Beat Your Tampa DUI BEFORE The Police Arrest you
The truth be told, how you act and react during the couple of hours you interact with the arresting officer can make all the difference in whether you beat the DUI or not. So without further ado, the 3 most important things you can do to help your Defense Attorney beat your DUI.
First, a forewarning: If you are in anyway a close call when the cop investigates you, rest assured he will arrest you. Any DUI Lawyer or Criminal Attorney will tell you that the Officer is going to error on the side of caution. Consider: if the officer decided to let you go, and you were DUI, and you did then hurt someone, that Officer would lose his job and be vilified in the press. This of court leads us to rule Number one in beating a DUI:
1. Be Nice. Be Respectful. Be courteous.
It does not matter how sober or how drunk you are, if you act like a dummy in front of the cops, you will get burned. Ultimately there are a million factors that go into whether or not you can beat your DUI, but rest assured the most important thing is that you act like a gentleman on tape. Think about it: The person who has control over whether or not to reduce your charge to a reckless driving , or throw your butt in jail, is the prosecutor. The prosecutor will always review the video evidence before making a decision on how to proceed. If you look like a jerk, the prosecutor will have no sympathy for you. I have seen it time and time again, the prosecutor giving the reckless driving to the nice respectful person on the close calls, but not bending on the close calls for the jerks.
Further consider: If you go to trial, what version of you do you want the Jury to see? Juries are human. In every case, Juries are looking for the good guy, and the bad guy. Do you want to be the good guy that they feel sympathy for, that was unlawfully arrested by an over aggressive cop (the bad guy)? Or do you want to be the jerk client who made the cop’s life difficult, thus making the cop the good guy by process of elimination? The answer should be obvious.
2. If you think you are slurring your speech, then shut up! Only say yes sir and no sir.
The Jury will use its collective common sense in determining whether or not you are drunk. Ask any jury member during jury selection, “How can you tell if someone is intoxicated?”, and either there first or second answer will be , “slurred speech”. It goes hand and hand with being drunk. Therefore, if you might be slurring your speech, even if it is because you are tired, then shut up. Note this rule goes well with rule number one above, being respectful and courteous.
Alternatively, if you are right on, and are able to be articulate, then feel free to speak on the camera. but beware, many clients tell their DUI Lawyers that they were just dandy on scene, but th evideo suggests otherwise. Be sure.
3. If you really only had a beer or two, consider blowing into the breath test machine.
Many people think that they should refuse the breath test machine at all costs. This is not entirely accurate. Understand that the State has a very powerful, very legal argument if you refuse: That you did so because you had a guilty conscious, and knew you were guilty. This is very powerful indeed. Therefore, if you truly had only a beer or two, you may consider blowing into the machine. That will remove the argument from the State, and hopefully provide evidence for your DUI attorney that you were under the legal limit. Also, if there was a technical issue with the Machine, your defense attorney can present the issue if you have chosen to blow into the machine. If you have not blown, then any deficiency with the machine becomes irrelevant.
Alternatively, you may be the type of person who does not trust machines at all costs. This is fine, but consider letting the cop on scene know WHY you are not blowing.
Hopefully this will help you help your criminal attorney when you go into his office the day after your arrest.
Denmon & Denmon Trial Lawyers, 918 W Kenendy Blvd, Tampa, FL 33606, 813-554-3232
If you need to contact a DUI Attorney, feel free to contact Christian or Nicole Denmon.
