Phoenix DUI Lawyers

If you or a loved one has been charged with drunk driving in Phoenix, Arizona, it can be devastating.

First you have to deal with the shock of it. Maybe you were driving home from watching the Suns or the Cardinals and ran into a DUI checkpoint. Or a trip to a family reunion ended suddenly when flashing lights appeared behind you.

Most people charged with DUIs are first time offenders who don’t know how to deal with police officers in general, but it’s far worse when one is breathing down your neck and hounding you for information on where you’ve been, where you’re going, and what you’ve been up to. Before you know it, you’re talking just because you’re nervous and confused, and you say something that the cop takes as “evidence” to use against you.

They believe that you’ve been drinking and that you’re over the legal limit. Naturally, you disagree and want to show them just how sober you are, so you let them convince you to take a field sobriety test.

Not surprisingly, you fail, so the officer gets you to take a breath test and then says that you’re being charged. Your driver’s license is confiscated, you’re placed under arrest, and your brain is racing with questions about how this will affect your ability to drive, your job, your family, and your future. Will there be a trial? Jail? What is going to happen to you?

Out of the sheer panic and a desire to get this horrible experience over, you choose to forego getting a DUI lawyer, admit to the charges and take the punishments. But it’s not over once you go home.

You have to deal with paying back fines, surviving without driving for 90 days, and more. And even after all that’s over with, your life just got a little bit harder because you now have a permanent criminal record that anyone can see if they do a background check on you. That means future employers, landlords, and lenders will all know that you had a criminal charge, and may be less likely to want to deal with you because of it.

That’s one scenario, but now let’s try one where you decide to get legal help.

How a Phoenix DUI Attorney Can Help You

Same situation as before where you’ve been pulled over by a cop. But unlike last time, you remember that you are an American citizen and you have rights. When the officer comes up to your window and asks for your driver’s license, you hand it over and wait.

If he or she asks more questions, you say that you’d like to talk to your lawyer before saying anything else, then politely refuse to answer further. The cop’s job is to get you talking so that they can see if your speech is slurred, your eyes are bloodshot, or there are any other signs that you’re under the influence. By keeping quiet, you’re limiting the evidence they have against you.

When officers still believe that you might be under the influence, the next thing they’ll usually ask is for you to perform a field sobriety test. Politely decline this as well. It is not required under Phoenix law, and because the results are based on the subjective opinion of the arresting officer, all it can really do is give the police more evidence to use against you.

At this point, it is possible that you will be asked to submit to a breath test. Unlike the field sobriety test, these tests are legally required and you never want to refuse one. Why? Because doing so will lead to an automatic one-year suspension of your driver’s license that will be in effect even if you end up challenging the charges and beating the DUI. Just take the test and try not to worry about the results. Even if your reading shows up as over the legal limit, there are ways to fight against it.

If you test over the legal limit, you will still arrested now just like in the other scenario, but the difference is that you have already limited the evidence that they have against you, and you’ll soon be talking with your Phoenix DUI lawyer.

Pay special attention as you go through the arrest process to whether or not they read you your rights and actually follow the procedures correctly. One of the first things that your new attorney will do is walk you through the night step-by-step and make sure that nothing in the arrest procedure seems strange. Then, he or she will ask for all recordings and reports related to the incident and pore over these to look for discrepancies.

As inconsequential as it might seem, a misstep in police procedure that violates your rights can be the thing that gets them to drop the charges. No one wants shortcuts in justice, because it could lead to people being arrested who don’t deserve it.

Your Phoenix DUI lawyer will also likely try to argue to get the breathalyzer results removed from evidence. Why? Because contrary to popular belief, they are notoriously unreliable. Breathalyzer results can be skewed for any number of reasons, including but not limited to differences in your body’s physiology, foreign substances like mouthwash that can show up as alcohol, incorrect calibration, storing the device wrong, or simple user error.

With a qualified Phoenix DUI attorney working with you, your chances of having your charges reduced or even dropped altogether go up exponentially, so don’t play games with your future – get a lawyer on your side as soon as possible.