Is it worth fighting a DUI?

Is it worth fighting a DUI? According to the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility, over 32, 000 people were arrested in Florida in 2018 for driving under the influence. And if you are arrested for and charged with a DUI, it can be embarrassing and expensive. This is a serious offense that could mean driving classes, a license suspension, or even jail or prison time for you. It is beneficial for your future for you to avoid these consequences, in the State of Florida, a conviction of a DUI will remain on your record for 75 years. Therefore, it is certainly worth fighting your DUI charges with the help of an experienced DUI lawyer.

At The Ticket Lawyers, our criminal defense attorneys understand how serious the consequences of DUI charges can be, and we know how difficult it can be to recover from one. Fortunately, we’ll have the tools you need to fight your DUI charge. Our law firm has over 75 years of experience in defending the criminally accused.

For legal advice or for more information, contact us today at 855-323-8488 for your free consultation with a DUI attorney.

Consequences of a DUI Charge in The State of Florida

Even for a first DUI offense in Flordia, you may face the following consequences;

• Fines: A fine between $500–$1,000. If your blood alcohol level is .15 or higher, or if you have a minor in the vehicle at the time of the offense, the fine will be between $1,000–$2,000.
• Community service: a mandatory 50 hrs of community service or a buy out possibly of $10 for each hour of required community service.
• Probation: A total period of probation and incarceration will not be greater than one year. But this increases after each repeat offense.
• Imprisonment: Sentencing terms may be served at residential alcoholism or drug abuse treatment program, credited toward the term of imprisonment. You will likely not receive more than six months for a first DUI offense. If your blood alcohol level is .15 or higher or there was a minor in the vehicle, you will receive not more than nine months.
• License suspension: the courts have the power to suspend your license, and this can be very inconvenient and even life-altering, especially if you drive as part of your job. You can fight to have your license reinstated or apply for a hardship license, but if you have more than one DUI charge, this is not possible since you can’t get a hardship license on a second or subsequent conviction.

The severity of the consequences of a DUI arrest increases after each repeat offense. This is why it is worth fighting your charges and seeking legal advice from an experienced lawyer.

Furthermore, if this is your first DUI offense, you are more likely to succeed in having the charges dropped with the right support.

BAC Legal Limit

In Florida motorists are required under Florida’s implied consent laws to submit to a breath test after being placed under arrest for DUI and after being requested to do so by a law enforcement officer.

The United States has a national blood alcohol concentration (BAC) standard of .08, except for Utah which has a .05 level. This is based on more than 30 years of scientific evidence.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), although outward appearances may vary, virtually all drivers are impaired at .08 BAC. The most up to date research show that the majority of drivers, even very experienced drivers, are impaired at .08 BAC in critical driving tasks such as braking, steering, lane changing, judgment, and divided attention.

Fighting a DUI Charge

There are a number of ways in which a defense lawyer can fight to have your DUI charge dismissed. Some examples which may apply to you are;

Breathalyzer Test Accuracy

A breathalyzer is a device for estimating blood alcohol content (BAC) from a breath sample.  They estimate BAC indirectly by measuring the amount of alcohol in a person’s breath. Two types of breathalyzer are commonly used. Small hand-held breathalyzers are not reliable enough to provide evidence in court but reliable enough to justify an arrest. Larger breathalyzer devices performed in police stations can then be used to produce court evidence.

In the US, the primary use of preliminary breath test or preliminary alcohol screening devices is for screening and establishing probable cause for arrest.

While you might think of failing a breath test as the end of your defense, these tests aren’t perfect. Your blood alcohol content (BAC) can be affected by many factors, and often, a breath test doesn’t give an accurate portrait of your BAC. For example, if you were sick or have a condition like acid reflux, your results may be worse because of the alcohol content in your mouth, not in your bloodstream.

Time, diets, and conditions like diabetes can also affect these readings. If you have any of these factors in your situation, your lawyer may argue that the results simply can’t be trusted because of this.

Before you plead guilty, remember that breath are fallible. They are a machine and a computer and we all know that sometimes you just need to reboot things and send them in for service when they aren’t working properly. According to Florida Highway Saftey and Motor Vehicles, while the results are admissible in court, there’s a chance that machine was not calibrated properly or that the breath test operator didn’t follow proper protocol. If there’s suspicion that your test results were inaccurate, your lawyer will likely focus on that.

Blood Test Accuracy

Although a blood test is said to be the most accurate type of test in a DUI case, it must be done properly for it to be admissible in a criminal trial.

• A police officer must receive consent from a driver before having a blood test done.
• The individual conducting the draw of the blood to be tested must have the proper qualifications to conduct the blood draw, such as a nurse or a certified paramedic.
• The prescribed rules for the preservation of the blood must be followed.
• The “chain of custody” of the blood must be strictly observed after the blood is drawn.

If any of these procedures were not followed when your blood was tested, your DUI case could be dismissed with the help of an attorney.

An Illegal Seizure or Stop

The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution protects against unreasonable searches and seizures. If the officer did not have this reasonable suspicion, then the stop or detention of the vehicle was illegal.

The Right to a Speedy Trial

A person charged with a criminal offense has the right to a speedy trial. This means that, except where the person or his or her attorney has agreed to waive that right, the person has the right to have a trial within a certain period of time. For a misdemeanor charge in Florida, the period is 90 days. For a felony charge in Florida, the period is 180 days. If the specified period of time expires without the person either waiving his or her right to a speedy trial or the person’s trial beginning, then he or she has the right to pursue the process for a dismissal of the case.

No Probable Cause

In order to sustain a conviction based on evidential tests, probable cause must be proven (or the suspect must volunteer to take the evidential test without implied consent requirements being invoked).

In some DUI cases, the officer shouldn’t have stopped you at all. They need reasonable suspicion that you were driving drunk, and they’ll need probable cause to arrest you. This means that if they didn’t have cause to arrest you, you might have your charges dismissed.

A police officer with probable cause might have pulled you over because you ran a red light, but they then observed other factors that seemed to indicate you were driving under the influence. In these cases, they may have probable cause to pull you over. However, in some DUI cases, they may not.

If your lawyer chooses to argue this, they will attempt to show that you shouldn’t have been pulled over, to begin with.

A Lawyer Can Fight Your DUI Charge.

While getting pulled over for drunk driving might seem like a hopeless situation, a good attorney knows how to beat a DUI in Florida. At The Ticket Lawyers, we’ve supported many people who have pulled over and arrested who shouldn’t have been, and we have the skills and expertise to fight your case.

We understand how distressing charges like this can be, but with our help, you may be able to get them dropped. After a free consultation, if you decided to work with us, your lawyer will review your case and help you prepare the best defense.

Call us today at 855-323-8488. for your free consultation, we are available 24 hours a day/7 days a week to answer any questions you may have with regards to your case.