Challenging DUI Evidence
Former Prosecutor & Downey DUI Attorney on Your Side
It is against the law to operate a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08% or greater in California. If you are arrested and convicted of DUI, you are potentially facing serious consequences, even if this is your first offense. For example, the penalties for a first DUI conviction can involve up to $1,800 in court fees and fines, community service, up to five years' probation, jail time and a one year driver's license suspension. This doesn't include the damaging effects of a permanent criminal record and how that DUI will impact your insurance premiums for years to come. For these reasons, whenever you are arrested for DUI, it's essential that you challenge the DUI evidence against you in order to obtain a better outcome in your DUI case.
When you retain a Downey DUI attorney such as James Mendez, you are allowing yourself to build a viable defense that may help persuade the prosecution to reduce or drop your DUI charges, thereby preventing the suspension of your driver's license, or possibly even get an acquittal after trial. As a former Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney who prosecuted a broad range of criminal cases for over ten years, attorney Mendez knows exactly how and where to challenge DUI evidence and how to find weaknesses in the prosecutor's case against his clients.
Types of DUI Evidence
When attempting to secure a conviction against the defendant, the court will often rely on the arresting officer's testimony, any statements the driver made about whether or not he or she was drinking and if so, how much. The court will look to a number of other factors as well including whether the driver had bloodshot eyes, if there were open containers in the vehicle and if the driver was slurring their speech or smelled of alcohol.
The court will also look at the driver's performance on field sobriety tests, any witness testimony and the results from any blood, breath or urine tests administered to gauge the driver's blood alcohol content (BAC). Even if there is BAC evidence that registers above .08%, it doesn't mean that the breathalyzer device was calibrated correctly or that blood evidence was collected and stored according to proper procedures. With attorney Mendez's experience prosecuting and defending DUI cases, he is confident in his ability to successfully challenge any evidence that has been brought against you.
Contact a Downey DUI lawyer from the Law Office of James Mendez to discuss your DUI charges in a free consultation. The firm takes calls 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and also offers legal services in Spanish.