DWI

Defenses Your DUI Attorney Can Assert for You

If you’ve been pulled over for drinking and driving, you need to hire a DUI attorney in St. Louis, MO to help you fight the charges. You can work together to determine the defense that you’ll prepare to deliver to the judge. Your lawyer will review the police report, the results of tests conducted on you, and your observations from the time that you were arrested. Based on the information and evidence against you, you can use one of the following defenses.

Inaccurate Breath Alcohol Results

One way that police officers determine that you were driving under the influence is by administering a breath alcohol test. Just because the test shows that you have too much alcohol in your system doesn’t mean that the results are accurate. For one thing, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), heartburn, or acid reflex can cause alcohol to travel back up to your throat and mouth. Then, the test measures the extra alcohol in your mouth rather than the alcohol in your system. The test needs to measure your breath alcohol consumption (BAC) that comes from the deep lung tissue rather than the alcohol in your mouth. There are also ways to prove that the blood test was inaccurate, too. If these tests were used against you, you can work with your attorney to examine the results and determine the defense to use.

Failure to Follow Protocol

When you get arrested, the police officers need to follow certain protocols. If they fail to follow protocol, it can affect your case. For example, police officers have to read you your Miranda Rights if they take you into custody or ask you any questions. If they fail to do so, any statements that you make after going into custody cannot be used against you.

Another protocol that police officers need to follow involves the breath alcohol test. Police officers should observe you for at least 20 minutes before administering the test. If they fail to wait at least 2o minutes or fail to watch you during that time, the test cannot be used against you in court.

Unjustifiable Traffic Stop

Why did the police officer pull you over to begin with? Did they say that you were weaving? Did they have probable cause to pull you over? Probable cause requires evidence to arrest you. Evidence does not include observations from the police officer. They can’t say that they smelled alcohol on your breath. They can’t use tests that were not approved by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. If you don’t believe that the police officer had probable cause for pulling you over and arresting you, then a probable cause or preliminary hearing may be necessary.

Innocent Explanation

Perhaps you were pulled over because the police officer saw you swerving on the road. Maybe you were drifting between lanes. Is there an innocent explanation for how you were driving? Maybe you were talking on your cell phone. Perhaps you were reading a map. Maybe you were eating or too tired behind the wheel. You may still end up with a ticket for reckless driving, but you won’t have a DUI on your record.

There are several other defenses that can be used to fight your charges. Work with your DUI attorney in St. Louis, MO to determine the best options that you have to fight the charges and make sure that you can reduce them or have them thrown out entirely. If you don’t already have a lawyer to help you, you can meet with several lawyers to ask them about your case and find out which approach they would take to help you fight the charges.

Why you need a good St. Louis DWI Lawyer

Firms that handle drunk driving cases are not there just to help those who were really guilty of the crime. They are there to protect people in sticky situations like yours as well. Working with someone like this can help to present the right evidence, protect your permanent record, lessen or remove the charges, expedite the process, and keep you calm and collected.

A good St. Louis DWI Lawyer Will Present the Right Evidence

The cops that pull people over have a number of tests they can run to determine if the driver was under the influence of something. While these tests have been very helpful in getting a lot of dangerous drivers off the road, they can also get innocent people in trouble. Failure to walk a line could be an inner-ear infection or simple nerves. If alcohol was spilled on you at some point, then you could fail a breath test. Getting a DUI lawyer, such as Christopher Combs of the Combs Law Group LLC on your side will help you to combat the evidence against you by presenting all the right information to show your innocence. Standard field sobriety tests are solely subjective evaluations of the officer and therefore can be attacked by an aggressive DUI defense attorney.

A good St. Louis DWI Lawyer Will Protect Your Permanent Record

Having a charge of drunk driving on your record can be incredibly harmful. This can get in the way of employment opportunities and acceptance to certain educational facilities. Having a good attorney help you will include ensuring that your record stays as clean as possible. This one benefit can have a lot of long-term help for you.

A good St. Louis DWI Lawyer Will Reduce or Remove the Charges

It is not always possible for a good attorney to completely remove the charges against you. Even if you were not driving drunk, there was something in your conduct that caused the cops to pull you over. Sometimes enough evidence can be produced to drop the charges altogether, and you can walk away without any negative consequences. In most cases, however, the charges will have to remain in some form. The real benefit comes in lessening those charges. Instead of a felony DUI, it can be reduced to careless and imprudent or reckless driving. These are much less serious infringements.

A good St. Louis DWI Lawyer Will Expedite the Process

The sooner you can be done with this situation, the better. Trying to navigate the mess of red tape and legal jargon on your own can take a really long time. You need a good attorney to help speed things up.

They Will Keep You Calm and Collected

The biggest mistake a lot of people in your situation make is coming to court full of anger and frustration. While this is a frustrating situation, you will not get any help from acting in an erratic manner. You need to appear calm and collected. Having someone there to be your representative and to train you in the proper way to act can be very helpful in presenting the right image.

This is a stressful situation no matter how you look at it. Whatever led to you getting caught up in the middle of it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you get the help you need. Getting the help of Christopher Combs and the Combs Law Group LLC will help you make sense of the situation and come out as unscathed as possible. There is no reason you should have to pay the price for a crime you did not commit.