- In case that you are planning on going to a party with your friends or loved ones, where there is going to be plenty of alcohol, odds are, you are going to be drinking. And this is why it is very important as well as genuinely crucial even, to make sure that you plan ahead. This means either leave the car home and call a cab once you are done with the party or, if you are so insistent on driving in your own vehicle, call a designated driver. After all, the legal consequences of driving under the influence of alcohol are quite dire. Not only will you have to pay some hefty fines – you are also risking to lose your license for a very long time. Furthermore, do not forget that the cost of your insurance is going to elevate sky high. Mandatory alcohol awareness classes, mandatory ignition interlock device in the car and even county jail or state prison may turn out to be part of the sentence as well. Hence, before you ever go behind the wheel drunk, think twice and just consider if it is really worth it.
- Do not forget that you have your very own Constitutional right to remain silent. And once you are pulled over by the law enforcement officer, there comes a time to use that right in full. After all, once you will be pulled over, the police officer is going to approach to you and will tell you why you were stopped to begin with. It may be because you have a crack in the windshield or perhaps due to the fact that one of your tail lights is not working. However, if you were pulled over early in the morning or late at night, in most of the cases all of those reasons are going to be nothing more than excuses that the law enforcement officers are using to approach you and to start the interaction. Of course, if you are actually drunk, there will be certain signs that will show that – watery red eyes, slurred speech, odor of alcohol. Nevertheless, who is to say that you do not have a medical condition that does cause it all to begin with? One way or the other, even if you were drinking, it will not help if you will admit it to the law enforcement officer – on the contrary, it is going to make things worse for you in court. Sure enough, there is no need to start lying to the officer as well – simply remain silent all the time and call DUI lawyer for an advice to follow.
- The law enforcement officer will want you to submit yourself to the field sobriety tests. And even though the police officer is going to say that it is for your own good and that he or she just wants to know if you are good to drive, do not be fooled – even if you are going to perform great on those tests, the law enforcement office is still going to find a reason or two to arrest you. And even though the results of field sobriety tests are viewed as subjective in court, they may still be used against you. And while you are obligated by the law to provide the law enforcement officer with your license and insurance, you are not obligated to provide him or her with your consent to submit to the FSTs. Hence, avoid these tests and do not give the officer yet another reason to arrest you from the get go.
- Yet another genuinely vital Constitutional right is the right for the legal counsel. You know – the Miranda rights. In fact, unlike what you may see in the motion pictures as well as TV shows, the actual law enforcement officers will rarely read you those Miranda rights and you will therefore need to ask for the attorney on your own. Furthermore, do not forget that if the request for the legal counsel is going to be ignored, the case will be thrown out of the court. This is a very important factor – regardless of what kind of evidence the police may have already collected and what kind of evidence may be working against you, if they did not read you your Miranda rights or ignored the request for the attorney, you are going to need to make sure that you mention this to the judge as well – the court will get the case dismissed right away and without any further hesitation.
- There is yet another way to literally get the case thrown away. And this is by asking for an independent blood test to be taken in an independent laboratory and by an independent specialist. Of course, most of the people will not know where to start and where to go to retest the blood, but this is not the point. The point is that if the law enforcement officer collected all of the evidence against you, including the blood test results, there is still a way to get out of jail – you may request him or her to allow you to perform an independent test and if that request is going to be ignored, you will get your get out of jail free card, since all of the evidence against you will be put under big question.
If you were arrested and charged with DUI in Sacramento, call Law Offices of John Williams immediately or email us using contact page.
