Tips On How To Beat A DUI

These sixteen tips for avoiding a DUI conviction would be good to share with anyone who occasionally has a drink and later drives a vehicle of any type. Learning these lessons BEFORE being arrested for drunk driving or drugged driving is the best plan. Once arrested, if uninformed on what to NOT do and NOT say, most client create tremendous obstacles for a DUI lawyer in Baton Rouge to overcome. If a person exercises all of these steps and precautions, his or her chances of winning (from our office records) is above 90% likely to occur, when our Baton Rouge DUI lawyers near me have the criminal defense case.

Most People Don’t Know What To Do When Pulled Over

It has been suggested that over 99% of all people pulled over for driving under the influence do not know what to do — or what not to do — when a police officer starts questioning a suspected drunk driver. This includes lawyers near me who think they know DUI law or how to exercise their legal rights under the 4th Amendment and the 5th Amendment of the US Constitution. Being arrested for a DUI is out of your control, but not further incriminating is 100% within your control.

Most drivers have either been unlucky enough to pass through a DUI checkpoint, or been pulled over for an equipment defect, tag issue or motor vehicle offense. Here are sixteen tips of how to beat a DUI-DWI, in most cases, and avoid the many DUI penalties that can follow you for LIFE.

16 Important Tips For How To Beat A DUI

Here we have put together a list of 16 important tips that will help you beat a DUI every single time. Please also take a look at our post on alcohol treatment for DUI here.

TIP 1: Remain Silent.

First and foremost, remain silent. That means to be quiet. The only thing required from you is to disclose to an officer is your correct name and current address. This extends to ALL TIMES, including at jail after arrest. You can read more about your rights here.

SHUT UP. Anything else you say and everything else you provide to the investigating officer looking for a drunk driving arrest will be used as evidence against you later. The most harmful information in most DUI cases is what comes out of a client’s mouth. If you want to beat a DUI near me, you need to remain silent. Because you are more likely than not being video and audio recorded, do not give evidence against yourself. If the officer plans to arrest you anyway, you are not going to improve your DUI charge by talking or begging to be let go.

TIP 2: Take No Field Sobriety Tests.

Never participate in any form of “sobriety screening” at the roadway, and particularly at DUI checkpoints. In Louisiana, every pre-arrest screening done by police is 100% voluntary. The widely known and universally misunderstood roadside exercises called “field sobriety tests” are designed for a driver to fail. This unfortunate and inaccurate moniker is misleading, since the NHTSA standardized field sobriety tests are not “reliable” tests of a person’s sobriety.

The agility and eye tests were never approved by peer-reviewed research. No “norms” for different age groups and body sizes were never studied or utilized. Despite having no proven correlation to driving impairment, and having a very high false positive (i.e., sober people being arrested) these field sobriety evaluations are allowed to be used against citizens in court, for either pretrial motion hearings, trial, or both. These psycho-physical and divided attention exercises are administered by officers with no medical training and no degree in psycho-physical testing and measurement.

One Texas study presented by two former Texas state training supervisors at the American Academy of Forensic Sciences revealed that a detailed review of thousands of DWI videos from Texas showed that over 98% of all Texas officers did not administer the three standardized sobriety tests properly, according to NHTSA guidelines. So, after learning this, why attempt to perform such bogus tests that can and almost always will be harmful to your chances of winning your DUI case? Field sobriety tests have been described as a “fraud” on the American public by another Texas researcher.

TIP 3: Don’t Resist Arrest. Ever.

If arrested for an OWI-OUI, do not physically resist the officer cuffing you and do not verbally protest or beg to be given a “break.” Resistance can create another criminal charge of obstruction at either the misdemeanor level (no physical contact with an officer) or a felony obstruction (physical contact such as hitting, biting, kicking, head butting or spitting on) a law enforcement officer. You are not going to get much sympathy from a jury or a judge if your conduct is something that these people would not think of doing. In fact, such conduct is consistent with drunk people. Calm, polite and responsive detainees are usually perceived to not be impaired, without more proof of intoxication or obtunded physical faculties.

TIP 4: Expect No Privacy In A Police Car.

Don’t assume that you have the right to any privacy in a police car. Modern police cars, especially if designated to be used for DUI-DWI arrests, often have both audio and video recording, focused on you. Do not carry on a cell phone conversation about any aspect of your drunk driving case, because the appellate courts in multiple states have ruled that you have no expectation of privacy in the back seat of a patrol car. It can all be used against you, and it means the difference between winning and losing. Even without a cell phone, many clients have verbally vented their frustrations in the rear of a patrol car have later been admitted in court to convict them.

TIP 5: Be Aware.

Pay attention to every detail of what is happening to you. This is critical if the police officer who arrested you lacks a body camera or car video. Under Louisiana DUI laws, the implied consent notice must be READ TO YOU or you must read it  and you must sign acknowledgment prior to taking the breathalyzer. A delayed advisement, or a partial advisement will not work, and your lawyer can use such defective admonishment to THROW OUT YOUR BREATH ALCOHOL TEST.

TIP 6: Take The Officer’s Implied Consent Test.

Yes, TAKE IT, but first ask the officer, “Am I allowed to I speak to a DUI attorney first?” The test offered by police after arrest is the official implied consent test, required by your State’s law. Refusal to take a requested breath alcohol test in states that have criminalized a refusal to blow can put you in jail for the OFFENSE of refusal of an implied consent test. In Louisiana, you can lose your entire right to drive for a full year by refusing to submit to testing and you are required to purchase SR-22 insurance if you wish to drive. Plus, a Louisiana law enforcement officer would then be authorized to seek a search warrant for your blood, and take a forcible blood test from you.

Resisting an officer is the intentional interference with, opposition or resistance to, an officer’s actions.

TIP 7: Try To Remember Names.

On your journey to jail, you may deal with a transport officer, a book-in officer or even another prisoner who could make an excellent witness in your case, to verify that you were SOBER. Do your best to remember the names and get a good identification of these potential witnesses. Write this information down at your first opportunity, and supply them to your DUI attorney.

TIP 8: Appeal The Proposed Suspension Of Your License.

Over 90% of all states’ DUI laws have provisions for taking your physical, plastic license, replacing it with a form or sheet of paper, and suspending or revoking your right to drive. A very short time window will exist to appeal this proposed suspension or revocation of your driver’s license, from 10 to 45 days, depending on the state laws where you were arrested, so contact DUI lawyers near me, by searching for the best local criminal defense attorney who specializes in intoxicated driving cases. In Louisiana, the time period id 30 days from the date of arrest to request the Administrative Hearing. Our Baton Rouge DWI lawyers can handle this for you.

TIP 9: Don’t Talk in Jail.

Anything you say in jail, including over the phone, may be recorded. Don’t think that admissions made to another prisoner or a guard won’t be potential incriminating evidence against you. Remain silent in jail, and focus on posting bond.

10. Don’t Risk Any New Arrests. So long as your criminal case for DUI is pending, any new arrest could create major issues. To begin, your first bond can be revoked or you may have to submit to other conditions on your bond, just to stay out of jail. These conditions can be painful or even crippling. Examples: Being required to put an alcohol interlock device on your car (painful) or not be allowed to drive at all (crippling). Some states already have laws in place that mandate such an interlock device, because the interlock companies have lobbied to get this business.

TIP 11: Keep A Record.

Once you bond out of jail, immediately write down a chronological account of the previous 24 hours, or longer, if you spent a while in jail. Start from when you got up that day, and everything you did, and identify any potential witnesses. Turn this over to your drunk driving lawyer.

TIP 12: Look At Credit Card Records.

If the number of alcoholic beverages is a possible trial issue, and you paid the restaurant with a credit card, you or your DWI-DUI attorney need to get that computerized receipt ASAP. Most hospitality businesses willingly cooperate, but if not, your criminal attorney can get assistance from your court.

TIP 13: Hire An Attorney. Immediately.

Immediately hire the best criminal defense attorney who is a reputable and respected DUI lawyer in your court. Look for the highest attorney that handles DWI cases regularly. In this situation, prior driving under the influence defense experience matters, so the lawyers for DUI that you consider should have handled hundreds of DWI cases. Baton Rouge DUI lawyer Carl Barkemeyer has ALL of these credentials and many more accolades and recognitions.

TIP 14: Check Conditions.

If the conditions of the roadway are an issue, such as “under construction” or a rainy night, and the lane lines were not visible with the dark roadway, you need to get video footage and possibly still shots, for later use at trial. If your DWI lawyer can’t assist with an investigator, take a friend with you while you drive, and try to match the same time of night, direction, and weather conditions.

TIP 15: Check Surveillance Cameras.

Look for premises surveillance cameras, if this POTENTIALLY may later prove to be helpful evidence at trial or pretrial DUI motions. Our DUI attorneys have used surveillance videos to win tough DUI cases when the premises video contradicted the officer’s account of what happened, leading to loss of credibility of the police officer. Your criminal defense lawyer can get a court order or subpoena, to preserve that footage.

TIP 16: Look At All Your Options.

DUI accident cases present many potential defenses for fighting an alleged DUI violation. Equipment failure may have been involved, plus legal defenses to certain aspects of the DUI arrest, such as air bags striking you in the face, and causing head trauma and nystagmus, or a red face. The best DUI lawyers near me also may need to use an accident reconstruction expert, so listen to your DUI defense lawyer on this issue, since that evidence cannot be generated later.

When clients have followed ALL of these tips, the chances for acquittal, dismissal or a reduction of charges is much more likely than being convicted, when experienced DUI attorneys near me are selected and retained to fight your criminal case.

Carl Barkemeyer is a Louisiana DUI lawyer who has fought DUI in Louisiana cases since 2005. In the Baton Rouge area, he is the GO-TO DUI attorney near me for best results in the toughest cases. He has handled hundreds of DWI cases for his clients. Contact us at 225-964-6720.

In addition, you can visit the Barkemeyer Law Firm at his office location in Baton Rouge, LA. The office address is 7732 Goodwood Blvd suite a, Baton Rouge, LA 70806.

We hope you understand how to beat a DUI or DWI and wish you look with your case.