DUI Defenses

If you are arrested and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI), it is important to remember that you are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Fortunately, there are many DUI defenses that can be used to challenge the evidence against you and improve your chances of avoiding a drunk driving conviction.

One of the best tactics for challenging a DUI conviction is proving that the officer had no reason to arrest you for the offense. In order to prove you are guilty of the offense, the officer must first establish that he or she had a reason to stop your vehicle—such as speeding, running a red light, or other traffic violation, for instance. In addition, he or she must also provide a valid reason for suspecting you were under the influence of alcohol.

Therefore, if there was no valid reason for the officer to pull you over, everything that happened afterward is irrelevant since you were stopped illegally. Likewise, if the officer did not see something that would lead a reasonable person to believe you were under the influence of alcohol (such as smelling alcohol on your breath, for example), much of the evidence against you may be dismissed in court.

Rising blood alcohol content (BAC) is yet another defense strategy that can be used to fight your arrest. Across the United States, drivers are prohibited from operating a vehicle with a BAC of 0.08% or higher. However, this law requires you to have an illegal BAC at the time you are driving, not at the time your BAC is tested.

Since alcohol takes time to process through your system, it is possible for someone to have a legal amount of alcohol in their system while driving, but have an illegal BAC by the time the test is administered. This defense typically works best if a substantial amount of time passed between your initial traffic stop and your breath test.

Finally, if you were stopped during a DUI roadblock, you may be able to challenge the constitutionality of your arrest. Unlike typical DUI arrests, an arrest made during a roadblock occurs after a driver is stopped in a roadside safety check. Because drivers are stopped randomly, you may be able to argue that the officer lacked probable cause to suspect you were driving under the influence.

States and Cities:
AK	Alaska, Anchorage	LA	Louisiana, New Orleans	OH	Ohio, Cincinnati
AL	Alabama, Montgomery	MA	Massachusetts, Boston	OK	Oklahoma, Tulsa
AR	Arkansas, Little Rock	MD	Maryland, Baltimore	OR	Oregon, Portland
AZ	Arizona, Phoenix	ME	Maine, Portland	PA	Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
CA	California, Los Angeles	MI	Michigan, Detroit	RI	Rhode Island, Providence
CO	Colorado, Denver	MN	Minnesota, Duluth	SC	South Carolina, Charleston
CT	Connecticut, Hartford	MO	Missouri, Branson	SD	South Dakota, Sioux Falls
DE	Delaware, Wilmington	MS	Mississippi, Jackson	TN	Tennessee, Nashville
FL	Florida, Orlando	MT	Montana, Bozeman	TX	Texas, Houston
GA	Georgia, Atlanta	NC	North Carolina, Charoltte	UT	Utah, Salt Lake City
HI	Hawaii, Honolulu	ND	North Dakota, Fargo	VT	Vermont, Burlington
IA	Iowa, Des Moines	NE	Nebraska, Omaha	VA	Virginia, Richmond
ID	Idaho, Boise	NH	New Hampshire, Portsmouth	WA	Washington, Seattle
IL	Illinois, Chicago	NJ	New Jersey, Newark	WI	Wisconsin, Milwaukee
IN	Indiana, Indianapolis	NM	New Mexico, Albuquerque	WV	West Virginia, Charleston
KS	Kansas, Kansas City	NV	Nevada, Las Vegas	WY	Wyoming, Cheyenne
KY	Kentucky, Lexington	NY	New York, New York	DC	Washington DC