If you’ve been arrested for driving under the influence or while intoxicated, you should assume you’re innocent until proven guilty. The prosecution has an extremely high burden of proof in that situation.
Suppose you can show problems with the prosecution’s case or reasonable concerns about essential pieces of evidence needed to convict you. In that case, you can get your DUI charge dismissed under California Vehicle Code Section 23152.
A DUI can be contested based on several arguments, including erroneous breathalyzer BAC readings, police misconduct, medical issues, etc.
To put it another way, this is why the top DUI attorneys get their clients’ DUI charges reduced daily. In 2024 and 2024, you can win a DUI case with legal motions, objections, and arguments that have nothing to do with whether or not your blood alcohol content was too high.
Although some states have stricter DUI regulations than others, there are always ways to challenge a DUI charge in court. Check out, https://www.calgaryduilawyer.ca/
Here are the best ways to fight DUI cases.
1. Inaccurate or erroneous breathalyzer results
The BAC test for driving under the influence is a breathalyzer.
Then again, to what extent do breathalyzers for driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) not directly measure BAC? Instead, they take a reading of the breath alcohol concentration and multiply it by a “partition ratio” to estimate the blood alcohol content.
Breathalyzers work on the assumption that there is only one-two-hundredth as much alcohol in your breath as there is in your blood. However, depending on factors such as sex, body weight, breathing habits, body temperature, and hematocrit levels, the accurate ratios of people tested can vary from 1:1300 to 1:3000 or more (red blood cell ratio).
- Breathalyzers are not 100% reliable, and several factors might lead to false positives
- Distinctive anatomical features of the many drivers that influence the partition coefficient
- The mistake of the device
- Lack of or incorrect calibration; poor maintenance; improper usage by the police officer
- The disorder of the automatic brewer
- Experts believe that chemical testing has an error rate of between.005 and.02%, even when doing a DUI BAC test perfectly.
Because a.02% margin of error might reduce the BAC to below the legal.08 alcohol limit, our Santa Monica DUI attorney can challenge even “flawless test results” between.08 and.10%.
2. The police had no reason to pull you over for DUI
Police must have reasonable suspicion or probable cause to pull someone over for DUI. The 4th Amendment prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures, which include traffic stops. The most prevalent reasons given by law enforcement for making a DWI stop include NHTSA driving impairment trends, excessive speeding, and failure to stop at a stop sign or signal.
Remember this; Your DUI attorney can submit a request to suppress evidence to have any evidence gathered through an improper search thrown out of court if the officer conducting the stop did not have reasonable suspicion or probable cause.
Except at DUI sobriety checkpoints, the results of BAC tests administered as part of a DUI can be ruled inadmissible by filing a “suppression motion” under California Evidence Code section 1538.5.
Since 23152 VC includes criteria police must provide with legitimate, admissible evidence, suppressing necessary evidence can dramatically raise the odds of getting a DUI dismissed.
3. Increasing Blood Alcohol Content
Graphical evidence against the rising blood alcohol level. If your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was below the legal limit when driving but had increased to above the BAC limit by the time the police tested you, you may use the “rising blood alcohol” argument.
It takes the body 45 minutes to three hours to thoroughly absorb one alcoholic beverage. There will be a rise in blood alcohol content (BAC) while you wait. When you reach your highest BAC after drinking depends on several factors, including when and what you eat before drinking.
Naturally, you might have questions like: How do I show that my blood alcohol content was safe? A toxicology expert must look at the BAC test results and evidence to do a retrograde extrapolation study to prove that the driver’s BAC was increasing and that they were under the legal alcohol limit at the time of driving.
The most favorable conditions for using an “increasing BAC” defense are a substantial time lapse between being pulled over and administering the BAC test.
Your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was measured to be around the legal limit, maybe between.08 and.11.
You didn’t commit any driving violations, swerve, or have any slurred speech to indicate that you were drunk.
You weren’t driving while intoxicated since you were so close to your destination when you were pulled over.
4. Common DUI Defenses
Many people in the United States who have been charged with driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs choose to challenge the charges by mounting a defense. The goal is to cast reasonable doubt on the prosecution’s case and demonstrate that, based on certain defenses, you are innocent of all charges.
There are several common defenses for DUI charges that could be used in court. These fall into two broad categories: challenging evidence or questioning police procedures. For example, a lawyer may argue that the breathalyzer was not functioning properly and should not be used as evidence, or suggest that your rights were violated when you were questioned or arrested by law enforcement officers.
Some of the most common defenses employed in DUI cases include (but are not limited to):
- Medical conditions that might cause a false positive reading (such as acid reflux).
- Improper handling of breath test results by criminal justice personnel.
- Failure to follow standardized procedures like head pivots during roadside field sobriety tests.
- Arguments against personal bias on behalf of any arresting officers involved.
If successful, these can weaken the prosecution’s case and lead to a favorable verdict in court.
