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By ArizonaDUI.com, February 18, 2010 12:05 pm

Flickr user: Francisco Javier Martín

In short, the way to ‘beat’ a DUI is to discredit the evidence. There are many ways to discredit the DUI case brought against you, and a qualified DUI attorney will know the most effective ways to try to get you out of a DUI.

A prosecution attorney will try to prove DUI in one of two ways. One way is to attack the driver’s mental and physical condition by presenting evidence that shows the driver was impaired because of alcohol consumption. The second way is by concentrating on the driver’s blood-alcohol content and not focusing on the driver’s physical or mental condition. However, it is possible the prosecutor will use both ways in the same case.

DUI cases basically center on four kinds of evidence: the physical appearance of the driver, the driving pattern, the results of a chemical test, and the results of a field sobriety test. All of them are subject to debate in a variety of ways, and this is where beating a DUI case happens.

Starting with the driving pattern—if the defendant pulled over promptly, used his turn signal and parked safely, it could be well argued that the driving pattern did not indicate any impairment.

Also open to debate, the field sobriety test is not always open and closed evidence. A defense attorney might argue that the defendant shouldn’t have to take a test outside with distractions like traffic rushing by but rather he/she should get to take tests in a quiet room, or that getting 10% of the answers wrong shouldn’t necessarily result in a failing grade.

Then there is the argument about mental impairment being evidence of physical impairment. Experts on both sides agree that when alcohol is consumed, mental impairment is evidenced before physical impairment becomes evident. The prosecution may prove physical impairment, but if a defense attorney can discredit the presence of mental impairment, he may rightfully assert that the alleged physical impairment was the result not of alcohol but of something else, like injury or fatigue.

A defense attorney can also beat a DUI by attacking the blood sample. Among other errors, if too much time elapses between the blood being drawn and being measured, it can result in an artificially increased blood-alcohol content (BAC) reading. This is because blood can ferment, thus increasing the amount of alcohol in the sample, thus wrongly raising the BAC.

There are more then 5 Ways to Beat a DUI, but here a few to keep in mind…

1. STANDARD FIELD SOBRIETY TESTING IS INACCURATE – in healthy individuals, the one-leg stand test is only 65% accurate, and the walk-and-turn test is only 68% accurate in determining if a person is under the influence. Those persons with injuries, medical conditions, 50 pounds or greater overweight, and 65 years or older cannot be validly judged by these tests.
2. NON-STANDARDIZED FIELD TESTS ARE INVALID – neither the Federal Government (NHTSA) nor medical science considers touching your finger to your nose, or saying the alphabet, or counting backwards, as valid sobriety tests.
3. BREATH TESTING IS INACCURATE – virtually all experts concede that one breath test alone is unreliable. Breath testing is subject to various inaccuracies, including a variance as much s +/- 12.5%, non-specificity for ethanol, etc.
4. BREATHALYZER MACHINE MALFUNCTIONS – Most states specify that if there is a malfunction or repair of the breath test instrument within a certain period of time before or after a suspect’s breath test, the results of the suspect’s test are presumed invalid.
5. INTERFERING SUBSTANCES – Many items contain forms of alcohol, which may cause false results, such as asthma spray, cough drops, paints, fingernail polish. These items can cause the breath results to be invalid.

This post was intended to provide general information only and is not intended as specific legal advice. You should not rely upon this information alone, but should consult legal counsel regarding the application of the laws and regulations discussed and as applied to your specific case or circumstance.

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By admin, August 3, 2009 9:30 pm

The Legal Process

I chose not to consult with an attorney prior to my first court hearing with the District Attorney, which was a foolish mistake on my part. Consulting with a legal professional is always a smart decision because if the officer did not follow protocol or if anything was done incorrectly, there may be an arguable case to reduce or dismiss the charges against you. The district attorney reviewed my case, and did not see any errors, so the case against me still stood strong. I was not to expect any leniency because, although this was my first offense, Arizona has the toughest DUI laws in the country and anyone who breaks these laws should expect the maximum penalty.

A punishment for a DUI can range from misdemeanor or 24 hours in jail for a non extreme DUI for a first time offender to 6 months in prison for an extreme, along with fines, classes and other penalties. I received a sentence of 10 days in tent city, 40 hours of alcohol counseling classes, $1500 in fines, and an interlock device on my starter in my car for one year. This device cost me $95 per month, and it required me to blow into it to start my car, and retest every 5-30 minutes depending on how far I was driving. If I had failed blowing into the device I would have been fined $85, the MVD would be alerted, and a month would be added on to my sentence.

Jail Time

When I first arrived at tent city after being fingerprinted and frisked for drugs and weapons, I noticed that the entire compound was surrounded by 25 foot barbed wire fences. Then I saw the cluster of Army surplus tents in back- my new home. In some attempt at humor, there was also a neon sign in the front office that reminded all attendees that they always had room- VACANCY.

By far, the most excruciating part of the entire experience is being processed. I was put in a 12 x 12 holding cell with approximately 10 other men that would uncomfortably hold five people. You cannot stretch your legs, and it feels incredibly claustrophobic. There is only one bathroom in this holding cell, and the overall feeling is cramped, anxious, and nauseas. It is not just the physical conditions of this place that make it so miserable, but also the influence it has on your mental state. Going in for the first time, you would assume that you would be in this holding cell for a half hour, maybe an hour. Unfortunately, I was in the holding cell for an entire day, 24 hours, before going to the yard. This alone was enough of a deterrent to never drive drunk or doing anything again that might land me in tent city.

Once I got on to the yard, it was not quite what I expected. Most of the people serving time there were normal people, not hardened criminals, and many of them had also been in there for DUI’s. There were two elements of this place that could not be altered that I would have to overcome- the extreme heat and the boredom.

…..STAY TUNED FOR PART 3 of 3.

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By admin, July 23, 2009 9:19 pm

Driving drunk is not worth the risk. Take a cab, sleep at a friend’s house, don’t drink, but just DON’T DRIVE DRUNK! It is difficult to convince someone who has never been punished for a DUI, but I will do my best by recalling my DUI experience from the night I was pulled over, to the moment I left tent city after serving my time. This is what you can expect if you get arrested for a DUI, and I speak from experience when I say it was one of the worst experiences of my life.

The Night of the Arrest

I had been drinking too much and I should not have been driving, which is clearly obvious. Seeing the police lights flashing in your rear view mirror is a sobering sight, but not nearly enough to get me out of what was coming my way. The police officer came to the side of the car, suspected that I had been drinking, and asked me to conduct several field sobriety tests. Surprisingly, I passed them all, but when he asked me to blow into the breathalyzer I refused because I knew that I had too much alcohol in my system to pass.

If a driver refuses the breathalyzer, the police are forced to arrest him. The thinking behind refusing is that by the time you get to the station, you will have sobered up enough to where your blood alcohol content (BAC) will have fallen below the legal limit. Unfortunately, mine was still quite high- I blew a .184 (the legal limit in Arizona is .08). I was charged with an extreme DUI, and I had to spend the night in jail. This is where the fun began.

…..STAY TUNED FOR PART 2 AND 3.