Prince George’s County DUI Enforcement
If you are a driver in Prince George’s County or a student at nearby University of Maryland, it is important that you are aware of the severity with which DUI cases are enforced and prosecuted. Below, a Prince George’s County DUI lawyer discusses why these cases are taken so seriously and where your case will likely be heard if charged. For more specific information call and schedule a consultation with an attorney today.
How Does Prince George’s County Treat DUI Cases?
PG County, like everywhere else in the state of Maryland, takes DUIs very seriously. Prosecutors are generally unwilling to dismiss DUIs if there’s any chance at all that they can prove it. The only time that you really regularly see DUI cases dismissed in PG County is if the officer doesn’t appear in court. If the officer is present, the state is almost always going to want to try the case.
Are They Prosecuted Intensely?
DUI charges are almost always prosecuted very intensely. In fact, one of the problems with intense prosecutions in district court in Prince George’s County is just how overworked the system is. PG is an extremely high volume county so the state’s attorneys there are very busy and have huge dockets to deal with day in and day out. Because of that, Prince George’s County isn’t always able to pay the same amount of attention to DUIs as some of the lower volume or wealthy jurisdictions like Howard County. They try very hard but they don’t always succeed as well as they do in some of the other counties.
Is This a Main Area of Focus?
There are some officers who almost never do DUIs and there are some officers who do tons of them. Different jurisdictions have different priorities for DUI. For example, University police at The University of Maryland, tend to do a lot of DUIs because they are so close to a college campus. Then there are some municipalities where you don’t see a whole lot of DUIs just because there’s not as many bars in the municipality.
Where Are DUI Cases Heard in Prince George’s County?
In Prince George’s County, all DUIs start out in the district court just like everywhere else in Maryland. There are two district courts in PG County, there’s one in Hyattsville and there’s one in Upper Marlboro. In District Court you can only have a trial in front of a judge. If you want to move the case up to circuit court, you can usually do so by asking for a jury trial. When you do that, the case is transferred to the circuit court in Upper Marlboro, which is actually in the same building as the district court, and then the case is routed in front of Judge Femia for a settlement Conference. If the case isn’t settled there, the case is will be set for a jury trial.
Common Roadways Where DUI Charges Occur
In Hyattsville, Route 1 runs through College Park, which is a very high DUI area due to the number of college students and the fact that there are a lot of bars and frat houses where drinking may occur. You also see lots of DUIs from the 495 Beltway as well, because there’s a lot of volume there and people tend to be coming and going there late at night.
How Do Judges View DUI Cases in Prince George’s County?
Every judge is going to be unique. There are as many views on a DUI case as there are judges, some judges can view first-offense DUIs as not serious infraction while other judges take any DUI very seriously. There’s just a great deal of variation within the county, there’s as much variation within any county as there is between the counties.
How Do Prosecutors View DUI Charges in Prince George’s County?
Prosecutors take DUIs about as seriously as they can for the serious traffic cases. DUIs are probably the most serious type of traffic case heard in Prince George’s County so the prosecutors will try to spend as much time as they’re able to with their limited amount of time. But with that being said, just the sheer volume of cases that prosecutors have to handle in PG County means that the DUI case doesn’t get as much attention as it might in one of the wealthier lower volume counties like Howard or Montgomery County.