Indiana DUI
Learn DUI In Indiana. Take Action!
The people I represent for DUI in Indiana are without fail, decent hard working people. They come to me from all types of employment, backgrounds and locations. The one trait in common nearly all of them share is the frustration at being labeled a criminal within the justice system. A DUI in Indiana must be taken seriously and be dealt with aggressively. As a license suspension is usually the first form of punishment applied while a dui in Indiana is pending, most clients reasonably devote time and attention to when they can get their license back. Your lawyer must not only advise you as to what can be done to accomplish a license reinstatement as soon as possible, but more significantly, how to eliminate the prospect of criminal punishment down the road should a case not be subject to dismissal. Where a case cannot be dismissed without the risk of trial, we must guard against the imposition of various forms of criminal confinement be it home detention and/or the imposition of costly monitoring units in cases where jail is not warranted. As a result, it is essential that your defense attorney have the required mastery over the rules of Indiana DUI Procedure in order to make sure that you or a loved one is legally protected at each stage of a dui prosecution in Indiana.
Frequently Asked Questions About Indiana DUI:
Does a Vehicle Have to Move For a Conviction for DUI in Indiana?
You can be arrested for DUI in Indiana without your vehicle in motion. If one is in operation over a car with the engine on or can be shown through circumstantial evidence to have arrived at a location while intoxicated, a person can, in fact be legally convicted of Operating a Motor Vehicle While Intoxicated in Indiana.
How Do Indiana DUI Officers Detect Who They Believe To Be Impaired Drivers?
As discussed in the opening paragraphs, the motivation for Indiana dui officers to stop and question those suspected of drunk driving is strong. Although guidelines have been imposed by the National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA) as to valid grounds for police stops in DUI cases, arguably anything and everything can and has been suggested as a basis for a traffic infraction and subsequent police questioning.
Common sense criteria for a traffic stop as enunciated by the National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA), includes, but is not limited to: moving too close behind a vehicle, turns of wide radius, braking erratically, drifting, delayed reaction to traffic orders, headlights off, weaving, almost striking another vehicle, etc. In practice, such observations can be so widely interpreted as to give Indiana dui officers wide latitude in stopping as a pretext for a dui investigation.
Once stopped for a dui in Indiana, an police investigator can ask questions that the courts view as routine. For example, name, where you live, birth information, etc. Inevitably, the dui officer will request your drivers license and registration. To some officers, no matter the way you retrieve and hand over the license, an eventually filed probable cause affidavit asserting probable cause for dui is likely to state that the suspected drunk driver fumbled with the wallet.
He or she will then usually ask if one has been drinking. Say yes and an officer will almost always have the keen ability to smell the odor of alcohol on your breath and check that as another element of probable cause within a dui investigation. In such a circumstance, although easier said than done, a suspected drunk driver in Indiana would be best served to say nothing in response to such an inquiry.
Do I Have the Right to Talk to an Indiana DUI Lawyer Prior to Taking a Field Sobriety Test?
The right to speak to an attorney does not attach until a person is formally placed under arrest or put “in custody.” Field sobriety testing is considered “non testimonial” in nature. In other words such testing is observing what you do as opposed to what you say. Because of this, such testing does not fall within Miranda and the right to consult with a dui attorney.
Should I Perform Field Sobriety Tests If Asked in Indiana?
A susoected drunk driver in Indiana is not obligated to submit to sobriety testing. As opposed to refusing to submit to a breath test or suffer an ordered license suspension independently of a dui conviction, a seasoned dui lawyer in Indiana might state that is not always a bad idea to refuse to take a sobriety test for one determined to go to trial. Not taking such tests can often deprive an Indiana prosecutor of potentially key evidence to be used against a suspected drunk driver. In many instances one can explain such a refusal based upon physical limitation or other reason within the unique circumstances of the dui arrest in question.
When Stopped For a Traffic Offense in Indiana, What Is Law Enforcement Observing To Justify Asking Me To Perform Tests For Drunk Driving?
When charged with a dui in Indiana, one should expect to find a legal excuse called “probable cause,” with which an officer will put forth justifying why the officer had the suspect submit to both breath and field sobriety testing. As discussed above, fumbling for a wallet and/smell of beer or liquor are likely factors a dui offcier will often utilize. Such factors are particuliarly helpful to an investigating dui officer because such observations do not require a request to exit the vehicle. Consequently, how you act within the driver’s compartment of a vehicle when questioned, can play an important role in whether you will be asked to exit the vehicle. As a result, be cooperative with as little physical movement as possible. If one is able, retrieve license and registration from glove compartment before being observed, as even a sober individual can appear clumsy rummaging through a glove compartment.
If circumstances are such that you have been asked to exit the vehicle where you believe you will be above the legal limit of .08 you are now more vulnerable with full body movements and appearance exposed. It is at this stage that in open view, an officer is likely to focus on soiled or disheveled clothing, body lean and/or swaying, puling oneself from a vehicle, using vehicle for support, bad attitude and/or flushed face as a basis upon which to follow through probable cause for further breath and field sobriety testing.
What Are The Consequences For One Who Will Not Submit To Breath Testing For Intoxication?
In most cases it is not advisable to decline a breath test for intoxication. Refusing to submit to chemical breath testing compels a minimum 1 year driver’s license suspension, no matter the outcome within the underlying dui prosecution. (a 2 year minimum if one is found to have refused with a prior dui conviction) However, someone who is at risk for significant jail/prison time due to multiple convictions might reasonably determine that a refusal is warranted where a license suspension is a lesser priority.
The Arresting Cop Failed to Read Me My “Miranda” Rights. Is It Possible For My Criminal Case To Be Thrown Out?
No. The police officer is required to give a Miranda warning after you are arrested. However, not only are the performance of field sobriety tests not covered under Miranda as previously discussed, but often law enforcement will delay an arrest decision to allow you to make unsolicited statements against one’s interest.
Assuming that one can prove that Miranda warnings were not given after a DUI arrest and interrogation, an incriminating statement in question, as opposed to field sobriety testing or bac test results could potentially be excluded from consideration. For this reason it is important for one suspected of dui in Indiana to recognize that an excluded utterance does not allow for a case thrown out on its own. This is so because within dui prosecutions breath results and performance of sobriety tests are considered “non testimonial” evidence. As a result, such evidence can be introduced independently of any utteranced excluded by Miranda.
More significant within the context of a dui investigation is information as to whether law enforcement failed to inform one detained for a dui of “implied consent” law in Indiana. As formerly discussed, ”implied consent” a driver’s responsibility to submit to breath testing with the reprecussions of refusing such a test clearly stated. If there is question as to whether an officer read the implied consent law or the proper manner in which the law was communicated, we may be able to more positively assault the circumstances behind the asserted refusal and other relevant mistakes made by law enforcement.
After My DUI Arrest The Officer Took My Driver’s License. When Can I Legally Drive In Indiana?
Following a dui arrest in Indiana, the arresting officer or another in law enforcement should present the arrested driver what is often called a “pink slip,” which in effect, is a flimsy pink paper license to present as a temporary drivers license until further notice.
In Indiana, innocent until proven guilty is not applicable to the privlige of operating a motor vehicle. As the right to drive in Indiana is dictated by the rules of the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles, (BMV) the right to suspend the license by the BMV is not considered a “criminal” punishment but an “administrative” suspension of the bureau.
As a result, once mere probable cause has been found by a judge within Initial Hearing court that an Indiana DUI defendant has either failed a chemical breath test for intoxication by testing at or above .08 or has refused to submit to such a test, one’s driving priviliges will be suspended by the Bureau. Based upon the bureau’s administrative rules, this suspension will last for one hundred eighty days (180) or until further notice of the court. To the point: One charged with dui in Indiana will likely have his or her license suspended while the Indiana DUI prosecution is pending.
DUI in Indiana can and does happen to people from all walks of life. Indiana DUI arrests have become a focus of police departments throughout the state, in large measure because such arrests: 1.) make significant money for the community 2.) typically do not endanger the welfare and safety of Indiana DUI officers engaged in such an arrest and 3.) allow local Indiana DUI prosecutors and politicians to claim that they are tough on crime. In pursuit of such high valued dui arrests, Indiana DUI prosecutors and police have worked over the years to devise many methods to ensnare those who potentially test over the legal limit for intoxication in Indiana. Countless amounts of taxpayer money and resources have often been used to put the driving public in fear of being stopped for an Indiana dui at some point in their lives. Despite the inconvenience to the working public, increased usage of roadblocks & DUI checkpoints in Indiana are just one example of the lengths to which Indiana DUI officers and prosecutors will go to pursue such arrests.
Originally enacted to allow property purchased from drug sales to be seized, in certain Indiana counties forfeiture laws have been stretched beyond reason to allow for prosecutors in Indiana to attempt to seize the vehicles of those convicted of DUI in Indiana. Every few years in one form or another, DUI cases in Indiana have become a convenient crime fighting tool for prosecutors eager to show statistical proof that they are making arrests and serving the interests of the Indiana communities who have elected them.
If challenging a dui in Indiana, don’t become yet another statistic. Call us anytime for free for further information and insight as to how we can work together to fight your Indiana DUI!