If you’ve consulted with a DUI lawyer and have exhausted all of your options, pleading guilty might make the most sense, but only consider that option if your lawyer has given you the instructions to do so. Knowing what to expect after pleading guilty will have your stress levels a little less severe in comparison to what they might be.
When you plead guilty to your offense, you’ll be initiating your plea in court. There is a good chance you won’t be in the same courtroom that you were in during the first hearing. There is also a chance that the plea courtroom could be packed that day, so you might potentially be waiting for a while until your name is called.
If your lawyer is taking care of your plea, they will be the ones speaking to the Crown on your behalf. Pleading guilty on your own can be a confusing process. DUI law is a specialty field of law that many lawyers go through extra training for even after completing law school. As you’re in court, you might be seeing a number of people going through their pleas ahead of your case. This can be a nice thing because then you get to see how it’s done before your name is called.
What Does The Judge Require Before Court?
Before you enter your plea, the judge might want to know if your plea is an “informed” one. This means that they want to know if your lawyer went through a pre-plea comprehension inquiry with you. There are judges out there that will put this inquiry on the record.
When you plead guilty to something, you’re foregoing your rights to a fair trial. This means that you’re agreeing with everything outlined in your case. You’ll be pleading guilty to the offense without being forced by anyone at hand.
The judge overseeing the case will hear you, your lawyers, and the Crown, but the final judgment will be made by the judge. It’s also helpful to understand that pleading guilty to a DUI offense will eventually lead to the following:
You won’t be able to drive your vehicle for a certain amount of time
If you do operate your vehicle during that time, it will result in a new offense and potentially jail time
After you’re done pleading guilty, you can’t go back and all of a sudden adjust your decision to plead not guilty. In many cases, you’ll have to pay the fine associated with the crime, as well as a fine surcharge. Depending on the severity of the offense, you might also have to go to jail for a period of time.
For those who aren’t Canadian citizens, you might be facing related immigration penalties and you’ll have a criminal record. Once the judge knows that you’ve provided an informed plea, they will instruct the clerk in the court to vocally read your charges out loud.
As the clerk is reading out the charges, they will ask how you intend to plead. At that point, you’ll say, “guilty.” After that, they will instruct you to sit down, but not until the judge instructs you to do so.
If I’m Convicted, What’s The Process Leading Up To It?
Some people wonder if they can be convicted of impaired driving and operating a vehicle with a BAC of over 80mg at the same time. You’re only able to be convicted of one of the charges at any given time. Before you’re convicted, the Crown will read out facts to you and either you or your lawyer will be questioned by the judge if you understand and agree with the facts being read to you.
In order for the judge to accept the guilty plea, you’ll have to agree with the facts being read to you. If you’re not agreeing to the facts, the judge will strike the guilty plea and things will go to trial. When you plead guilty to something, you’re foregoing your right to go to trial. That means that the Crown doesn’t even have to provide evidence regarding the case because you’ve already admitted to the offense.
Once the facts are verbally read out loud, the Crown will then tell you what the sentencing will be and how they reached that conclusion. The defense will make contributions in favor of the joint submission if it is a joint submission situation, sometimes adding some sympathetic biographical history. It is preferable to propose something fair or justified by facts and circumstances than to propose the bare minimum penalty.
You will be given the chance to speak on your own behalf by the court, but you are not required to do that and it will not be used against you if you end up deciding not to. “No, thank you,” you may simply say. Nevertheless, if you do want to say something, be cautious not to try and discuss certain things regarding the case. If you end up deciding to do that, the judge may interrupt you and tell you that you seem to dispute the evidence and you’ll need a trial. The court will then dismiss the plea, forcing the case to go to trial.
The judge will sentence you once the Crown and the defense have made their arguments. If the Crown and the defense have made a joint recommendation about the appropriate sentence, the judge is quite likely to accept it unless it is really ridiculous.
The entire procedure may not take place on the same day. There might be a good reason to postpone your sentence. If that’s the case, you’ll need to schedule another court hearing after you’ve submitted your guilty plea since something will have to happen before the punishment and sentence can be implemented.
If your case is resolved on the same day (as it generally is in most DUI cases), the court clerk will check your address and provide you documentation to sign after you have undergone sentencing. You will be prohibited from driving as part of your sentence, and you must surrender your driver’s license to the court (if you still have one).
No matter what the case, it always helps to have a reputable DUI lawyer to help you through any DUI case.