If you’ve just been arrested for DUI (also called OWI – Operating While Intoxicated) in Michigan, you might be wondering:
“Do I need an attorney now—or should I wait until I get a court date, blood test results, or an official letter in the mail?”
Here’s the truth: Waiting can cost you.
If you’ve been charged with DUI (also called OWI in Michigan), and the evidence looks stacked against you—maybe your blood alcohol level was .17 or higher, or there was an accident involved—you might be thinking:
“What’s the point of hiring a lawyer? The case is already lost.”
This mindset is not only wrong—it’s potentially life-altering.
If you’ve been charged with DUI (also known as OWI in Michigan), you might be thinking:
“It’s my first offense—I probably don’t need a lawyer unless things get really serious, right?”
This is one of the most dangerous assumptions people make after a DUI arrest.
If you’ve been charged with a crime in Michigan, you are probably wondering what will happen to you when you go to court. Understanding the the rules of criminal procedure in Michigan will help lower your anxiety and this guide is designed to give you a basic reference about what to expect after your case gets started in court.
Also covered in this comprehensive guide to criminal procedure are the steps that the case will go through before it ever gets to court. Understanding how cases begin is essential for anyone facing criminal allegations. The following information is for Michigan state cases. For federal case procedure please see our companion article – What Are the Steps in a Federal Criminal Case?
If you are charged with a felony in one of Michigan’s State courts, then you have a right to a preliminary examination. This hearing will take place after your probable cause conference. This probable cause conference must take place within 14 days of the arraignment.
A preliminary examination hearing is a hearing that takes place in the district court. The judge presiding over the hearing decides whether there is enough evidence for the case to proceed to the circuit court.
The main purpose of this hearing is to determine if the prosecutor can establish that there is a reasonable belief the defendant committed the crime in question.
Michigan and Federal criminal and Constitutional law provides that when a person is arrested and charged with a crime, they have the opportunity to seek release from custody by posting bail or bond. Your bond and any conditions of your pretrial release will be considered when you are first brought to court for your arraignment.
By posting bail, you provide a monetary guarantee that you will attend all future court hearings. If you fail to appear, you risk forfeiting the bail amount.
While granting temporary release, the court must also consider public safety. The court does this by imposing conditions on your pretrial release. The conditions of bond aim to minimize potential risks to the community while you are at large rather than in jail.
Effective immediately, the Intoxilizer 9000 is replacing the DataMaster DMT as Michigan’s new breath test instrument. If you are arrested for DUI in Michigan, the chances are good your breath will be tested on a 9000. If you were over the legal limit, then keep in mind that a top DUI lawyer can beat breath test results in court.
However, for a short period of time, both breath alcohol test instruments will be used. Consequently, depending on the date and time of your evidential breath alcohol test, the police may have used the outdated DMT. If this is true in your case, then be sure to hire a top DUI defense lawyer to represent you. Breath test results rendered by the DMT are inherently untrustworthy. See this article if you are not sure how to find a top Michigan DUI lawyer.
This change to the 9000 is primarily due to the age of the DMTs currently in service. Also, the inability to obtain parts for this older equipment, and MSPs desire to employ newer technology. The Intoxilizer 9000 is widely used across the United States and is often relied upon by law enforcement agencies to determine whether an individual is legally intoxicated.
By Patrick Barone, Michigan DUI Lawyer Near Me
The legal limit in all states except Utah is 0.08 grams percent. It will take about three to four standard drinks to raise most people’s blood alcohol concentration to 0.08 grams %. But, that number of drinks, if consumed rapidly by chugging them, will push the numbers higher.
However, there are many factors that play into a person’s bodily alcohol concentration (BAC) on at a given time and on a given occasion, and the only way to know your BAC at any given time is to submit to the police breath or blood test. Your Michigan criminal lawyer can explain the pros and cons of submitting to one of these chemical tests.
Your Michigan defense lawyer may ask you to obtain a character letter for court purposes. This article explains how to format and write such a letter. You can share a link to this article with those you ask to write such letters.
While there are many suggestions here, what’s missing is a sample character letter or a form character letter. This is because utilization of a form will cause all character letters to look substantially the same, and this defeats the whole purpose and is counter-productive. Use of such forms is strictly discouraged.
The short and simple answer is that questions of law are for the judge to decide whereas questions of fact are for the jury to decide. However, while technically correct, this short answer is incomplete. Especially if you are charged with a crime like OWI Michigan.
One reason this explanation is incomplete is because it ignores the issue of jury nullification where judges are thought to be “judges of the law.” However this is a complicated and controversial topic, and beyond the scope of this article. To learn more about jury nullification, see; What is Jury Nullification and is it Lawful in Michigan?
When you’re facing an OWI charge in Michigan, the stakes are high, and understanding the roles of judges and juries becomes more than a legal curiosity—it becomes a crucial part of building your defense. For example, many clients charged with operating while intoxicated wonder who decides if a breathalyzer test was administered properly, or whether the officer had a valid reason to initiate the traffic stop in the first place. These aren’t just technicalities—they’re legal questions that could affect whether key pieces of evidence are even considered at trial. Knowing who decides what, and when, could make the difference between a conviction and an acquittal.
Michigan Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog