DWI Arrests

Your DWI Arrest - Protect Your Rights

If are reading this, you may have recently experienced a DWI (Driving While Intoxicated) arrest, also known as DUI (Driving Under the Influence). Getting arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs constitutes a serious infraction of the law, with serious and long-reaching consequences. You must know what steps to take to protect yourself, your family and your property. The absolute first thing you must do is hire the best possible DWI defense attorney. He will help you decide how to proceed with your case. He will also request a hearing with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). A good DWI defense strategy is also helpful. If this is not done immediately (usually ten days), your driver’s license may be automatically suspended! You may face the impounding or forfeiture of your vehicle, fines and even imprisonment if found guilty of driving under the influence.

Field Sobriety Testing

If you are stopped by police who think that you may have been drinking and driving, you may be asked to take a breathalyzer test to measure how much alcohol is actually in your system. The legal limit for Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) is 0.08 percent in all fifty states for drivers 21 year-of-age or older. There is a “Zero Tolerance Law” (0.02 percent or lower BAC) for all underage drivers. Although breathalyzers are generally thought to be fairly accurate, there is actually a 20 to 30 per cent discrepancy rate in the results.

You also may be requested to take field sobriety tests that have been adopted by The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

1. In the horizontal gaze nystagmus test, the officer will ask you to follow an object from side to side with your eyes. Scientific evidence shows that many intoxicated people exhibit jumpy eye movements while trying to follow an object from one side of their field of vision to the other.

2. For this test, the police officer will ask you to stand with one foot directly in front of the other and walk a straight line in a heel-to-toe fashion, pivot on one foot and walk back the same way.

3. The third test requires that you stand on one leg. You will be instructed to hold that position without swaying for a period of time specified by the officer, such as 30 seconds.

Penalties for DWI

If you are convicted of DWI, depending on the state, you may face the following penalties:
• Suspension or loss of your driver’s license
• Probation, community service, mandatory alcohol or drug counseling classes
• Fines, including costs of high-risk insurance
• Vehicle seizure
• Restitution of damage costs to victim/s
• Installation of ignition interlock systems in which the vehicle will not start if a mandatory breathalyzer test indicates alcohol consumption
• Incarceration

Know Your Rights

It is, of course, imperative that we remove ALL drunk drivers from our nation’s roads and waterways. However, if YOU are arrested for DWI, it must be your #1 priority to hire the best DUI defense attorney possible to protect your legal rights. Your lawyer will make sure that the following rights were protected:

• The 4th Amendment protects you from unreasonable search and seizure, i.e. being pulled over for driving under the influence without probable cause
• If you were not read your rights i.e. right to remain silent or to have a lawyer with you during questioning (Miranda Law)
• Challenging the validity of any breathalyzer or other roadside sobriety testing
• Challenging the truthfulness or circumstances of the arresting officer’s testimony

If you have been arrested for DWI, please fill out our secure free legal evaluation form and one of our DUI attorneys will contact you immediately. Or call us toll free at 800-798-8384. Your information will remain strictly confidential.