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Posts Tagged ‘criminal defense’

Ok, so you’ve been issued a ticket in Colorado for Driving Under the Influence (DUI) or Driving While Ability Impaired (DWAI). Take a deep breath; its not the end of the world. In fact, there may be a way to beat your case entirely.

For example, the police must have had a valid reason to stop you or contact you in the first place. If they did not, the DUI case is going nowhere. Police are not allowed to just stop any car driving down the road. They must have a legitimate reason to pull you over or to contact you.

In some cases, it is possible to have a chemical test rules inadmissable by the Court for legal reasons. If the test is thrown out, the prosecutor is left with a big hole in his evidence, and in the case against you. Breathalyzer tests have a strict set of operation rules, and the results of the test may be held to be invalid if the procedures are not followed correctly. The results may also be thrown out if it can be proven that the Breathalyzer was not maintained properly or operated correctly during your chemical test.

Chemical tests of your blood also must follow the proper procedures for the test to be legally valid. In every case, you will want to retest the blood sample. In some cases, the retest result comes back under the legal limit or varies so much from the original test that the first test is deemed invalid.

Jurisdiction is the the geographic area in which a police officer or police force is allowed to conduct police activities and patrol. In every case, you should verify that the officer who contacted you had jurisdiction in the location he contacted you. If the officer was outside of his jurisidictional limits, you may be able to beat your drunk driving charges.

Even today, in our high tech world of advanced communications, there are still certain court hearings where the officer needs to be physically present in Court to give their testimony. In some situations, if the officer does not appear in court when required to do so, the D.A. won’t be able to proceed with their case against you.

Now, how do you exploit these strategies? Hire a good, local DUI attorney. You are looking for someone who knows everything there is to know about these cases. You also want to hire someone who practices exclusively in the geographical area where you got your ticket. A local attorney knows the judges, prosecutors, juries, and, most importantly, the little tricks specific to that city to get you the best result possible.

Don’t hire a lawyer who makes promises or guarantees. An attorney that makes guarantees about results is just trying to get your money by telling you what you want to hear when he has no way of knowing what will happen to your case without first looking at all the police reports, the chemical test reports, negotiating with the prosecutor, etc.

Finally, if you cannot afford an attorney, apply for representation at the public defenders office. Do not try to represent yourself, or you will have a fool for a client.