To decide which defenses could be implemented in your driving while intoxicated (DWI) case, your lawyer will see all the evidence produced by the police and meet with and talk to witnesses. Some common defenses noticed in DWI cases include:

Driving Observation Defenses

The prosecutor always relies (sometimes exclusively) on the arresting police officer’s testimony about how a DWI suspect was driving a car, such as:

  • Very slow speeds
  • Uneven speeds (very fast, then very slow, for example)
  • Weaving from one side of a lane to the other
  • Traversing the middle line of the motorway
  • Running a red light
  • Hesitation in going through a green light

A fine defense attorney will reason that there are many reasons for these driving behaviors that won’t have anything related to being alcohol-impaired.

Behavior Observation Defenses

An official may additionally testify about a DWI suspect’s appearance and behavior when questioned, including:

  • Slurred speech
  • Bloodshot eyes
  • Inappropriate joking or incoherent speech
  • Stumbling or not being able to walk very far
  • Pupil Dilation

Defenses against these observations that do not have anything to do with being drunk could be:

  • Lack of sleep
  • Allergies
  • Contact lenses
  • Stress due to personal circumstances
  • Medications
  • Foods recently ingested
  • Nervousness over being stopped by police
  • Physical impairments

Field Sobriety Test Defenses

When an official suspects you could be too drunk to drive, he or she will in all probability ask you to perform what are called “field sobriety tests.” These tests are created to analyse your physical and mental performance, and can include:

  • Walking a straight line
  • Walking backwards
  • Reciting the alphabet, frontwards or backwards
  • Standing on one leg

Officers also sometimes depend on what’s also known as a “nystagmus” test, in which the suspect is asked to shift eye gaze from one side to the other while the officer shines a light source in the suspect’s eyes. The belief is the fact that the gaze of the person who is intoxicated with alcohol or drugs shall be jerky rather than clean.

The defenses to field sobriety tests are often the same as with officer observations. Medications and sleep disorders could make it somewhat more hard to perform these checks. Many individuals also have physical impairments caused by injuries – or simply aging -that make it impossible to execute these tasks under ideal conditions.

Your lawyer may cross-examine the arresting officer in detail as to whether the officer questioned you if you had physical impairments or there have been particular circumstances that wouldmake it tricky to perform the tests. Your lawyer might also explain to the jury that lots of jury members could possibly have similar difficulties performing the tests, for instance by asking the jury whether they could recite the alphabet backwards under the best of circumstances.

For help with a Macon GA DUI, find a DUI lawyer Macon Georgia.