DUI Process in 10 Steps

1 Self Education

People who understand the DUI process can accordingly know how to respond to DUI charges and, if such is the case, conviction as to the DUI charges. In this respect, people are advised to pay close attention to the particular way in which the DUI process is administered for them. If evidence is gathered impermissibly during the DUI process, or if the justification for the initial stop of the driver, or search of that individual’s vehicle, is not made correctly, then any charge or conviction brought through the DUI process can be successfully fought.

2 Inadmissibility of Anonymous Reports

If the DUI case begins with reports of a person committing a DUI, then the case may be invalidated if the report is made anonymously. As such, anonymous reports are not considered to represent valid grounds for stopping a motorist and in that way beginning the DUI process.

3 Stop and Search Legality

Otherwise, the first step of a DUI case will come with the administering law enforcement officer making the decision to pull over the defendant. The officer responsible for the stop will have to later show that the individual was evincing some kind of behavior which indicated a reduced ability to operate their motor vehicle safely both for themselves and others.

4 Inadmissible Evidence

After the defendant has been pulled over, the administering officer will use some method to test, and potentially prove, the defendant’s liability for a DUI. If the results of this part of the DUI process are gathered incorrectly, then they can be thrown out of the case at a later point.

5 Breathalyzer-Produced Evidence

The DUI process may use a breathalyzer to determine the blood alcohol content of the driver stopped. If the breathalyzer is operated by an unlicensed individual, then the evidence used for the DUI process will not be considered permissible.

6 Observation-Based Evidence

Officers may also administer an observation-based method to determine whether or not the defendant has committed a DUI. That being said, these stages of the DUI process are not considered valid grounds in of themselves for convicting individuals on DUI charges and accordingly imposed civil or criminal penalties.

7 Visual Records of Arrest

The DUI defendant may also be recorded by the arresting officer. The information gathered in this stage of the DUI process may later be used to disprove the DUI charges imposed against the criminal defendant.

8 DUI Blood Testing

A person suspected of a DUI offense may also be administered a blood test in a hospital.

9 Mirandization

People who have been arrested will have to be administered a warning as to their Miranda rights. The DUI process can be disproven if Mirandization did not take place.

10 Probable Cause for a Search

If there is probable cause, the DUI offender may have his or her vehicle searched. Again, if probable grounds did not exist to justify the arresting officer limiting the defendant’s rights and legal protections in this way, then the DUI process can also be looked to as a way of defeating the charges which have been brought against the defendant, according to the judgment of the defendant’s legal representation.

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