Robert Collazo: Can You Beat A DUI?

It has been suggested that over 99% of all people pulled over for driving under the influence do not know what to do or what not to do when a police officer starts questioning a suspected drunk driver. Being arrested for a DUI is out of your control, but not further incriminating is 100% within your control. I’ve written about the biggest mistakes people make after a DUI arrest before here and about a DUI Lawyer in Draper Utah as well. Most drivers have either been unlucky enough to pass through a DUI checkpoint, or been pulled over for an equipment defect, tag issue or motor vehicle offense. Here are some tips of how to beat a DUI, in most cases, and avoid the many DUI penalties that can follow you for life.

• First and foremost, remain silent. That means to be quiet. The only thing required from you is to disclose to an officer is your correct name and current address. This extends to all times, including at jail after arrest. Anything else you say and everything else you provide to the investigating officer looking for a drunk driving arrest will be used as evidence against you later. The most harmful information in most DUI cases is what comes out of a client’s mouth. If you want to beat a DUI, you need to remain silent. Because you are more likely than not being video and audio recorded, do not give evidence against yourself. If the officer plans to arrest you anyway, you are not going to improve your DUI charge by talking or begging to be let go.

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Most drivers have either been unlucky enough to pass through a DUI checkpoint, or been pulled over for an equipment defect, tag issue or motor vehicle offense. Here are some tips of how to beat a DUI, in most cases, and avoid the many DUI penalties that can follow you for life.

• Take No Field Sobriety Tests. Never participate in any form of sobriety screening at the roadway, and particularly at DUI checkpoints. In Utah, every pre-arrest screening done by police is 100% voluntary. The widely known and universally misunderstood roadside exercises called field sobriety tests are designed for a driver to fail. This unfortunate and inaccurate moniker is misleading, since the NHTSA standardized field sobriety tests are not reliable tests of a person’s sobriety. The agility and eye tests were never approved by peer reviewed research. No norms for different age groups and body sizes were never studied or utilized. Despite having no proven correlation to driving impairment, and having a very high false positive (i.e., sober people being arrested) these field sobriety evaluations are allowed to be used against citizens in court, for pretrial motion hearings, trial, or both. These psycho-physical and divided attention exercises are administered by officers with no medical training and no degree in psycho-physical testing and measurement.

• Don’t Take Portable Breathalyzer. The next tip on how to beat a DUI offense is to never take a roadside breathalyzer test on a portable breath alcohol test. In Utah, the numeric results of the hand-held preliminary breath test device are not from an approved forensic device in the overwhelming majority of states. By this statement, forensic means admissible in a court of law. In a DUI trial, the number is not admissible in most states, but a police officer is allowed to testify that the result was positive for alcohol. In some states where the Alco-sensor is admissible, it will be used by a prosecutor to try to convict you. Too often, jurors hear that the number is positive and tend to think the worst, not the best. To win your DUI case, avoiding this nebulous and possibly harmful inference, simply decline to take this optional and voluntary alcohol-screening test. Simply say No, but do it politely.

• Don’t Resist Arrest. If arrested for a OWI-OUI, do not physically resist the officer cuffing you and do not verbally protest or beg to be given a break. Resistance can create another criminal charge of obstruction at either the misdemeanor level (no physical contact with an officer) or a felony obstruction (physical contact such as hitting, biting, kicking, head butting or spitting on) a law enforcement officer. You are not going to get much sympathy from a jury or a judge if your conduct is something that these people would not think of doing. In fact, such conduct is consistent with drunken people. Calm, polite and responsive detainees are usually perceived to not be impaired, without more proof of intoxication or physical faculties.

• Expect No Privacy in a Police Car. Don’t assume that you have the right to any privacy in a police car. Modern police cars, especially if designated to be used for DUI-DWI arrests, often have both audio and video recording, focused on you. Do not carry on a cell phone conversation about any aspect of your drunk driving case, because the appellate courts in multiple states have ruled that you have no expectation of privacy in the back seat of a patrol car. It can all be used against you, and it means the difference between winning and losing. Even without a cell phone, many clients have verbally vented their frustrations in the rear of a patrol car have later been admitted in court to convict them.

• Pay attention to every detail of what is happening to you. This is critical if the police officer who arrested you lacks a body camera or car video. Two examples will show you how this is importance. Under Utah DUI laws, the implied consent notice must be read to you at the roadway, in almost all situations. A delayed advisement, or a partial advisement will not work, and your lawyer can use such defective admonishment to throw out your breath alcohol test. Under Utah laws, you then have 30 minutes to contact anyone you wish, and that should be an attorney skilled in DWI-DUI laws.

• Take the Officer’s implied consent Test. Yes, take it, but first ask the officer, Am I allowed to speak to a DUI attorney first?” The test offered by police after arrest is the official implied consent test, required by your State’s law. Refusal to take a requested breath alcohol test in states that have criminalized a refusal to blow can put you in jail for the offense of refusal of an implied consent test. Don’t confuse your obligation to take the implied consent breath test (or blood test) after arrest with the portable breath alcohol test offered at the roadway. In Utah you can lose your entire right to drive for a full year by refusing to submit to testing. Plus, an Georgia law enforcement officer would then be authorized to seek a search warrant for your blood, and take a forcible blood test from you. In most states, once you take the officer’s requested test, you are entitled to obtain your own independent test or tests, from a person you’re choosing. Know the name of a nearby hospital that will take your blood test.

• Try to Remember Names. On your journey to jail, you may deal with a transport officer, a book-in officer or even another prisoner who could make an excellent witness in your case, to verify that your were sober. Do your best to remember the names and get a good identification of these potential witnesses. Write this information down at your first opportunity, and supply them to your DUI attorney.

• Appeal the Administrative Suspension of Administrative Revocation. Over 90% of all states’ DUI laws have provisions for taking your physical, plastic license, replacing it with a form or sheet of paper, and suspending or revoking your right to drive. A very short time window will exist to appeal this proposed suspension or revocation of your driver’s license, from 10 to 45 days, depending on the state laws where you were arrested, so contact DUI lawyers near me, by searching for the best local criminal defense attorney who specializes in intoxicated driving cases.

• Don’t Talk in Jail. Anything you say in jail, including over the phone, may be recorded. So don’t think that admissions made to another prisoner or a guard won’t be potential incriminating evidence against you. Remain silent in jail, and focus on posting bond.

• Don’t Risk Any New Arrests. So long as your criminal case for DUI is pending, any new arrest could create major issues. To begin, your first bond can be revoked or you may have to submit to other conditions on your bond, just to stay out of jail. These conditions can be painful or even crippling. Examples: Being required to put an alcohol interlock device on your car (painful) or not be allowed to drive at all (crippling). Some states already have laws in place that mandate such an interlock device, because the interlock companies have lobbied to get this business.

• Once you bond out of jail, immediately write down a chronological account of the previous 24 hours, or longer, if you spent a while in jail. Start from when you got up that day, and everything you did, and identify any potential witnesses. Turn this over to your drunken driving lawyer.

• If the number of alcoholic beverages is a possibly trial issue, and you paid the restaurant with a credit card, you or your DWI-DUI attorney need to get that computerized receipts soon as possible . Most hospitality businesses willingly cooperate, but if not, your criminal attorney can get assistance from your court.

• Immediately hire the best criminal defense attorney who is a reputable and respected DUI Lawyer in your Court.

• If the conditions of the roadway are an issue, such as under construction or a rainy night, and the lane lines were not visible with the dark roadway, you need to get video footage and possibly still shots, for later use at trial. If your DWI lawyer can’t assist with an investigator, take a friend with you while you drive, and try to match the same time of night, direction, and weather conditions.

• Look for premises surveillance cameras, if this potentially may later prove to be helpful evidence at trial or pretrial DUI motions. Your criminal defense lawyer can get a court order or subpoena, to preserve that footage.

• DUI accident cases present many potential defenses for fighting an alleged DUI violation. Equipment failure may have been involved, plus legal defenses to certain aspects of the DUI arrest, such as air bags striking you in the face, and causing head trauma and nystagmus, or a red face. The best DUI lawyers also may need to use an accident reconstruction expert, so listen to your DUI defense lawyer on this issue, since that evidence cannot be generated later.

When clients have followed all of these tips, the chances for acquittal, dismissal or a reduction of charges is much more likely than being convicted, when experienced DUI attorneys are selected and retained to fight your criminal case. After you are released from jail, record everything you can recall. Immediately upon release, it is extremely important that you write down everything you can recall about the arrest. Things to include are:

I. What you were drinking and how much you had to drink

II. How long after you stop drinking you were pulled over

III. What you were doing and where you were before you got into the car

IV. Where you were pulled over

V. How the officer treated you and what the officer said

VI. How you responded to the officer’s instructions

VII. Whether you were read your Miranda rights if arrested

VIII. When and where you took the chemical test

IX. How long after you stopped drinking that you took the chemical test

If a person is charged and/or convicted of a DUI offense, there are general things to expect.

• You will be arrested by the officer who pulled you over. Expect to be arrested, taken to the police station, booked, and placed in jail until you can be bonded out. Typically, individuals are in jail until they sober up and can post bond. In some jurisdictions and depending on the offense, this may require an appearance before a judge. In others, there are standard procedures that allow the officers in the jail to accept bond
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• You will end up in court. Unless there are unusual extenuating circumstances, you will have to make a court appearance and will be required to plead guilty or not guilty to the offense.

• Expect some type of suspension on your driver’s license. In most states, individuals who are convicted of DUI receive some type of suspension on their driver’s license.

• You will pay. Expect fines, attorney fees, court costs, towing fees, storage fees for your car, therapy fees, counseling fees, etc. etc. This is going to cost a large amount of money even if it is a routine arrest. If there is an accident, property damage, or an injury, the expenses can be astronomical.

• There will be jail time. A person arrested for their first DUI will most likely spend at least a few hours in jail. Individuals with prior arrests will certainly spend at least a few hours in jail and most likely will get some form of jail time, community service, house arrest, etc., upon conviction Depending on the outcome of the case; individuals can be incarcerated for a variable length of time. Multiple repeat offenders can expect at least some extended jail time.

• You will most likely be put on probation. If convicted of a DUI offense, you will most likely be put on probation. This incurs even more expense and regular visits to your probation officer. Be prepared to provide your probation officer with proof that you are not drinking or using drugs.

• Some type of educational program or therapy is in your future. Expect to have to attend some type of substance abuse class, get involved in some type of therapy.

• Expect changes with your auto insurance. Expect your friendly neighborhood auto insurance company to not be your friend any longer. Insurance prices will shoot up, and you may not even be able to get insurance from some companies.

• There is always a record. These days, no matter what, there is always a record of a DUI arrest or conviction somewhere. Even though the conviction is removed from your immediate driving record after several years, a record of it may remain on your permanent driving record.
Insurance companies typically look back five years, but there is a record of a conviction forever, even if you are assured that if you comply with probation, it will be removed from your record. There is always documentation somewhere regarding DUI arrests and convictions that can be referenced.