Questions to Ask After Failing Sobriety Tests

After one fails a field sobriety test (e.g. walking a straight line) they often feel they are doomed to be convicted of driving under the influence (DUI), but that is far from the truth. There are many factors that can lead a judge to disregard a failed field sobriety test or test as evidence. If yes is answered to any of the below questions, your failed test may be thrown out.

• Were police lights flashing in your eyes when you took a sobriety test?; if this is the case you may be in luck. Police lights (or strobe lights in general) can easily cause nausea, disorientation or other effects that mimic intoxication.
• Was the ground you performed sobriety tests on level? Without a level surface to perform tests on police have no business asking you to do so in the first place. If they did, a judge should have no other option then to throw this piece of evidence against you out.
• Were you wearing proper footwear? Without something like tennis shoes on it can be very difficult to perform certain field sobriety tests. If you were wearing dress shoes or high heels how can any balance test be taken seriously?
• Was there roadside wind? A strong wind can be very distracting when performing any field sobriety test. It can cause you to lose your balance and possibly your concentration. Other weather conditions can also be taken into account.
• Did the police officer properly instruct you how to complete the test? This is something a DUI suspect won’t likely know, but everything is caught on tape. Law enforcement is given strict instructions how to instruct and administer sobriety test. Failure to exactly do so will result in the failed test being thrown out as evidence.
• Was the officer properly trained to administer the test(s)? Again, this is something a DUI suspect wouldn’t know, but can be discovered by doing a little research. Whether or not they administered the test(s) correctly, ill certification to do so will get them thrown out.
• Do you have a medical condition that possibly effected the results of the test? A medical condition or disability is serious thing and commonly can have sobriety test results thrown out as evidence.

The point: There is never a good reason to take a DUI conviction laying down because of failed sobriety tests. If any of the above is true they may be disregarded as evidence and it will be like it never happened as far as they jury is concerned. However, you must hire an aggressive attorney that will acquire and ultimately use this information.

If you have recently accused of DUI in Jacksonville after failing a sobriety test we can help you. However, you must contact us within a timely manor to ensure we can conduct a thorough investigation of your case.

Contact a Jacksonville DUI lawyer at our firm today.

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