DUI Attorney Seattle | Bench Trial or Jury Trial?

So you have been accused of a misdemeanor. Perhaps a DUI, perhaps an stabbing, maybe a robbery. And the prosecutor isn't giving you anything you feel at ease accepting as a plea bargain. Your Seattle DUI attorney informs you the only alternative, if you don't care for the offer, is a trial.

You're all right with that, but are slightly hesitant on the subject of the particulars. In particular, you aren't positive if you should demand a jury trial or demand a bench trial. Your Seattle DUI lawyer is promoting a jury trial, however you simply do not know if you can depend on a bunch of people you don't know to make the appropriate choice.

Picking between a jury trial or a bench trial (where the judge makes the conclusion of your guilt or innocence) can at times be challenging (especially if you have just started a law firm). Let's look at a duo of scenarios that may need you to go one way or another.

To begin with, the jury trial. You like jury trials because jurors usually are not as worn-out as judges (they've heard a great number of excuses over the years and start to stop trying to ascertain the difference). They try rigorously to do the accurate thing and will usually grant you at least a fighting probability. However they can be unpredictable as well.

You regularly desire a jury trial when the case is pretty questionable, when you have various inconsistencies in the evidence that just don't make sense, and when you need the fact finder to give you the benefit of the doubt. Juries are capable of doing this. With judges it's slightly more hard.

Next, the bench trial. You commonly like to have these when you hold a especially technical defense, the details of the case are really unpleasant (the jury will virtually be certain to be against you from the start), or you are going to base your defense on a legal topic that you think the judge will value better than a jury. This too is a crap shoot, as judges, although not unpredictable, have a propensity to slant toward the prosecution.

In the end, the choice to go jury trial or bench trial should maybe be made by your Seattle DUI attorney. They have the knowledge to know which one to use, and they comprehend the intricacy of the judgment. No matter which you choose, though, it's doubtless going to be an uphill war. Good luck!