Top 15 Ways to Beat Your Utah DUI
While a DUI in Utah can result in severe consequences, it’s a charge that our experienced DUI defense attorney frequently beats. After successfully defending over 3,500+ drunk driving cases, we’ve put together the top ways to beat a DUI and have your case dismissed.
1. Officers regularly make up reasons to stop a vehicle. If they do, you win!
Examples include when they falsely put in their report that you committed any of the following: failure to maintain lane, improper lane change, failure to signal when you really did, no headlights, no tail lights, speeding (when the cop didn’t even use a radar gun), etc.
2. Officers regularly exceed their authority in detaining you beyond the scope of the initial stop. If so, you win!
If they ask questions unrelated to the initial stop, the evidence they obtain thereafter can all be suppressed. They typically exceed the scope of the stop by asking, “Have you been drinking?” when they don’t have any clues of drinking, and they ask this since you were driving by a local bar and it is late at night. Or sometimes they will assume that just because you are a certain race that you are probably drunk or are dealing drugs. This is illegal.
3. Officers regularly do a breath test prior to any physical field sobriety tests. If so, you’ll likely win!
The National Traffic and Highway Safety Administration’s training manual for police officers states that the portable breath test should be conducted after the walk and turn and the one-legged stand tests. Officers often like to jump to the portable breath test to get a reading. If you are showing a high breath alcohol result, they then can make up a number of clues they “see” when they then have you do the walk and turn and the one-legged stand tests. I have effectively exposed that many officers do this portable breast test prematurely and have had several cases thrown out because this is totally improper.
4. Officers regularly improperly instruct drivers on how to do field sobriety tests. If so, you win!
Officers routinely do not give proper instructions, especially on the walk and turn, where they just tell you to turn around after taking the first nine steps. Then they mark you as showing a clue of impairment because you didn’t take baby steps in doing your pivot move. This is unfair because if they just say turn around and complete another nine steps back, and don’t tell you specifically how to do this, nor do they demonstrate it for you, they are setting you up for failure from the get-go.
5. Officers regularly do not properly demonstrate how to do the field sobriety tests. If so, you win!
Officers often do not show you how to do the field tests. A common omission is to fail to show you how to pivot on the 9 step walk-and-turn test. Another is they fail to demonstrate how to hold your foot up and your arm position on the one-legged stand. If they fail to do this you can win!
6. Officers regularly do not conduct the field sobriety tests under conditions that they are supposed to. If so, you win!
Field sobriety tests are only reliable if they are done in a controlled environment, and if the officers precisely follow the training manual. If the officer’s red and blue lights are flashing in your face, it throws off the reliability of the test. If there are frequent cars passing you by during the tests, this throws off the reliability of the tests, not only because of the flashing, sporadic white lights that are on and off of your face, but also because of the wind, and the distraction, of the passing by cars. If you are doing the one-legged stand on an uneven surface, it undermines the validity of the tests. If you are not properly covered and are cold as a result, the tests are compromised. If you are affected by the wind from passing cars and semi trucks, the tests are not reliable and you can win!
7. Officers regularly do not ask if you have any physical impairments or injuries that affect your balance. If so, you win!
If you have medical issues, such as a chronic back or neck pain, or a sprained ankle, or even gout or another illness or condition, you can win!
8. Officers regularly do not check your mouth for foreign objects before continuously observing you for at least 15 minutes before the breathalyzer to see if you burp or regurgitate. If so, you win!
They are required to have you open your mouth to check for foreign debris which could throw off the results of the breath testing machine. If they didn’t check your mouth and then continually observe you for at least 15 minutes to see if you burp or regurgitate, you can win! If you were in the back of the cop car after they checked your mouth, and they then drove to the station and then conducted the breath test without checking your mouth for another 15 minutes at least, you can win!
9. Officers sometimes are not certified to operate the breath testing machine. If so, you win!
We subpoena the officer’s credentials and training certificates and if they are not properly and currently certified, you can win!
10. Officers often coerce a driver into taking a breath test or submitting to a blood draw by claiming they will just get a warrant from a judge anyways. If so, you win!
If they do this, it renders the consent to search your person for breath or blood invalid and NON-CONSENSUAL and the results can be thrown out. If so, you win!
11. Officers often do not read you your miranda rights and conduct an interrogation, asking you for incriminating evidence. If so, you win!
You have many rights. If they did not read you those rights and question you about how much you had to drink, where you were coming from, where you were going, when you drank last, etc., you can have those statements thrown out, and as a result, you can win!
12. Officers often search your car without a warrant, without your permission, and without probable cause to do so. If so, you win!
Even if they claim they can get a warrant, they cannot threaten you or tell you they will get a warrant anyways so you might as well just consent. If they do, you can win by having that evidence suppressed!
13. Officers often stop you far too long waiting for drug dogs to come out. This is illegal and if they did this, you can win!
Officers may only stop you for a limited amount of time…to ask you questions related to the reason for the stop in the first place. To question you beyond that is illegal and oftentimes the officers do this to buy time until the drug sniffing dogs come out. Who let the dogs out, right? The cops did, and likely they let those dogs out illegally, if you catch my drift. If the cops have done this to you, call us immediately and we will get that evidence thrown out!
14. If you have medical proof that your inability to perform the field sobriety tests were from an injury or illness, you can win!
There are hundreds of causes of eye nystagmus apart from alcohol impairment. If you have one or more on this list of causes, YOU CAN WIN!
15. Were there maintenance issues with the intoxilyzer either before your arrest or after? If so, you can win!
Another way to get a DUI case dismissed is if there were maintenance issues with the alcohol breath test either before, during, or after your arrest. DUI breath tests are not always accurate and errors can lead to evidence being thrown out.
How to win your DUI case
Get a free case evaluation from an expert DUI attorney in Utah. We’ll take the time to review the facts of your case, request any evidence, assess the strength of the prosecution’s case, and provide free advice on how to win your case. Get started here.