Win Your Drinking and Driving Case
by Andrew Mishlove, Esq.
Win Your Drinking and Driving Case
Many people think that if you are stopped by the police for drinking and driving and you fail a breath or blood alcohol level test, you are automatically guilty. Certainly, drinking and driving cases are difficult to win. But good drinking and driving defense attorneys fight and win many of them, including some with very high breath or blood alcohol levels. It is possible, so consult with a skilled drinking and driving defense lawyer today.
Winning a drinking and driving case requires a careful investigation of all of the facts, not just the ones that the police have reported, like a high breath or blood alcohol level. There are several factors to consider in order to analyze a case. These factors cover everything that occurred during the drinking and driving arrest, not just the facts in the police reports. When police officers make drinking and driving arrests, they are required to fill out various reports detailing their observations. In drunk driving cases these forms may be fill-in-the-blank, or they may be a narrative description of the arrest. In almost all cases, the officers focus on a few facts and ignore the rest. For example, they may note that you stumbled in the “heel-to-toe” test, but they will fail to mention that you had no other difficulties in your balance. So, winning a drinking and driving case requires a careful look at the entirety of your arrest, not just one little part of it.
Factor One: Did The Police Follow The Rules?
Whether you are guilty might be one of the least important factors in your case. That's because of the exclusionary rule, a law designed to protect the most important and precious of our civil liberties: the right to be free from unreasonable stops, seizures, searches and arrests. In a free society like ours, the police must operate under strict rules that prevent them from stopping and arresting you without a proper legal basis. Too often, the police act on a mere hunch or suspicion, without adequate evidence. When that happens, the evidence they get as a result of their unlawful behavior, including your breath or blood alcohol levels, may not be used in court even if it shows that you are guilty.
So, the first thing a good drinking and driving lawyer will do is a careful analysis of all of the facts that went into the police officer's decision to stop, question, test your breath or blood alcohol level and arrest you. A good drinking and driving attorney will always take any opportunity to challenge the legality of the police decision to pull you over, make you do field sobriety tests, arrest you or make you take a breath or blood alcohol level test. Do not assume that just because you “flunked” a breath test, that the test result can be used against you. Consult a qualified drinking and driving defense attorney today to talk about your specific circumstances.
Factor Two: The Story of Your Day.
Obviously, whether you are intoxicated depends on whether you have consumed an excessive amount of alcohol. Therefore, the story of your day is very important, because it includes your alcohol consumption. The details are important because the truth often lies in facts others might consider unimportant.
Remembering The Facts.
What did you eat? Where did you go? Where were you coming from? Who were you with? And yes, what did you have to drink? This information is necessary to determine whether you were intoxicated, whether there are witnesses to support you or whether the breath or blood alcohol level test result might be flawed.
For example, the case of a man arrested for drinking and driving while coming from his wife’s wake deserves a second look. He had crossed the centerline slightly while driving on a curve in a two-lane country road, and was stopped. The police report contained the usual recitations: bloodshot eyes, slurred speech and poor balance. The story of his day became critical. He had been to the cemetery and then to a memorial reception for his late wife. He had eaten and had some wine there with his friends and relatives. These people were able to testify that at no time did he appear to be intoxicated. They were able to corroborate his moderate alcohol consumption, food intake and sobriety. He not only became credible, he became human and sympathetic.
Too often, decent people are portrayed in the courtroom as anti-social monsters. A humanizing touch can be very helpful. Obviously, if you were at a drunken biker's party, you may not want to advertise that fact. But, even if you were socializing at a tavern, the circumstances could work in your favor. Consult a drinking and driving defense lawyer today to find out how the facts of your case can help you.
Because breath and blood alcohol level testing can be flawed and unreliable, it is important to locate any credible witnesses to testify to your actual alcohol consumption. It also might be possible to document your consumption using credit card records or other evidence. Likewise, alcohol hits harder on an empty stomach. So if possible, it is important to document what you had to eat that day.
Factor Three: The Driving
Police will usually try to report in detail on the driving violations that led to the initial stop of your vehicle. The prosecutor will argue that these violations are evidence of the impaired judgment and intoxication. Of course, that it often not the case. The police will often stop cars for slight or invalid cause.
Why were you stopped? What was it about your driving or your car that caught the attention of the police? Was it a faulty license plate light? Was it speeding, three miles per hour over the limit? Was it swerving? Was there an accident? Many times, people are arrested for drunk driving, when the initial stop was due to some factor unrelated to alcohol consumption. Often times a stop occurs on some pretext that has nothing to do with impaired driving. Unfortunately, it is undeniably true that racial minorities are stopped far more often on such pretexts (Emerge magazine has called this “DWB,” or driving-while-black). It can also be said that an old, rusty car is a far more likely target of an unreasonable stop (this might be called “DWB,” or driving-while-broke).
Some driving may, at first blush, appear to be erratic, when in fact it is not. For example, police like to stop people for “weaving within the lane.” What does that mean? As long as you stay in your lane, you are not weaving, right? Another, similar pretext is for an unduly wide exit to a turn. In many situations, however, a wide exit from a turn is the only proper or safe maneuver, even if it crosses traffic lanes.
Every person who drives a car knows that most people drive about five miles per hour over the speed limit. Low level speeding, or a similar traffic violation, may give the police the right to stop you, but it is definitely not evidence of intoxication.