Last week the jury came back with a "Not Guilty" verdict on my client's felony DUI case. The jury took all of two hours to decide that the People had not proven their case beyond a reasonable doubt. I believe that--aside from brilliant lawyering, which goes without saying--that the verdict was the result of something rarely seen in the criminal courts: The believable defendant.
My client took the stand (the 5th amendment says she didn't have to if she didn't want to, but she very much wanted to) to tell the jury her side of the story. She had left Eureka at 4 p.m. after some neighbors helped load her car for a trip to Crescent City for Thanksgiving. She stopped at another friend's house at 4:30 p.m. to drop off a pie and commiserate with him on some bad news. At 5:15 p.m. another driver noticed her headlights over an embankment on the 101 near Big Lagoon and called the police.
The client insists she had not been drinking that day, and her neighbors and friends confirmed this on the witness stand. What she did do was, after the crash, while being pinned to the ground in her car, use a breath freshener to keep her from vomiting.
The breath freshener gave her the air of having drank alcohol but the CHP officer who talked to her after the fire department rescued her didn't think to ask about the odor of alcohol. Had he done so, he would have discovered the little breath freshener bottle in her mouth and we all would not have had to go through a trial. But he didn't.
The client got on the witness stand and testified very, very well. In other words, she told the truth. Now, there are some persons in this world who can get on the witness stand and lie--I've seen them in uniform and not, in criminal and family law court--but most of us, when faced with the jury and the judge and the DA would stumble and bumble and eventually admit that we were not telling the truth. Indeed, I've seen people who I thought were telling the truth pause and look bad when faced with the DA's barrage of cross examination.
But this client was self possessed and calm. She never waivered from what she had initially told me in consultation: That she had not been drinking but that all of her ailments made it look like she had. It didn't help that she had a DUI felony prior. Or maybe it did: She learned her lesson and didn't drink and drive after that. In fact, on the witness stand she said she rarely drank anymore because it interfered with her medications.
I personally believe that her fine testimony was a combination of her confidence in telling the truth and her strong personality. To put up with the many injuries and ailments this lady has suffered through in her life either will weaken you terribly or make you invincible. She was invincible.
So here's the lesson for today, my potential clients: If you testify, tell the truth. Don't be afraid of the truth and never worry why the DA happens to be asking you a question. Answer the question strongly and confident in your truth telling.
Of course, if you choose to lie, you're on your own.
