Should I Have Taken The Breath Alcohol Test Or Should I Have Refused At My DUI Stop In Okaloosa County?

If you are arrested for DUI in Destin, Fort Walton Beach, or anywhere in Okaloosa or Walton Counties, no doubt that you were asked to give a breath, blood, or urine sample. And now you may be wondering if you made the right decision.

I tell my clients facing DUI charges that it is almost always better to have less evidence available to the prosecution in a Drunk Driving case. That lack of evidence of alcohol impairment is the best way to win a jury trial.

Think of the prosecutor’s case in a DUI like a pie chart. If you take out pieces of that pie, it will create gaps in the evidence and obviously make the prosecutor’s case more difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. And perhaps the biggest piece of that pie is the breath test. That is why, generally speaking, we try to keep that evidence out.

I know that the police officer probably told you that under no uncertain terms, if you refused to blow, you would lose your driver’s license for a year or more. But what he neglected to inform you was that you may be eligible for a hardship permit.

Florida’s implied consent laws do not require that the officer inform you of that possibility, even though that omission is why so many people are coerced, although legally so, to submit to the breath test when their normal (constitutionally minded) instinct is to refuse because they either do not want to help prove the criminal case against them; or they do not trust the officer or the breath testing machine.

If you have been arrested for Driving While Under The Influence in Fort Walton Beach, Destin or other towns on Okaloosa County or Walton County, give me a call (850) 362-6655 to discuss your situation and what I can do for you. The call is free.

 

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