Do I have any defenses to my DWI charge?
This is the area where having an actual trial attorney is critical. There are plenty of attorneys who get famous and wealthy pleading every client guilty, but a knowledgeable attorney who isn’t afraid to go to trial can find potential defenses in DWI cases that you may not have known you had. We like to break these defenses up into four categories: the Stop Phase, Arrest Phase, Total Evidence Phase, and Other Defenses.
The Stop Phase
You have a 4th Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. That means that a police officer can’t stop your vehicle without reasonable suspicion that a crime is being committed. When an officer pulls you over illegally, everything after the illegal stop is suppressed under the exclusionary rule. This means that the evidence of impairment can’t be used in a trial against you. One common example of this is when a police officer tells you that you committed a traffic violation, but the video shows otherwise. We will get copies of video when it is available to determine whether your car was stopped legally or not. In the event that the stop was illegal, we will file a motion to suppress the evidence the evidence and your case could get dismissed.
The Arrest Phase
While the police only need reasonable suspicion to stop your car, they need probable cause to place you under arrest. Sometimes an officer stops you for a traffic violation, but places you under arrest before properly developing probable cause that you were driving while impaired. An experienced attorney who is familiar with the ways law enforcement officers are supposed to conduct field sobriety tests can argue that there is no probable cause when the tests are conducted improperly or not at all. Sometimes an officer takes too long to develop probable cause and the evidence can be suppressed for that reason too.
Total Evidence Phase
The most obvious defense in any case is whether there is evidence sufficient to convict beyond a reasonable doubt. We make sure we interview every police officer, view all of the body-worn camera footage, and examine the results of every field, chemical, blood, or breath test in your case to determine whether there is enough evidence for the prosecutor to convict. In some cases, even if the trial survives a motion to suppress, we may still be able to keep out evidence of a blood alcohol test which can significantly increase your chaces of winning a case.
Other Defenses
There are several other defenses that may also be available including necessity and duress, having a witness denied to you during the breath test, being denied your right to a speedy trial, having an improper bond imposed, and many others. Contact us for a free consultation.
There are several other defenses that may also be available including necessity and duress, having a witness denied to you during the breath test, having an improper bond imposed, and many others. Contact us for a free consultation.