This section is written for the edification of attorneys and court administrators, so that the powers the be can make improvements to their own system governing DUI cases. It is also to help attorneys understand a general overview of the procedures in each of the counties. It is valid as of 12/26/2023.
DUI operating procedures in various counties
Carbon County -
I start with Carbon County because they have two procedures that streamline the process and significantly limit judicial "cattle calls".
1. Stipulations- at the preliminary hearing, when the police officer, victims and district attorney, as well as the defendant and counsel are present, negotiations begin. If it is a somewhat simple case, such as a DUI for ARD, or a plea with probation, and the parties have come to an agreement, a very simple stipulation is filled out and filed with the Court of Common Pleas. When the parties appear at the next court, hearing, the assistant district attorney has prepared the plea papers, including a guilty plea colloquy, in every case. The probation department, because the stipulation has been filed, can run a guideline sheet and do a simple overview for the court. This has a couple of good effects. First of all, any ADA can run the plea because everything is ready, and previously agreed upon and prepared. Even though the case remains the assistant district attorney's case who handled the preliminary hearing if the case blows up and becomes a trial, but that usually isn’t the case. Secondly, you don’t have the cattle call of an arraignment and judges, and assisted district attorneys, having no idea of what the outcome of the case might be.
2. Pretrial conferences – in the cases in which a stipulation cannot be agreed upon at the preliminary hearing, or if the defendant desires Discovery before making a decision, as an example, the case is set down for a pre-trial conference. This is not the same as a pre-trial conference in Northampton County. The pre-trial conference that is set is merely a conference with the defense attorney and the district attorney. There’s no call of a list or like. Counsel appears, if discovery is still outstanding, a continuance is filed without the need for a judge to approve it. The judges sign the continuance at a later time and the case is set down for another pretrial conference. If the case is ready for trial, it is listed for trial, or if a plea agreement is negotiated a stipulation is that filed and the case is set for a plea.
Monroe County –
Monroe County first offense DUI procedures are a time saving Godsend. First of all, the assistant district attorneys are given the authority to allow a low tier plea on a first offense at the preliminary hearing. There’s no need for an arraignment or other common pleas appearances. If the plea is done, the defendants are instructed to appear at the probation department for their interview and instructions. On ARD cases, there is also no Common Pleas Appearance required! If the parties agreed to ARD, the preliminary hearing is waived, and soon thereafter, the assisted District Attorney or the DAs office prepares and send to defense counsel the DA’s petition to admit the defendant into ARD, the defendants application for ARD and waiver of rule 600, and the court order that will be entered. Once the paperwork is signed and returned to the District Attorney office, they file it with the court, and the judge signs the order. So long as this happens before the arraignment, there is no common pleas involvement whatsoever. This is only done for represented parties, however.
Lehigh County -
DUI cases go to Central Court, at which there is Renee Smith, Richard Director, and Paul Bernardino, three competent assistant district attorneys. Prior to this, Renee Smith has evaluated each of the cases and has a preliminary offer prepared. The biggest benefits of Lehigh County is that everyone is present at the preliminary hearing to effectuate a smooth ARD or plea process. Probation is present, pretrial services is present, the CRN is set up, and people from the drug and alcohol assessment office set up the assessment. Because of this, when the court initially sees the cases, usually they are ready to go forward, unless the defendant missed the appointment. This system does not rely on defendants to make calls and set up these appointments! If cases are clear waivers, Renee Smith will reach out to see if that is the case so that the witnesses did not show.
Unlike Carbon County, there’s no notification to the court as to the plea agreement prior to the arraignment date. However, all ARD are handled by the DUI ARD judge at 8 o’clock and he comes on the bench at nine once everyone is ready. He is given a list, and he knows these are ARD cases. Non-ARD cases are given to judge Reichley. If a plea is ready, it can be processed on the arraignment date. If Discovery has not been provided, and often times it is provided before the arraignment, the case can be set down for a pre-trial conference. Unlike Carbon County, these pretrial conferences do take up a good amount of judge Reichley‘s time, even if it is just a request for a continuance. Unlike Carbon County, Judge Reichley only permits one continuance of the pre-conference in most cases. In Carbon County, the case can, because of the lack of judicial oversight, sometimes be continued longer than it should be, but, generally, it is not abused. I would suggest that a combination of the two, where only two continuances of pre-trial conferences be permitted without judicial approval.
Northampton County –
In Northampton County, when the defendant appears the preliminary hearing, in most instances, there is no assistant District Attorney present. Because the district attorneys office never gave authority to police officers to negotiate cases, the Commonwealth cannot be bound to any plea agreement. Therefore, no plea agreements are almost never effectuated at preliminary hearings for DUI cases. Due to the judicial backlog, the formal arraignment is not scheduled for three months after the preliminary hearing! During this time, because of Northampton County's strict pretrial policy, even of first offenses, DUI cases can be put on pretrial monitoring during that entire period. Because they District Attorney’s Office was not present at the primary hearing, and no case file prepared, there is typically no assisted District Attorney who is willing to discuss the case with any knowledge or authority, as they usually don't even get a case file until approximately two weeks before the arraignment. This leaves three months of downtime in the case! This is not fair to the public nor the defendants, and needs to be changed. Due to the fact that most defendants have no idea of the district attorney's position until arraignment, except in the event that an ARD application was filed, and they received a date for the ARD program, in the rare case, prior to the arraignment date. Offers are sprung on defendants at the last moment and cases are not easily taken care of at an arraignment. From a defense perspective, Discovery has not been provided, and it certainly could be argued that without reviewing same counsel is effective. If the case cannot be resolved at arraignment, or is not an ARD case, it is typically placed on a trial list and subject to a cattle call of either the miscellaneous list or trial list.
SUMMARY - The main lesson to be learned is that the system cannot be efficient unless the district attorneys are involved from day one and responsible for individual cases. Without this, it is too easy to push the cases off, and very difficult to come to a agreement at a later date due to telephone tag, vacation schedules, unavailability of witnesses or reluctance of victims to cooperate. These issues all play part in delaying the case, and overburdening the DA's office and the Courts. Having all players at a primary hearing leads to efficiency, as it is the best time to be able to resolve, or at least make a huge inroad to resolving the case.