Do you face a DUI charge? If so, it is critical that you get in touch with an experienced DUI lawyer — call your San Rafael lawyer. A driving while intoxicated (DWI/DUI) charge is major and without adequate counsel, you are taking unnecessary chances. You have a right to defend yourself against the charges and to receive the most aggressive defense possible. An experienced San Rafael lawyer is your best option.
Seek out a San Rafael lawyer with experience in handling cases of driving while intoxicated in the San Rafael court system. Find a San Rafael lawyer with experience in defending DUI cases, both for first-time offenders and for people facing more serious charges.
If you have been charged with driving while intoxicated, you have likely been given a breath or blood test. You may have even had a choice. Regardless of which test you took, your San Rafael lawyer can defend you against the charge depending on the circumstances of the case.
A breath test, for example, has a margin of error that could allow your San Rafael defense lawyer to question the state’s evidence. Various instruments are used to test your breath. Regardless of the instrument, it is an indirect measure of your blood alcohol level. An indirect test always includes its own assumptions, some of which may not apply in your individual case. A breath test, for instance, assumes that you have a certain breath temperature. If there is support that this assumption does not hold, there may be cause to challenge the breath test results in general.
A San Rafael DUI lawyer can also challenge the time line of the test itself. Any test will try to extrapolate what your blood alcohol level was at the time you were driving. A breath test is, again, just an indirect measure of your blood levels. Now we are asking the test to infer your blood levels 18 minutes in the past — it is complicated. How much you weigh, what and when you last ate, how much alcohol you consumed, and many other factors impact the ability of the breath test to extrapolate your past blood alcohol levels. This is an important charge and you need a San Rafael lawyer with experience to help you.
There are many ways to contest breath testing in a DUI case. Your San Rafael lawyer may challenge the results themselves, others may challenge whether you exceeded the legal limit in the first place.
A blood test is a more direct measure of blood alcohol level than is the breath test but that does not mean it does not have its own set of assumptions that can be questioned in court. When the blood is drawn, it is placed in a glass tube with a preservative and something that keeps the blood from clotting. If the preservative levels are not correct, your blood can actually ferment — raising the alcohol levels. If your blood clots in the tube, the results will show too much blood alcohol. You need to have your blood tested by an independent lab to verify the results of the San Rafael police or highway patrol.
Even without lab errors, there is sometimes cause for your San Rafael lawyer to challenge your blood alcohol results.
Avoid jail time and save your driver’s license at the same time. Call a seasoned San Rafael DUI lawyer to assist in your case.
A note on prevention
Costs of a DUI charge are high. A San Rafael lawyer will help you keep those costs as low as possible, in the hopes that the charge does not jeopardize your freedom and lifestyle. However, prevention is obviously the key with a DUI charge. The video below from Tennessee highlights the costs.