If you have been charged with a DUI, do not lose hope! It is just the beginning stages of the legal process. Depending on the specific circumstances of your case, there are several ways to successfully defend against a DUI charge.
What are Some of the Most Common Defenses to a DUI Charge?
While there are many options in defending against a DUI charge, some defenses are more common than others. Some of the most commonly used DUI defenses include:
- Inaccuracy of Breathalyzer testing: Using a Breathalyzer to test for blood alcohol content (BAC) is not always reliable. A Breathalyzer scans the breath alcohol in your lungs to provide a measurement of your BAC in your blood. This means that testing the breath is an indirect way of measuring for BAC and this kind of test alone is not enough to accurately determine your BAC. Furthermore, differences in human physiology can impact Breathalyzer test results. There are also extenuating circumstances that can skew the results of a breath test. For instance, changes in body temperature while the test is being administered may result in inaccurately high readings. Above and beyond all of this is the fact that the Breathalyzer itself may be flawed. It is required that monthly and quarterly maintenance and quality checks be conducted on all Breathalyzer devices. Failure to comply with this requirement is proof that the Breathalyzer was not necessarily in working order and may be the basis for deeming the results to be inadmissible in court.
- Illegality of the stop: You as a driver cannot be stopped by a law enforcement officer unless the officer has a reasonable belief that a law, traffic or otherwise, has been violated. We all have a constitutional right under the Fourth Amendment to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures by law enforcement officers. This means that an officer must have an articulable reason for stopping a person in order to support any following seizure or evidence obtained. Without probable cause for your arrest or reasonable suspicion for the officer stopping you, evidence gathered against you following the violation of your constitutional rights will likely be deemed inadmissible and would likely result in the charges being dismissed.
- Failure to provide an opportunity to contact an attorney: If you were not given an opportunity to consult with an attorney during the DUI investigation, your rights have been violated and that can be the basis of DUI charges being dismissed. In a DUI investigation, a suspect has a right to consult with an attorney if doing so would not unreasonably delay or encumber the investigation. If a defendant files a motion to dismiss evidence based on deprivation of counsel, the burden falls on the State to prove that deprivation of counsel was due to the face that accommodating the right to counsel would have led to an unreasonable delay in the DUI investigation.
DUI Defense Counsel Protecting Your Rights
All too often, the legal rights of a person are violated in a DUI investigation. These violations can be used to mount a successful defense to a DUI charge. There are also other ways of defending against a DUI charge and the experienced DUI defense attorneys at Arizona Lawyers know how to successful employ these defenses. If you are facing a DUI charge, contact us today.