Your Rights During a DWI Arrest

Fight Back Against Drunk Driving Charges

Most people who have been arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated or driving under the influence assume that it is all over and that there is no hope of avoiding a conviction. Maybe they stumbled on the roadside field sobriety tests, or perhaps they were caught with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) above the legal limit of 0.08 percent. The fact is that you have powerful legal rights, and, as your San Antonio DWI lawyer, I can help you use these rights to fight back against the prosecution.

Your Right to Contact a DWI Lawyer in San Antonio

At any time when you are being investigated for a crime, you have a right to consult with your attorney and to have your attorney represent you with the investigators. This includes the roadside DWI investigation; you can call your defense lawyer for legal counsel and guidance concerning the actions you should take and the statements which you should - and should not - make. Your right to an attorney continues throughout the entire criminal process, and it is a right that you should at all times exercise.

Your Right Against Unreasonable Search and Seizure

The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, in addition to Section Nine of the Texas Bill of Rights, secures the right of the people against unreasonable search and seizure. A police officer or other law enforcement officer cannot legally conduct a search of your person, your house, your papers or your possessions without having either a warrant or probable cause to suspect that you have broken the law. What this means in the context of a DWI case is that the arresting officer must be able to explain in court what signs he or she observed that supplied probable cause to believe that you were driving drunk.

It is not enough to say that you pulled your car out of the parking lot at a bar or that you were driving late at night. There must have been some type of behavior such as erratic driving or a traffic violation which led the officer to believe that you might have been drinking and driving. If the officer cannot demonstrate probable cause, your attorney may be able to beat the charges by filing a motion to suppress the evidence on the grounds that it was gathered in an illegal traffic stop.

Your Right to Due Process

Under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, you have a right to due process of law. This right is perhaps your most powerful protection against the tendency of the state to steamroll over individuals who end up in the hands of the criminal justice system. You are legally presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and your attorney may be able to clear your name by raising questions about the validity of the evidence against you. For example, your lawyer may obtain copies of the maintenance and calibration records for the breathalyzer machine in order to find proof that the equipment was not correctly tuned and was therefore incapable of providing a reliable sample.

Let Kerrisa Chelkowski Defend Your Rights

The one thing that you must not do in the aftermath of an arrest for DWI is to discuss the case with anyone but your criminal defense lawyer. Most people inadvertently waive their rights by talking to the police or agreeing to a plea bargain in hopes of avoiding jail time. Don't let this happen to you. I will carefully review the circumstances of your arrest to find the most effect plan of action for defending you.