what will happen if my wife shows up to court without a lawyer?
Sep.24, 2008 in
DUI Law & Ethics
glu125 asked:
my wife recently got a dui. she missed her first court date. the second court date, the judge instructed her to get lawyer and show up two weeks later which is in a couple days. she is a raging alcoholic, and i am concerned about her withdrawls if she is taken to jail.
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my wife recently got a dui. she missed her first court date. the second court date, the judge instructed her to get lawyer and show up two weeks later which is in a couple days. she is a raging alcoholic, and i am concerned about her withdrawls if she is taken to jail.
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September 24th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
IF YOU ARE THAT CONCERN DO WHAT THE JUDGE HAS ASK. AND GET A LAWYER. WHILE SHE IS IN JAIL MAYBE YOU CAN FIND A CLASS ON HOW TO BE A GOOD AND SUPPORTIVE MATE
September 28th, 2008 at 1:15 am
go back to court and tell the judge you need a court appointed lawyer; you can’t afford one. by law they have to appoint her one. the judge will call for another hearing where she will be told who her lawyer is. after that another court date will be set for trial. get her to AA meetings without the court saying she has to go. if you do it will look a lot better on you in court!!!
October 1st, 2008 at 2:39 am
You need to get her a lawyer NOW! A lawyer can get her a deal where she’ll be able to go to rehab and AA and complete probation in exchange for the charges being dropped.
October 2nd, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Most court’s will not put up with lack of respect most likely she will go to jail for contempt of court,,
October 4th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Your question has several parts to it.
First of all, your wife is lucky she was given a second appearance, and not arrested on a warrant for not appearing the first time.
Next: when the judge instructed her to “get lawyer”, he (by law) also instructed her that, if she was unable to afford one, that one would be appointed for her by the court (a public defender). This is standard procedure in every court, everywhere, every case. Your wife needs to keep her court date, and when she is in front of the judge, tell the judge she needs a public defender. The court has to appoint one for her. She should actually call the District Attorney’s office BEFORE her court date to request one, but, if she doesn’t, she cannot get into trouble for coming into court without one. Besides, even WITH an attorney, there really isn’t much of a defense against a DUI. Even a great lawyer cannot erase evidence that a person was driving illegally under impairment. She could have killed somebody, or herself. Thank God she didn’t. A DUI is a walk in the park compared to vehicular homicide.
Last, and possibly most important: if your wife is taken to jail, the withdrawal she goes through from lack of alcohol will be miserable for her (and her cellmates), but, may be the first step on a road to recovery for her. If necessary, she will be hospitalized, and the court will order her into a treatment program and/or a detox. While I can understand that you don’t want her to suffer, you must realize that she is already in hell and this series of events may be a blessing in disguise. Based on your comments, I would advise you to go to AlAnon. You need help and support, too. Good luck to you both.
October 6th, 2008 at 10:00 am
The short answer is that judge will find her in contempt, have her arrested and send her to jail.
And yes, if your wife advises the court that she needs a court appointed attorney they will provide one; but that’s only if you can’t afford one.