An individual who is charged with drunk or impaired driving may have several defenses that are available. In some cases, although rare, the defendant can argue that getting behind the wheel while drunk was necessary to prevent something worse from happening. Those who are charged with impaired driving may also claim that they drove under threat of force or some other credible treat to their safety.
Drivers who were unaware that they had consumed alcohol prior to getting behind the wheel may have a valid defense against a DUI charge. Furthermore, a police officer cannot require that a drunk individual get behind the wheel and then charge that person with driving under the influence. While entrapment is a defense in itself, that could lead to a claim of an improper stop, which may be enough to get a DWI charge dropped.
Other defenses to DWI charges may revolve around the tests used to determine that a driver was legally drunk while driving. If a test was performed or handled improperly, that could lead to a DWI charge being dropped. In some cases, an individual’s blood alcohol content could rise between the time he or she stopped drinking and the time of a traffic stop. Therefore, this could skew the results of any blood or breath test given to a driver.
Those who are charged with driving while intoxicated may wish to see a criminal defense lawyer as soon as possible. A lawyer may be able to come up with a defense strategy that may cast sufficient doubt on the case. For example, it may be possible to claim that a field sobriety test was given improperly or that a driver was actually suffering from a medical condition that mimicked the effects of alcohol.