Beating the Michigan DUI Probation Recommendation - Stay Positive, Don't Give Up

Recently worked with a client for the past few months; this particular client followed my proactive program, and was going above and beyond.  I was very proud of his progress and because of his hard work, the prosecutor was willing to offer us a great deal.  The client rebuilt his life, got healthier, refocused on his family, career and what makes him most happy in life.  

When it came time to be sentenced by the court, my client was shocked to read the probation recommendation.  Despite sharing months and months of voluntary daily alcohol testing, an impressive amount of AA meetings, community service, alcohol education and counseling, the recommendation was so boilerplate that it seemed like probation completely ignored how much work my client put into his case.  He was actually told that his 5 months of hard work meant nothing and it would not matter - the probation officer literally said "why would you do this" 

Now how silly does that sound? You get someone arrested for drunk driving with no prior record, and prior to even going to court and working out their case, they decide to test 350 plus times on a portable unit, go to nearly 100 AA meetings, work with a counselor for months and give back valuable time to the community.  What's the way that the criminal justice system should react to this? 

Unless you're my client you're just sitting back on the couch and waiting to go to court, hoping things workout with a box full of excuses, apologizes and "right answers".  The majority if not most DUI defendants walk into court and sound ridiculous - promising to never do it again, apologizing to the judge, and saying "I learned from this" - that's a bunch of bullshit and I thought that when I was a prosecutor on DUI cases in NYC and here in Michigan. 

So when a client of mine steps up and takes over control of the case with these steps, 99 percent of the time probation praises them and offers up a very favorable recommendation, but a few times a year it doesn't go the way it should - so what do you do?

We walked into the courtroom and told the judge the truth - the recommendation DOES NOT reflect my client's hard work over almost the last half year and we want to make sure the court is fully aware of all of his steps and progress.  We brought all of the documentation to court.  

Judge sat back, smiled and praised the client for about 5 minutes about "no client has never done as much as you have done, and I am very proud of you" - the judge said this - made my client feel like his hard work was worth it and we turned this negative experience into a half-year of growth.  The judge completely changed the recommendation and tailored a very specific favorable sentence for the client and made him very happy.  It went from a standard sentence to probably the most favorable DUI sentence this judge has ever done, because the client earned it and we were NOT afraid to make the judge aware of his impressive work.