VISTA DUI DEFENSE LAWYER

DUI Charges in Vista

When someone is arrested for driving drunk, and they have a Blood Alcohol Level above 0.08% (or 0.01% for minors and 0.04% for commercial drivers), they will be charged with a DUI. The charge can also be applied to anyone suspected to be driving under the influence of drugs, even legal medications.

What to do When You’re Pulled Over

Most people want to get back on the road as soon as possible after an officer stops them. However, if you were drinking, it is more important to protect your rights. Anything you say can be used as evidence against you, so if you are pulled over after drinking or using any drug (including legal medications that may impact your ability to drive), do the following:

Follow Directions

Follow the police officer’s instructions as much as possible, particularly when it comes to where and when to pull over your car, though you can wait to find a safe place to stop. If you fail to follow an officer’s instructions or pull over in a dangerous area, the prosecution will use it as evidence of impaired thinking. Do not exit your vehicle unless the police officer asks you to.

Remain Silent

Be polite to the officer, but never provide more information than is legally required. Roll down the window a few inches to speak with the officer and give him your driver’s license and insurance cards. You must provide information regarding your name, address, and nothing more.

Do not provide information about where you have been, where you are going, whether or not you have been drinking, and whether you have taken any medications. Instead, say you are invoking your Fifth Amendment right to silence.

Take a Chemical Test, Not a Field Sobriety Test (FST)

The officer may ask you to perform field sobriety tests or to submit to a preliminary alcohol screening device. Unless you are under 21, these tests are optional. Field sobriety tests are always optional, even for minors. Refuse to take them unless you know for a fact that you have no alcohol or drugs in your system. These tests are designed solely to provide the police with more evidence to use against you, and taking them can make your case much more challenging for your lawyer.

Submitting to a breathalyzer or blood test is not optional under California state laws. The Implied Consent law says you must choose one or the other. If you refuse, the police officers will get a search warrant for your blood, and you will face, at minimum, a one-year license suspension. Additionally, the prosecutors will charge you for refusing to take a chemical test, which carries mandatory jail time.

Write Everything Down

After you are released, write down every possible detail related to your DUI traffic stop. Try to remember everything the police officer said to you, every step of the chemical DUI test, and every other bit of information you recall. Even the smallest detail could make a dramatic difference in your case.

Many attorneys are able to successfully fight DUI charges by showing the officers lacked probable cause or by proving that the blood test or breathalyzer was not performed properly.

Call a Lawyer ASAP

You only have ten days to file for a license suspension hearing with the DMV, so call an attorney immediately. Don’t miss the opportunity to schedule your hearing. It allows you a chance to protect your license and provides you and your lawyer the opportunity to review and question the evidence against you. The experience serves as a sort of mini-trial that can make all the difference when it comes to preparing for the actual trial.

Don’t make the mistake of assuming these charges aren’t serious. A DUI will result in the loss of your license, expensive fines, and even jail time.

The Best DUI Defenses Used in Vista

If you have been accused of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, you probably have many questions, but the most pressing question is likely, “Is it possible to beat my DUI charges?” While no attorney should ever guarantee the outcome of a case, you’ll be happy to know that plenty of people can and do successfully fight their drunk driving charges in San Diego County. However, DUI case law is very complex, and many defenses apply only to a handful of scenarios. Avoiding a conviction is typically only possible with the help of a skilled Vista attorney with a thorough knowledge of the best possible DUI defenses.

Challenging Chemical Test Results

One of the main pieces of the state’s evidence in a DUI trial is the chemical test. If you can prove it was improperly performed or that the results were otherwise falsely high, you may weaken the state’s case enough for you to win your case.

While chemical tests are rarely exempted as evidence, if your case goes to trial, your lawyer in Vista may be able to question these factors enough to win the jury over, which is why challenging this evidence is one of the most successful DUI strategies.

The Initial Traffic Stop Was Illegal

California DUI laws state that police must have a reasonable suspicion that you committed a Vehicle Code violation or are driving impaired before stopping a vehicle. They must also not detain a driver longer than is reasonable if they don’t suspect a crime.

If an officer stopped you for an infraction unrelated to your driving and had no cause for reasonable suspicion, he would have no grounds to ask you to take a field sobriety test or breathalyzer. An officer lacking reasonable suspicion is one of the most common reasons for DUI charges to be dismissed in Vista. Other mistakes officers could make that may undermine the prosecution’s case include:

• Taking a blood sample without a warrant
• Improperly performing a field sobriety test
• Not warning suspects about the consequences of refusing a chemical test
• Failing to observe suspects for 15 minutes before a breathalyzer to ensure they do not belch or regurgitate, which can falsely inflate the test results
• Administering the breath test incorrectly
• Failing to maintain the blood sample’s chain of custody

The Black and White Fever Defense

A common defense used to question the officer’s observations regarding a defendant’s erratic driving behavior is known as “black-and-white” fever. This condition occurs when someone notices that a police vehicle is following them, and they start looking in their rearview mirror more and more often until it affects their concentration and ability to drive. Worrying about getting pulled over can distract drivers so much that they may start driving erratically. Many jurors will relate to this feeling.

The Rising Alcohol Defense

Practically everyone would eventually be over the legal limit to drive after taking 5 shots of vodka at once. But it takes anywhere from 20 to 90 minutes for the alcohol to take effect, meaning if someone drove before that time, they were not yet drunk.

The rising alcohol defense argues that you did drink alcohol, but it did not enter your system when you were driving but did by the time your BAC was tested. Since you are only guilty of DUI if you are under the influence while behind the wheel, you did not break the law if the alcohol was not yet affecting you.

This defense will not work if you took a breathalyzer shortly after being pulled over, unless it showed you were under the legal limit and you failed a second test later.  For people well over the limit, this defense can sometimes be used to argue that they should be sentenced to basic DUI penalties, rather than facing enhanced penalties for having a high blood alcohol level.

The DUI Checkpoint Was Operated Illegally

While DUI checkpoints are legal, they are only permitted if performed under a specific set of rules. Some courts insist that police must allow drivers the opportunity to turn away and leave the checkpoint rather than pass through it, although some do not require a way to opt out. If officers do not stop every car, then the vehicles must be stopped at set intervals —meaning they cannot stop a specific car based on how it, or its driver, looks. Even if a driver has slurred speech, they cannot be stopped if they do not fit into the pre-determined pattern.

If your rights were violated at an improperly operated checkpoint, a Vista DUI attorney could help get the charges against you dismissed or reduced.

The Medical Emergency Defense

Those seeking help in a true, immediate emergency have a solid defense against DUI allegations as long as they had no alternative. While only applicable in a handful of cases, it is a total defense, meaning that when successfully argued, you cannot be convicted for a DUI charge no matter your BAC.

To use this defense, your attorneys must show that a reasonable person would have acted the same way. For example, if the adults on a family camping trip are drinking, they could drive to get aid for a child who stopped breathing if they are out of cell phone range.

Other emergencies also qualify, but only if a person believes the life or that of another person is at risk. For example, you could legally drive to flee from someone threatening you with a gun, as long as you stopped driving once you escaped.

Involuntary Intoxication

If you drove after someone spiked your drink with drugs or alcohol without your knowledge and you started to feel weird or woozy, you did not break the law. However, it is illegal to drive knowing you are intoxicated, so if you realized you were drunk or high, it would be a crime.

Involuntary intoxication is the reason those who suffer from auto-brewery syndrome can successfully fight their DUI charges.

DUI Plea Bargains in Vista

Even in cases where you may not be able to fight your charges entirely, a skilled DUI attorney may be able to negotiate a beneficial plea bargain with minimal sentencing or alternative sentencing. Attorneys can often have the charges reduced to a wet reckless rather than drunk driving.