Dismissal of DUI Charges in MI
ATTACKING THE VERY BASIS FOR STOPPING YOU COULD RESULT IN A DISMISSAL OF YOUR DUI CASE
Many of the officer's initial impressions of you will be made before he even pulls you over. If you are driving in what he believes to be an unsafe manner, his attitude of who he will encounter will be skewed. A good Michigan OWI attorney can use this bias to show that the officer was predisposed to arrest you.
Speeding not does mean you are operating while intoxicated. In many cases, the officer will state that he pulled you over for speeding. This simple fact could be favorable to you. A careful questioning of the officer and prosecutor in your case could demonstrate that it takes more skill and control to drive a car when exceeding the speed limit, than when moving at a slower pace. If the posted speed limit is designed for safe travel by “sober” drivers, then exceeding that speed requires even more care and caution, and is, therefore, a strong indicator that your speed was not affected by your drinking. This is an important topic to raise in your DUI defense, since the officer will no doubt claim in his police report that you were driving erratically, and that such driving alerted him to the possibility that you may be driving under the influence. Stone sober people speed everyday. Do not allow the prosecutor to convince you that your speeding directly reflects your level of intoxication. Your Michigan DUI lawyer should question the officer and prosecutor in a way that proves that speeding, alone, proves virtually nothing. If, after all, speeding played as big a role as the police wanted it to play in your arrest, they could have arrested you simply for that. The fact that the officer observed your speeding and allowed you to drive on for a while before pulling over, only shows your driving was not so atrocious to justify an immediate stop and arrest. It takes a lot to be accused of drunk driving; don't make presumptions about your guilt. Doing so only helps the police make their case against you. Your lawyer is your legal protection from many of these assumptions. Make sure your lawyer attacks any claim that you were “speeding” as an insufficient basis for arresting you.
Other alleged symptoms of drunk driving can be discredited, as well. If, for example, the officer indicates that you were swerving or “all over the road,” you should once again question why the officer did not immediately arrest you for operating while intoxicated. You should once again criticize the officer's decision to follow you rather than immediately stop your “erratic” behavior. Decisions by the officer to allow your driving to continue for a period of time only shows that your driving was not so dangerous that it required your immediate stop and arrest for DUI. If the way you drove at the time of your arrest is safe enough to be observed by the officer for a period of time, it is also safe enough to discredit any wrong assumptions the officer made about how your drinking affected your ability to safely drive.
Dealing with drunk driving cases can be seen as tedious due to the amount of time it takes to effectively collect all of the necessary information and evidence required to prepare a solid defense case. From the discovery phase to the trial, each portion is equally important. However, there are other ways in which the trial can be completed. Getting your DUI case dismissed is always a favorable outcome for all those involved on the defense side.
Is It Possible for me to get My DUI dismissed?
Complete dismissals of a DUI are not common at all. In order for a case to be completely dismissed there must be some sort of exigent circumstance present. Generally, these circumstances will present themselves in the form of mal-practice by law enforcement officials, or malfunction by technology used to analyze blood or breath. In recent history, district judge Ian M. O'Flaherty dismissed three alleged drunk drivers claiming they had no presumption of innocence. In his ruling he held that “Virginia's law is unconstitutional because it presumes an individual with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 or higher is intoxicated and denies a defendant's right to the presumption of innocence.” This ruling has lawyers everywhere looking at drunk driving cases in a whole new perspective.
A Word about License Hearing Documents
Another option which can be similar to a dismissal is getting the DUI charge lessened. Instead of being charged with a DUI, there are other “traffic infringements” which can be utilized. If the defense feels that the prosecution has insufficient evidence to uphold a DUI conviction, they may try for a guilty plea of a lesser charge. Generally speaking this charge is reckless driving. While there are no sure fire ways to avoid DUI convictions, there are certainly factors which increase the odds. The fewer factors, the greater chance you have of a pre-trial settlement. Here are a few examples:
- Blood test results
- Breathalyzer Results
- Urine Tests
- Car Accidents
- Video footage of Sobriety test
- Driver or passenger statements depicting impaired driving
- Behavior conducted towards the officers
- Prior DUI convictions
The more of these factors you can avoid, the better chance you will inevitably have in getting the charge lowered from a DUI conviction to any number of other infringements. So while getting a DUI case completely dismissed is exceptionally rare, getting the charge reduced is totally feasible.