Is my buddy going to jail???
Discussion
A friend of mine (female) made a silly mistake a few months ago and decided to drive home after a skinful. It's a Small village and the kind of road you would not normally see any one else at night but that is obviously no defense.
Long story short, someone reported her and the police went to her house where upon her son let them in and they got her out of bed and arrested her.
She was recorded as being three times over. First time offence.
She is a working mum and currently commutes about 25 miles cross country. A ban is obviously on the cards , which is going to be a massive inconvenience , given the rural location but does anybody think that any judge might give her a custodial sentence?
She does have a lawyer but from what I am hearing he doesn't seem to be offering much in the way of advice apart from plead guilty or you may go to jail.
I keep thinking that the only witness would not actually be able to pick her out of a line up, so there really isn't much of a case but she is not denying it.
Should a decent lawyer try and defend the case, or just roll over to avoid the possible prison outcome if found guilty?
Long story short, someone reported her and the police went to her house where upon her son let them in and they got her out of bed and arrested her.
She was recorded as being three times over. First time offence.
She is a working mum and currently commutes about 25 miles cross country. A ban is obviously on the cards , which is going to be a massive inconvenience , given the rural location but does anybody think that any judge might give her a custodial sentence?
She does have a lawyer but from what I am hearing he doesn't seem to be offering much in the way of advice apart from plead guilty or you may go to jail.
I keep thinking that the only witness would not actually be able to pick her out of a line up, so there really isn't much of a case but she is not denying it.
Should a decent lawyer try and defend the case, or just roll over to avoid the possible prison outcome if found guilty?
Shuvi McTupya said:
A friend of mine (female) made a silly mistake a few months ago and decided to drive home after a skinful. It's a Small village and the kind of road you would not normally see any one else at night but that is obviously no defense.
Long story short, someone reported her and the police went to her house where upon her son let them in and they got her out of bed and arrested her.
She was recorded as being three times over. First time offence.
She is a working mum and currently commutes about 25 miles cross country. A ban is obviously on the cards , which is going to be a massive inconvenience , given the rural location but does anybody think that any judge might give her a custodial sentence?
She does have a lawyer but from what I am hearing he doesn't seem to be offering much in the way of advice apart from plead guilty or you may go to jail.
I keep thinking that the only witness would not actually be able to pick her out of a line up, so there really isn't much of a case but she is not denying it.
Should a decent lawyer try and defend the case, or just roll over to avoid the possible prison outcome if found guilty?
Lives in Midsomer does she ?Long story short, someone reported her and the police went to her house where upon her son let them in and they got her out of bed and arrested her.
She was recorded as being three times over. First time offence.
She is a working mum and currently commutes about 25 miles cross country. A ban is obviously on the cards , which is going to be a massive inconvenience , given the rural location but does anybody think that any judge might give her a custodial sentence?
She does have a lawyer but from what I am hearing he doesn't seem to be offering much in the way of advice apart from plead guilty or you may go to jail.
I keep thinking that the only witness would not actually be able to pick her out of a line up, so there really isn't much of a case but she is not denying it.
Should a decent lawyer try and defend the case, or just roll over to avoid the possible prison outcome if found guilty?
In which case she got off lightly
Vanishingly small chance unless there were any seriously aggravating circumstances.
Oh, and get her to change her lawyer, sounds like a right knob
I fact why does she even need a lawyer for this, as it seems she has no defence, then she can do just as good a job at pleading guilty and save the money for the not inconsiderable fine that's coming her way.
Unscrupulous lawyers will bleed people dry in cases such as this and will make little or no difference to the outcome
Oh, and get her to change her lawyer, sounds like a right knob
I fact why does she even need a lawyer for this, as it seems she has no defence, then she can do just as good a job at pleading guilty and save the money for the not inconsiderable fine that's coming her way.
Unscrupulous lawyers will bleed people dry in cases such as this and will make little or no difference to the outcome
Edited by martinbiz on Tuesday 23 December 13:59
Mk3Spitfire said:
Very, very unlikely to get custodial unless there's more to it.
Was she breathalysed at the scene? I'm assuming that it wasn't police witnessed, so she would have been interviewed? What did she say in interview?
Yes I think she was breathalyser at home. No police witnessed her driving and she pleaded not guilty when she was dragged up in front of the beak. She was arrested on the Friday night and was kept in jail until Monday morning to go to court.Was she breathalysed at the scene? I'm assuming that it wasn't police witnessed, so she would have been interviewed? What did she say in interview?
Added for clarification:
She plead not guilty at the time so that she could keep her license for a while at least.
And as for her lawyer, he is supposedly a specialist and charged £1600 up front but doesn't seem to worth it ..
Edited by Shuvi McTupya on Tuesday 23 December 14:00
worsy said:
What's her current plea? Does she intend to plead guilty or fight on a technicality (ie that is no proof she actually DD).
Well, if she follows her legal advice she will be pleading guilty to avoid a worse sentence, I actually think hA decent lawyer would be able to get her off..
Shuvi McTupya said:
Yes I think she was breathalyser at home. No police witnessed her driving and she pleaded not guilty when she was dragged up in front of the beak. She was arrested on the Friday night and was kept in jail until Monday morning to go to court.
Interested to know what her defence is...I'm assuming hip flask.As much as I hate people getting off on technicalities, I would lay off going into too much detail on here. Your account already contradicts hers.
La Liga said:
Unless she drives into the actual court room pissed, she won't be going to prison.
You say that, but...My numbskull brother in law when he was 18 came cap in hand to me telling me about the mess he'd got himself in when as a 'one off' he borrowed a mate's car whilst drunk, and crashed it into a wall.
He had no licence, or insurance to boot.
Thinking it was a 'one off' I wrote him mitigation and he ended up with a 12 month ban, and £200 fine which I believe to be below what he could have expected.
It was only years later that he admitted to me that he almost missed his hearing. He woke up late after drinking into the early hours. He was probably still pissed when he woke up. To get to court on time, he borrowed another mate's motorbike and rode that to court.
ATM said:
I'm not trying to defend drink driving but if she wasn't seen by the police driving then how can she be arrested like this?
Report to police. Police attend home address. Police breathalyse suspect as they believe she has been driving. Suspect blows over. Police arrest suspect. Would have struggled if they hadn't been let in though.
Mk3Spitfire said:
Shuvi McTupya said:
Yes I think she was breathalyser at home. No police witnessed her driving and she pleaded not guilty when she was dragged up in front of the beak. She was arrested on the Friday night and was kept in jail until Monday morning to go to court.
Interested to know what her defence is...I'm assuming hip flask.As much as I hate people getting off on technicalities, I would lay off going into too much detail on here. Your account already contradicts hers.
Oh, my memory of the events is very poor as I was really drunk at the time ...I might be wrong about the facts so my comments on here should not be taken as a statement of fact
Mk3Spitfire said:
ATM said:
I'm not trying to defend drink driving but if she wasn't seen by the police driving then how can she be arrested like this?
Report to police. Police attend home address. Police breathalyse suspect as they believe she has been driving. Suspect blows over. Police arrest suspect. Would have struggled if they hadn't been let in though.
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