If you were recently pulled over and accused of driving while under the influence of alcohol or another substance, you may feel as if you have no legal options available to you. Especially if you were screened for alcohol or other substances by the arresting officer and you tested positive, the idea of mounting any kind of defense to your case may seem like a fruitless endeavor. However, it is important to understand that it is possible to successfully defend against DUI charges, even if you’ve been screened for impairment and the test(s) came back positive.
As a result, it is critically important to speak with an experienced criminal defense attorney in your area as soon as you possibly can. As an experienced San Francisco, CA DUI lawyer – including those who practice at the Morales Law Firm – can confirm, the sooner that you inform an attorney of your situation, the sooner that they can begin working to preserve your legal options and aggressively defend your legal rights.
Raising Concerns About Evidence
It has long been understood that most criminal cases hinge on the strength of evidence presented by both sides. If there is something fundamentally amiss about the evidence in your case, a skilled attorney may be able to get that evidence excluded from consideration. If the evidence in question provided the bulk of the prosecution’s argument for convicting you, the prosecutor assigned to your case might reduce your charges, negotiate a favorable plea deal, or even drop the charges against you altogether.
Skilled criminal defense attorneys understand this reality and do all that they can to get questionable or unlawfully obtained evidence excluded from their clients’ cases. This is one of the primary reasons why you shouldn’t attempt to represent yourself when facing DUI charges. An experienced attorney will know, for example, the exact standards for calibrating breath test devices as required by law. They will also know how to check that the breath test device that you were subjected to was properly or improperly calibrated at the time that you were tested. If you attempt to mount a defense on your own, you may miss out on important opportunities to challenge evidence and to—ideally—get that evidence excluded from your case.
There are a host of other defense tactics that a skilled attorney can use when representing a client who is facing DUI charges. So, even if you tested positive for impaired driving, know that it is worth your time to speak with an attorney about your rights and options.
