Drunk driving charges have the ability to turn the life of an accused individual upside down. As a result, it is important for accused individuals to be familiar with drunk driving defense options and strategies available to protect them when they have been charged with a DWI.
There are some affirmative defenses an accused individual can assert in response to a DWI charge that accused individuals should be familiar with, especially if they think one of the defenses applies to their situation and circumstances. Affirmative defenses include necessity, duress, entrapment, mistake of fact and involuntary intoxication. Because each is a specific criminal defense, accused individuals should ensure they understand what each entails.
An additional category of criminal defense options in response to drunk driving charges focuses on police procedure and the conduct of authorities. For instance, if the police did not have probable cause to stop the accused individual, that may form the basis of a criminal defense response to drunk driving charges. Additionally, it may be possible to challenge the accuracy of both a Breathalyzer or field sobriety test. If the police officers is not properly trained to administer a Breathalyzer or field sobriety test, it may be possible to challenge the accuracy of the results. If the Breathalyzer was not properly calibrated or maintained, or there was some other type of interference with the result, it may also be possible to challenge the result.
In addition, the accused individual may wish to argue that a test at the police station would have provided more accurate results or that their blood alcohol content level rose between the time of the stop and the time of the test. Criminal defense options protect the rights of accused individuals which is why any individual accused of a DWI should be familiar with their rights and how to enforce them.