Even though many people may decide to plead guilty or no contest to DUI charges, there is no such thing as a predetermined outcome in your case. The prosecutor still has the burden of proof to demonstrate their case against you beyond a reasonable doubt should it ever reach a jury.
If police arrested and charged you with DUI, you are innocent unless proven guilty, and you have legal rights.
When you hire a DUI lawyer, they will advise you of your legal rights and fight to defend you from law enforcement overreach. You may need to fight the case all the way to the end if you believe that you are not guilty or your legal rights have otherwise been violated.
You May Have Possible Defenses to DUI Charges
Beating a DUI charge depends on learning the possible defenses that you may have to the criminal charges filed against you.
Just because a police officer testifies that they saw you driving erratically, or even if they have Breathalyzer or blood test results that show the presence of alcohol in your system, does not automatically mean the court will convict you of a crime.
When you hire a DUI lawyer, they will perform a complete investigation of your case to determine whether you have any possible defenses that you can use in court.
There may have been issues before the traffic stop or that arose after you were apprehended that can undermine the prosecution’s case against you. If your lawyer finds defects in the traffic stop or that police violated your rights, you can successfully contest the charges against you.
The Officer May Not Have Had a Basis to Stop You in the First Place
Even if you eventually were found to have a blood alcohol content over the legal limit, it does not mean that the police officer had the right to make a traffic stop in the first place.
Courts judge DUI traffic stops under the reasonable suspicion standard (as articulated in the Supreme Court’s Terry case). A police officer does not need probable cause to make a traffic stop, but they need something more than a hunch. If the police officer cannot articulate why they pulled you over, an arrest may be an illegal seizure.
The Defective Physical Evidence Against You
In many cases, the evidence that law enforcement is trying to use against you centers on the Breathalyzer test that they may have administered at the scene of the traffic stop. When you obtain a driver’s license, you give implied consent that you will submit to a Breathalyzer test during a traffic stop.
If you refused a Breathalyzer test, the police may have obtained a quick search warrant to draw a blood sample from you. One possible defense is that there are inherent flaws in the evidence being used against you.
The Breathalyzer machine may have not been properly calibrated, or the blood sample may not have been properly drawn. If you can suppress the key evidence being used against you, it may be possible to beat the DUI charges entirely.
The Police Officer May Have Violated Your Legal Rights
Law enforcement could have violated your rights after you were arrested in a way that can require the dismissal of the charges against you.
One common example of police misconduct is when the officer continues to try to question you after you have attempted to invoke your right to counsel. Then, they may have elicited evidence that they are trying to use against you that they never should have obtained in the first place.
They may never have had the right to arrest you in the first place if they did not have probable cause. Then, the police officer may have conducted an illegal search that lacked probable cause.
You Do Not Have to Plead Guilty to a DUI Charge
You will never plead guilty to the DUI charges at your arraignment. By then, you should already have a DUI lawyer representing you, who will be giving you legal advice.
Pleading not guilty preserves your ability to fight the charges in the future if your DUI lawyer feels that you have an opening. At the very minimum, it may give you some leverage if you decide to negotiate a plea bargain.
The prosecutor may not even be prepared for you to wage a full-on legal battle against the charges. Prosecutors handle large amounts of DUI cases, and they may not have the resources necessary to fight every single charge in court.
A prosecutor may not drop the charges against you solely because you choose to fight, but a full-throated legal defense from your DUI attorney may catch them off guard.
You Could Decide to Negotiate a Plea Bargain
In some cases, you may choose not to fight the DUI charges that have been filed against you. Here, the best possible outcome in your case may be obtaining a more favorable resolution than you otherwise could have obtained if you were trying to represent yourself.
A DUI attorney can negotiate a resolution with the prosecutor that will allow you to avoid some of the harshest possible penalties that you may face. You may be able to avoid jail time entirely.
A judge even has the discretion to allow you to participate in a diversion program, meaning that you receive rehabilitation for any alcohol problem you may have.
A DUI Defense Attorney is Standing By
Whether you decide to try to fight and beat a DUI charge depends on the possible defenses available to you and the advice of your DUI attorney, everything depends on the facts and circumstances of your situation.
Hiring a criminal defense lawyer as soon as possible after an arrest can open up more options than if you let the legal process unfold on its own.