Can you be convicted of DUI if the results of a blood or urine test are positive for a controlled substance that you are not prescribed, even if the drug does not impair your ability to drive?
Whether to refuse the breath test in a DUI case and, if so, how to refuse is one of the most frequent topics that I am questioned about. This article addresses this important issue.
The first step towards beating your Georgia DUI charge and the tremendous costs that accompany a DUI conviction is committing to the defense of your DUI case. You will give yourself a better opportunity to beat your Georgia DUI charge by deciding early to fight your Georgia DUI. By committing to the defense earlier, you will provide your Georgia DUI lawyer with sufficient time to investigate the case and your DUI lawyer will have a better opportunity to gather evidence.
Why is it important to retain a knowledgeable and aggressive Georgia DUI lawyer early?What if there were critical pieces of evidence that were destroyed because timely requests to preserve the evidence were not made? We frequently represent clients in jurisdictions where videotape evidence in their DUI case is not preserved because requests were not made to law enforcement agencies to preserve certain critical pieces of evidence.Don't let procrastination cost you a valuable pieces of evidence in your Georgia DUI case.
While the lawyer that you choose to represent you in your DUI case should challenge the government's case at every level, in order to give yourself the greatest opportunity to beat your DUI, you should commit yourself to going through process of making the state prove its case. Your Georgia DUI lawyer must be able to explain to you what will happen to your driver's license when you fight the administrative license suspension. Your Georgia DUI lawyer must be able to explain to you what will happen to you and your DUI case when you force the state to show the admissibility of evidence at motions hearings.
A major concern that a person facing a Georgia DUI charge must address when selecting a lawyer is whether the lawyer has the training and knowledge necessary to confront the government's evidence if the state sustains its burden at the motions hearing. There are many lawyers throughout Georgia that push their clients to plead guilty when they face a blood, breath, or urine test which "shows" that their client had an alcohol content level of .08 or greater. Your Georgia DUI lawyer must be willing and able to challenge the reliability of the state-administered test. In short, your DUI lawyer must aggressively file and argue motions on your behalf.
There are numerous legal hurdles that the State must overcome in order to secure the admissibility of evidence in a Georgia DUI case. In most cases, it takes a trained, devoted, and skillful Georgia DUI attorney to recognize and develop these issues in order to exclude unfavorable evidence from your DUI case.
However, in many, if not most, cases, the State can lay a sufficient "foundation" for the admissibility of a breath test result. When faced with a breath test result in excess of .08, an attorney who does not understand how the Intoxilyzer 5000 operates and what the potential inadequacies of this machine are will most likely advise you to enter a guilty plea. You must retain an Georgia DUI attorney who is willing and able to fight for you in spite of the breath test result.
The majority of DUI charges in Georgia are based upon a breath test. A Georgia DUI lawyer representing a person charged should understand the "science" behind the Intoxilyzer 5000, and, more importantly, each DUI lawyer should understand the deficiencies of the Intoxilyzer 5000. Most people facing a DUI assume incorrectly that every lawyer who undertakes representing a person charged of DUI understands how the Intoxilyzer 5000 operates and its weaknesses. Remember, Georgia DUI law is very complex and the science that comprises most of these cases is even more complex.