Legal Question in DUI Law in California

Re: DUI - How critical are the officers mistakes?

'how much weight these mistakes carry' -- NONE, unless they try to convict with only your own admissions.

'heard that they callibrate' -- you heard wrong.

You need to get an attorney that knows the rules and procedures to handle your case. If it is your first offense [likely from your questions], you face fines, programs and jail that can be minimized if handled correctly. Contact me if interested.

Re: DUI - How critical are the officers mistakes?

Thank you for your posting.

I have a website with some common questions and answers (www.expertlawfirm.com/areas/california_drunk_driving/), that includes some of the misconceptions you have about the effect of these "mistakes" on your case. I think I can address these as follows:

Q1. My rights weren't read to me and I was not told the charge against me until i was released 6 hours later.

A. The police have to read you your Miranda rights if they intend to question you after you are in custody. If they don't do that after your arrest and before questioning you, evidence the police obtained from your statements and the statements themselves might be excluded at trial. However, most DUI cases are based upon scientific evidence, such as a breath or blood test, and not a confession, so you should seek a skilled DUI defense attorney can determine whether a motion to exclude evidence is warranted in your case.

Q2: I was originally charged with the wrong charge, and it was changed when I was released.

A. If this was a completely unrelated charge, this may have some weight as to the officers credibility. However, it is the District Attorney (or in some cases City Attorney) that is prosecuting you, not the police (who are merely investigating the crime), so whatever they charged you with, even if it changed, are not the actual charges until the case is filed. As a result, the "mistake" would be a clerical error that, as best, would show that the officer didn't recall facts, confused you with someone else, or made a mistake that goes to their ability to recall testimony only.

Q3: My entire car was searched, hidden areas and everything and everything was pulled out and thrown around.

A. Although this was impolite, the fact everything was pulled out and thrown around is not a defense. You can file a complaint with the police department, or if they found something, and they didn't have consent, a warrant, or probable cause to search that particular area (and autos are subject to lower standards for search), you MIGHT be able to bring a motion to exclude evidence. Like the miranda warnings, this won't have as much effect in a DUI case as it might in other cases.

Q4: I heard that they callibrate [sic] the breathalizer to how much you ''say'' you had consumed that night, does this throw off the reading?

A. Wrong. Breathalyzers are set to assume a standard lung capacity, and standard "person", and then calibrated to read zero, and to test a known quantity of alcohol (usually .10% BAC), but are not calibrated each time according to what you stated you drink.

I hope that this information helps, but if you want more information, have further questions, or feel that you need legal representation, please feel free to email me directly at [email protected]. It's my pleasure to assist you in any way that I can.