Manassas DUI Enforcement
As the area that hosts a major outdoor live music venue, Jiffy Lube Live, police officers enforce DUI laws extremely strenuously. Below, a Manassas DUI lawyer discusses DUI checkpoints, and what makes DUI cases unique in Virginia. For more information about DUIs in Manassas, call today and schedule a consultation.
Enforcement of Manssas DUI Laws
Manassas law enforcement take DUI laws very seriously and actively look for violators when patrolling, especially in the evening or overnight hours when most people are likely to have something to drink. It is the most commonly prosecuted crime in Manassas.
DUI Checkpoints
Prince William County is home to an outdoor live music venue called Jiffy Lube Live. The police notoriously set up roadblocks or DUI checkpoints outside of that venue as concerts let out. If you are attending a concert here in Prince William County, be advised that there is a good chance you will run into a DUI checkpoint on your way home.
The only state roads that typically see more than one DUI checkpoint is Wellington Road, which is outside the Jiffy Lube Live pavilion. While I have seen others, I cannot say that I have seen a repeat location in any other spot besides outside of Jiffy Lube Live on Wellington Road.
How DUI Cases Handled in Manassas
DUIs are very hot button issue in our national discourse and in local politics. Therefore, prosecutors in Manassas have been given orders from the elected prosecutor in this jurisdiction to treat DUIs very seriously and to not make deals that include breaking down DUI charges to something other than DUIs, such as reckless driving. There are some exceptions to that, but as a general rule, people need to understand that even if it’s a first offense, even if your BAC was very low relative to the statutory level, meaning a 0.08 or a 0.09, it is very unlikely that you’re going to get your case reduced to something other than DUI.
Priority of DUIs For Manassas Law Enforcement
DUI enforcement is important at all levels of government because of the political power of the lobbyists who support or promote DUI laws. Thus, if it is important to the prosecutors, it is important to the chief of police, and if it is important to the chief of police, it is absolutely important to the officers who are on the street. These police on the street, therefore, have their marching orders to go after DUI offenders as vigorously as they can.
What Makes Manassas DUI Cases Unique
I think Manassas DUI cases are unique because this jurisdiction, perhaps more than any other in Northern Virginia, takes these cases very seriously and thereby it is extraordinarily difficult to get any sort of favor from the prosecution in cases where they feel like they have the matter won. However, there are certain advantages to practicing DUI law in Prince William County that make it somewhat unique.
One advantage that we have in Manassas, unlike any other jurisdiction in Northern Virginia, is that we actually can have written discovery provided by the prosecution in advance of trial. In a lot of other jurisdictions, you can only get discovery on the day of trial or perhaps by going to the prosecutor’s office to view the case file. In Manassas, however, you can file a discovery motion. Once the court grants the order for discovery, your lawyer will receive in the mail a written discovery response from the prosecutor’s office. Having this discovery response often gives Manassas defendants an advantage over those in other jurisdictions because it enables us to see exactly what the government is going to say when they prosecute the case, and therefore gives us an idea of how best to defend it.
