As a DUI offender in Denver, you would be helping your case as well as your Denver DUI attorney by keeping yourself abreast of a few defense strategies he might be willing to use against prosecution in the court of law. This is not to mean that you must have the information to teach him his job, but having such ideas would give you insights to the best sets of information and the details of occurrences surrounding your DUI case from the point of arrest to the court charges. It is believed that when you make available these things to your lawyer, it would go a massive boost to helping your defense. We have therefore interacted with professional DUI attorneys to gather the commonest defense strategies to give you insights on how best you can help you beat your charges.
Illegal stop by police officers
Most times, your Denver DUI lawyer usually want to know the details of your DUI case especially from its point of stop and arrest. This is because important information regarding the legality or illegality of your stop could be vital to the case dismissal. The fact is that the US constitution regardless of the state laws prohibits police from stopping or pulling citizens over arbitrarily without reasonable suspicion for a DUI charge. The supreme court have always hammered that police must have more than enough gut that an individual is committing or has committed a crime before such arrests or stop. In the context of DUI, police must have observed that the driver did something wrong on the road. This may include disobeying speed limit, running traffic light, not swerving, and lots more. These are enough grounds for a stop and search. Therefore, if your lawyer finds out you have not committed any of such offenses before you get stopped, he might opt for a defense from the point of illegal stop by police officers.
Improper Sobriety Test Protocols
Basically, a Denver DUI attorney is always looking for a lacuna in the process of a DUI arrest or glitch in the case formed against his client to stage a defense. One of this is the improper sobriety test protocols. There are certain protocols this has to follow which failure to follow them by law enforcement agents might be tantamount to inadmissibility of such evidences, resulting in no case. Most of the field tests also have their imbalances and procedural faults that could be contested in court. Victims also have the right to reject some field tests except the chemical and blood tests. Any differences in all of these may result to inadmissibility of evidences.
Improper storage of blood alcohol sample
This s related to the point as above because it is related to tests that are expected to be conducted. Yes, police have the right to organize a blood test for stopped drivers but if proper analysis and storage of the samples are not ensured, they could be really great defenses against the DUI case as levelled against the offender. Samples must be treated carefully, not mislabeled, not contaminated and not fermented. All of these can render the evidences useless.
Certain medical conditions
No one prays for ill health but some of them can actually be very helpful in winning a DUI charge. Some medical conditions could cause appearance of drunkenness and therefore skew roadside Breathalyzer test. Fatigues and psychological imbalances could cause slurry speeches too. Certain allergies, sinuses and crying could as well cause watery eyes. If a policeman is therefore relying on all these to establish a DUI case against an individual, they can be really good defense strategies for lawyers too. Certain medications could as well cause ‘alcohol smell’ giving a wrong breathalyzer test in the process. A professional and experienced Denver DUI Attorney could therefore stage your defense from those points with necessary documents backing and certificates.
Illegal interrogation
Although police officers have the right to interrogate a DUI offender once they have been informed of their arrests officially. However, this has to follow a due legal process. Offenders should also be informed of their right to keep silent as well as the right to contact an attorney. If this is not done, it is tantamount to improper interrogations and evidences retrieved in such means could be thrown out if your layer stage a defense from that perspective.
Improper communication with defendants
Although lawyers and prosecutors often find a way to plea bargain between them, the fact is that there are still quite some limits to what communications between them should be like. It is inappropriate to interrogate a defendant without the presence of the counsel. If this is the case, the communication can be overturned in the favor of your case as it will not sit well with the judge assigned to the case. Your attorney only need to file a document to reveal inappropriate communication with him by the prosecution.
Violations of procedures and rules of evidences
Some DUI defenses don’t arise until the actual trial date. Such is the case with violation of evidence rules and the state rules of civil procedure. Your lawyer might just wait for mistakes in those areas to stage a huge defense against your case. This may include rules against hearsay, introduction of improper evidences, use of authenticated documents, photographs or recording. Your defendant could snap this up once prosecution introduces any of them and turn the tide at them.
There are many more defense strategies but these are often the best places to start. Still, your defense is largely dependent on your arrest situations, severity of DUI and some other formalities. You only need the service of a professional and experienced DUI lawyer to determine which suits your case best.
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