Legally, when you are said to drive while under the influence, it means you are operating an automobile after having taken alcohol. There is a legal limit within which it is permitted to drive after taking a few drinks. Some states implement zero tolerance on such offences. Thus, a DUI attorney would have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that your alcohol levels were legal.
In other states, sitting drunk in a vehicle with key in ignition constitutes a DUI traffic offence. It is argued that one will be tempted to drive. This carries a lesser penalty. Lawyers from DUI attorney Cleveland firms strive to have the charges lessened or dropped altogether. A serious traffic offence could see you stripped of your license. You could be banned from driving in your state for several months. In extreme cases, you could find yourself in jail.
By applying the strategy below, your DUI attorney stands to successfully argue your case.
By questioning the rationale behind your arrest. Traffic police officers base their actions on observations. If you are seen weaving from one lane to another, driving too fast or failing to stop at an intersection, it may appear abnormal. This is what triggers a police officer into action. It may be that none of these driving behaviors were related to drunken driving. It could have been an emergency. A DUI attorney can state such a reason.
The judge can be shown that either the vehicle you were driving had a mechanical problem or you didn’t get enough sleep on the night prior to your driving. The DUI attorney will be able to make the court see that there was a mistake by the police officer who stopped you.
Another defense strategy would be to demonstrate that in as much as you exhibited inconsistent driving, you did obey the police. When asked to pull over you did so. You slowed down, stopped the vehicle and parked it on the roadside as requested. What the DUI attorney Cleveland lawyer is trying to illustrate here is that you acted reasonably when confronted by the authorities.
Once you are stopped, the police officer is supposed to carry out a field sobriety test. This determines whether you are actually intoxicated. Drinking and driving is not an offence. The illegality only comes where you have taken too much alcohol such that it impairs your judgment. A sobriety test is not a conclusive proof of intoxication. A DUI attorney can argue that the conditions under which the test was carried out were not favorable.
Though the breath analyzing tests are difficult to defend, there are still some loopholes. Your attorney could argue that you had just taken drink moments before or the machine had some defects.