ignition interlocking devices
It's late, you had a few drinks and get pulled over driving. The Highway Patrol officer presents a Breathalyzer machine. It is within your rights, and perhaps in your best interest to refuse and opt for a blood test.
For various reasons, roadside breath tests are sometimes inaccurate. Among other factors, the Breathalyzer units wrong calibrated and the policemen who operate it are not always certified to do. Although it is not known and the police generally do not advertise is no driver needed a breath test if asked to take.
Admittedly, this refusal may be a reason to be automatically taken into police custody and in some states can be presented to a jury. However, some drivers, including those with a DUI conviction on their record may have been little to lose and much to gain by claiming this right.
Consider a hypothetical example of a man called Bruce:
Bruce was a criminal conviction for drunken driving after taking a plea bargain on the advice of a public defender, his blood alcohol content (BAC) reading of a roadside Breathalyzer test had signed up just over the legal limit in California of 0.08 percent.
Bruce was prosecuted in one of the stronger counties in the San Francisco Bay Area. In the back of his head, he always wondered if he really legally drunk the night of his first arrest. So, when the highway patrolmen approached his car with his breath test unit in hand, Bruce was ready this time.
The officer asked for a copy of Bruce's California Driver License and whether he had not drunk. Bruce replied that he had. Bruce had previously consumed three Coronas and a shot of tequila dinner with colleagues
On the time of the attack, Bruce was on his way home. He knew that at 6 meters tall and 180 pounds, BAC would be close to the legal limit, and he did not want to risk leads to a misreading half DUI conviction, which calls for stiffer penalties, more jail time and the installation of an Ignition Interlock Device. It would also increase punishment of his first conviction, that he had hired a private lawyer to work on.
The policeman asked Bruce to step out of his car and undergo a Field Sobriety Test. Bruce refused to have heard of his San Jose DUI lawyer that one in four innocent people testing can not, as some of the physical tasks required, such as walking heel-to-toe in a straight line or a company of the poor while stationary, it can be difficult, even for people who have not been drinking. The officer asked Bruce if he would submit to a Breathalyzer test. Bruce refused even to remember what he had heard from his lawyer about the inaccuracies of the devices.
He knew that denial of a Field Sobriety Test was a cause for automatic arrest, but with half DUI in question, he had nothing to lose and everything to gain. He did his best bet to go home that night was a free blood test at the police.
The officer took Bruce into custody and drove to a local CHP office. Bruce's lawyer met him on arrival at the police. On advice of counsel, Bruce refused to undergo an interrogation and the police agreed to have blood taken for a test of his BAC. By now it was more than two hours since his last drink, and Bruce was pretty sure his blood content would be below the legal limit. He also knew that if the reading was over the legal limit, his lawyer could argue that the blood bottle fermentation has a defense often used successfully against a drunken driving charge.
As it turned out, the reading came back as 0.07, and Bruce was free to go home. Six months later, his lawyer got his first DUI conviction thrown out because of police misconduct and his arrest had been expunged from his record.
Again, this is just a hypothetical example. However, if you are arrested for or charged with drunk driving, a good lawyer expertise that can lead to a similar outcome.
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