DUI Defense Attorney Reveals Which Defenses Work in California NOW

You've been arrested for a DUI. The experience was probably humiliating and terrifying, not to mention a significant inconvenience. Your case is now scheduled to go to court. You understand that a conviction can cost you thousands of dollars, your license, and possible jail time.

So, what now? Is there a way out?

Actually, in many cases there is. You see, the majority of evidence introduced into court during a DUI trial is technical in nature. And technical evidence can be challenged on valid scientific grounds.

I utilize the newest defense techniques to get your case dismissed.

Here's what I mean. Today, the best way to fight a DUI case is to show how the technology to determine blood alcohol content (or BAC) might be faulty. This technique allows for reasonable doubt as to whether you were actually driving above the legal limit.

You may be wondering how technology might be wrong. Actually, there are many ways in which errors can occur. The job of a good attorney is to highlight the possibility of error. Following are some of the techniques juries find most influential:

1. Explaining the Inaccuracies of Field Sobriety Tests. The accuracy of the Field Sobriety Tests, preformed by the officer at the site, are based on the education of the officer.

The officer is taught to look for actions that fall outside of how the average non-intoxicated person would react to the tests. So right away one problem with these types of test is the assumption built into the idea of the "average" person.

One such test, the horizontal gaze test, rests solely on the assumption that the average person's eyes will not begin to jerk while following the officer's pen until after the forty-five degree angle.

But how is the officer to know that the driver's eyes would not normally jerk before a forty-five degree angle? What if the driver's eyes would normally begin to jerk at a thirty-eight degree angle? The officer cannot know.

The gaze test, though used fairly often by officers at the scene, has another inaccuracy attached to it as well. The test does not allow for any jerking variations caused by reactions to prescription medicine, genetic dysfunction, or stress.

Therefore, the officer cannot know for certain that any jerking occurring prior to the forty-five degree angle was, in fact, an alcohol induced reaction.

2. Explaining the Potential Problems Associated with Breath Reading Machines. Breath analysis machines are being proven to be far less reliable than originally perceived. They're under legal attack in many states.

In fact, due to this unreliability, the National Safety Council Committee on Alcohol and Other Drugs has recommended that at least two separate samples be collected prior to arrest, and that each sample (taken between two and ten minutes apart) be evaluated individually.

To help you understand the reasoning better, let me give you a 30 second education about these machines.

Breath reading equipment is based on the assumption that the ratio of alcohol in the exhaled breath to the alcohol in the blood is the same for most people.

The actual ratio, however, can vary widely from person to person, and the "average" ratio used to compute the BAC calculation by the machine can overestimate a person's BAC by 15%. A good attorney will explain these inconsistencies to the jury, and will also highlight the differences between his client and the "average" person.

3. Explaining the Potential Problems Associated with Urine Analysis.

Even urine analysis is based on occasionally erroneous assumptions. The ratio used to determine BAC is, again, that of the "average" person. Most labs assume that the ratio of alcohol present in the urine to alcohol in the blood is 1:1.3. This is true only for the average individual. The person being subjected to testing may in fact have an entirely different ratio.

As you can see, it is important to hire an attorney who understands the technical aspects of DUI evidence, and can use the technology to his, and your, advantage. The fact is, few of us fit the "average" mold. The best defense tactics today are ones that show the jury how the evidence against the defendant may be flawed.

If you'd like to know how your case may be helped, call me now at 415-552-6000 to schedule a free initial consultation. Remember, just because the prosecution has evidence which makes it look like you'll be convicted, this evidence isn't always accurate.