DUI Advices

In any case and despite of what you may have heard, DUI cases do not always lead to conviction. In fact, there could be a diversity of ways to tackle your DUI or DWI charge, and speaking with a capable DUI lawyer in your zone is a prudent approach to review your case and decide if possible challenges may assist you beat your charges and clear your record, or at least maintain critical consequences to a bare minimum.

While the exact defenses you can declare in a DUI case vary from case to case and state to state, there are quite a few significant values that affect just about every case concerning drunk driving.

• Challenging Your Initial DUI Arrest

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution disallows irrational investigations and seizures and demands that any search or seizure be established on probable cause. When a police officer arrests you under suspicion of drunk driving, that is a seizure. If the officer does not have probable cause to take into custody, your DUI lawyer may confront your arrest.

A police officer can lack probable cause to arrest you in a variety of situations. If you were stopped on an entirely casual basis or exclusively on an unidentified tip, for driving too slowly or unexplained “suspicious” reasons, or because of your race, ethnicity or another protected category, you may be able to fight your case. The details vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and a local DUI lawyer is the best source of information about how these general principles apply to your case.

• Challenging Your Questioning

Law enforcement is obliged to read a person his or her Miranda rights - that you have the right to remain silent, anything you say will be used against you, and you are entitled to a lawyer-upon making an arrest. Thus, if you were detained on DUI/DWI charges and the police did not give you these well - known Miranda warnings, a local DUI attorney may be able to move to suppress evidence that was gathered in violation of your Miranda rights.

• Challenging Your Blood Alcohol Test or Breathalyzer Test

If you are stopped under suspicion of drunk driving, the law in the majority of states obliges that you be given a breath, blood, saliva, or urine examination to verify the alcohol level in your blood. With that said, there may be numerous ways to successfully fight the results of these tests in your DUI case.

The law, in quite a few states, demands that you be allowed to have your own doctor take your blood, and if the police refuse you this right, you may well be able to fight your DUI charges. You may also challenge the precision of the prosecution’s blood alcohol evidence with an expert witness who may argument the credentials of the medical staff doing the blood alcohol testing, question the maintenance and functionality of the breathalyzers or other testing tools, or contest the measures used in obtaining, sealing, labeling, storing and offering the evidence into trial.

• Challenging the Testimony of the Arresting Officer

Most DUI cases are supported mainly on the testimony of the arresting officer. Your DUI lawyer may cross examine the arresting officer and challenge the accuracy of his or her comments, the performance of a field sobriety test and other aspects of your arrest.

• Plea Bargaining

If you can’t entirely beat your case by receiving your charges dismissed or winning a not guilty verdict at trial, you may perhaps still be able to reduce the damage and reduce the penalties through plea bargaining. A plea bargain is an contract between you and the state in which the charges against you are dropped in exchange for your guilty plea to a lesser charge or a lesser sentence. In some cases, prosecutors may drop a DUI charge against you if it’s your first DUI offense and you agree to plead to a lesser penalty like supervision.
Even if you plead to a lower offense, your case may still be eligible in some states for expungement, which essentially eliminates the offense from your record. However, most states require that you wait for a fairly significant period before you are eligible for an expungement.