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What are possible defense options for a drunk driving charge?

On Behalf of | Sep 2, 2020 | Drunk Driving Defense

Getting pulled over by the police is a hassle in the best of circumstances, but it can sometimes lead to drunk driving charges if officers suspect you are under the influence of alcohol at the wheel. Once an officer decides that they think you are drunk, it’s likely you won’t be able to say or do anything to prevent them from arresting you and bringing a charge against you.

However, that doesn’t mean that you have to accept an inevitable conviction. Quite the opposite. You have the opportunity to defend yourself in a court of law. Depending on your circumstances, there are a number of strategies that could work for defending yourself after an alleged impaired driving incident.

Challenge the evidence or the validity of the traffic stop

Chemical breath tests can fail spectacularly for a number of reasons. It’s also possible for improper chain of custody issues to result in potential contamination of evidence gathered at the scene of a traffic stop. You may be able to challenge physical evidence and the test results that make it seem like you were drunk and possibly have the courts excluded from your criminal proceedings.

It may also be possible to challenge the traffic stop itself. If you feel like police profiled you or if they did not have a legitimate reason to initiate a traffic stop, you may be able to use that as the basis for your defense strategy.

Provide an alternate explanation for behavior that looked like impairment

There are a significant number of medical conditions that can look like impairment to the untrained eye. Musculoskeletal conditions that might impact someone’s speech or sense of balance are one example. Uncontrolled diabetes could be a reason that you failed a chemical breath test. In fact, it’s possible that adhering to the keto diet strictly might also result in a false positive breath test.

You could also try to show that you didn’t drive or didn’t intend to drive. Some people choose to sleep off a few too many drinks safely in their cars. If the police can’t prove that you drove, you may be able to integrate that into the defense strategy you develop.

 

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