Many individuals arrested for DWI are first time offenders with little knowledge of how the criminal justice system works or what will happen next in their case. The following charts, adapted from The Student-Athlete's Guide to the Criminal Justice System (2007) by Michael S. Taheri, Esq., and James F. Orr, may be helpful to inexperienced defendants who would like to know what will "happen next" in their cases. Attorneys may find it helpful to share these charts with their clients when explaining what is likely to happen in a given case.

Generally, a misdemeanor prosecution may take anywhere from ninety days to six months to complete. This time frame does not include an appeal, which may take an additional six months to one year after a conviction and sentence has been imposed.

Order of Events at a Trial

An overview of the "trial phase" of a criminal case is set forth below. The events that occur during a trial may take place all in one day or over several months, depending on the complexity of the case, the number of witnesses and the number of codefendants.

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