Tips & Tidbits

Here are some thoughts, suggestions, and information relating to drunk driving/DWI investigations and prosecutions:

1. If you expect to drink alcoholic beverages, consume food high in carbohydrates to absorb the alcohol;

2. Your body’s water weight can determine how much alcohol you can absorb. Thus, lean, young people can tolerate alcohol better than old, fat people;

3. It has been shown that certain enzymes in a man’s stomach process alcohol more quickly than a woman’s stomach;

4. Carbonated mixers, including sparkling wines and draft beer, tend to accelerate the absorption rate of alcohol;

5. Drink a glass of water in between each drink to help slow the rate of consumption;

6. You will be impaired if you are a 150 lb male and consume four 12oz bottles of beer or four 4oz glasses of wine in two hours;

7. Stop drinking at least an hour and a half before you are ready to return home and drink plenty of water during that time;

8. To avoid a DWI stop, make sure you and your passengers are wearing seat belts and there is no unusual activity in the vehicle, including loud music or animated passengers;

9. If you have been drinking, follow all rules of the road. Do not speed. Use your directional signals and always stay within the yellow lines;

10. Request an attorney as soon as possible after you have been arrested for DWI;

11. If you are stopped by a police officer, respond to questions as directly as possible. Do not volunteer information;

12. Always be polite to a police officer who stops you for any reason. Do not be combative;

13. If you are stopped at a DWI roadblock, your license, registration and insurance card should be in-hand. Offer them to the police officer if asked, but, only if asked;

14. You do not have to answer any questions put to you by a police officer during a DWI stop. Nor, do you have to provide any field sobriety tests (i.e. finger to nose, walking the line, etc). You must know, however, that if you refuse to answer questions or perform sobriety tests, you will probably be charged anyway;

15. Refuse to participate in the horizontal-gaze nystagmus test, in which the police officer will use a flashlight to determine the point at which your eyes will oscillate or move;

16. If you are pulled over, do not exit your vehicle unless you are instructed to do so. Keep both hands in sight on the steering wheel. Police officers do not want you to exit your vehicle. Moreover, if you do exit your vehicle, you may display some conduct that will show that you are intoxicated;

17. Maintain your composure at all times. You may be on camera at the stop site or at police headquarters;

18. If you do not think you are intoxicated, ask the police officer if he/she will videotape you. Alternatively, have your attorney, or the first person to retrieve you from headquarters, bring a video camera along to tape your demeanor and repeat some of the field sobriety tests required of you earlier;

19. If a police officer has probable cause to stop your motor vehicle, and probable cause to determine that you are under the influence of alcohol or drugs, you must provide a breath test. No Exceptions! If you refuse, you will be convicted of an independent offense that will require at least a 7-month license loss, which will be in addition to the license loss you will receive for a DWI;

20. You can be convicted of refusing to participate in a breath test, if you make an attempt to delay the administration of the test;

21. You can be convicted of refusing to participate in a breath test, if you fail to provide a sufficient breath sample (i.e. short breath);

22. You can be convicted of refusing to participate in a breath test, if you fail to provide a sufficient breath sample (i.e. short breath);
23. You can be convicted of refusing to participate in a breath test if you try to make or place a condition on your consent (i.e. yes, but first let me talk to my attorney);
24. The government may not forcibly remove blood from your body if you refuse to give it voluntarily;
25. If you consent to a blood test, make sure the laboratory analyzed whole blood and not plasma. An analysis of plasma can produce a 20% higher BAC;
26. False teeth or bridgework may act as a reservoir for mouth alcohol and may cause a higher reading on a breath test. Burping or vomiting can cause the same false-positive result;
27. The results of some breath tests may be rendered inaccurate by reason of radio-frequency interference produced by radio devices in and about police headquarters, where certain breath tests devices are used. Keep your eyes open for sources of radio-frequency interferences;
28. Do not talk with any fellow inmates or friendly police officers about your arrest. The only person you should speak to is your attorney;
29. You do not have the right to have an attorney present when you are required to participate in a breath test;
30. The government must advise you of your right to an independent test of your BAC and provide you with the opportunity to obtain one;
31. If you are arrested, immediately upon your release, create a timeline beginning 12 hours prior to your first drink and identify your food intake, drinks consumed, places visited and people you were with. Mark the document "CONFIDENTIAL";
32. Have your own scientific tests done as soon as possible after you are released from headquarters;

33. The day after your arrest, go back to the place where you consumed the alcoholic beverages to determine if you can locate any witnesses who will testify about your level of sobriety. You should also locate any documents that identify the number of drinks that you had that evening (i.e. checks and credit cards);

34. You can be convicted of DWI if you are not "drunk." The law prohibits you from driving if it would be "improper" for you to drive;

35. You can be convicted of DWI if your impairment is influenced by a prescription medication and/or some type of alcoholic beverage. If you are under the influence of alcohol, prescription medication, a street drug, or a mixture of two or three of these substances, you can be convicted of DWI;

36. If the ratio of alcohol to your blood exceeds .08% (BAC), you are presumed guilty and the government does not have to produce any other evidence to convict you of DWI;

37. If you are under 21 years of age and your BAC is over .01%, you are presumed intoxicated while an adult will be presumed intoxicated only if his or her BAC is .08%;

38. The government can prove your guilt on the basis of three categories of evidence and the judge can find you guilty of a DWI on any one of these theories of evidence. Those categories of evidence include: (a) scientific tests (i.e. breath, urine or blood); (b) your demeanor (i.e. what, you looked like at the time of arrest); and (c) opinion evidence (i.e. the investigating officers opinion that you are intoxicated.);

39. If you allow another person who is intoxicated to drive a motor vehicle that you own or have custody of, you can be convicted of a DWI offense;

40. If a police officer stopped you without probable cause (i.e. reasonable suspicions that you violated a law, including a motor vehicle law), all tests, including scientific tests and evidence gathered thereafter can not be used against you;

41. The fact that you are driving while intoxicated on private property is no defense to a DWI;

42. The fact that the vehicle that you are operating is not a motor vehicle is no defense. You can be convicted of DWI while driving a moped or a snow mobile;

43. If you are in an vehicle that is completely inoperable and is being pushed and you are behind the steering wheel, you can be convicted of DWI;

44. If you pull over to "sleep it off", you can be convicted of a DWI. Even if you "Sleep it off" in the back seat with the keys in your pocket, you can be convicted of a DWI;

45. Whenever the government uses your breath, urine or blood to establish your intoxication, numerous principles of evidence are called into play and must be strictly observed by the government;

46. In order to admit the results of a breath test into evidence, the government must establish that: (a) the equipment was in proper working order; (b) the operator was qualified; and, (c) the test was given correctly;

47. You can use medical or other expert testimony to establish that your coordination had been compromised for one reason or another (i.e. injury, disease, age, etc.) and, therefore, the police officer’s testimony about your demeanor is not indicative of intoxication;

48. The penalties for a DWI offense will be more than doubled if the offense occurred within 1000 feet of a school zone or a school crossing that is protected by an ordinance or where children are actually present;

49. It is no defense to a school-zone case to say that the offense occurred in the middle of July, on a Sunday at 3:00 p.m., when school was out. In essence, the legislature has created a 24 hour, seven-day-a-week safe haven for school children;

50. If you are a second offender under the DWI statute, there will be a mandatory jail sentence of between 48 consecutive hours and 90 days;

51. If you are a third offender under the DWI statute, there will be a mandatory jail sentence of 180 days which may be reduced with a 90 day approved inpatient rehabilitation program;

52. Never try to elude a police officer who is attempting to pull you over if you are intoxicated. That conduct is an indictable offense and can lead to a mandatory prison term; and
53. If a minor is in your car while you are intoxicated, in addition to a DWI, you will be charged with a Disorderly Persons Offense, which is a criminal offense. If your intoxication level is elevated, you can be charged with an indictable offense involving the endangerment of a minor.