When facing DUI charges, it’s important to remember that you are innocent until proven guilty and defenses are available. Failing to do so may negatively impact your driving record and life opportunities.
Here is how you can do this:
Challenging the stop
The police need reasonable suspicion to stop you. For example, you run a red light, fail to yield, speed, change lanes unsafely or run a stop sign. And when the officer stops you, they will administer a chemical test for alcohol or drug use. If your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is 0.08% or above, they will have probable cause to arrest you for DUI.
If your case didn’t meet these factors, perhaps the officer stopped you because you were coming from the side of a bar, you can use improper stop as your defense since they lacked reasonable suspicion to stop you.
Challenging the breathalyzer test
Breathalyzers are fairly accurate, but there is still a margin of error. Different factors can lead to inaccurate results. For example, a poorly calibrated breathalyzer can produce unreliable results.
Further, foods that contain alcohol, such as fermented drinks, vanilla extract, fruits (more so ripe ones), yogurt and kefir, among others, can lead to a false positive.
Some medications like asthma medicines, mouthwashes and cold medicines can also affect BAC results because they contain alcohol.
Additionally, medical conditions, such as acid reflux and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), can result in a false positive due to the alcohol vapors from the stomach.
Challenging the field sobriety tests
An officer may request that you perform field sobriety tests. If they are not trained in conducting them or fail to follow the required guidelines, you may get inaccurate results.
If you are charged with a DUI, you should learn more about defense strategies to protect your interests.