Challenging DUI Evidence

Long Beach Criminal Defense Attorney

At the Law Offices of Damone & Schroeder, our Long Beach DUI attorneys have discovered several tactics that are especially helpful in defending our clients against DUI charges. We work relentlessly to create solid case strategies that have been proven time and again.

One of the most successful ways to defend against DUI charges is to attack the evidence brought by the prosecution. The testimony of the police officer, the results of the breathalyzer and the performance of the field sobriety test are the foundation for a prosecutor to build their case against you. If your DUI attorney can challenge one or more of these, your odds of a favorable outcome are greatly increased.

Combatting Evidence at the Scene of the Arrest

The most effective means of defense includes a strong offense. A DUI charge is based primarily upon the evidence gathered at the scene of the arrest. When a police officer pulls a driver over on suspicion of DUI, they are looking for signs and indicators of impaired driving. The information they gather from interacting with the driver is then combined with the results of the various tests they take and then passed on to the prosecution.

This evidence is the only basis for the case against the defendant. Therefore, an effective means of defense is to challenge the validity and relevance of that evidence.

Questions that should be asked by your attorney, include:

• Did the officer have reasonable cause to make the stop?
• Was the breathalyzer properly calibrated and maintained?
• How reliable are the results of the field sobriety tests?
• Were the tests properly administered
• Are the results of the test accurate?

How accurate are breath and blood tests at measuring BAC?

When arrested, you are required under our state's Implied Consent Law to submit to a blood or breath test to determine your BAC level. A urine test may have been administered, if these tests were not readily available. It is common knowledge that these, along with voluntary field sobriety tests conducted before arrest, are the primary methods used for determining a person's blood alcohol content (BAC).

In recent years, evidence has begun to surface that these methods may not be as reliable as they were once thought to be. Breath analysis tests, by far the most common method used to determine BAC, have been shown in studies to vary upwards of 15% from the results obtained by a blood test. While blood tests are considerably more accurate, they are not without flaws – unsterile equipment and the use of alcohol swabs on the skin can lead to falsely high results.

Get your free DUI case consultation from our Long Beach DUI firm!

As Long Beach criminal defense attorneys with nearly 40 years of combined experience, we are confident in our ability to challenge DUI evidence and weaken the case of the prosecution. We want to see you come out of this incident with a fair and satisfactory outcome and we are willing to utilize our skills to help you achieve that.

Contact a Long Beach criminal defense attorney from our office today to learn more about how we can challenge the evidence against you!