Treat the District Attorney with Respect to Negotiate a Great Result for Your Client

  There is a time to fight, and a time to negotiate.  Sometimes, you have nowhere to  go, and all of the evidence is stacked against your client.  If you have a reputation of being acrimonious, your chance of getting a good plea bargain for your client is on the down side.  That is why it is important to remind the District Attorney, that what you are doing is being done to protect your client and make a decision of whether or not you will be going to trial.  District Attorneys are not subject to "Malpractice Suit" as are private counsel.  So, you should be polite even if it seems that the DA is treating you like garbage.  You prepare your case for trial in case that is where you have to go after all negotiations break down.
  If you keep a good relationship with the District Attorney, that is a professional relationship, you can get the discovery that you need for trial, and keep the options open for an equitable disposition.  Recently, just in the last week, I had a client in Oakland, California, that was facing a charge of a 3rd offense DUI charge.  Given the manner of his arrest, that fact that he had Type 1 Diabetes where he takes insulin, this changes the chemistry of his body causing Isopropanol alcohol to form in his body when it reaches approximately 200 to 250 glucose readings.  In fact, the nurse on duty at the Glenn Dyer Jail at Oakland, California found his glucose reading to be 470.  There is a policy of at this jail if the person is 300 or above, they cannot be admitted into the jail until they have been taken to the hospital, treated, and moved out of "Stoke Zone", for this diabetic emergency.
  For months, the company that handles the nurses for the jails ran us around not giving us these results.  We had to get a special Court Order and go back over and over and over until we finally got the records they said did not exist.  This became a very acrimonious process.  The case was set for trial, and it finally went out to trial.  The judge eventually tried to settle the case, and both myself and the District Attorney put the hard times in getting the information we needed aside, and in a very professional manner, and with the help of the judge, we each spoke to each other professionally, and the case, while in trial, was reduced to a Wet Reckless; something usually given on a low alcohol level on a 1st or 2nd DUI within 10 years, but rarely on a 3rd DUI charge anymore.  Good relationships can help your clients, so remember that the District Attorney is a person with a job to do, but they can be of great assistance on tough issues when you treat them with the respect they deserve.