Slurred Speech: Dealing With Evidence In A DUI Trial

Orange County DUI lawyers

In nearly every DUI case I have handled the arresting officer says in the arrest report that the driver had “slurred speech”. At trial,  DUI Attorneys in Orange County know that the arresting officer will testify that this slurred speech was one of the factors that led to their conclusion that the driver was too intoxicated to drive safely. However, a skilled Orange County DUI Lawyer will be able to minimize the effect of this “evidence”.

First of all, there are many reasons that a person’s speech pattern may appear to be slurred. For instance, stress can make this happen. And it is hard to refute that an encounter with a police officer who is trying to build a case against you is an extremely stressful event. Moreover, fatigue will also cause speech to sound slurred. But more importantly, a person may naturally speak slowly or with a slight drawl. In a DUI trial, a good Orange County DUI Attorney will cross examine the arresting officer and make clear that when the officer stopped the driver, this was the very first time the officer ever heard the driver speak. In other words, the officer had no baseline with which to compare the driver’s speech.

Another trial technique is to get the officer to commit to his assertion that the driver’s speech was slurred or “incoherent” as they often describe it. Then, Orange County DUI Attorneys will go over the arrest report, which contains dozens of questions that the officer asked the driver during the DUI investigation. Things like, where were you going? Where are you coming from? Are you sick or injured? What did you last eat? Etc. After each question, the dui lawyer will establish that the officer successfully recorded the driver’s answer. In almost every case, the officer will have successfully understood and recorded the driver’s answer. When the jury hears all the questions that the driver answered and that the officer had no problem understanding the answers, the officer’s testimony that the driver’s speech was slurred becomes less and less credible.
Finally, DUI Lawyer in Orange County will make sure the jury knows that the arrest report used by the officer is suggestive and biased in the way it is formatted. The form itself contains boxes for the officer to check. One of the boxes is next to the words “slurred speech”. Thus, the form is not just a narrative where the officer explains what he or she saw, it contains suggestive symptoms with a box next to the symptoms. This form is filled out by an arresting officer AFTER he or she has made the decision to arrest the driver for DUI and must now justify that decision. The appearance of the symptoms right on the form suggests to the officer that they should have seen these symptoms before making the arrest.

If you have been charged with a DUI in Orange County and would like to discuss your options with an experienced DUI Lawyer in Orange County, call the Law Offices of EJ Stopyro at (949) 559-5500. The consultation is free and confidential. Or visit our website at www.EJEsquire.com.

DUI Attorney in Orange County