4 Solid DUI Defense Strategies that Work

We look at some proven strategies that have worked and still work that could help you get out of DWI.

A Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) charge has far-reaching consequences that can turn your life upside down in no time. If found guilty of drunk driving, you may have to cough up a huge sum, do prison time or go a long time without driving privileges hoping your license will get reinstated soon.

What if I tell you that you can still get your charges dropped and avoid the crushing consequences of a DW? Here are some common defenses in a DWI lawyer’s arsenal that can throw out the evidence gathered against you.

Being Stopped without A Reasonable Basis for Suspicion

Police officials are in charge for keeping drunkards off the roads but that doesn’t mean they can randomly stop just about any vehicle on the road.

Law enforcement authorities must have a reasonable basis of suspicion to stop any vehicle. But they are known to be creative and come up with some other reason to stop a vehicle.

It’s well known that police authorities look at certain driving patterns or cues (as they’re known in the police circle) as signs of intoxication. For instance, if you were spotted breaking the law while driving say you swerved off the interstate or sped through a stop sign or straddled a lane line or simply took an expansive turn, the police officer would have a valid reason to pull you over and start investigating.

Remember, they must actually catch you doing something against the law.

After they stop your vehicle, they may even ask whether you know why they did so– just to get you talking so they can check for other signs of intoxication like slurred speech. Even when asked, don’t give them any reason as to why they might have stopped you or don’t feel obligated to make an admission yourself if you’re in the wrong.

There’s a good chance the questioning officer might not have seen you flout the rules but is merely fishing for a reason. They always like to hear from the horse’s mouth. Anything for a piece of evidence that they can be used against you in the court. Don’t give them that. It could become a valid reason justifying the stop and encourage them to interrogate further.

Violation of Rights

That being said, if you think you didn’t infringe any rule, but the officer still pulled you over anyway, find out why they stopped you. If there is no clear legal reason to stop you, it denotes a violation of your rights. Even if you’re brought under custody, you could push back arguing that the police officer acted outside his authority and violated your rights in doing so.

To summarize, a police officer has to justify your traffic stop with a proper cause or valid reason- without one, they cannot slap any DWI charges on you. If you think you’ve been charged wrongly and are looking for legal assistance to get you out of trouble, contact the American DWI services.

Inaccurate Alcohol Breath Tests

When a police officer suspects you’re drunk, he may pull you over and ask you to breathe into a device to check your blood alcohol concentration. A battery of other tests may follow, such as walking heel to toe, reciting the alphabet etc. But it’s the results of the alcohol test that determine whether or not the cuffs are coming out.

That being said, the devices that we blow into (when pulled over) are found to be highly inaccurate despite all the positive talk around their level of precision, according to a New York Times investigation.

It is hard to get accurate results with these erroneous machines which have been found to have a lot of significant mechanical and technical shortcomings among other anomalies that can distort the results in a big way. No surprises, more and more breath tests are getting thrown out of court. In fact, cases connected to over 30000 breath tests were dismissed in 2018 alone in Massachusetts and New Jersey, with tens of thousands of similar tests invalidated and thrown out from different courts across the country. Breathalyzer devices can return highly skewed results if they have not been calibrated properly.

A wrong breath test caused by a human error or some technical anomaly should never be part of the prosecution but is still considered adequate evidence to land you in jail. A seasoned lawyer who knows his way around inefficiencies of the breath tests and issues underlying DWI prosecution can help you mount a successful defense and stop you from doing prison time.

Being Forced to Comply to Roadside Tests

A police officer may coerce you into complying with a few roadside tests. This is when the officer has enough suspicion that you’re a candidate for DWI, but before he has a valid reason to detain you. Basically, the cop is asking that you take his tests to help him beef up his case. If your state law allows you the right or choice to not take part in such tests but still the officer subjects you under undue pressure, then it’s a clear-cut case of involuntary testing. When the judge finds out the tests were actually involuntarily, there is a good chance he or she will disregard the evidence no matter how significant it is.

These are just a few common ways in which you can beef up your defense. And the good news is, there are several other ways in which you can put up a solid defense against your DWI charge.

Summing up

A customary traffic stop can escalate to a DWI arrest. This is especially true between dusk and dawn when the police officers are hunting aggressively for drivers who’re intoxicated. Maybe you were busted for a drunk driving offense and are facing a DWI charge. It sucks, we know. If you are still wondering how to get your charge dropped, reach out to a renowned DWI lawyer, and go over the details of your case. They might be able to develop a specific game plan based on your account and get you the best result possible- whether it be tossing out your license suspension when you’re wrongfully convicted or mitigating the quantum of punishment even when there’s indisputable evidence against you.

4 Solid DUI Defense Strategies that Work

Newer Articles

Older Articles