A client called attorney Dave Maletta at around 10:00 pm and was upset because, in the morning, she was pleading guilty to a DUI, with jail time. The client had hired private counsel several months ago. We took over the case and stopped the plea. The prior attorney had not done any defense interviews of the police or the scientist that had tested the blood.
We interviewed the police and the state’s scientist. We then filed a Motion to Dismiss for Denial of Right to Counsel. The prosecutor wrote a response. We had a long and intense evidentiary hearing. Unfortunately, we lost the hearing. After the hearing, we told him that this was just the beginning of the fight. Next, we would file a Speedy Trial Motion, go to a jury trial, and in the unlikely case we lost, file an appeal on the Right to Counsel Motion, Speedy Trial Motion, and any issues from the trial.
We told the prosecutor that we would not stop fighting until we won our case and he was in for a tremendous amount of work. However, we said if he would just give me a Reckless Driving Offer, we would stop fighting. He gave Dave Maletta, our DUI Defense lawyer a Reckless offer and told me this was only the sixth Reckless offer he had ever offered in his long career as a prosecutor.