A drunk driving charge can put your future in jeopardy. While the mere allegations themselves can damage your reputation and threaten your employment, a criminal conviction and its resulting mar on your record can land you in jail or prison, strip you of your driving privileges, and render it hard for you to obtain and maintain a job. There may be other collateral consequences, too, such as potentially leading to a restriction of your parenting time with your child if you’re subject to a custody order.
Fortunately, allegations don’t always result in conviction. In fact, there may be strong arguments that you can make in your case to try to beat the prosecution.
Mistakes made by the police in DUI cases
One strategy you have at your disposal is to scrutinize police actions leading up to your arrest. Doing so could lead to the suppression of evidence, thereby giving you a stronger chance of beating the charges or having the charges dismissed.
Here are some of the biggest law enforcement errors that you might be able to use to your advantage in your criminal defense:
- Lacking the requisite “reasonable suspicion” necessary to justify the traffic stop that ultimately led to your arrest.
- Making errors in the implementation of a DUI checkpoint.
- Improperly administering a field sobriety test.
- Improperly administering a breath test.
- Making chain of custody errors when a blood test is taken.
- Failing to obtain a timeline of your drinking.
Know how to aggressively defend yourself
These are just some of the broader mistakes that can be made in a drunk driving case. Within each of these categories are more errors that law enforcement often makes, which threatens you with an improper conviction. Therefore, it’s crucial that you carefully analyze the facts of your case to find the strong defense arguments that you need to protect your rights, your freedom and your future.