Many people who are arrested for a DUI in California assume that their options are limited. They assume that they failed a breathalyzer and therefore they have no options. They assume that if they admitted guilt that they have no options. The truth is that your criminal defense attorney may be able to help and it is always worth calling Law Office of Michael L. Fell at (949) 585-9055 to find out. Keep reading for five examples of DUI defenses.
- You Are a Bad Driver
- Field Sobriety Tests Are Unreliable
- Breathalyzer Test Are Unreliable
- The Stop Itself Was Unlawful
- You Were Not Driving
It may seem like a strange defense but in some cases a person is just a bad driver – they were not drunk, they were just not driving well. They may have had a lapse in concentration, they have had other issues that caused them to swerve. Regardless of the specifics, being under the influence of drugs or alcohol was not the cause for their poor driving.
Only a few field sobriety tests have been proven to work on a scientific basis and even those cannot be proven to be 100% reliable. Even in the best of conditions, if the officer does not correctly administer the test then it will not be accurate. Showing that the tests that are being used against you are faulty is a strong defense option.
While breathalyzer tests have long been held as the gold standard that are accurate to 0.001%, a scathing expose by the New York Times has recently brought this idea into question. Their close look into the one million DUI arrests in the United States each year led to a realization that there may be less accuracy than was previously thought.
Police cannot pull you over for any reason they want – they must have probable cause. If we find that they did not then the stop itself may be found unlawful. In this event, the evidence obtained during the stop will be found inadmissible and the charges should be dropped.
We will also look at the behavior of the police during the stop to see if they failed to follow any procedures that could lead to evidence being deemed inadmissible. For example, if evidence did not follow an appropriate chain of custody then it could be thrown out.
This happens more than people think – the police pull over a vehicle and assume one person was driving when another person was. This especially happens at DUI checkpoints when people may exit the car to see what the holdup is. If this is the case, and the police cannot prove you were driving, then your case may be thrown out.
To learn more about the many options you have to defend against a DUI charge, contact Law Office of Michael L. Fell at (949) 585-9055 for a free legal consultation.