DUI and DWI Charges

(Flickr Creative Commons)

A DUI is a charge of driving while under the influence, typically of alcohol.

Everyone who carries a driver’s license in California and operates a motor vehicle is subject to a blood alcohol content, or BAC, test if an officer pulls you over and suspects you of driving while under the influence of alcohol. In California, a person is legally intoxicated if their BAC is above .08, but you can be arrested and charged with a DUI if your driving is impaired because of a BAC above anything more than 0.

Sometimes, the officer may administer a test, commonly known as a field sobriety test. This test may include asking you to:

• Balance on one leg;
• Recite the alphabet backwards;
• Look in a specific direction to test your eye movements;
• Walk an invisible line near your car, turn, then walk the other direction;
• Count backwards from 10, or forwards in multiples of a certain number;
• Recall specific information about the city you work or live in, like the name of a professional sports team.

Field sobriety tests conducted by police officers are typically ones endorsed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). These tests contain standardized measurements to gauge for sobriety or intoxication and are backed by some reliable study or other indicator with a basis in science.

Some of the tests in the bullet list above are endorsed by the NHTSA. Others are not. Can you tell the difference? If you were asked to perform any of these tests, and you were later arrested and/or charged with a DUI, contact criminal defense attorney Mark Reichel today.

In other cases, an officer will use a breathalyzer or blood test to determine if a person is intoxicated. This might be administered in combination with a field sobriety test, or when a person is successful at a field sobriety test but an officer still suspects a driver of being at or above the legal BAC limit. A positive test does not necessarily mean a driver was impaired. These machines do occasionally produce false positives, and it’s not uncommon for a case to be tossed out after an attorney scrutinizes the validity of a test and the accuracy of a machine. If you tested positive after being given a breathalyzer or blood test, contact criminal defense attorney Mark Reichel today.

A DWI is a charge of driving while intoxicated, typically of drugs.

The first thing that might come to mind is illicit drugs and narcotics, and you’re right — driving after ingesting or consuming these drugs can earn you a DWI charge. But other types of drugs, including prescription and over-the-counter medications, can also earn you a DWI charge if these drugs are believed to have impaired your driving.

One of the murkiest areas of this law happened shortly after voters passed Proposition 64 in California, making recreational use of marijuana legal within the state. While existing state law made it a crime to “drive while high” or having an “open container” of marijuana in a car, the law was silent on people smoking marijuana while driving.

That loophole was closed in recent years, and smoking marijuana while operating a motor vehicle is now against the law.

Tests administered to drivers who are suspected of DWI can mirror those administered to drivers suspected of DUI. Some of these aren’t intended to screen for certain type of drugs, including marijuana, and their effectiveness can be called into question by an experienced criminal defense attorney based on certain elements of a case.

If you were pulled over and later arrested and/or charged with a DWI, contact criminal defense attorney Mark Reichel today.

Can you be charged with a DUI or DWI if you’re not driving but doing something else in your car — say, eating a meal, sleeping or listening to the radio while parked?

The answer is yes, though how likely a charge is to “stick” depends on a number of things. An experienced criminal defense attorney can help uncover elements specific to your case and assist you in fighting your charge.

Whether the keys are in the ignition or not, you can be charged with a DUI or a DWI simply by appearing to be under the influence or intoxicated while in a car.

To arrest you, an officer merely needs suspicion of intent to operate a car. Being physically present in a parked car is often considered by an officer to be enough to justify a DUI or DWI charge, though an officer typically administers some kind of sobriety test before making an actual arrest.

That alone might make you feel like your case is hopeless — but it isn’t! There are other elements that could result in a prosecutor rescinding a charge or a judge tossing it out of court, including the kind of sobriety tests administered, the accuracy of any machines used to gauge your sobriety and your rights as an individual before, during and after the arrest, among other things.