Drunk driving and drugged driving constitute some of the most serious driving violations, alongside reckless driving and just behind vehicular manslaughter. If you are caught committing a driving while intoxicated (DWI) or driving under the influence (DUI) offense, you could go to jail, lose your license, and pay thousands of dollars in fines and other charges.
Our lawyers work to stop the police and prosecutors from getting one over on you by examining all of the evidence in your case, seeing what policing mistakes might make the charges invalid, and fighting the evidence they present against you. Always work with a lawyer to protect your rights if you were charged with DWI/DUI.
For your free case review with our DWI/DUI lawyers, call Lombardo Law Group today at (609) 418-4537.
Challenging Police Practices and Illegal Traffic Stops to Fight DWI/DUI Charges in Absecon
Before the police can charge you with a crime like DWI/DUI, they need to get evidence. Police typically obtain the evidence they need in a traffic stop by observing your actions, pulling you over, asking you some questions, performing some tests, and then ultimately arresting you and running a breathalyzer test or taking a blood sample to prove what was in your system. If the police make mistakes in doing this or their traffic stop was illegal from the outset, then the evidence they obtained should be “suppressed,” and it might be impossible for them to continue the case against you.
Illegal Stops
Police cannot stop you in your car unless they are at a DWI checkpoint or they have “reasonable suspicion” that you committed a traffic violation. Usually, police will not stop you at all until they are sure you have committed another traffic violation, potentially watching you for speeding, running a red light, or even changing lanes without a turn signal. Once they have that, the stop is legal, and they can proceed to questioning.
If they stopped you without good cause, then everything that happens afterward should be barred as evidence.
Questions During a Stop
Police can ask you questions during a traffic stop and use what you say against you in court. They do not have to warn you about this or read you your “Miranda rights” like they would during an interrogation while you are in custody.
When police ask you questions during a traffic stop, you do not have to answer them (except to provide your ID, proof of insurance, and vehicle registration information). However, they might not like that and might give you a hard time – so be as polite as possible and potentially blame your lawyer by saying your lawyer says you should not answer questions.
Police will often ask if you had anything to drink, and if you say yes, that is arguably enough to arrest you for DWI. It is better to say nothing about where you are going to, where you are coming from, what speed you thought you were driving, etc.
Observations During a Stop
Police can use anything they see, hear, or smell against you if the stop was legal. This means they can point to things like your slurred speech, the odor of alcohol on your breath, empty beers in the front seat, unstable walking, and more to build evidence that you were drunk. However, sometimes they are not authorized to use these observations in court.
Unless the officer has had proper training in identifying drunkenness, they might not be applying proper scientific standards or expert witness standards, giving our DWI/DUI lawyers grounds to challenge their observations in court.
Field Sobriety Tests
Police can ask you to step out of the car and perform field sobriety tests. They should not ask you to do this if the weather is really bad or you are in a dangerous place on the side of a highway, but highways like Route 30, Route 9, and other main arteries through Absecon have pretty good shoulders, making it hard to rely on this lack of safety to stop you from facing field sobriety tests.
In any case, you do not have a legal obligation to do field sobriety tests, and you can often say no – even though police might pressure you to say yes. If you do perform (and “fail”) these field sobriety tests, we might be able to challenge how they were administered, as they have little scientific value as evidence if they were administered incorrectly or the officer tries to make logical leaps that the “failure” of the test “proves” you were drunk.
Breathalyzers and Breath Tests
There are two types of breath tests you might be subjected to: a “portable breath test” or “presumptive breath test” (PBT) before arrest and a “breathalyzer” or “chemical breath test” after arrest.
The PBT can be refused, and its calibration is not sensitive enough to use a positive indication for alcohol as proof that you were drunk; police can only use this to help them get enough probable cause to arrest you for driving drunk.
The breathalyzer cannot be refused, and there are separate penalties for refusing it, such as an immediate license suspension.
Arrest
Police need probable cause based on their investigation before they can arrest you for drunk or drugged driving. If they did not have enough evidence to meet this standard, then the arrest should be thrown out. If that evidence is also all they have to prove the case against you, then it is not enough to get a conviction either, and the case should be thrown out entirely.
Post-Arrest
If the police want to interrogate you after an arrest, they have to read you your rights. Invoke your right to remain silent and your right to an attorney, and do not answer any questions without us there.
Police can also tow your car and search it as part of an “inventory” search, potentially finding more evidence against you. They can also search you while arresting you, potentially finding drugs or other items on your person. Lastly, when they take you to jail, they can also have you searched. Any evidence they find here could be grounds for additional charges – such as drug possession charges – and you should definitely seek help from an attorney if you are facing multiple charges.
Call Our DWI/DUI Lawyers in Absecon, NJ Today
For a free evaluation of your case, call our DWI/DUI lawyers at Lombardo Law Group today at (609) 418-4537.
