Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Stopped For A DUI?: Don’t Lie To The Officer





If you are
ever stopped by the police after you have consumed some alcohol, whether for a
traffic violation or at a
DUI
checkpoint
, the officer
will undoubtedly conduct a
DUI investigation if he suspects that you have any alcohol
in your body. The first thing the officer may do is to question you about what
you drank, when you drank it, and how much you drank. It is essential to
remember that you have no obligation to answer any of these questions without
first consulting with your
Orange County DUI Attorney. However, the first instinct of most
drivers is to answer the questions with less than honest responses. This is
almost always a bad idea. The better course is to politely decline to answer
without first talking to your
DUI Lawyer in Orange County.





The
questions the officer asks during a DUI investigation have been very carefully
crafted to convict you of a DUI. If you answer the questions honestly, you may
incriminate yourself and deprive you and your
DUI Lawyer of the use of a RISING DEFENSE during court proceedings. If you lie, you will destroy your
credibility at trial. That’s why the best course of action is to provide as
little information as possible while being polite and courteous to the officer.
Remember, you can politely invoke your right to talk to your
DUI Attorney before answering ANY questions about alcohol or food consumption.


The most
common mistake by drivers is to deny drinking any alcohol at all. The second
most common mistake is to tell the cop you drank far fewer drinks than you have
and to give a time of drinking far earlier than actual. These lies can be
easily exposed by a result on a
blood test or a breath test that you must do after you have been
arrested. Once the lie has been established, a jury gets to hear about it at
trial. Jurors will hold this against you and will probably not believe any
testimony you give. Moreover, over your
Orange County DUI Attorneys objection, the judge will give the
jury the following instruction:


“If the defendant made a false or misleading statement before
this trial relating to the charged crime, knowing the statement was false or
intending to mislead, that conduct may show he/she was aware of his/her guilt
of the crime and you may consider it in determining his/her guilt.”


This “consciousness
of guilt” instruction is a favorite of the Orange County
District Attorney and they use it in every DUI trial
where they can show the defendant gave untrue statements about what they drank
and how much they drank.                                          


If you face charges
for a DUI,
DUI drugs or DUI with injury call The Law Offices of EJ Stopyro at
(949) 559-5500 today for a free and
confidential telephonic consultation with an experienced DUI LAWYER. Or, visit
our website at www.EJEsquire.com. Our
main office is at 32072 Camino Capistrano, 2nd floor, San Juan
Capistrano, CA 92675.                                                


No comments:

Post a Comment