Jury Deliberations in Pennsylvania DUI Cases

After the district attorney and your Pennsylvania DUI lawyer have delivered closing arguments, the jury will be given their final instructions and sent from the courtroom to deliberate your case. An experienced Pennsylvania DUI lawyer from Levow & Associates will do everything possible to create reasonable doubt in your guilt.

Deliberations are the jurors' first opportunity to discuss your Pennsylvania DUI case. They will elect a foreperson to oversee the deliberation process. The jurors will weigh all of the evidence introduced at your Pennsylvania DUI trial and determine how much weight to assign to each piece of evidence. The jurors must decide which facts to consider and which facts to discount.

The judge will give the jurors instructions that outline the law they must follow in their deliberations. If the jurors have questions, the foreperson will ask the bailiff to deliver a note to the judge. The jurors can also examine any physical evidence.

The jurors will take a vote after deliberating for a certain amount of time. If all of the jurors agree on your guilt or innocence, a unanimous verdict has been reached. If the jury reaches a verdict, the foreperson will tell the bailiff and the jury will return to the courtroom to deliver the verdict. If the jurors can't agree on an outcome to your Pennsylvania DUI case, they must return to deliberations.

If the jurors can't agree on a unanimous verdict after considerable deliberation, the judge will ask them if there is any chance of reaching a decision. If the foreperson says there is not, the judge may declare a hung jury. Although it may not appear to be true, a hung jury can be a victory for the defense.

The district attorney may not decide to refile your Pennsylvania DUI case after a hung jury. It also may be possible to negotiate a plea bargain that involves reduced charges and/or diminished punishment after a hung jury. While the district attorney has the option of retrying your case, there's a chance that may not happen.

It may be possible to fight and win against your Pennsylvania DUI charge with the help of an experienced PA defense attorney from Levow & Associates. For more information about aggressive defenses to driving under the influence charges, please contact a skilled Pennsylvania DUI lawyer from Levow & Associates today for a free consultation.