Will Your DUI Arrest Become Public Knowledge?
Interviewer: If you’re arrested for DUI, how public is your situation going to be? Will friends and family and work find out?
Some Small Local Papers Publish the Each Arrest but Larger Towns and Cities Only List a DUI Arrest in Conjunction with a Fatality
Paul: Not unless they put a little bit of effort into it. I think you would need to know that someone has a case pending in any given jurisdiction in order to go seek that out. I know some of these really small towns will publish the court blotter because they don’t have much news.
At least in Kansas City I haven’t seen our paper publish the court blotter on these DUI offenses unless there is a fatality, and that would be a different situation all together.
Unless someone would know to look on the docket sheet for one of the city courts or the district court, I don’t know that they would necessarily find out.
Certainly if you’re subject to suspension, you need to start asking all your friends and relatives for rides that will become apparent to them and if you have an ignition interlock device installed in your car, that’s going to be pretty obvious, too. But I think initially we can get this resolved without having everyone in that world know about it.
Attorney Cramm Is Licensed to Practice in Both Kansas and Missouri
Interviewer: What counties and cities and courts do you practice in commonly?
His Practice Encompasses Many Municipalities in the Kansas City Area
Paul: On the Kansas side, Johnson County and Wyandotte County, predominately. I have some practice in Douglas County, and occasionally we’ll practice down in Miami County or Franklin County, but predominately I practice in Johnson and Wyandotte.
On the Missouri side, Jackson County is probably the largest county on the Missouri side that we’ll appear. I am licensed to practice law in both Kansas and Missouri, so I can appear anywhere we need to be.
As far as the Kansas side, what’s interesting in Johnson County is that ‘JoCo’ is divided into numerous small municipalities, each one with their own municipal court and their own municipal police department. I think that’s kind of unique.
If you’re in Los Angeles and you get caught at the city or misdemeanor level, you appear in Los Angeles Municipal Court. Clearly there are a lot of different locations but it’s called Los Angeles Municipal Court.
Here we have Overland Park, Olathe, Lenexa, Merriam, Mission, and the list goes on. Again, each municipality has their own city hall, their own municipal court building, and their own police department.
In States with Many Municipalities, It Is Important to Retain an Attorney That Is Familiar with Each Area
As counsel, you really do need to be able to navigate numerous municipal jurisdictions within the county and know who the judges are and who the prosecutors are. What are their proclivities, what are their procedures? What do I need to know about this? It’s a lot to keep on top of.
Different Municipalities Will Monitor Programs According to Their Budgetary Constraints
Interviewer: How different is each of the municipalities, and are there any that stand out in your mind as being particularly unusual or tricky?
Paul: If they enact a municipal ordinance addressing DUI, such as some of the larger cities have, most of the cities will play it safe and simply adopt the Kansas statue.
The statutory scheme is identical from city to city. What I see is in a larger city like Overland Park with a lot of budget at their disposal, they will have their own court services officers and if you are placed on diversion or probation in Overland Park, it will be a very closely monitored and closely supervised diversion or probation.
In some of these smaller cities like the city of Fairway, or the city of Mission Hills, they don’t have dedicated court services officers because it’s a pretty small municipality. They don’t have the budget for that.
In a Smaller Municipality, Your Diversion or Probation Program Will Be Monitored on a Smaller Scale As Opposed to a Program Monitored in a Larger City
The degree of supervision that you’ll have during that probation or diversion will be significantly less burdensome and less intrusive than it will in one of the larger municipalities with a dedicated court services system. That’s one of the big differences I can think of.
Watch this video to learn how Paul Cramm defends DUI and DWI defense and to see why you need his representation in your Kansas City Drunk Driving case.