Motion to Dismiss a DUI in Chantilly

A motion to dismiss in Chantilly is a motion that can be filed when one or both parties believe there is not enough evidence to proceed with a DUI charge against the defendant.

The standard for a situation where the prosecutor may not have enough evidence to continue an individual’s case is going to be whether or not any reasonable juror could find a defendant guilty based on the evidence that favors the Commonwealth of Virginia.

A motion to dismiss is rare and is usually coupled with another motion, a motion to suppress. To see whether either of these motions are an available option when facing a DUI, consult with a Chantilly DUI lawyer.

A Motion to Suppress

All evidence must be legally obtained. If obtained in violation of the constitution, such as the violation of the Fourth Amendment rights surrounding search and seizure, generally, the defense attorney will attempt to submit a motion to suppress.

The motion to suppress occurs when an attorney feels that there was a violation of the constitution involved in regards to the way evidence was obtained that could harm their client’s case. This argument, in other words, is asking for that evidence in question to be excluded from the trial.

Successful Motions

In situations where an attorney does file a motion to suppress and it is successful, it will leave the prosecution without enough evidence to convict. Therefore, a motion to suppress is usually coupled with a motion to dismiss which is the suggestion of dropping the charges.

For example, an attorney might move to suppress the DUI stop, saying that there was not enough evidence for the officer to have pulled an individual over in the first place under suspicion of DUI.

If the attorney wins that, then any bit of incriminating evidence discovered after the stop would be ineligible for use in court. The motion to dismiss in Virginia is called a motion to strike the commonwealth’s evidence at the general district court level. The judge will agree and the case will be dismissed.

Necessity for an Attorney

It is important to have a lawyer handle a motion to suppress and the subsequent motion to dismiss because an individual without legal training is not going to know how to correctly phrase it. Much work goes into a motion to suppress and a motion to dismiss based on a series of case law issues, which are cases decided by other courts in Virginia and even higher than Virginia state level courts.

Certain words and certain actions can be interpreted in different ways and an attorney is going to know exactly how to phrase the argument in a way that aligns with the law, which will provide their client with the best opportunity to win the motion.

The case laws are specific and it is very complicated, which is why somebody who argues these cases frequently and is familiar not only with the terminology but with how the court interprets the language, is a detrimental factor when it comes to drafting such motions.