Speaker 1: Welcome everyone. In this video, we will answer the question, how can you use the vehicle in motion phase to help you defend your DWI case in court? The answer to that question is coming right up. I am Steve Gustitis and this is my channel, Gustitis Law. Here at Gustitis Law, we provide people hope by imparting knowledge to them about the criminal justice system and charges that they may be personally facing in court. If you enjoy the content that you find here on this channel, please consider subscribing to Gustitis Law. In today's video, the question that we answer is a second video in our series on how to defend a DWI case. In our first video, and you can find a link to that particular video in the description below, was an overview of how police investigate DWIs and how the person accused can use those aspects of the investigation to help their case. Today is video number two in the series, how do you use the vehicle in motion phase to help your case? When police officers are out on the beat, they are trained to observe very specific driving behaviors. If you recall from our first video, police officers are trained from a manual similar to this. This is a manual published by the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration. It's entitled DWI Detection and Standardized Field Sobriety Testing. In that manual, the police are trained to look for very specific types of behaviors as they're driving their beat. For instance, the officers can be looking for traffic violations like speeding or failure to signal a turn or things of that nature. They can also be looking for equipment violations like a headlight out or a tail light out. Other things they're trained to look for are expired inspection stickers, expired license plate stickers, really anything that they can use to try to justify stopping you to begin a DWI investigation. At nighttime, officers are looking for anywhere between 24 and 25 specific types of driving behaviors, which might suggest that the driver of the vehicle is impaired. Now in reality of those 25 driving behaviors, a police officer will typically only observe one or maybe two of those driving behaviors. Now the way that this particular part of the investigation can be used to help you is your lawyer can use and argue in court that of those 25 behaviors that they are trained to observe in the field, that you performed very, very well on 23 or 24 of those behaviors, therefore suggesting that your driving behavior was not indicative of intoxication whatsoever.

Speaker 2: Another very critical aspect of the vehicle in motion phase, an aspect of the investigation that your lawyer can use to help you defend your case,

Speaker 1: is whether or not the police officer had enough reason, sufficient legal reason, to stop your vehicle. If your lawyer can file a motion to suppress and convince you that your vehicle is in motion, If your lawyer can file a motion to suppress and convince the judge that the reason for the stop was not supported by sufficient legal evidence, you've basically won your DWI. So as your lawyer investigates, researches, and reviews the facts of your case,

Speaker 2: all good lawyers will be looking for those types of issues.

Speaker 1: Another thing that police officers are trained to observe is how the driver of the vehicle that they just commanded to stop, with either emergency lights or siren, how did that driver bring their vehicle to a stop? That's called a divided attention task. That is, the driver has to divide their attention between the police officer behind them, who is commanding them to stop, and the driving in front. Now, another good way that your lawyer can use that part of the case to help you, is that once the officer commanded you to stop, if you brought your vehicle to a smooth and safe stop on the roadside, your lawyer can argue to the judge or jury, or maybe even a prosecutor, that that behavior was an indicator that you were in fact sober and not intoxicated. And there are many, many additional ways that the vehicle in motion phase can be used to help you defend your DWI. Discuss those with your lawyer. Have the lawyer review the manual with you, and the videos, and other evidence in the case, so you can get some personal insight information on how the lawyer is thinking, and how they plan on attacking that aspect of the case. In our next video in this series, we will talk about the next phase of the DWI investigation. That's called the personal contact phase. That's when the police officer has now stopped you, and is talking to you at your window as you're sitting in your vehicle. Now, if you enjoyed the content, if you enjoyed this video, please consider giving it a thumbs up, and also don't forget to subscribe. You can also visit my website at www.gestitislaw.com. There you can review blog articles that I have written about my experience defending DWI cases. You can even download my free book on how to defend a DWI. And finally, you can sign up for my quarterly newsletter that I send out four times a year to subscribers. In any case, I appreciate your visit. Thank you for watching, and I look forward to seeing you next time on Gestitis Law.