In a DUI jury trial, I file pre-trial motions which are also called motions in limine prior to the start of the actual trial.
The purpose of filing these motions is to encourage early rulings by a trial court because such rulings are helpful to both parties and avoid interruption of proceedings before the jury.
In other words it set the rules of the game prior to the start of the trial outside the presence of the jury.
Now no DUI case has the same facts or the same issues, but there are standard motions in limine that I file for every DUI trial.
Here are some of the most common.
Motion to exclude witnesses from the court and instruct them not to discuss their testimony: The idea behind this motion is to prevent witnesses from corroborating their testimony with one another, or altering their testimony if they heard anything witness testify.
Often times Prosecutors ask to have the arresting officer present during the trial, but generally do not object to this motion.
Motion to exclude 404b and 609 evidence: 404b evidence has to do with prior bad acts of the defendant.
609 evidence has to do with crimes of dishonest.
If the Prosecution has not offered to admit evidence of either at this point, then any evidence of these should be excluded.
Motion to limit the horizontal gaze nystagmus to consumption only: In my jurisdiction the HGN test is only admissible of consumption of alcohol, and not related to any specific alcohol level.
Often times Prosecutors try and get tricky by eliciting testimony that 4 of the 6 clues show a person is over the legal limit, or they have consumed a significant amount of alcohol.
This needs to be prevented.
Motion to exclude the portable breath test: In my jurisdiction if the arresting officer did not administer the PBT correctly, or if they don't know any background of it then the proper foundation cannot be laid, and its inadmissible.
Motion to call the field sobriety tests, field tests: I don't usually argue this motion anymore because it hardly isn't granted.
However if a Prosecutor is new sometimes I will file it and see what happens.
I think the term "sobriety" infers the defendant was intoxicated.
Motion to require the proper foundation of the breath or blood test before evidence is submitted: Before any kind of evidence is admitted, the proponent of that evidence needs to elicit testimony about the background of that evidence.
During a trial, you never know what is going to happen, if the Prosecution was able to state what the breath test was in the opening statement, and then for some reason the evidence was ruled inadmissible, well that is problem.
These are a just a few of the most common pretrial motions made.
Obviously there are many more depending on the facts of the case, but this most likely will always be the same.