Sentencing Procedures for DWI in North Carolina. After a person is convicted of driving while impaired (DWI) in North Carolina, a judge is required to hold a sentencing hearing to determine whether there are any aggravating or mitigating factors that might affect the sentence to be imposed.
If arrested for a drug or alcohol related charge, you might wonder what the specifics of your charge entail. Understanding the differences between DWIs and DWAIs can help in your case.
DWAI DWI stands for driving while intoxicated, while DWAI stands for driving while ability impaired. These charges are not the same! They refer to different things in the state of New York. In New York, you get charged with a DWI if your blood alcohol content (BAC) is.08 or higher. If your BAC is at.08 or higher, this means that you are legally drunk in the states of New York and Connecticut.
DWI constitutes a crime because it means that you operated a vehicle while over the legal limit of alcohol consumption. In contrast, if caught drinking and driving, but your BAC goes between.05 and.07, you will get charged with DWAI.
As leading New York DWI Attorney Harold Dee explains, “DWAI is not a crime but a traffic infraction so. it is a common plea down when the BAC is less than a.16 in Westchester, or less than.13 in Manhattan, Rockland, and Orange Counties.” Consequences The consequences for a DWI and a DWAI are also different. Both charges can carry a fine, a jail sentence, and a license suspension. However, the DWI consequences are greater than the DWAI ones. For example, a first offense fine for a DWAI is $300-$500, while a first offense fine for a DWI is $500-$1,000.
In the state of Connecticut, action is not taken against drivers with a BAC of less than.08. This courtesy is extended to Connecticut drivers in the state of New York. If you are pulled over in New York, and your BAC is between.05 and.07, the police will take no action against you, since you are a licensed driver in a sister state that does not charge for DWAIs.
Attorney Dee also points out that, “Similarly, New York State traffic offenses are not listed on a CT driver’s abstract.” Sister State If you are a Connecticut driver, you do not have to worry about getting a DWAI in Connecticut or New York. If a police officer does issue a DWAI to you while you are driving in New York, Ruane Attorneys can help you fight the charge. In the state of New York, it is also possible to lower a DWI charge to a DWAI, depending on the circumstances of your case. You can click for a free consultation with Ruane Attorneys if you are a licensed Connecticut driver and a resident of Connecticut. Ruane Attorneys would also like to thank DWI attorney Harold Dee for providing information for this article. If you have questions concerning DWAIs or New York penalties, you can contact him.
When you are suspected of drunk driving and the officer wants to give you a breathalyzer test, that officer will likely tell you that you have a right to refuse the test. Sounds great, doesn’t it?
If you refuse, because you have a ‘right’ to, then there’s no evidence, right? Well, a breathalyzer test is only one of several pieces of evidence against you. If you reek of alcohol, have glassy eyes and difficulty standing, those are pieces of evidence which will not be overlooked just because there is no BAC number to go along with them. Also, the breathalyzer test comes last. When you are asked to blow into a breathalyzer, it is usually because you have already failed other tests and now they just want to get the BAC number as a final piece of evidence. So refusing the breathalyzer test is not a sure way to beat a drunken driving charge.
Still, you have a right to refuse. People cite their 5 th amendment rights and point out the invasiveness of a breathalyzer test. After all, they are taking a sample of your breath and using it as evidence against you.
A common example of 5 th amendment rights is where a criminal ‘pleads the 5 th’ in response to questions where the answers may be self-incriminating. In situations like pleading the 5 th in court, no penalties can be brought against you for exercising your right.
That’s cool in a court room, but it doesn’t work that way on the side of the road when an officer is trying to determine if you are too drunk to drive. In fact, if you refuse a breathalyzer test, you wind up with a charge against you for refusing the breathalyzer test! I’ve heard people say that the reason they would refuse to blow is to avoid losing their license as a result of their drunk driving charge.
Well, guess what the typical punishment for breathalyzer refusal is That’s right! You typically lose your license for anywhere from six months to a year. So much for that idea. In, refusal will Double the time you lose your license! Breathalyzer refusal.might.
also count the same as a drunk driving charge on your record. In New Jersey, the Supreme Court that the two crimes were not interchangeable with respect to repeat offenses. Let’s say in separate incidents, you’d had a DWI and a refusal. Your next DWI would have been treated like your 3 rd. Now it will be treated like your 2 nd. This will likely be challenged and may not be the case where you are.
When you refuse, obviously, you are not cooperating with the officer. In fact, you’ll notice an immediate change in his demeanor. Depending on the law where you are, you might even be ‘interfering with an investigation’.
It never looks good in court the next day to be uncooperative during the arrest. And there are some states that won’t take ‘no’ for an answer! “” is the NHTSA strategy to obtain a forced blood draw from those who refuse the breathalyzer test.
Local judges agree to be on call to approve the search warrant necessary to take a sample of your blood. Out of over 30 states where the laws allow for a No Refusal approach, 9 already use it. You may have heard of this over the holidays and thought it was a seasonal thing. Depending on where you are, it may be a year-round tactic. Now let’s be clear.
Is not a legal firm and our advice should not be considered ‘legal advice’. We are a non-profit citizen group. Our goal is to steer folks in a direction away from drunk driving. You should always consult with an attorney prior to giving up anything described to you as a right!
That said, we think breathalyzer refusal is a bad strategy. There are two kinds of people who think refusal is a good strategy, drunk people and defense attorneys. I used to see attorney websites advising people to refuse, but that is soo 2010. If you google around, you’ll find that most defense attorneys will tell you refusal is a bad idea that just makes things worse. Some suggest there may be rare occasions when it makes sense to refuse a breathalyzer test.
But they make it sound like you would need to be able to call the attorney after getting pulled over and before being asked to blow in order to determine whether you should refuse or not. Obviously, that isn’t going to happen. No matter how you look at it, refusing a breathalyzer test is the wrong advice. It complicates matters and adds penalties against you. In fact, we call refusal the WORST ADVICE given to beat a breathalyzer test in our “” lesson. The only Real way to beat a breathalyzer test is to wait sufficiently after drinking before driving.
THAT is our advice. The dui laws in Illinois are primarily for the money, not to prevent drunk driving accidents despite what any anti dui organization says. Even if u pass all the tests cops can still arrest you on suspicion of a dui. You are screwed if stopped and what i say is further supported by this corrupt state of Illinois allows kick backs to the police dept that tows your car creating a conflict of interest because they make money off the tow and you don’t get the money back if found not guilty – its a revenue generator for the dept. Then they make you pay for an alcohol evaluation which, if you refused a breathlyzer, gets bumped up to the next level forcing you to pay for classes that you otherwise wouldn’t have had to take – more money for what might be the only time in your life you were ever stopped.
Then the lawyers who cost thousands of dollars. Its ALL about money made for the police dept, courts, lawyers, the dmv and the alcohol testing centers that employ very questionable people.
I refused the breath test last year in Virginia, and was charged with DWI and refusal. Here’s what happened.
DWI was nolle prossed by the state in exchange for a refusal plea. Penalty: $170 court costs, 1 year no driving in Virginia. Not a big deal for somebody who doesn’t live or work there. No criminal record.
If I had blown I would have almost guaranteed myself: 1. Non-expungable criminal conviction.
Big fees and fines. 1 year suspended license.
6 months interlock. 1 year probation. Endless and expensive classes and “therapy” 7. 5-10 days mandatory jail 8. 3 years high risk FR44 insurance.
Refusing to blow was the smart choice. Um, the SMART choice would have been to not drive while you were still drunk! But people who drink and drive with the mindset that they will refuse the breathalyzer don’t care about that. They won’t consider how they got drunk or why they drove. They simply continue to drink and drive.
When refusing ‘works’ like it did for you and DUI charges are dropped, too many people feel emboldened. They will continue to drink and drive until they get arrested again because the consequences are so light. At this point they are becoming a serial drunk driver, but not in the eyes of the law. It would be treated like their first time unless of course a tree or another car stops them before the cops do. If you don’t drink before driving, you can’t produce a breathalyzer result of.08 or over! I don’t care if you are a diabetic smoker. Won’t happen.
Refusing to blow may save you from DUI, but driving SOBER is truly the smart choice. It’s true–drinking alcohol before driving an auto is a bad idea.
Not because it’s necessarily dangerous (being drunk isn’t an element of the crime anywhere), but rather because the state is ready to reck your life over behavior that most of the non-teetotaling population would consider to be completely innocent. So ride your high horse down to your local TGI Friday’s and berate everyone who’s having alcohol with dinner about their poor life choices.
Or better yet–warn them that they’re all probably DUI and don’t know it. In some states they probably all are (“impaired to the slightest degree”). Anyone that advises you not to refuse a breathalyzer is giving you bad advice. Blow in a breathalyzer and fail: Depending on state, automatic loss of license for 30 days, Xhundred dollar reinstatement fee – not worth paying twice because once court date hearing, Guaranteed conviction – don’t bother hiring private attorney, use court appointed – same result, Guilty, loss of license restarts for 1 year or more depending on state. Criminal Record and Driving Record – SR-22 filing (Depending on state) high risk insurance premium for an average of 3 years. Xhunded dollar reinstatement fee. Refuse a breathalyzer = Automatic loss of license for “X” amount of days – “DMV/RMV” protocol, Xhundred dollar reinstatement fee – not worth paying twice – suggest waiting until your court hearing – private attorney fees or 100 (approx.) dollar court appointed, accept deal with DA or Not, take it to trial, 50/50 chance or being convicted or case dismissed.
Xhunded dollar reinstatement fee. Even if you’re not convicted and case is dismissed, for refusing breathalyzer, automatic DUI on driving record – only way around that is to win your hearing at the DMV/RMV – slim chance. High risk insurance premium for an average of 3 years – no way around that. If you know you’re above the limit, ALWAYS refuse the breathalyzer and say nothing to the police. Everything you say will be used against you. I refused a breathalyzer 3 years ago, Used a court appointed lawyer, didn’t accept any deals with the DA, took it to from local district court to superior court, trial never happened, judge dismissed the case because a trial cost to much money and I had a court appointed lawyer. No conviction.
Only suffered automatic loss of license for 6 months, and an additional 6 until my case was dismissed because I didn’t want to pay the reinstatement fee twice which was 500 dollars. Insurance was high risk premium for 3 years because DMV/RMV rules are separate from common law. Sober for 3 years, haven’t had a drink since my arrest.
Here’s another example of a situation where it would pay to refuse. State: WV Hypothetical: Grossly intoxicated person arrested for 1st DUI. If Blow over.15: Plea or go to trial. Diversion not available for high bac dui. If Refused: Automatically entitled to diversion since the statute limiting diversion eligibility makes no mention of refusal. You could literally fall out of your truck, puke on the cop’s boot, pee your pants, curse up a slurred storm, fall over while attempting the balance tests–so long as you remember to refuse the state test you will be rewarded with dismissal and expungement of your record. Why would anyone take a BT in WV?
If you are on private property in Illinois then refusal may be advantageous. For example, a private parking lot or your own driveway (provided you werent seen driving by the police on a public highway) is not consider a public highway. The summary suspension cannot be triggered by failure to submit to testing if the offense allegedly occurred on private property. This wont make the criminal charge go away, but it may make it harder for them to prosecute you without the evidence. Be prepared to explain why you wanted to refuse the test.
A reasonable response would be something like: I asked to speak with an attorney first and was not allowed. This is simplistic advice that does not apply to a national audience.
In some states you are correct that refusal is a terrible idea. However, In many states under many circumstances test refusal is highly advantageous to defendants in DUI cases. In many “refusal ALR” states, or select counties within the states, police routinely fail to appear to DMV refusal hearings and D suffers no penalties for refusing. In states where refusal is a separate offense, it comes down to what the refusal penalty is and how cases are plea bargained.
In my corner of Virginia it is almost always advantageous for suspects to refuse tests. If D does this, his attorney will look at the sum total of evidence and advise client of probability of success at trial. If the evidence is bad D simply pleads to minimum penalty no BAC DUI and the refusal gets NP’d. If the evidence is weak and there’s reasonable doubt–and–D can live with the refusal penalty (big if, one year DL revocation) the case goes to trial and D walks away with refusal and no record. The prosecutor might also be inclined to amend the charge to reckless and drop the refusal so that he could still get a criminal conviction.
The refusal also can only come in if the stop and arrest were proven to be good. No DUI, no refusal. Got a DWI in northern Virginia? Choose to refuse. First off.drinking and driving is a crime and needs to be persued as one. Secondjust because someone was drinking and driving and DIDN’T hurt anyone doesn’t make it any less of a crime. Finally.taking a drunk driver off the streets will eliminate the possibility of someone innocent getting killed by that particular person.
I do not condone rape in any fashion I’m simply pointing out how one sided ur comments are. Perhaps instead of glorifying one crime to shame another, u should get involve in the process of rape crimes and become an activist against rape. Join/start an organization and get the govt involved through news media andocal officials. All the best to u n ur family. In New York it is most definitely a money grab. The costs may drive a young family into bankruptcy. There is no ability to plead down from what I hear.
The effect on a family is devastating for those who have done nothing wrong. The complication of trying to get to work so that they can pay the outrageous taxes in this state. Three months short of the 10 year punishment is not even taken into consideration.
Sadly the people of NY are not treated as other state residents, the punishments here are very severe. You are right, Jane. I had a legit health issue and it didn’t matter. I was trying my best to cooperate and when asked about the test, due to concerns for false positives, I simply said I didn’t know what to do. I had to be forced to say no. Yet I was struggling with my sudden health issue which started by the harassment of the officer.
Once he backed off, I offered to take the test, explaining everything but it didn’t matter. The court case was a joke and it didn’t matter anything I said. The bottom line is money. It is awful and the injustice that I was put through should not be tolerated. It is bad enough if you have a legit DD event, but in this case, it didn’t matter. I had plenty of evidence to support what happened to me and none of them were even looked at or considered. It was all about the money and the prestige of high # of arrests.
There wasn’t anyone in danger from me. I simply corrected a line I went over on a dark wet evening.
Everything else was done as it should have been before and afterward. In fact, I personally was hit by a drunk driver who was never given any kind of punishment and it was not his first offense, so I do know what that is like too. This guys – you’re wrong. The police dept, dmvs, lawyers, testing facilities would hate it if people started taking taxis or drinking at home because they would lose so much money. The dui laws are set so you are considered guilty immediately once the cop charges you even if youre not – their suspicion trumps the tests and once charged, the money flows out for lawyers towing with kick backs going to police dept, alcohol evaluations even if its the first time you drank in your life.
Its a BS system that assumes guilt and for what other legal violations does this happen. This is all accepted and hidden behind a veil of doing good to prevent drunk driving deaths but its all about the money.
If it wasnt, they wouldnt give kickbacks to the police dept or make possibly innocent pay huge amounts of money for stupid shit like alcohol evaluation and classes.nods. Sad but true. As I said, my family suffered greatly at the hands of a drunk driver, but he was never punished and it was not his first offense.
Now I am having to be put through horrific punishment for an honest health issue that flared up due to the trauma of being yelled at and traumatized. To have to go to a victim panel is ludicrous, actually. No one in the court was at all interested in my innocence. It was all carefully put aside and I was simply declared guilty.
No evidence was even looked at or considered. They were not interested. Hello, I had a refusal to blow after an accident(that wasn’t my fault) in Iowa over 14 years ago. I was not drunk, did have a couple an hour and a half earlier, but took quite a blow to the head and was a little out of it.
Not being an Iowa resident, I never took their courses or payed the 200$ fine they required, I just lost my ability to drive in iowa for a year and 6 months in Illinois, and proceeded to reinstate my illinois license after 6 months with no questions asked. So ill did know about it but reinstated my license anyway. Well last week, i go to renew my license, in indiana, and it flags this 14 year old charge and they say I can’t renew it untill I take care of this.
Evidently Iowa just recently put their records online for all states to view! Iowa says I need to pay the 200.00 (which I have no problem with), take a dui course(which indiana doesn’t even offer, so I’ll have to go back to FN’ Iowa), and get a substance abuse evaluation(its been 14 damn years and I don’t even drink any more!!).
This doesn’t seem right to me, I mean after 14 years without recieving any notices or them pursuing it in any way. Could I get this cleared on some sort of statute of limitations? This is all just out of the blue, I mean sure, should of taken care of it then, but to just drop it on someone when they are renewing their license Now I might be loosing my job because of an invalid license. Any advice would be appreciated! There are a few components here, and laws vary a LOT from state to state. Component #1 is “What happened that night” and component #s is “What happens after”. Here’s what I know about Massachusetts.
It’s ok to refuse the Field Sobriety Test. Any or all of it. You WILL be placed under arrest and your car will be towed, but that’s the penalty. Refusing the FST may be used as evidence against you in court, but that’s it.
Ok, so you said “no” to the FST and now you’re in custody. You’re pissed, the cop is egging you on, trying to get you to say things they can put in their report to use against you. Remember this: They are trained to make you say stupid things and the stupid things you say WILL show up in the police report, completely out of context in many cases. Once in custody, you’re going to the barracks to be booked.
Once you arrive at the police barracks, you’ll be told that you have to take a Breathalyzer test in order to be booked. REFUSAL OF THIS TEST WILL RESULT IN AN AUTOMATIC SUSPENSION OF YOUR LICENSE FOR AT LEAST 180 DAYS (yeah, six months). Here’s where it gets fun. Once you’re out on bail, you will go to court. You will either plead “guilty” or “not guilty” or you can cut some sort of deal with the district attorney and/or the officer that has court duty. (You’re better off working with the DA.) Now, let’s say you cut a deal. You are faced with a 30 day suspension of your license and all other charges are dropped.
“That sucks,” you think, “but hey, it could be worse” Well, it’s about to get worse. Because you refused that Breathalyzer (remember, when you were pissed off at the cop and just said “no” and made oinking noises?) your license has already been suspended. For 180 days. And that’s 180 days IN ADDITION to whatever you just got in court.
Oh, and they run CONSECUTIVELY, not concurrently. So, the 30 days that the court gave you won’t even START until after the 180 days is up. You have the right to go to an office in Boston to plead your case but you’ll only win if you can prove you weren’t arrested (which you were) OR that the officer didn’t have cause to pull you over (you’ll never win that one – ever) OR that you actually did not refuse the test. Remember the next time that some commercial comes on TV, about how drunk drivers are all sloshed and dangerous. That the truth of the matter is that this is a BIG TIME money making operation for the state.
You drink and drive, you’re going to pay for it. They don’t care about safety, they just want your money. I agree with most of what u said. However the sentence, “cooperate with the DA” is not good advice.
I was pulled over years ago for suspicion of dui. There was no alcohol on the car and I passed all my test (I had not been drinking).
They did however find a small joint roach in my car and charged me with possession of drug AND drug paraphernalia. When I went to court the DA said, “we’ll make a deal.
Dwi Attorney: Dwi Lawyer Didyoublow Free Kids Online Computer Game
If u plead guilty to drug paraphernalia, we will drop the drug charge”. Being young and sounding like a good deal I plead guilty to the one charge and ordered community servie, a fine, and drug rehab.
Little did I know, to be charged with weed in illinois, u must be in possession of 2.5 grams or more.I was not. Had I hired a laywer, they would have dropped the possession of weed charge and I would have been able to get the drug paraphernalia (rolling paper) dropped as well.
Bottom line is wehen in doubtGET A LAYWER!! It’s all a money grabI live in Massachusetts and have less than a month to get my license back from a 180 suspension for breathalyzer refusal. I lost my license in a sobriety checkpoint at the end of a state highway. I was on my way home from dropping off a friend who was really intoxicated. Coming down the highway not speeding, not swerving in total control.
Pass the the last outlet available to me and start seeing signs “Sobriety check point ahead” I knew I had a few drinks but didn’t feel intoxicated barely had a tingle going on but was worried i had enough drinks to trip the breathalyzer test. So every car is being stopped “Like I’m in a communist country” this is about 12:30AM gets to my turn, roll down my window.
Statey asks where you coming from, told him dropped off a friend at home. Ask had anything to drink, I said yeah had a few drinks.
Cops shouts over to his guys in pit area, we got one guys. I’m like WTF, you have to be kidding me. I’m asked to pull into pit area, cops asks me to do FST, I sd no problem.
Do A-Z no problem fly thru it so fast i catch myself jumping over W and go back and start with W,X,Y,Z, with in a fraction of a second. Next i’m asked to count backwards from 89-63, fly thru that no issue. Next its walk the line, 10 steps forward, left hand military turn without picking your feet up off the ground, 10 steps back all heel to toe.
My first and 3 step out of 20 i raised my hands off my side to maintain a little balance, apparently you cant raise your hands from your side or that’s a fail, 2 out of 20 is still 90% in my book all day. Then came last test, raise any foot up, toe up, heel abt a foot off the ground and hold it, Did it for 12 seconds and out it down, not by loss of balance but on purpose, was never given a length of time to hold it for, figured 10 seconds was enough of a gauge to go. Never mentioned if I failed or not. Then i was grilled like 7-9 times to take breathalyzer test and had refused every-time on side of the road. Statey was like well if you pass it you can go back in your car and go home. So apparently i did the test ok cuz if I take breathalyzer and pass I can go home, but hell no these guys don’t have shit and on top I’m not being pulled over, i’m being forced into an 1 lane with no escape and they want evidence. So i said im not taking breathalyzer arrest me if that’s what you’re going to do and that what they did they placed under arrest for OUI.
Going through court still for charges. Police report has typical crap, bloodshot eyes, smells of alcohol, events of FST weren’t exaggerated on report, actually accurate to my surprise. My lawyer said statey didn’t hurt you at all on your report. Says i have a great winnable case and doesn’t see this being a losing battle at off for dismissal/or not guilty, though there is nothing that can be done for the 180 day loss from RMV for refusing. Your going to pay for a lawyer whether its court appointed or you get your own, so its not so lawyers can make money, a defense lawyer can save your ass. If anyone is making money its the state because your presumbed guilty in the RMV’s eyes for DUI/OUI charges before you even go to court.
Its gonna cost me $500 bucks to reinstate a license i should have probably never lost. My lawyer cost me 3k to defend the case, getting my car out of the impound was 140 the next day.
I’m sure if my case is dismissed or found nout guilty there will still be court fees i’m responsible for. Its all money motivated law enforcement.
I don’t disagree with the checkpoints but and i dont know if i fell victim to not having enough arrests for the checkpoint to be worth it that night, cuz the police barracks were pretty empty. Me and another gentleman who was visibly intoxicated. But thats what these should be for, people when they open their driver door are pouring out of the car. Cant walk without stumbling, slurring, that i get but my situation is still puzzling to me. What stinks is the officer has already made up his or her mind the minute they smell alcohol from the vehicle.Im going through this right now. I was driving my 42 yr old muscle car with manual steering and a junk steering box. A tailgating motorist complained I was “all over the road” to an on duty officer.
Hey Drinkinganddriving, Cool Post, theres quite a bit of detail but i’ll get to the main points. About midnight i arrived, with my friend A, at his friend’s house B because there was supposedly a party. I am 21 yrs old and consumed a 24 oz can of beer when i arrived because i have social anxiety. There were only 4 other people there and they had already been drinking. We sat around listening to music and socializing.
I ended up falling asleep about an hour and a half- 2 hours later and woke up to my friend saying there was going to be a fight and we have to get out of here! He sounded worried so we left to my car which was in the driveway and when i got in my car a guy from the party came out and started yelling at me to get the. out of there, and he was going to. me up. I was telling him i was leaving and he tried to open my car door so i grabbed it and closed it and he punched me through my rolled down window. I got scared because i looked over at my friend A and he was also going through the same thing as me fighting off someone.
I put it in reverse and made it on the road and was trying to get it in drive but it got stuck in neutral and the guy hit me in the head again and trying to pull me out of the car as well as the other guy to my friend A. I got it in drive and we took off. I was so confused, my head was throbbing, and i felt threatened for my safety as well as friend A’s and my car.
I needed to get home! Home was 20 miles away on the highway so i headed that way. I was yelling at my friend to tell me what happened? Why did he hit us?
My contacts were a dry from sleeping in them and i’m sure i must of been driving a little erratic cuz someone called and reported a drunk driver. I was stopped 15 minutes later roughly the officer saying someone reported my car was swerving and he could smell alcohol on my breath. He asked me to step out for a field sobriety test.
Follow the finger, did it. Walk 10 step forward turn and 10 back. Stand on one foot and count to 30 got to 14 and lost balance and hopped to the left but remained on one foot. Now for breathalyzer i respectfully declined it becuz i’ve heard they are innacurate.
They took it as implied consent, cuffed me and took me to adult probation center for the night. I was so scared and felt worthless as a human as i lay there in a dark room no bigger then a closet with handcuffs behind my back. I was bailed out in the morning. I have a lawyer now.
The report says i had an odor of alcohol on my breath, not drunk, did not perform well on sobriety test, and bloodshot/watery eyes. You think i should fight this? By not consenting to breathylyzer they jumped it from dui to aggravated dui which has mandatory jail time and license revocation for a year. On the same scale as vehicular homicide while intoxicated or blowing above 0.16. Heres why i know i am innocent from a dui charge: 1. 2 beers in 3 hours at my wieght (165 lbs) = not above legal limit a. Above 21 i am legal to drink in moderation 2.
My refusal to take the breathalyzer does not make me guilty of a dui 3. Swerving yes, but ppl who talk on their cell phone can swerve just as easy. I got punched in the head twice and it was 3 in the morning. I completely realize i shouldnt be so skeptical when it comes to accuracy with particular machines especially when they can be innacurate due to infrequent calibration, cigarette smoke, and even human error plays a large role in it.
I have the right to refuse right? Doesnt really seem like it to me.
In my eyes, dui charges should be dropped and i should lose my license for a year because i declined to take the breathalyzer. Although now i’m down $3000 for the lawyer, getting my car out of impound, and classes. There is something seriously wrong with this mandate. This is not just license revokation. Freedom of choice all i’ve learned from this experience is that the only thing we are free from is choice.
Keep up the good work.