4 Effective Defenses for Your Kane County DUI Charge

 Posted on February 15, 2022 in Driving Under the Influence (DUI)

Getting a DUI in Illinois is a big deal. You are likely to have your license suspended, and you may even go to jail even if this is your first offense. Aside from that, a DUI never “drops off” your driving record. This crime becomes a permanent part of your criminal record, and it will turn up in any pre-employment background check. If at all possible, you will want to avoid a conviction. 

There are a few tricks smart attorneys have up their sleeves for defending people charged with DUI. Sobriety testing is not nearly as foolproof as the police and the prosecution would like you to believe. If you are facing a DUI charge, your best bet is to let an experienced lawyer assess your case and formulate a defense strategy. 

What Are Some Possible Defenses to DUI in Kane County? 

The defense that may work best for you completely depends on the specific facts of your case. It is important to let a qualified attorney who has experience with DUI cases work on your defense. Possible ways of fighting a DUI charge include addressing: 

• Field sobriety tests - These tests can be very subjective. They are often based strictly on what a police officer claims to have observed. The prosecution is likely to attribute any difficulties passing these tests to intoxication, when in reality, any number of other factors could lead to a failure. Anything from improper footwear to strong winds to uneven ground can cause a person to stumble during the straight line walk or one-leg stand. 
• Chemical tests - Even chemical tests are far from infallible. The accuracy of these tests depends entirely on whether the person administering them follows the procedure correctly. Blood samples can become contaminated and lead to a false result. Quite a few things can interfere with breath tests, including radios in the room or a machine that is not correctly calibrated. 
• Illegal stop - The officer who initially pulled you over must have had reasonable suspicion that you were breaking the law at the time of the stop. If the initial stop was not legal, then your case could ultimately be dismissed. 
• False positive - If your DUI was attributed to an intoxicant other than alcohol, false positive drug tests are more common than you may think. A number of non-narcotic medications, both prescription and over-the-counter, can sometimes trigger a positive result for a variety of substances. In some cases, the drug an arrestee tests positive for does not “match” with the signs of intoxication the police claim to have observed. For example, if police state that an arrestee was “falling asleep at the wheel” but tests positive for an “upper” such as methamphetamine, this may suggest a false positive. 

These are just a few examples of strategies your attorney may use to defend you in your DUI case. 

Call an Illinois DUI Attorney

Do not face your DUI charge alone - let [[title]] help. Our Kane County DUI lawyers have years of experience helping those accused of DUI and building strong defenses. Call us at 312-861-1084 for a free consultation. 

Source:

https://www.ilsos.gov/publications/pdf_publications/dsd_a118.pdf