Need some DUI advice

[87m6chris]

An employee of mine was driving around Barrie with 2 other drunk friends, he swears he was in the back seat, 1st drunk friend was driving and hit a parked car, he jumps out and disappears.
Employee and 2nd friend sit in the car going "OMFG what are we going to do" a crowd of people form and pull the boys out of the car. Cops arrive, after listening to the crowd they charge
employee with DUI.
He's had his first hearing and the crowns disclosure has 3 witness statements, all of them different, one says he was in the drivers seat, one says he was in the back seat, the other one puts him in the passenger seat. The crown wants him to plead guilty of course, I think he should fight it, he's not sure what to do.

What do you guys think?

 

[jeffjones]

Tell him to tell the driver to man up, If not I would re-phrase it he was driving with 1 friend and 1 *******

 

[sonnythebull]

If he identifies the driver I imagine he will have an easier time

 

[invictus43]

I think I would hire a good lawyer and take his advice, not GTAM's!!

 

[fusion]

Whos car was it, was it your EE's? If so he's going to have a hard time, if it wasn't his probably much easier. It wasn't my car I wasn't driving blah blah he said she said. Does this person hang out with 17 year olds? I don't know/associate with anybody that much of a looser to run away and leave their "friends" hanging for his mistake...

 

[invictus43]

Whos car was it, was it your EE's? If so he's going to have a hard time, if it wasn't his probably much easier. It wasn't my car I wasn't driving blah blah he said she said. Does this person hang out with 17 year olds? I don't know/associate with anybody that much of a looser to run away and leave their "friends" hanging for his mistake...

You really believe there was a third person??

 

[fusion]

Benefit of the doubt, but typically most "my friend..." posts should read "I was..."

 

[nobbie48]

Why would he plead guilty if he isn't. This isn't a minor charge. It can follow him for the rest of his life. The outcome depends on the court and if he is telling the truth he should get off due to the confused witness statements. It's unlikely that the police took fingerprints off of the steering wheel.

He should however plead guilty to being stupid. Ride in a car with a drunk driver?

 

[LePhillou]

DUI = criminal record = not fun when you want to go to other countries.

Otherwise, yeah fight but how? I'm not a lawyer

 

[killerkeith]

name the driver & passenger...end of.

 

[87m6chris]

Whos car was it, was it your EE's? If so he's going to have a hard time, if it wasn't his probably much easier. It wasn't my car I wasn't driving blah blah he said she said. Does this person hang out with 17 year olds? I don't know/associate with anybody that much of a looser to run away and leave their "friends" hanging for his mistake...

The car belongs to the the friend in the front seat and I think he's telling the truth about being in the back seat, I've never caught him in a lie or even exaggeration. And he's 25 yrs old and so are his buddies,
Guys don't seem to grow up til 30 these days.

 

[mimico_polak]

+1 as per rich...why is the employee protecting the driver?????? Must be really good buddies to take even considering taking such a fall for someone...I would highly recommend the employee names the driver. I have good buddies but if they left for me to take the fall, well that shows what kind of 'friends' they are so I'd have no problem reporting them.

Also I'm quite sure the best place for this discussion is with a lawyer instead of a public forum.

 

[canukgirl77]

Advice? Tell him to name the driver and presumably owner of said car, then tell him to get new friends. Who was the owner of the car??

 

[OpenGambit]

He went this long without getting a lawyer or identifying the driver?

this doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me.

 

[Wasted]

There is no 'driver'. Otherwise they would have named him after the fact because he can no longer be charged with DUI as there is no evidence. All they can get him on is leaving the scene. No one would face a DUI when they could simply tell the truth and have the real driver face a much less serious charge.

 

[Sabex]

I'm not sure how the court works, but if all 3 of the witnesses are saying he was sitting in a different seat; wouldn't it be logical to say none of their testimonies can be trusted? As they all go against eachother.

 

[DJM]

The OP's employee needs to shut his mouth and hire a lawyer that will cast enough doubt on who was driving.

 

[Rob MacLennan]

The car belongs to the the friend in the front seat and I think he's telling the truth about being in the back seat, I've never caught him in a lie or even exaggeration. And he's 25 yrs old and so are his buddies,
Guys don't seem to grow up til 30 these days.

This sounds like a fairly standard squeeze, based on an equally standard Shaggy style, "Wasn't me." I would presume that the friend, who he says was in the front passenger seat, was also charged. What likely really happened was that the owner of the car had the collision, with your employee in the passenger seat. The driver tells the passenger to get in back. He then takes position in the passenger seat, himself, and makes the claim of the driver taking off. This happens so often that it isn't even funny.

Your employee MUST retain and instruct counsel. Counsel will likely advise him to flip on the driver, which will get his charges dropped. The driver eats his mistake.

In the extremely unlikely case that your employee is telling the truth, he turns in the 'friend' who took off. See above. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Or he goes to trial because he can't afford not to, spends thousands of dollars, and likely gets the same outcome based on the stated information. Should I assume that said employee doesn't have around $10K to throw away, at absolute bare minimum?

 

[Pegassus]

There is no 'driver'. Otherwise they would have named him after the fact because he can no longer be charged with DUI as there is no evidence. All they can get him on is leaving the scene. No one would face a DUI when they could simply tell the truth and have the real driver face a much less serious charge.

Bingo.

 

[IV.]

The Crown has to prove that he was the driver. Of course it also serves him well to have a sworn affidavit from the "friend" that was driving up his sleeve. Given the fact that there are already conflicting accounts as to him being the driver or the back seat passenger is a good start for him. He can also submit to a Polygraph and then try to meet with the Police and Prosecutor beforehand to resolve the matter. If they believe him then great, if they don't then a trial date will be coming. Once at the trial reveal the affidavit then apologize to the Judge for wasting the Courts time since you did try to resolve this matter out of court with the Prosecutor and Police. If he is telling the truth and found innocent then he can move to file a case for compensation.

He can also meet with the Prosecutor's Boss (the person in charge of that office, I forget their official title) after he meets with the Prosecutor. Their Boss can withdraw the case. They don't want the embarrassment and they do keep a win lose tally. They also do not want a Judge berating them in Public either.