It is against the law to drive after consuming significant amounts of alcohol. State law allows police officers to arrest people who display impaired ability at the wheel for driving under the influence (DUI) offenses.
Police officers can also arrest those with elevated blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) regardless of their performance on the road. Those facing DUI charges are at risk of numerous penalties. The court can sentence them to jail time and significant financial penalties. They can also lose their driver’s licenses.
Some people accused of drunk driving plead guilty, while others try to defend themselves against their pending charges. It is possible to defeat DUI charges with the right legal strategy. Some might hope to avoid taking their cases to trial at all. Does the state ever dismiss pending DUI charges?
Illegal searches lead to unusable evidence
The conduct of police officers and prosecutors is subject to strict oversight. The Constitution enshrines numerous protections for those facing investigation or prosecution by the state. The Fourth Amendment, for example, extends protection from unreasonable searches and seizures.
Police officers cannot simply detain people without explanation. They need to justify their conduct based on probable cause, warrants or permission. Sometimes, police officers break the rules and hope that the people involved may not realize it.
For example, they may conduct traffic stops without having legal justification for doing so. They then fish for reasons to justify the traffic stop. In some cases, those accused of impaired driving were pulled over not because they drove poorly but due to the whims of the police officer involved.
If the traffic stop that led to field sobriety testing or chemical breath testing was illegal, then the prosecutor may not be able to use the evidence. Under the exclusionary rule, defense attorneys can challenge the use of evidence gathered via a violation of the law or the civil rights of a defendant. The prosecutor may have to dismiss the pending charges in scenarios where the state’s evidence is not admissible at trial.
Understanding which circumstances may prompt different outcomes in DUI cases can help people plan the best possible response.