In some cases the most valuable thing that an impaired driving lawyer can do for you is negotiate a plea to a lesser offence. This is sometimes referred to as "plea-bargaining".
Plea-bargaining is something that happens every day at all levels of criminal court. It involves negotiations between your lawyer and the prosecutor, whereby the parties agree that the original charges will be dropped or a guilty plea will be entered to a lesser offence. Prosecutors will entertain plea negotiations, but they need a good reason to do so. These reasons usually happen when your lawyer spots a weakness in the prosecution case, and then carefully negotiates with the prosecutor on your behalf. An impaired driving lawyer will make sure that every problem or weakness in the case against you is discovered, before deciding on plea negotiations.
Sometimes a defendant will try to negotiate with a prosecutor on his or her own. This is a bad idea. Often a defendant will accept an offer from the prosecutor, which is not the best offer available. And because prosecutors tend to make one offer of resolution only, you want to make sure that it is as good as you can get.
It's best to have an impaired driving lawyer, someone with an in-depth knowledge of its complex laws and procedures, conduct your plea negotiations from the outset. Your likelihood of successful plea negotiations goes up when someone who knows what they are doing is conducting them. By having an impaired driving lawyer conduct these negotiations, you'll know you are getting the best deal available.
