Boulder County Colorado DUI Pre-Trial Conferences

Are You Facing A DUI Charge And You Don't Know What To Do?

We're Attorney's Jim Forslund and Gary Pareja, and we help people just like you who have been arrested for DUI. In fact, almost all of legal work we do concerns DUI.

Let us give you some advice about your case.

It is not a good idea to go to Court alone. Any thing you say to the District Attorney or the Court can be used against you.

On the other hand, If you have an attorney, the Court and the DA cannot talk to you without your attorney present. In addition, anything your attorney says cannot be used against you. And anything you tell your attorney is protected by the attorney client privelige.

If you have an attorney and you are not under bond, your first experience with the justice system is the pretrial conference. The goals of the pre-trial conference are the same in all of the metropolitan county courts, but there are differences in the way they are conducted.

In this first stage the first goal is to determine if the case can be settled without a trial and on what terms. A second goal is to determine what steps should be taken if the matter is set for trial.

Here are matters that are taken into consideration in all jurisdictions, by the prosecutor when making a plea bargain offer:

1. Prior alcohol offenses, including MIP.
2. Overall driving record.
3. The reason you were stopped.
4. Any accident involved, injury.
5. How high your BAC was or if you refused.
6. Your interaction with the police officers.
7. If your attorney can show proof problems.

But there are also different policies in the various District Attorney's offices that apply to DUI cases.

These are the important things that you need to know.

Boulder county is unique in that the court is not involved at the pre-trial conference, other than setting the date. Pretrial conferences are scehduled throughout the day. Only your attorney need appear to discuss the case with the prosecutor. After the meeting the case is either resceduled for a dispostion or a trial status conference when you appear with your attorney. There are four judges in Boulder and one judge in Longmont.

A not guilty plea is considered to be entered as of the date of the arraignment. The trial must be held within six months.

If you enter a guilty plea to an alcohol offense, you will be referred to an alcohol evaluation and public service. The fine is due at this time if you do not have priors and were not over .20. Payments can be arranged on the fine. Otherwise the judge may have you come back to court after the evaluation.

In-home detention is sometimes ordered if you have a second or were over .20; jail with work release on a third, straight time on a fourth or higher. Some of the judges do jail on a second offense. Finally, it is often possible to get low BACs reduced to a non-alcohol charge with alcohol classes and or public service. Refusals are often reduced to DWAI.

For more information see DUI in Colorado.

To contact us, please call at 303-332-3602.

P.S. Your first conference with me is free, and there is no further obligation.