Sobriety Tests For DUI
Can the police use my statements during a DUI arrest as evidence in court?
As a general rule, anything that you say to the police during the DUI investigation and arrest can later be used against you in court. The exception is if the statements run afoul of your Miranda rights. After the police arrest you - after they put on the handcuffs, put you in the car and take you away - at that point if they are going to continue to interrogate you and continue to ask you questions like what you were doing, how much you drank, or whether you feel drunk, at that point they have to advise you of your Miranda rights. If they do not advise you of your Miranda rights after you were arrested and they continue to interrogate you, then anything that you say in response to the questions can be excluded from evidence and not used against you.
What are three nationally standardized DUI field sobriety test?
The federal government has done a series of studies to determine what are the most reliable of the field sobriety tests. And they have come up with three, and they're called the standardized field sobriety tests. The first standardized field sobriety test is the horizontal gaze nystagmus test. That's where you're asked to follow a stimulus with your eyes, and the officer looks to see if you have a nystagmus, which is an involuntary jerking of the pupil which is associated with impairment. The second standardized field sobriety test is the walk and turn test. That's where you're asked to walk a line, nine steps in each direction. And the third of these standardized field sobriety tests is the one-leg stand test, where you're asked to lift one foot off the ground and hold it there for 30 seconds.
Are DUI field sobriety tests accurate and reliable?
What if I have physical limitations and a police officer orders me to perform a field sobriety test?
What is the 'horizontal gaze nystagmus' or HGN test?
What are non-standardized DUI field sobriety tests?
Do I have the right to refuse a field sobriety test if I am stopped for a DUI?
You do have the right to refuse to take the field sobriety tests if you are pulled over for Driving Under the Influence. They are voluntary, and the police cannot make you do them. However, most people don't realize that. Very few people realize that the field sobriety tests are voluntary, and police rarely will tell you that they're voluntary; they'll simply tell you to do them. I advise people if you have been drinking and you do get pulled over not to take the field sobriety tests, because there's no reason to give the police further ammunition to use against you. Also they're very subjective, and they are poor indicators of impairment.
What are 'Miranda Rights' and how do they pertain to a DUI arrest?
Miranda Rights refer to your right to remain silent, your right to have an attorney present during questioning, and your right to have an attorney provided to you if you can't afford one. The Miranda Rights only have to be read to you after you've been arrested - that means they put the handcuffs on, put you in the car and take you away. If the police continue to interrogate you and continue to ask you questions designed to elicit an incriminating response. People call our office everyday saying, "I got arrested for DUI. They never read me my rights." The reason for that - ninety-nine percent of the time - is that the police questioned the person before the arrest, at the side of the road, before they put the handcuffs on, and before they took him away. There's no requirement that the Miranda Rights be read with regard to pre-arrest questioning, and that's how police get around it. On the other hand, if you were arrested, and after arrest, the police continue to question you without reading you your Miranda Rights, at that point anything that you said would be excluded from evidence and could not be used against you in court.
What is a 'preliminary breath test' or PBT and how is it used during a DUI arrest?
Do I have the right to refuse a preliminary breath test if I am pulled over for DUI?
You do have the right to refuse a preliminary breath test. It is optional and oftentimes the police will fail to inform you that it's optional and simply say: "Here, blow in this", and the person doesn't know any better, and normally the person would refuse if they knew that they could. But they don't know. It is optional and I generally advise people if you have been drinking and you get pulled over, not to take the preliminary breath test, because more often than not it tends to hurt your case, and it is a much less reliable breath test than the one that you would take later at the police station. For those reasons I advise you to exercise your right not to take it.
How accurate is the preliminary breath test during a DUI arrest?
The preliminary breath test is thought to be fairly accurate but does not have the safeguards of the official breath test machine that would be used at the police station. Originally, these devices were only designed to measure the presence of alcohol or to give the police a very rough indicator of where the person's BAC might be. However, in recent years in many states they have become used much more as evidence of the person's particular BAC level in court. The readings on these machines which are recorded in a computerized component are provided in court and often used against the suspect, even though they are known to be much less reliable than the official breath test machines.
