Genesee County Drunk Driving | Growth Mindset Defense - Michigan DUI Playbook

Step #1 – The Power to Make a True Impression

What will prevent you from receiving the best outcome for your Michigan criminal case? There are many answers to this question, but as a former prosecutor, who has worked with 1000's of clients on the defense side, my #1 answer to this question involves being your authentic self.

What does this mean? When charged with a crime in Michigan, you will be judged on the four corners of the reports; you don't get to tell your side of the story, and your past, present and future are not reflected in your case; you are assigned the fate of an isolated moment in time.

How do we change this process? We lead with authenticity, and change the belief of the judge, prosecutor, probation, the police and the community at large.

It's the ability to put aside years and years of beliefs of these power brokers and adopt a new mindset about your case. These folks lead with "knowing" because they have so much experience in cases like yours. A judge and prosecutor see 100's of cases a week, 1000's of cases a month; they all look the same, including your case.

We must put "knowing" aside and be open to learning, but that journey begins with you; we need to believe it before others believe it.

Do you believe that your criminal case defines you? Once we say to ourselves that our case will not define us, we can begin the journey of learning vs knowing.

We must become masters of the process; to be able to influence and sway others during the case; to change the belief system of multiple power brokers.

That mastery comes when we adopt a higher purpose. This crime happened for a reason, and we are going to identify that together; deep change is not easy, we must find our purpose during this case.

What is your purpose; is it for your spouse, your children, the job you love? People stop smoking, drinking and go on diets every day, but most fail; the changes we make for this case, how do we ensure that we stick with them?

How will you show up during your case; what true impressions will you make? Every act you take will shape your case. Becoming self-aware is at the heart of your case

Become vulnerable, be authentic, find your true self during your case.

Real life example of the power to make a true impression

Worked with a client who was a schoolteacher but was arrested for multiple shoplifting incidents in a short period of time. She faced losing the career she loved, and the possibility of jail and multiple convictions on her criminal record.

Multiple judges, prosecutors and probation officers looked at her cases and judged her swiftly as a bad seed who didn't care about local businesses in the community and did not respect the law.

We shifted the case from the four corners of multiple police reports and dug deep into what was going on in her world during this isolated moment of time. Together we identified key drivers of what set her life on a temporary detour, and we lead with empathy and began to better understand the WHY. Together we adopted a growth mindset and changed her entire case over many months of hard work.

The client kept the career she loves, earned respect and love from her spouse and was able to be a stronger and more dedicated mom to her children. If this life event had not happened, something else was ready to explode, but she took a manageable situation and turned a negative into a positive driver of progress and insight for her future.

Step #2 – Challenge the Status Quo

Your case is not black and white, it's not about guilty or not guilty. That is not the battle to be fought, yet most people have anxiety, fear and concern about all the bad things that will happen, because they committed a crime.

Sitting in a jail cell then being released, and facing a criminal case is daunting, and you're not going to sleep much, or be able to function in your normal lifestyle, because you replay the case millions of times in your head. It hurts, you want to go back and change your choices, but that's not possible.

The status quo says if you committed a crime then you should be punished for a crime; far too often, a potential client will somehow try to convince themselves that they are something other than guilty, because being guilty seems like a dead end of your life being over, or at a minimum significantly changed for the worst.

Do not stress about the past; remove the burden of the incident; put down your sword, this does not need to be a fight you cannot win.

Be yourself, be vulnerable; cry, laugh, yell, do what you need to do, be a human being. Come out of the shadows and be honest with yourself. Did you break the law? If you did, that's ok; you're human, everyone does things they regret in life.

Now that we are being honest with ourselves, let's challenge the status quo that they are two extreme results in a criminal case: very good and very bad. There is no realistic path to very good if you committed the crime; put that outcome out of your mind, but don't focus on the very bad; you control the outcome.

There is nothing wrong with setting the bar high and believing that you are going to show the judge, prosecutor, probation and the police that your case is not a true representation of who you are. This begins with changing the culture of your case; what are you going to do to earn that change in culture?

The change in culture begins with you; you will receive the culture you create; do nothing and you'll be treated like a non-human with a name and charge; adopt a growth mindset and an authentic self and you can reshape the culture and how you're treated during your case.

Change is not easy; this is hard work; as you move forward there will be obstacles, but your focus on the higher purpose of changing the culture of your case will get you though it - if you believe in the purpose of deep change and a new mindset, it will be well worth it

As you challenge the status quo, and grow as a person during your case, you are empowered, and when you're empowered, you could inspire and help others who may be going through something similar; be open to being a leader during your case and helping others who you may share time with.

Real life example of challenging the status quo

It’s very common for a client to reach out and tell me word for word how they broke the law, but then end their email in a way that tries to take the guilt back, because they believe if they don’t say the opposite of guilt, then the case is going to go poorly for them, and if they tell someone they are not guilty, that it becomes true.

I recognize this very easily, because it is so common, and I do my best to explain to the client that it’s ok to be “really guilty”; embrace it, take the burden off your shoulders. This mindset is very common in drunk driving cases, and a client will tell me they were caught speeding, had 8 drinks and were arrested, but then tell me they can’t lose their license for a long period of time, go to jail or have a criminal conviction for the rest of their life. They focus on the status quo that a person who gets arrested for drunk driving automatically has these things happen to them. They aren’t wrong to believe this, because the power brokers in their case (judge, prosecutor, police, probation) think a very similar way.

The good news is the majority of my drunk driving clients end up avoiding all three of these feared outcomes, because the client created the culture they deserve; they earned the result with hard work and a growth mindset.

Nothing happens; there is no shift in the status quo by saying “these cannot happen to me”, because what makes you special? The law is on the books for everyone, and just because it happened to you and its inconvenient, doesn’t make the status quo wrong. The client has the power to change the status quo, but it doesn’t happen by wishing for it to happen.

Step #3 – Transformative Change - Shift to Change the Status Quo

Once we are authentic to ourselves and transition to a place where we are not afraid to be vulnerable, we can begin to change the status quo of her case. We adopt the mindset of creating culture and shift away from a technical mindset to a transformative view of our situation.

We make a pivot from a matter that appears to be black and white to others and embrace the many shades of grey; we cannot just manage the case from A to Z, we must take control of the culture, and adopt a leader's vision on what is possible to change the status quo.

By shifting our mindset to a transformative change, we can trigger new growth; growth that can transcend the case. We don't ignore what has happened to bring us to this moment in time, but we shift to enlarge the pie; to bring out all the grey; we add chapters and pages to your story.

The judge, prosecutor, police and probation will adopt a mindset that your case is "out of business" and you're about to fail and go under in your life; reject the status quo and shift to a love of learning and insight and create passion for others to learn more about you.

We control the present and the future; we must be empowered by transformative change in order to empower others to adopt our path of growth. It takes a lot of work for this to happen, and we should expect resistance and detours, but if we are passionate about change, others will follow, because we are change leaders.

Resist the mindset that you're "out of business"; you have not failed; you are human and can shift the entire case to a learning opportunity. Embrace the challenging moment, because you are in complete control of your GPS; choosing your path allows you to influence others and write the next chapters in your story.

Real life example of a Shift to Change the Status Quo

I have worked with thousands of clients over the years, and one of the most common types of cases I work on are retail fraud cases, which in more common terms is shoplifting. I work with successful people, who hold good jobs, get paid well, and even hold professional licenses such as a teacher, nurse, doctor, lawyer, CPA, and no matter their profession, it does not prevent them from shoplifting.

To an outsider this makes little sense, because these folks can afford the items they are stealing, which is the most telling aspect of these cases; why are these folks stealing? It's not because they can't take the alternative route of paying; it must go deeper and go beyond the item itself. Nine times out of ten my client tells me they didn't even need the items; most people just steal things without regard to what item they are stealing.

This is a great opportunity to be authentic, be vulnerable and seek understanding of the moment and adopt a transformative change impact to change the status quo. I once had an FBI special agent get caught stealing from a store; common sense says if retail fraud went on their record, they may face issues holding their unique profession. Should an FBI agent be treated differently based on their profession? Absolutely not? Same goes for a teacher, nurse, doctor, lawyer, etc., but how do we keep hard working people who are great at their jobs in those roles and being positive members of our community.

If we focus on the transactional and technical part of the case, they were caught red-handed; no matter how sorry they are, they cannot go back in time and undo what happened. This is the perfect opportunity to make the pivot to a transformative view of the case and adopt a leader's mentality to educate and influence the judge, prosecutor, police and probation to come along for the ride.

Step #4 – Transformative Leadership without Authority

As we adopt transformative change in a client's case, we must do so without authority. While we are a party in the case, we hold very little formal power to make things happen during the pendency of the case; the prosecutor controls the charges, the judge controls the structure, the dates, bond and the tone, the police controlled the arrest, and probation might control your life for many years.

We must do so without formal authority, but that is a good thing; formal authority is telling someone to do something, and that is not the most effective way to get results.

Most people tell others what to do, or as an example how to change their dance, but informal authority means changing the music, and allowing the people to self-adopt a change in their actions; this is the power of informal authority.

To achieve transformative results, we must be leaders, and live the values which we wish to adopt, and to push forward with our future.

We must earn the trust of the power brokers, we must have them understand us, we must attract a commitment from them, but we cannot tell them what do, we must challenge their thinking, and allow them to come to their own conclusion.

My clients can all be transformative leaders; they do not need to be superheroes to have the prosecutor and judge completely change their view of the case. We must use or informal authority to get everyone committed to the common good of the outcome of the case; if someone is not committed then we will not succeed; it takes getting everyone onboard. When everyone is onboard, we get the maximum outcome.

Real life example of Transformative leadership without authority

With a complicated case, comes many moving parts. A great example is a second offense drunk driving case where the evidence against my client is clear as a day and they have no realistic defense to the crime. They are facing mandatory jail and loss of a driver's license for a year; as a team, we set a goal to avoid upfront jail and earn driving privileges so the client can maintain a relatively normal life behind the wheel.

A step toward these goals is sobriety court, but many sobriety courts exclude individuals based on geographic location of the offense, or where the client lives. If the client does not qualify for sobriety court in the court where the offense happened, then I will pursue a transfer to a different sobriety court. This is loaded with obstacles and moving parts, because one judge, becomes two judges, one probation officer becomes two, and so forth. In order to make this happen, everyone from both courts needs to be onboard and focused on the same outcome.

As the attorney on the case, I have no formal authority to make this magic happen, but I pick the right music and put the right wheels in motion, allowing all parties in the case to come together for the common good of my client.

Step #5 – Moral Power is the Key to Freedom

As we create transformative change for your case, we must lead with our moral power; this is not a formal power in the case, but rather an informal power.

It's easy to say you want to change, many people quit smoking, decide to lose weight, stop drinking, stop usage of drugs, but as time goes by, and life becomes challenging, the person will revert to old habits. We need to make the fundamental choice to make sacrifices during difficult times; this is where the real growth comes from.

Using our moral power, we can become magnets of attraction where we are fully aligned on our principles and purpose; we can attract others to adopt our purpose and change. The prosecutor and judge will doubt you, but if we can shift all parties to the collective good with aligned interests, we can achieve the best outcome.

We want to unify all parties, and we are willing to make the fundamental decision and energy; we want to be vulnerable and share our values; we ask to be held accountable for change, and as we live by those principles, we attract others to the collective good of your future.

Moral power creates freedom and brings down anxiety and stress. When you can walk away from the past, and become a change leader for your life, and focus on the present and future, you have transformed the case, and you are free.

Real life example of moral power being the key to freedom

I work with clients who can't eat or sleep because their criminal case totally consumes their life. I don't blame them for feeling this way at first, because their case is sitting at the courthouse and viewed as a name and charge without any additional information. The client has no formal power, so the case feels heavy and unpredictable, and that is no way to live.

My clients go beyond saying they want to change, they make a fundamental shift in their daily life to accomplish their goals; when you're prepared, you feel better about achieving your goals; my clients work on their case every single day and go to bed feeling like they made a difference in their case.

It is not easy to make major changes in your life, and many clients have hiccups and struggles as they create real change; I encourage these clients that it’s not supposed to be easy, it's supposed to be challenging, because real breakthrough takes hard work, and sacrifices.

I've had busy professionals who worked 14-hour days, somehow fit in 3x alcohol tests per day, attend an AA meeting and do a counseling session all while keeping up with their career and family. When a client creates transformative change, they realize that the tough work in the present is well worth it if they can replace what happened in the past with the hard work in the present.

When you're charged with a crime, you're not checking into the Ritz, you're not hiring an attorney to replace the crime you committed. The clients that hire me are choosing a transformative experience to their criminal case, where together we can put together a comprehensive plan to create a collective good which invites the judge, prosecutor, judge and probation into our newly created reality.

Step #1 – Core Strategy

When a client is charged with a crime in Michigan, the police, prosecutor, probation, and judge view each file as a name and a charge without a human connection. A client has brief interactions with many folks, but the perception of the case remains within the 4-corners of the police reports. The typical client and his/her attorney focus on what have already happened, and battle on a lopsided playing field where everyone is focused on a single incident. The case is viewed through a filter of guilt, conviction, and punishment.

The New Rules focus on strategy, which is about being different. It means deliberately choosing a different set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value. My clients adopt a logical and consistent set of choices that generate and sustain long term competitive advantage in the criminal justice system. My clients are competing for the limited attention span of a judge, prosecutor, and probation department; to be more than just a name and a charge.

We focus on the why we do it; we do it because a client should be judged on more than the 4-corners of the police report. A client should be judged on their past, how they handle the case in the present, and projecting the client’s future path. I’m passionate about giving the client the opportunity to make a true impression, versus the unfortunate first impression provided to those involved in the case.
The typical attorney handling a criminal case for a client is fighting the wrong battles and using their limited time and resources on the wrong playing fields.

Genesee County Drunk Driving | 67th District Court Attorney

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