Seattle Criminal Attorney | Bench Trial or Jury Trial?

So you have been charged with a wrong. Maybe a DUI, maybe an attack, perhaps a burglary. And the prosecutor isn't giving you anything you feel at ease taking as a plea bargain. Your Seattle DUI attorney informs you the only option, if you do not care for the offer, is a trial.

You're all right with that, but are a bit cautious on the subject of the minutiae. In particular, you are not confident if you should demand a jury trial or demand a bench trial. Your DUI attorney is pushing for a jury trial, however you simply do not know if you can have faith in a group of individuals you do not know to make the upright judgment.

Choosing between a jury trial or a bench trial (where the judge makes the decision of your guilt or innocence) can at times be tricky. Let's look at a duo of scenarios that might want you to go one way or another.

First, the jury trial. You like jury trials for the reason that jurors frequently aren't as cynical as judges (they've heard a lot of excuses over the years and start to stop attempting to deduce the difference). They struggle vigorously to do the just thing and will frequently present you at least a fighting chance. On the contrary they can be unpredictable too.

You usually desire a jury trial when the circumstances is pretty unsound, when you get several inconsistencies in the evidence that just do not add up, and when you want the fact finder to give you the benefit of the doubt. Juries are capable of doing this. With judges it's slightly more difficult.

After that, the bench trial. You frequently like to have these when you possess a exceedingly technical defense (sometimes a Seattle DUI case will warrant these), the specifics of the case are really upsetting (the jury will practically be certain to be against you from the opening), or you are going to base your defense on a legal topic that you sense the judge will value better than a jury. This also is a crap shoot, as judges, although not unpredictable, tend to tilt toward the prosecution.

In the end, the judgment to go jury trial or bench trial ought to probably be completed by your Seattle DUI attorney. They have the familiarity to discern which one to utilize, and they appreciate the intricacy of the choice. No matter which you choose, though, it's doubtless going to be an uphill fight. Good luck!