FREQUENTLY ASKED DUI QUESTIONS
Q – I was arrested for a DUI, I must have been drunk, right?
A – Not necessarily so. Just because you had something to drink doesn’t mean that you were legally drunk. In California you have to have at least a certain amount of alcohol in your bloodstream or whatever alcohol in your body had to interfere with your ability to drive.
Q – Why not just plead guilty?
A – Hey, in the United States you are innocent until proven guilty. Unfortunately many lawyers will take your money and plead you guilty without a fight. Why just give it away when there are often good legal reasons why you are not guilty.
Q – Do you advocate drunk driving?
A – Not at all. But there is a difference between driving after having something to drink and driving while drunk. I want the roads safe for my friends and family just like you do. Many drivers who are arrested for DUI have all the wake up call they need without having the additional punishment given out by the court system.
Q – The breath machine said I was over the limit. Why not just plead guilty?
A – The accuracy of the results from a breath machine depends on a lot of different things, and if any one is not done right, the results are not reliable. Just because it is a “scientific” device does not mean it is always correct or accurate.
Q – What can you do that other lawyers can’t do?
A – I not only have a Masters degree in biochemistry, I also am advanced to candidacy for a PhD in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at the University of California. In plain English that means that I spent seven or eight years studying and doing laboratory research so I can speak the language of the government’s experts. I constantly study this, and as a trained research scientist I am able to read and understand the published articles that are written by experts. Since I know as much or more than the government experts do, I actually get them to testify favorably for you or I tear apart their testimony against you in trial.
Q – What about blood tests? How can you fight that?
A – There are books written on this subject. Let me just say that there are a number of things that can affect the results of a blood test so that it does not show what your blood alcohol level really was. Once the blood tech sticks you with a needle and takes some of your blood, they are supposed to preserve it, refrigerate it, and test it under tightly controlled conditions. The machines that they use to measure the alcohol in your blood have to be maintained and calibrated, let alone used correctly, or else the results are no good.
