How to beat a Drunk Driving Charge in Colorado

Ok, so you’ve been issued a ticket in Colorado for Driving Under the Influence (DUI) or Driving While Ability Impaired (DWAI). Take a deep breath; its not the end of the world. In fact, there may be a way to beat your case entirely.

First, the police officer needs a valid reason to stop you or otherwise contact you in the first place. If they did not have a reason to contact you, their case won’t get very far. Police are not allowed to stop any car on the road, they must have reasonable suspicion to stop you.

In some cases, it is possible to have a chemical test rules inadmissable by the Court for legal reasons. If the test is thrown out, the prosecutor is left with a big hole in his evidence, and in the case against you. Breathalyzer tests have a strict set of operation rules, and the results of the test may be held to be invalid if the procedures are not followed correctly. The results may also be thrown out if it can be proven that the Breathalyzer was not maintained properly or operated correctly during your chemical test.

The chemical test of your blood also must follow the proper procedures and protocol to be a legally valid test. If you take a blood test, you should always retest the second sample. Sometimes the retest will come back with a lower BAC result that may improve your case. In some instances it may even come back under the legal limit.

Jurisdiction is a fancy word that means the geographic area a certain police officer is allowed to patrol and conduct police activities. You will want to double check that the officer who gave you a ticket had jurisdiction to do so. If not, you can beat your DUI.

Even today, in our high tech world of advanced communications, there are still certain court hearings where the officer needs to be physically present in Court to give their testimony. In some situations, if the officer does not appear in court when required to do so, the D.A. won’t be able to proceed with their case against you.

Now, how do you exploit these strategies? Hire a good, local drunk driving lawyer. You are looking for someone who knows everything there is to know about these cases. You also want to hire someone who is familiar with the area and the local practices. A good local attorney knows the Judges, DA’s, and most importantly the little tricks of the trade in that specific city that will help you get the best results possible.

Don’t hire a lawyer who makes promises or guarantees. An attorney that makes guarantees about results is just trying to get your money by telling you what you want to hear when he has no way of knowing what will happen to your case without first looking at all the police reports, the chemical test reports, negotiating with the prosecutor, etc.

And finally, if you can’t afford to hire a lawyer, apply for the representation of the public defender. Don’t try and represent yourself, as you will have a fool for a client.