If you are accepting a plea offer to Driving While Ability Impaired (DWAI), the judge taking your plea is required to make sure that you know your rights. The judge is also obligated to make sure that you actually committed the crime to which you are pleading. Reading this page before you take a plea in court will help you know what to expect.

Note: Many local courts are relatively informal, and you may not be asked all these questions or given all this information when taking a plea to DWAI. If you read through this page and are prepared to answer the questions posed, you may be less nervous when standing at the bench.

First: You have the right to a jury trial. By taking a plea, you are waiving that right.

When the judge is informed that you want to accept a plea to DWAI, she may tell you that you have the right to have a trial by jury. If you choose to have a trial by jury, you can only be convicted if the prosecution proves beyond a reasonable doubt every element of the charges against you. Whether the prosecution has met that burden would be decided by a jury. At trial, your attorney could call witnesses on your behalf, and could also cross-examine witnesses who are called to testify against you. At trial, you would also have the right to testify on your own behalf, although nobody can make you do that, and your decision not to testify cannot be held against you.  The judge may tell you that a plea has the same force and effect as a conviction after a trial by jury, and she will ask you if you want to waive your right to a trial.

Your response: "Yes, Your Honor." Please do not use any other words. Not "yep," or "yeah," or "I think so." Please also remember to actually speak. Stenographers and microphones cannot translate a head nod.

Second: You have the right to remain silent. In order to take a plea, you must waive that right.

At trial, you have the right to remain silent. If you take a plea, the judge will ask you to waive that right and to admit to certain facts that make up the elements of DWAI. The judge needs to make certain that you actually committed DWAI, and so you will have to admit to committing that violation. (More on this in a minute.) If you want to take a plea offer, you must give up your right to remain silent. Do you understand that right?

Your response: "Yes, Your Honor."

Third: You have the right to know what the hell is going on.

The judge will ask you a series of questions to make sure you are making a "knowing and voluntary plea." She may ask how far you went in school, and whether you can read and write in English. She may also ask if you are under the influence of alcohol or any drugs that effect your ability to understand the court proceedings. It's important that you understand what is happening, so these questions help the judge know if the court needs to call in an interpreter, or give you more time to speak with your lawyer, or adjourn sentencing because you are under the influence of a drug that is impairing your ability to understand.

Your response: Speak clearly, and remember to address the judge as "Your Honor."

Fourth: You have the right to appeal your conviction and sentence. By taking a plea, you may be waiving that right.

Almost every plea offer that gets made by prosecutors includes a waiver of your right to appeal your conviction and sentence. In other words, if you think you are innocent, you should go to trial and fight the charges, because accepting a plea deal will dramatically limit your ability to appeal a conviction and sentence. (Certain issues, such as jurisdiction, can always be appealed.) The judge will ask if you understand that your right to appeal is separate and distinct from your right to a trial and that by accepting a plea offer, you are waiving your right to appeal. Do you understand that you are waiving your right to appeal?

Your response: "Yes, Your Honor."

Fifth: "The factual colloquy," also known as "admitting that you did it."

In court, "a colloquy is a routine, highly formalized conversation." It is the series of questions that the judge or prosecutor asks you to determine: (1) if you understand your rights; (2) if you are able to make a knowing and voluntary plea to a charge, and (3) if you actually committed the crime to which you are pleading.

The colloquy is divided into two parts: a legal colloquy, and a factual colloquy. The legal colloquy is made up of all the questions I just explained above; it's designed to make sure you know your rights.

The factual colloquy is designed to make sure that you actually committed DWAI. The questions may be asked by either the judge or prosecutor. In a DWAI case, it goes something like this:

Prosecutor: Mrs. Smith, directing your attention to August 29, 2018, at approximately 1:30 am, were you operating a motor vehicle on I-590, a public highway in the City of Rochester, County of Monroe, State of New York?

Defendant: Yes.

Prosecutor: And before operating that motor vehicle did you voluntarily consume beverages of an alcoholic nature?

Defendant: Yes.

Prosecutor: Please tell the court what, and how much, you had to drink.

Defendant: I had about three mixed drinks.

Prosecutor: And those mixed drinks contained alcohol?

Defendant: Yes.

Prosecutor: And as a result of your voluntary consumption of alcohol, was your ability to drive impaired to any extent?

Defendant: Yes.

Prosecutor: The People are satisfied, Your Honor.

Judge: How do you plead to one count of the non-criminal offense of DWAI in violation of New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1192(1)?

Defendant: Guilty.

That is the process of taking a plea in court. Once you plead guilty, the court moves on to sentencing. In a DWAI case that may include:

• One-year conditional discharge
• Fine and surcharge between $560.00 and $760.00 for a first offense
• Attendance at one Victim Impact Panel
• Successful completion of the Impaired Driver Program
• Successful completion of a substance abuse assessment and any recommended treatment