Experience counts

All of us know that prosecutors strive for convictions. Your attorney must be aware of a multitude of laws pertaining to DUI offenses. Otherwise, he or she may be taken advantage of by a more experienced prosecutor. Experience does not mean the number of years your lawyer has been in practice. Rather, experience should be evaluated by how many DUI cases your attorney has handled.

The following is an actual case example of how one of our experienced DUI attorneys was able to protect the rights of one of our clients...

A teenage girl in a rural county in Illinois was involved in an accident that resulted in her rolling her vehicle in a ditch on a country road. A sheriff's deputy arrived at the scene after dispatch received an emergency call. Upon approaching the driver of the vehicle, the deputy noticed that she did not appear to have any visible injuries. The officer engaged in conversation with her and determined that she was in fact unscathed. She refused any medical treatment. The deputy detected a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emitting from her facial area as he spoke to her. He then discovered that she was only sixteen. The officer then requested that the young lady take a preliminary breath test, or PBT, which she failed. Her result was well over .08. She was then arrested for DUI, and the officer indicated that he would be taking her back to the Sheriff's Office to conduct a breathalyzer test. Once at the station, she blew into the machine, the result of which was a .17. At first glance, this appears to be a very solid case, and it looks as if the prosecutor would get to put another notch into his belt. In fact, the young girl came to court with her defense attorney and pleaded guilty.

Now, let's analyze this particular case a little more closely. There is something called a "Warning to Motorist" that an officer is required to read to a defendant prior to conducting the breathalyzer test. There are two types of warnings though; one given to a person in which a DUI is being pursued and another given to a person under the age of twenty-one who can not have any alcohol in his or her system (zero tolerance). In this case, the officer read the "Zero Tolerance Warning to Motorist" since she was sixteen, but he did not read the standard warning to motorist required for a person arrested for DUI. A copy of the zero tolerance warning was given to the defense attorney, but his client pleaded guilty anyway. There is a law in Illinois that states that a breathalyzer test result is not admissible in a criminal trial if only the "Zero Tolerance Warning to Motorist" is given. Thus, the test result from the scenario above could not be used in the girl's DUI trial. The defense attorney did not file the proper motions though since he was unaware of the proper state law. The case could have been dismissed but instead an inexperienced defense attorney advised his client to plead guilty. Interestingly, the prosecutor was only three years out of law school, yet the defense attorney had been practicing law for over thirty years.

The moral of the story is simply that you need an experienced attorney who has handled DUI cases. Years of law practice does not mean that your attorney has experience with your particular type of case.

If you are facing a DUI charge, fill in our free DUI legal evaluation form or call DUI HELPERS at 800-798-8384 today.

Learn more about Illinois DUI laws and how the lawyers of DUI Helpers have the experienced needed for your case.

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