judge, and possibly gain an agreement with the judge and prosecutor on the sentence. It’s also for an opportunity for Jennifer’s attorney to tell the prosecutor and the judge about her progress on the proactive program she started weeks or months ago.
Depending upon the charge, the client’s criminal history and the judge, the case can now go in a number of directions. Here are the different directions:
Option #1 - After an extensive review of the evidence and the options in the case, Jennifer decides she wants to avoid a lengthy prison or jail sentence, and her attorney at this first Pretrial works out a sentencing agreement with the judge. From here, the judge would take Jennifer’s plea of guilty or no-contest, and the case would be set for Sentencing in about four to six weeks. The client will be interviewed by probation before Sentencing and Jennifer’s final court appearance would be her next appearance.
Option #2 - Progress is made at the first Pretrial, but there are additional issues to sort out, and an adjournment is sought where all parties agree to come back a few weeks later. The next court date will also be called a Pretrial.
Option #3 - Either after one or multiple Pretrial conferences, a case can be set for a Motion Hearing where the parties will submit motions and briefs to the Court for review of various issues. A common motion to file would be a Motion to Suppress Evidence, where Jennifer’s attorney has identified an issue in the case where a good argument can be made that some evidence was illegally seized and the judge could suppress the evidence, which could lead to a dismissal of the entire case. Sometimes a judge will determine that not only a motion needs to be filed, but testimony needs to be heard by the court with an Evidentiary Hearing
Option #4 - Assuming that Jennifer has not resolved her case with Option #1, and she never elected Option #3 or the case was not dismissed after exploring that option, Jennifer is now faced with electing to go to trial on the charges. In Michigan, Jennifer is entitled to a bench or jury trial on the charges. She will either be found guilty or not guilty at trial. If there are more than one charge, you can be found guilty or not-guilty on some or all of the charges. If found not-guilty on all charges, the case is over; if found guilty on at least one charge, the case will be sent for Sentencing where the judge will determine the sentence. For felonies in Michigan, this could be prison, jail, probation, a mix of these or none at all.
