dwi arrest
My son was arrested for dwi, and in the police report it stated that he was driving a loud exhaust car (which he does not have) his cousin which saw him get stopped has a loud broken exhaust pipe on her car. The officer stated that when he was fueling his car at a gas station he looked to the west ( an employee service road posted at 15 mph) the officer stated it was 10 mph and he observed my son driving at approximately 50 mph). This is absolutely impossible because the officer's observation would have placed the alleged speeding car at about one-half a block away from an upcoming stop sign which he stopped for. The officer also claimed when the vehicle came in to observation it was the only vehicle there and it was the same vehicle called into question. The service station totally blocks the view behind the gas pumps the officer's only view of the car was straight west. He has to enter his plea monday am, and he is choosing to represent himself, because of money constraints he cannot hire an atty/ and he would not qualify for a public defender he makes 30k a year $9 an hour at work. What is your advice??
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: dwi arrest
I would suggest he find a way to hire counsel. Such cases are anything but simple and filing pretrial motions to challenge probable casuse would be critical. Additionally, there may be numerous additional defenses. One viable defense for a breath test may be seeking the source code in order to determine the veracity of the breath test result. That has become a viable option given a Minnesota Supreme Court ruling handed down on April 30, 2009.
Without understanding the proper defenses, it would be very difficult for any person to represent themselves effectively.
Additionally, there is a separate civil case that results in the revocation of his driver's license. On a first offense in the last ten years, he may be revoked for 30 to 90 days. This is a separate case even though the challenges are largely the same. No matte what hgappens in the criminal case, it does not impact the license revocation. In order to challenge the license revocation, HE MUST must seek a judicial review by filing a petition within 30 days of the revocatione. He cannot forget this critical time period. All too often people with strong defenses come to me too late to challenge the license revocation. The end result goes well beyond simply having your license revoked. A failure to challenge results in an Implied Consent violation on his record which can also affect employment and may be used to enhance any subsequent DWI offense. It is treated like a DWI even if he prevails on the criminal case.
There are many challenges to a DWI. Officers must follow very specific steps as part of the arrest. If any one step is missing, the case may be dismissed.
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