EL Dorado County Criminal Court Process

Available for free, confidential consultations 24/7 at (530) 410-6474

An arrest for driving under the influence starts the procedures in which a criminal case begins.  Once arrested, law enforcement will write their report. The police report is then forwarded to the El Dorado County District Attorney who decides which charges to file based on the report. Generally, the charges you were arrested for will be the same as those that are charged. However, there are exceptions. For example, if one had a suspended license at the time of the DUI arrest, and law enforcement did not pick up on that fact, the District Attorney can always charge you with driving on a suspended license as well as a DUI.  In the context of DUI with injury cases, the District Attorney also has great discretion. Vehicle Code 23153 is the proper charge for a DUI with injury. This statute can either be charged as a misdemeanor or a felony. It is entirely in the prosecutor’s discretion whether to charge a misdemeanor or felony.  They generally look at the extent of the injury or injuries when making this decision, but they are not required to do by law. This is an example of when retaining a DUI attorney immediately can be a big benefit: reaching out to the District Attorney before charges are even filed.

Once charges are filed, the first court date is the Arraignment. If your case is in Placerville, the arraignment is generally in Department 7, at the Fairlane Court location. After the arraignment, the case can, and generally does, get transferred to the Main Street courthouse.  If your case is in South Lake Tahoe, it will start out in either Department 3 or 4 and generally stays there throughout the pre-trial portions of the case.

The filing of charges by the prosecutor is done on a legal document called a “Complaint.” At the arraignment, you or your DUI Lawyer will receive a copy of the complaint. The complaint contains all of the charges you are facing.  If you are charged with a misdemeanor offense, your DUI lawyer can normally attend the court date for you.  Generally, at this point, the case is then set for a pre-trial conference, where your attorney and the district attorney negotiate the matter further. The case can also be set for numerous pre-trial motions dealing with issues such as excluding the breath or blood test from evidence, to motions to obtain discovery.  This is the beginning of the criminal court system and the plan of attack in every case is obviously going to be unique to the facts of the case.

Placerville DUI Lawyer Michael Rehm provides free, confidential consultations at (530) 410-6474.

El Dorado County Resources:

El Dorado County DUI Programs

El Dorado County Court Local Forms