Michigan Drunk Driving Charging Mistakes

The number five most successful defense in a drunk driving case are mistakes made in the charging documents.  Now with a drunk driving case, if it’s a misdemeanor, the case will typically be started by the issuants of a citation or traffic ticket.  It’s particularly true if it’s a first offense.  If it’s a Super Drunk or if it’s a second offense drunk driving, or if it’s felony drunk driving, then the prosecuting attorney’s office may issue a complaint and warrant.  But in either instance, whether it be a citation or a complaint warrant, it will be important for you to scrutinize those documents for errors on the part of the prosecutor.

Most of the errors that you may see are not going to be enough to actually have a significant impact on your client’s case.  For example, if there’s a simple mistake made with regard with your client’s address, or if you client’s name is spelled incorrectly, or if there’s a simple sort of a clerical error in that regard, those types of mistakes are largely inconsequential.  The ones that you’d want to pay attention to, is whether or not the police officer, or the prosecuting attorney who’s issued the warrant and a complaint, has made a mistake in describing the actual crime that’s being charged.

For example you’ll see a police officer who will write the wrong public code on the ticket itself.  Or the prosecuting attorney will write OWI but won’t describe whether its OUIL or UBAL, or will simply say which I see on a fairly regular basis, just UBAL, because they are relying primarily on the breath or blood test and the OUIL theory is not listed.  Those types of defects can have a significant impact.  The question will be, “What do you want to do about it?”  because if you disclose it to the judge and to the prosecutor early on, then the judge will almost inevitably give the prosecutor an opportunity to amend the documents and correct them, and then where have you gotten for your client, nowhere. 

If you wait for the day of trial and the first witness has been sworn for a non-jury trial or in a jury trial the first witness has been sworn, if there’s a defect in the charging document at that point jeopardy is attached and you may be able to use that as a basis upon which to get your client’s case dismissed.  Why?  Because its essentially a basic due process issue.  The charging documents are what put your client on notice as to what the crime is that’s being alleged.  If they failed in their duty to properly disclose your client, it’s a due process violation, which can lead the dismissal of the charge.

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