Speaker 1: Hi, I'm criminal defense attorney and DUI lawyer Aaron J. Boria, and today I'm going to tell you five tips that the police, prosecution, and even some judges don't want you to know about drinking and driving defense. That's right, five tips, five bits of information that could help you survive a drunk driving investigation. Last year alone, there was over 33,000 drinking and driving arrests in Michigan. The first thing I want to talk about is the traffic stop, because that's the first time that you're going to have contact with the police officer. The police are legally allowed to pull you over for any violation of the traffic law. So if you are speeding, if you don't use your turn signal, if you are swerving, if you don't come to a complete stop at a red light or a stop sign, if you run a red light, if you run a yellow light, any violation of the traffic code and the police officers can stop you. They can stop you if you have tinted windows. They can stop you if you have something hanging from your rear view mirror. The list goes on and on, and even the smallest violation is good enough for an officer to stop you and for that stop to be considered legal in a court of law. For instance, if you're driving in a 45 mile an hour zone and you're going 47 miles an hour, a police officer could legally stop you. And while me, you, the judge, prosecutor, and police officer all know that it is a reason to stop you so that he can launch into a DUI investigation, it doesn't matter. It is still a legal stop and the officer can stop you for it. Even if you think the stop is garbage, this is not the time to argue with the officer. Arguing with the officer could lead to you getting treated poorly, getting charged with additional offenses if the officer can find it. It could lead you to having to post a higher bond in order to get out of the jail because the officer doesn't like you. The bottom line is that this is not court and this is not the place where you're going to litigate whether or not the stop was good or bad. If the officer pulls you over, you need to pull into an area that you're comfortable, preferably somewhere well lit and safe. If you are in an area where you don't feel safe but you're looking for somewhere that you can park, then I would suggest you do one of two things. Put on your emergency lights and continue driving until you find somewhere safe to pull over. By doing this, you're at least signaling to the officer that you're not attempting to flee. The other thing you can do if you're unsure if it is in fact an officer pulling you over is you could call the police, explain where you are, and confirm that it is a police officer trying to pull your vehicle over. Pull over as soon as you can reasonably do so safely. If there's a challenge to the stop, your criminal lawyer will make that challenge in court. Once you've been pulled over, try to have your driver's license, your insurance, and your registration ready and available. Turn the vehicle off. Keep your hands on the steering wheel. When the officer is walking up, if he sees you fumbling for something, he may think that you're either trying to hide something or you're trying to reach for a weapon. The officer thinks you're trying to reach for a weapon, you could end up getting grabbed out of the car, you could end up getting hurt, or much worse. When the officer comes up, roll down your window and hand him the information. Now, there's a good chance that the officer is going to state to you with a question, how much have you had to drink tonight? Notice how I said that. The question is never, have you been drinking tonight? The officer phrases it in a way to make it sound like he somehow already knows that you've been drinking and you need to tell him how much. Even if you say one beer, two beers, anything like that, you've now made an admission that you have been drinking alcohol. The officer now has some evidence that you've been drinking alcohol and you violated a traffic law. At this point, he can order you out of the car and run you through a slew of tests to make sure that you're okay to drive, or the way I like to think of it, to make sure that he can't arrest you for drinking and driving, because if he can, he will. Bottom line is, when you're interacting with the officer and he's asking you questions, keep your answers short and sweet. If the officer asks you if you know why he pulled you over, rather than saying, yeah, I was speeding, or yeah, I ran that light, I would suggest you don't answer the question. Because if you do, and you admit to violating the law, that is an admission that will be used against you later in court to state that the stop or some of the evidence that ultimately leads to your arrest was good. The next thing that could happen is that you may be ordered out of the vehicle. The police are legally allowed to order you out of the vehicle. So even if you believe the stop is garbage, or you shouldn't be ordered out of the vehicle, you should just be sent on your way, remember, this is not the time to litigate, get out of your car. Once you're out of your vehicle, take your keys and lock the door behind you and shut the car. The officer may ask to search your vehicle, you don't have to let him. He may say that he's going to get a warrant, that's fine. He may say that he's going to get a drug dog to search the car, that's fine. You do not have to give consent to allow the officer to search your car. Even if an officer decides to search your car anyway without a warrant or without a drug dog and you have repeatedly told him that you're not giving consent and he starts searching the car, let it happen. Not a court of law, not a place to fight it. Once you're out of the car and the officer believes that you've been drinking, he may ask you to do field sobriety tests. Even if you said that you hadn't been drinking, he may say things to you like, I can smell alcohol on your breath, your eyes look watery and bloodshot, I know you've been drinking. You do not have to take the field sobriety tests. Police officers are trained very well how to do these tests, they've done them over and over and over and they can make them look easy. When's the last time that you tried to stand on one foot and hold it for 30 seconds or more while counting? When's the last time you tried to walk in a straight line, heel to toe, without ever raising your hands, counting out loud, pivoting only on one leg? These tests are called divided attention tasks. The idea is to get you to do multiple things at once. Regardless of whether you've been drinking or not, they're difficult to do and for that reason I recommend you decline to take the test. Now I can't promise you're not going to go to jail, but if you don't do the tests then you can't fail them and there's a chance that your lawyer could file a motion and challenge the arrest later. If the officer doesn't have anything to point to that you've been drinking or that you are somehow impaired, they're going to have an awfully hard time taking this case to trial and telling a jury that you were driving intoxicated. The breath test, that is one of the field sobriety tests, is the preliminary breath test. The officer is legally allowed to arrest you on the results of the breath test alone. So even if you've declined all of the field sobriety tests but you agree to take just the PBT breath test, if you blow .08 or higher, you will be arrested. Some officers will tell you they'll let you go if you take the test. If you take the test and you are over a .08, you will be arrested. In some jurisdictions, the police officers will even arrest you if you are below a .08. I had a case where a man was charged with operating while visibly impaired after he blew into a PBT and it registered a .07. He was still charged with drinking and driving. Now luckily we went to trial and he was found not guilty. Had he not taken that test, maybe he wouldn't have been arrested. If you refuse to take the preliminary breath test, the result is a $200 civil infraction. It does not show up on your driving record. If you are arrested, you are going to be taken either to the police station or the hospital for a chemical test. Once you are arrested, the consequences of refusing a chemical test are very different than those of refusing a preliminary breath test. If you've been arrested, the police officer should read to you your chemical test rights. In those rights, he will tell you that by refusing the test, you will lose your driver's license for a year and six points will be added to your Michigan driving record. If you have been arrested for driving under the influence and an officer is demanding that you submit to a chemical test, you may want to consider taking that test. Refusing that test may be more harmful than what it's worth. This is not a bright line rule. It is a case by case basis. The other thing you should know about refusing the implied consent test is that more than likely the officer is going to get a warrant for your blood. You will be strapped down and the blood will be drawn if they have to. Knowing that more than likely they're going to get the blood anyway, you may want to consider consent to that test. The chemical test could come in the form of a breathalyzer or what we use in Michigan is a Datamaster or a Datamaster DMT or there can be a blood draw. Legally, there can also be a urine test. I have never seen a urine test. After your blood or breath has been taken, you will be taken back to the police station. You will more than likely spend the night or at least a good few hours. Police officers will generally release you the next day or sometime later when your blood alcohol level has dropped. Once you're released from the police station, you're going to want to hire a DUI defense lawyer. In Michigan, we call it operating while intoxicated, so OWI defense lawyer so that you can then return to court with an attorney who's prepared to fight. I'm drinking and driving lawyer Aaron J. Boria. I fight for my clients and I get results that other attorneys simply do not. If you've been charged with drinking and driving, give me a call at 734-453-7806 or shoot me an email at borialaw.gmail.com. I am happy to fight for you.