An Incident You Wish You Could Take Back
You are obviously worried and upset if you have been charged with a DUI. You would never intentionally get behind the wheel of a car, boat or another vehicle if you knew that you were not capable of handling it. But even well-intentioned people sometimes find themselves in the difficult position of needing to build a DUI defense.
It’s important to remember that a drunk driving arrest does not necessarily mean a DUI conviction. The Constitution guarantees you certain rights, including the right to a defense. If you’ve been charged with intoxicated driving, the best step you can take is to obtain the services of an attorney who is familiar with Illinois DUI laws. This professional can help you determine the best DUI defense given the prosecutor’s evidence against you.
Learn About DUI Defense Strategies
There are many potential legal approaches that may be used to challenge the charges that have been filed against you. Common DUI defense strategies include:
- Challenging Breathalyzer test results. The breath test that you took to measure your blood alcohol content is only as good as the equipment or the skills of the operator who performed the test. A lawyer may explore whether equipment was accurately calibrated and whether the person administering the test was adequately trained.
- Questioning the validity of a field sobriety test. Field sobriety tests are notoriously inaccurate. Everything test employed — from the horizontal gaze nystagmus to the walk-and-turn test — are notoriously unreliable for indicating intoxication. If you performed poorly on an assessment, a lawyer may challenge its legitimacy.
- Challenging the results of blood tests. Just like a Breathalyzer assessment, these tests can give false positives if the person administering the test does not follow exact procedure. Chain of custody of the evidence can also be an issue. A lawyer can explore these issues.
- Identifying an unlawful police stop. You have legal protections against being unlawfully detained or searched. If you have been illegally stopped, your attorney may be able to secure a dismissal of your case.
These are only some of the DUI defense strategies that a lawyer may employ to challenge the prosecution’s case against you. By speaking with an attorney, you’ll learn of many more avenues for questioning the credibility of the state’s evidence.
