The Watchdog’s Guide to Fighting a DUI Charge

First and foremost, if you decide to follow the guide below, be sure that alert your local news reporters of how you intend on defending yourself. And make sure that you get an agreement from at least one local reporter to attend. This will not sit well with the Judge if he/she knows who the reporter is.

Now, I’m sure that there are many of you out there that have been charged, arrested and convicted of Driving Under the Influence (DUI) or may well be in the future.

Eventually you’ll be required to appear before a Judge or a Justice of the Peace who will then decide what punishment he or she will foist upon you.

For the purposes of this guide, we will use the case of a Judge John Connor of Columbus, Ohio, who was arrested/convicted multiple times (at least 5) on DUI charges. Despite this sordid record, none of the judges who presided over his cases ever sentenced him to any jail time. He merely paid a fine and that was it.

Here are a few tips that you may want to consider when you are given the opportunity speak to the judge in pleading your case for leniency.

• Don’t forget to address the judge by saying “Your Honor”
• You follow that with saying, “With all due respect” (no murmuring or smirking)
• You then say, “Even though I’m guilty, Your Honor. I would like to put forth an argument if you will for your consideration as to the punishment you will determine is appropriate under the following circumstances.”
• And again, you say, “With all due respect,” I would now like to offer what I believe to be mitigating circumstances.”
• You then say, “It is my sincerest request that this court hold me to a lower standard of conduct regarding punishment than what has been handed down to Judge (fill in the blank) who merely received a fine and no jail time when he/she was found guilty of Driving Under the Influence.”

At this time, the Judge may well display a little frustration at your comments or in a worse case scenario might just scold you and threaten to find you in contempt of court. If he/she so acts, then you should respond as follows.

“Your Honor, I’m sure that you are aware and wholeheartedly agree Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy of the Ohio Supreme Court who has repeatedly opined that Judges are held to a higher standard of conduct.”

If he/she disagrees with this premise, then you would say, “With all due Respect, Your Honor, are you suggesting that I should be held to a higher standard of conduct then Judge John O’Connor who was convicted of at least 4 DUI’s and never spent a day in Jail?”

At this stage, you’ll just have to wait for the judge’s comments, but if the judge sentences you to any jail time, then you must respond by saying, “Your Honor, I am sincerely disappointed to learn that you believe that I must be held to a higher standard of conduct then Judge John O’Connor.”

And lastly, what kind of story would a reporter be able to write if a Judge determined that a normal working stiff should be held to a higher standard of conduct then a Serial Drunken Jurist?