Union City DUI Lawyer
Alameda County Criminal Attorney
Union City is a city on the southern end of the East Bay in the San Francisco Bay Area. Unlike many other East Bay cities, it has no bay frontage. Several transit systems service the city, including AC Transit, BART, and the Dumbarton Express. In spite of many transportation options, many people still rely on their cars, and in some cases may be accused of driving under the influence. If you are charged with drunk driving, an experienced Union City DUI defense attorney at the Law Offices of Leon J. Mezzetti, Jr. may be able to help you fight the charges and associated consequences.
Challenging a DUI Breath Test
Often, people who are charged with a DUI believe that the evidence against them is insurmountable. However, there are defenses available even in difficult cases. These defenses may be based on technical challenges to equipment.
For example, your attorney may be able to find an error in the way your DUI breath test was administered. Such errors can relate to factors such as a malfunctioning instrument, improper police handling, and physiological or environmental factors that impact the results. DUI breath testing is not always reliable because unlike a blood test, which is direct, the breath test measures the amount of alcohol on your breath and converts this amount using a numerical formula to determine how much alcohol is in your blood.
The breath test is designed to test a sample of breath from deep lung tissue. If you have dental work that has trapped alcohol-soaked food in your teeth or you have acid reflux or heartburn, the instrument may measure the amount of alcohol in your mouth instead of the amount in your deep lung tissue. Therefore the conversion may trigger a reading of falsely high alcohol content.
Moreover, under California law, before giving you a breath test, a police officer must watch you for fifteen minutes. During this time, you are not supposed to vomit, belch, burp, drink, or eat because doing so may shift the alcohol from your digestive system back to your mouth, adversely affecting the results. Often officers fail to actually observe the driver during this period and that failure can be used to challenge the evidence.
Challenging a DUI Blood Test
If you took a blood test, there are many ways these results, too, could be tainted. Among them is improper storage of the sample or blood contamination. There are specific regulations of DUI chemical tests, including the ways samples are collected, stored or analyzed. If there are problems with the collection or storage of the blood from a DUI blood test, a knowledgeable defense attorney can seek to have the results suppressed or excluded from evidence. Excluding this evidence can get rid of the charge of driving with a BAC of .08% or more. If the evidence cannot be excluded altogether, a skillful attorney may still be able to call it into question during trial or in negotiations with the prosecutor.
Contact a Union City DUI Defense Attorney Right Away
If you are charged with a DUI, contact and retain your own attorney as soon as you can. Neither the police nor the prosecutor owe you a duty to serve your best interests, and you do not want to face the harsh consequences that result from a criminal conviction. For a knowledgeable defense from an experienced Union City DUI defense lawyer at the Law Offices of Leon J. Mezzetti, Jr., contact us toll-free at 877-791-1836 or via our online form.