Who you are as a person matters.
In a DUI case, one of the most important things we can show the judge is that you have social capital.
Social capital is really a measure of your value or your worth as an invested member of the community. It often relates to employment, but itâs broader than just having a job.
For example, an 18-year-old unemployed, unattached young man living in a house full of roommates generally has far less social capital than a 54-year-old married mother of three who has worked at the same company for 20 years and owns her home.
The more investment you have in your life, and the more youâve contributed to or become part of the community, the better.
The more good things you do or have done, the better.
Itâs important for the court to know that you are going to remain part of the community and that you have strong disincentives to ever commit a similar act again.
Take our two examples.
The 18-year-old might go back to a party on a Friday night with roommates who say, âThat DUI stuff sucks. I had that judge in my last case â he hammered me.â
Compare that to the 54-year-old woman whose husband says, âWeâre going to have to put off the addition on the house now because this DUI is going to cost us about $10,000.â
And she says, âI know. Iâm embarrassed. Nothing like that will ever happen again.â
Who you are as a person is a very big deal.
Itâs the lawyerâs job to help bring that story out â to extract it from you and properly communicate it to the court.
From the courtâs perspective, people get categorized in broad ways: male or female, young or old, employed or unemployed, and so on.
Itâs our job to take that basic framework and flesh it out.
To say, âThis is John,â or âThis is Lisa,â and explain why John is a good guy or why Lisa is a good person.
Never forget this: Who you are as a person matters in a DUI case.