The 4 Most Common Legal Defenses for DUI Charges

Everyone who likes to drink and drives a car should be aware of the most common defenses for DUI charges. Even if you don’t feel impaired – or if your test was a fluke – you may find yourself unexpectedly facing criminal charges. A working knowledge of common DUI strategies can help you know your rights, and will also help you determine when the officer who pulled you over may be trying to get you to incriminate yourself – even if you did nothing wrong.

1) Miranda Rights

Anyone who’s ever watched a cop show knows the beginning of their Miranda Rights. But despite the fact that the rights are well known, the officer who arrests you for DUI still has to inform you of your rights before interrogating you – as Los Angeles DUI Attorney points out. If they don’t – or they only tell you a part of the warning – then you have the makings of a defense that could get your case dismissed from court. It will certainly allow your lawyer to get some of the evidence dismissed, which will help your case immensely.

Remember that you have a right to legal counsel when you’ve been arrested, even if the police don’t finish reading you your Miranda Rights. The police are there to try and make the case that you broke the law. You don’t have to cooperate with them, even if they try and coerce you.

2) Improper Stop

It’s important to remember, when an officer pulls you over, they need to have Probable Cause. This means that they can’t just start pulling people over randomly and administering DUI tests – they have to have a reason to pull you over, and another reason to ask you to take the field sobriety test.

The original cause of the stop doesn’t really matter to the DUI test – you could be pulled over for running a stop sign, for example. If the officer then suspects that you’re over the legal limit, they can ask you to do a sobriety test. But they cannot do it without probable cause.

3) Existing Medical Condition

This defense doesn’t apply to everyone – but if you have an existing medical condition that can give the appearance of being intoxicated, then your lawyer will use a medical condition defense. Some of these conditions include diabetes, which can make the person seem erratic; acid reflux – which can cause a higher reading on a breathalyzer test; or some motor injuries that would cause a person to perform poorly on a field sobriety test.

If you have a medical condition that you think could have affected your sobriety test results, be sure to mention it your attorney.

4) Mouth Alcohol

Certain medical conditions and dental fixtures can cause a breathalyzer test to read a higher blood alcohol content than is really accurate. Things that can contribute to residual mouth alcohol – dental bridges or crowns, acid reflux, dentures, and other things can get alcohol caught beneath them when you drink it. Likewise, if you just consumed an alcoholic beverage (within the last 15 minutes) you may read higher than is accurate as well.

Police officers are supposed to ensure that 15 minutes have passed before administering a breathalyzer on someone they’ve pulled over to minimized the impact of residual mouth alcohol, but this doesn’t always happen.

5 Types of Car Accidents Everyone Should Know About

Everyone who drives has either seen, or been a part of a car accident in their travels. Maybe you’ve seen some people stranded on the side of the road – or you’ve been redirected from a road because it was blocked by some sort of crash. Regardless, car crashes can be inconvenient for everyone involved. And while they can all seem similar at first, but according to Jason Baril, a car accident lawyer in Tennessee, “Car accidents may seem – at face value – all the same. But not only are there all sorts of ways to get into an accident, there’s a big difference between the types. Knowing the basic difference between the different types of accidents will help you know what steps to take after you’ve been in one – legal, or otherwise.”

So whatever the cause of the accident, everyone should be informed about the different types, and their possible consequences.

Rear Ended

One of the most common accidents is rear ending. This is where one car hits the rear bumper of the car in front of them – typically because of unexpected braking on the part of the front car. Usually, the fault for these accidents is on the part of the inattentive driver who hit the car in front of them.

Side Impact Collision

Also called a T-Bone, these collisions happen when one car strikes the side of another vehicle head on. These can happen at various types of intersections – usually when one car ignores regulations, such as stop signs or traffic lights.

Rollover

These car accidents can be more serious than others, as they can cause the driver and passengers injuries when the car turns on its side or on its head. These can be caused by a multitude of things – anything from taking a turn too fast – which would only affect one car – to hitting other cars, and involving other drivers.

Side-Swipe

These accidents are very common on highways, or any sort of street that has more than one lane running next to each other. Most side-swipe accidents are caused by drivers not checking their blind spot before trying to change lanes, which results in the two cars hitting each other in the side. These accidents – like really any type of accident – can vary in severity, damage, and injuries caused.

Head-On Collision

Often the more severe accidents are head-on collisions. These, as the name implies, are collisions where two cars run straight into each other directly. These can happen when cars try to pass another car in a lane of traffic going the opposite direction. They’re also caused by inattentive drivers swerving into oncoming traffic.