Birmingham DUI & Criminal Defense Lawyer & Attorney : Eversole Law Firm : Criminal and DUI Defense : Serving Birmingham, Montgomery, Alabama

A motorist being investigated for DUI should not consent to a blood alcohol test.  My advice to anyone who reads this blog before getting arrested for a DUI, is never take a breathalyzer, field sobriety test, or any test administered by the police or any of its agents.  However, most people do not realize they can decline to take the field sobriety or breath test.  The police, of course, will not inform you of your right not to consent prior to taking the breath test.  In fact, they will make a big show of how your license will be suspended for 90 days if you do not submit to the test. 

There are different types of blood alcohol tests in Alabama: urine, breath and blood.  The police  use the breath test almost exclusively.  If you do consent to a breath test for DUI, which is normal, most people do consent to testing, you have the right to get an independent test of your blood alcohol content.  In Alabama, the police will not inform you of your right to get an independent test of your blood alcohol content.  You must make the demand for independent testing yourself, and you must take the police administered test to exercise your right to independent blood alcohol testing. You will also have to make the arrangements for the independent test and you must pay all expenses.  However, the police must give you reasonable access to arrange for an independent test.  Their failure to provide you access to independent testing gives rise to grounds for suppression of the police administered blood alcohol testing. 

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Ha Ha Ha!  Fellow blogger, and the "Go to guy for DUI"(in California that is),  Hunter Biederman nails Judge Smails...umm...I mean William Kortemier for refusing to take a breath test.  See Hunter expose the fat cats for what they are.  Biederman illuminates the hypocrisy many in power dish out on a daily basis.  Now I am a big believer of the idea that you are not guilty, and innocent until proven guilty, in court, by a jury of your peers, and beyond a reasonable doubt.  However, I bet he is a kind of guy who deals harshly with alcohol offenders, and who will take advantage of every legal trick in the book to get out of his DUI, then look down his nose at us mere mortals.  The moral of this story ladies and gents, please, for the love of God, Allah, Buddha, Vishnu, Zeus, or Odin, DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE(UNLESS YOU HAVE NEVER HAD A SIP OF ALCOHOL IN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE-(AND YOU STILL PROBABLY SHOULDN'T) take a breath test, by the road or at the police station;  or take a field sobriety test(AT LEAST WITHOUT YOUR ATTORNEY PRESENT-AND YOU STILL PROBABLY SHOULDN'T)!

Be like the fat cats. They have the inside knowledge and power. They don't take DUI field sobriety tests. They don't take DUI breath tests. The reason the fat cats don't take DUI field sobriety tests or DUI breathalyzers is simple. They know it is much more difficult to prove driving under the influence of alcohol when you don't have physical evidence.  When you take a breath test or field sobriety test, you are literally just handing over evidence to help convict yourself.  You might as well drive your car through the police station window, while puking, with bottles of Jack Daniels rolling across the dash, stumble up to the first police officer you see, and slurringly say, "I'll have a double my good man."

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