If the police charge you with driving under the influence, you would be wise to spend time examining your defense options. While accepting the charge without a fight might seem the simplest option, you will face significant consequences for doing so.
Here are a few of the defense options you might consider:
Challenge the reason for the stop
If the police pull you over at an official DUI checkpoint, they do not need to suspect you of anything to stop you. They do, however, need to be able to justify why they stopped you out of everyone else passing through the control. They need to be able to justify that it was not down to racial profiling or anything like that. Typically, officers follow a pattern, such as stopping every fifth car, to prevent bias from entering the equation.
If the officers stopped you away from a checkpoint, they need to have had reasonable suspicion that you had broken the law. If their argument is flimsy, you may be able to challenge it.
Challenge the delivery of the tests or their results
Maybe your English is not the best and the officer mumbled the test instructions to you, so you did not understand what you were meant to do. Or perhaps how they carried out the tests seems at odds with how others have told you they were tested.
Tests can also be wrong. Field sobriety tests are highly susceptible to officer’s subjective opinions. Breathalyzer tests can read wrongly if the machine is not calibrated, or read high due to substances such as fresh paint in the immediate vicinity.
Those are just a couple of the ways to challenge a DUI charge. Exploring more can help you decide if you might be able to challenge your charge.
