Impaired Driving Charges

A charge of impaired driving carries penalties that are the same as charges of driving over 80 or refusing to provide samples, but the prosecutor tries to prove the impaired driving charge with different evidence.

The prosecutor's evidence will most often be provided by a police officer. The officer will say that the driver had a smell of alcohol, slurred speech, swayed when standing and had bloodshot or watery eyes. If the driver agreed to perform sobriety tests, the officer will say that he failed them. If the driver says he does not want to call a lawyer, the officer will tell the judge anything the driver might have said that will make the driver sound like he was impaired.

But the officer's evidence is not the end of the story. We can cross-examine the officer, and we can lead our own evidence of sobriety. Friends of the driver can testify that he was able to drive properly, and we can use video or audio tapes of the driver taken immediately after his release to contradict the officer's evidence. We might also establish that, even if your ability to drive was impaired, you were not driving the car.

If you've been charged with impaired driving, we want to defend you: contact us.