07.31.2010

Defending a DUI Charge – The Various Defense Options Available to a DUI Lawyer

With his legal experience and qualification, a skilled DUI attorney will be able to provide a credible defense strategy which will provide a person with the best possible chance of avoiding a DUI conviction.

One of the ways through which DUI lawyers achieve this is by challenging the evidence held against the clients. Examples of some of these includes, disproving the testimonies submitted by police officers who are describing the actions of the charged clients when they were pulled over. If a person was caught driving erratically or acting out of order, most officers will immediately perform a series of sobriety tests in order to ascertain the person’s mental state and judgment. In the event that you are unable to walk in a straight line, stand on one leg or even repeat the alphabet backwards, then cause for a DUI suspicion might be raised.

Fortunately, in the event that people fail these tests, it is possible for a skilled DUI attorney to discredit the results based on improper procedure and application on the part of the officer.

Whilst a field sobriety test can usually easily be discredited, repeating the same feat with a blood or breath test is a lot more difficult. It is however also just as possible. Understandably most courts are willing to accept the evidence provided by such tests because of their objective nature. However, with a good DUI defense lawyer, the credibility of these tests can be raised if equipment used is shown to be faulty. An attorney can also improve the defense of his client by questioning the procedure used during the test as well as the length of time that elapsed between a person’s arrest and the eventual blood test. Both of these factors can greatly affect the results of a breath/blood test. Proving any of these will therefore easily discredit the results.

Again, since a person’s breath is used in calculating the result of BAC test, DUI defense lawyers can prove that these results were incorrect because of a person’s medical condition or belching. The theories behind these are fairly simple. Some people with specific medical problems might suffer from a spike in BAC levels that is not caused by drinking. Proving this will therefore increase a person’s defense. As regards the issue of belching, studies have revealed that belching shortly before a BAC test will increase the amount of alcohol found in a person’s breath. As a result of this, most officers are normally urged to wait at least twenty minutes after a belch before administering a BAC test.

Another way through which a person can be defended by a DUI attorney involves an attack on the methods used during the collection of evidence. If police officers are shown to have pulled you over illegally with no proper reason, then the evidence of their tests or observation carried thereafter are legally discounted and inadmissible in a court room.

As can be gleaned, the type of defense strategy which a criminal defense lawyer will adopt in a person’s DUI case will depend on the circumstance surrounding the situation of a person’s DUI. However, it is also important to remember that your actions when arrested can either strengthen or weaken the options available to your defense DUI lawyer.

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