Getting arrested on a first offense DUI charge is not something that would even cross your mind when you go out to dinner with your wife, friends or family and decide to have three or four drinks with dinner, but the chances of getting arrested are very real.

If you get arrested for a first offense DUI charge, in any state, the amount of information that you have to take in and process is very overwhelming to say the least. If you have just recently been arrested on a first offense DUI charge you need to be aware that there is a limited window of opportunity if you hope to avoid having your driver’s license suspend or revoked.

The mistake a lot of first time DUI offenders make is to assume that their case cannot be beat in court or that they do not need to hire a skilled DUI lawyer to represent them in court. A skilled DUI lawyer is going to think about your case in a way that you would not be able to do on your own. The lawyer is also going to have access to evidence in your case that you would not be able to collect on your own.

Defending the First Offense DUI Charge

Just because you registered a .12% blood alcohol level at the police station, you should not assume that you were guilty of driving under the influence and your case cannot be defended in court. One of the first things your lawyer should do is to request the breathalyzer machine calibration and maintenance history from the police station. The reason your lawyer will do this is to review the machine’s history to see if there have been any problems with the machine in the past or if the police department has failed to properly maintain the machine per standards.

If you submitted to a blood test instead of a breath test your lawyer will request a sample of your blood draw from the police and have an independent laboratory perform a blood alcohol analysis to either confirm or challenge the police department’s findings.

The burden of proof as to whether or not you are guilty of a first offense DUI charge is solely on the prosecutions shoulders. The prosecution must be able to prove to the jury that you were in fact over the legal limit of .08% at the time of driving, not at the police station.

A skilled DUI lawyer will also be able to refute any field sobriety test evidence that the police have against you, if you submitted to these voluntary tests. Yes, I said voluntary. The field sobriety tests are not mandatory in any state. There are a number of factors that have an effect on how well someone does on the field sobriety tests, including:

• Weather conditions. Rain, snow and cold can have an effect on the test outcome.

• Medical conditions. If you have a conditions that adversely effects your balance.

• Being overweight can affect the test results.

• Lighting conditions. Was the test done at night with poor lighting available?

• The type of shoes you wear can have an effect.

• And many other reasons.