DUI Arrest
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What really happens after you have been arrested for DUI in Nashville or the surrounding areas of Middle Tennessee. After you have been arrested you will be taken to your local jail for processing and or booking, it is at this point that you will be finger printed and your mug shot will be taken. You will stay in jail and generally be released in 6 to 8 hours.
When you are released from jail you will be given a court date to appear in General Sessions Court. General Sessions Court is the court in which you may be able to work out a plea deal, or have a preliminary hearing should you not accept a plea deal that might be offered to you. General Sessions Court cannot take pleas on felonies, but they can take pleas on misdemeanors. At a preliminary hearing you have the right to cross examine witnesses who testify against you, and call your own witnesses. See the evidence that makes up the probable cause that was used to arrest you. Generally most cases at preliminary hearing are bound over to the Davidson County Grand Jury after the hearing. Even if your case is dismissed at preliminary hearing it can still be presented to the Grand Jury for your indictment on a DUI.
The Grand Jury is composed of citizens from the jurisdiction that you were charged in, generally they indict most cases that they hear, this is called coming back with a true bill. Once a true bill is brought back on your case, your next court date will be for arraignment in Criminal Court.
Criminal Court is where you can have a jury of twelve people decide your case. You may or may not testify, and you may or may not call witnesses, but you do have the right to cross examine any witnesses against you. Each case and trial is different, so what happens in someone else’s trial may not occur in yours.
Should you need assistance in your dui charge, please feel free to phone the office at (615) 308-2633. We look forward to hearing from you.
Daniel L. McMurtry, Esq.
