When it comes to California DUI law, there are two types of DUI defenses. The first type would be theoretical DUI defenses that sound nice on paper or in your lawyer’s office. These are great for legal debates or a nice scholarly article, but they won’t do you much good when it’s time for the jury to return a verdict. Even if the entire board of forensic toxicologists in Sweden agree that the breathalyzer your local police agency is using is based on a miscalculation of the rho factor, you may have a hard time winning your case in front of 12 jurors. Technical defenses like these may be based on valid science, but it can be difficult for the jury to get their head around the idea of letting your client go free based on a math equation.
The second type of DUI defense is the one we are looking for around here and that would be a DUI defense that works in the courtroom. Day in and day out in trial courtrooms in California, what kind of defenses will get you that not guilty verdict?
In my experience over the last 16 years, I have personally handled thousands of California DUI cases. I have seen thousands more. As a trial lawyer, one of my favorite hobbies is to watch the closing arguments in a DUI jury trial. So anytime I’m in court to file a motion, enter a plea, pick up paperwork etc…., if there is a DUI jury trial going on nearby, I am going to stop in and listen for DUI defenses that work. Without fail one of the most effective defense strategies in a California DUI case is the “No Drive” defense.
When presenting a “no drive” defense to a California DUI charge, we don’t go after the issue of intoxication. Remember, it’s not a crime to be over .08 in California. The crime involves DRIVING a vehicle while being over .08. So for this defense strategy we don’t bother arguing the accuracy of the breathalyzer or the blood test. In fact, a good no drive defense may even begin with a stipulation that the client was in fact over the legal limit. Here the focus is not on being drunk, it’s on drunk DRIVING. Remember, the prosecutor must prove each element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. So this means they must prove DRIVING beyond a reasonable doubt.
No drive defenses are often effective in situations where the police arrive after the driving took place. Perhaps the driver is apprehended in a parking lot, after an accident, or on foot. Maybe there are multiple passengers in the vehicle and it is unclear which one was behind the wheel.
The District Attorney will usually argue that the circumstantial evidence suggests that the person charged with the crime was driving the vehicle. How else did the car get there? Why are the keys in your pocket? Are you the registered owner? The law does allow a jury to return a guilty verdict in this situation, but they often do not. Juries want to hear proof. Absent admissions to driving from the defendant, it can be very difficult for a District Attorney to prove driving in a California DUI trial when no witness comes forward to say “I saw the defendant drive the car”. Without this evidence, the jury may think the defendant was driving, but suspicion is not enough. They may wonder about the other possible scenarios. When a jury is left with questions instead of evidence, the verdict is usually not guilty.
To find out if your California DUI case is a good candidate for a no drive defense or any other defense, call our office now at 800-797-8406, or email me at attorneygallagher@gmail.com, consults are always free.
