DUI Defense Lawyers Brandon MS
What do police seek with a DUI?
Lawyer Franks: They're looking for certain road conditions that make it challenging to drive. That's where you commonly see a DUI barricade. Generally, it's a choke point near a bar or restaurant. That's their most common strategy.
The other point is, they're looking for any type of reason to flag someone over. Swerving, speeding, rolling through a stop sign; all those are normal excuses a police officer will use to stop someone. The actual reason isn't to fill out a ticket for a taillight being burned out. The genuine reason is they wish to ascertain if there's something else taking place and also they utilize that as probable cause.
If the law enforcement officer asks me if I've been drinking, how do I respond?
Lawyer Franks: As a DUI defense lawyer, I constantly recommend that you exercise your Fifth Amendment right to remain quiet. You never ever wish to lie to a officer as that starts things down a very bad path. If you have actually been consuming alcohol, the best advice I can provide anybody is to exercise your Fifth Amendment right to remain quiet. That's most likely to raise the police officer's suspicion. Yet at the very same time, you have not been dishonest. The Fifth Amendment isn't a privilege, and he might offer you a hard time over it. However it's your right to impose it and stay silent and also not provide info that would be used to convict you in court.
Do I have a right to a lawyer while taking a roadside sobriety examination?
Attorney Franks: No. You do not have the right for your attorney to be a witness throughout a field sobriety test. What's more, the majority of people are flagged over somewhere between 10:00 in the evening and about three in the morning. There's no chance an attorney could be at three different roadblocks viewing field soberness tests in the middle of the evening.
That being said, roadside soberness examinations are utilized for probable cause reasons to detain you and also the police officer is utilizing them to identify impairment. But there is some case legislation that says some tests are not permissible for the purposes of impairment.
Beyond the breath test, what's the policeman seeking?
Attorney Franks: The very first point he's looking for is the smell of booze when you crank down the window. They're searching for the odor of an intoxicating drink emanating from the car. The next thing is slurred speech. They wish to make sure your speech is crisp as well as proper. The trouble with that is some people have a lisp or some other speech issue. That can be a conflicting cue. Also, what's on the car seat? You'll see him shining the lights in all the car windows of an auto aiming to see if there's an open scotch bottle or beer containers. In some counties, open container suffices for probable cause. They're also trying to find bags of pot, as well as they are aiming to see if you're scared.
They might ask you to step outside of the vehicle. As you walk to the back or the front of the car, the policeman's watching just how you're walking. Are you maintaining your equilibrium? Are you stumbling? Are you dragging your feet? Yet once again, a great deal of these cues are things that can be explained by physical deformities or disorders. Someone could be ill or had a surgical treatment recently on a sprained ankle or busted leg.
Nevertheless, that might offer an officer an idea of whether or not alcohol is entailed. But you can not use one or two things on their own. Officers should go deeper before they issue a DUI. Unfortunately, in some cases they do not.