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A DUI arrest almost always involves one or more chemical tests. A chemical test is a way for law enforcement to measure the alcohol or drugs in your system at the time of your arrest. There are several tests that are available to law enforcement. The most common tests are the breath, blood and urine tests. You might wonder if you get to choose the type of test to take in your case.

The law allows the law enforcement agency to choose

The law that governs chemical testing in Illinois DUI cases is 625 ILCS 5/11-501.1. The law says that every driver suspected of drunk driving must give a sample of blood, breath, urine or other bodily substance. That covers any type of test the officer has to offer. The law says that the law enforcement agency that employs the arresting officer gets to choose the type of test.

You don’t get to choose the type of test to take. It isn’t even up to the officer to choose the type of test. Instead, the law enforcement agency likely has protocols for their officers to determine what type of test to administer in your case. The officer will usually follow the rules of their department and give the type of test that’s standard for a case like yours.

They can ask you to take more than one test

The law even allows the arresting officers to ask you to submit to more than one type of test. In total, they can administer one, two or three tests. They may ask you to submit two breath samples. However, in most cases, they don’t ask you to take a breath test and a blood test or a blood test and a urine test. In most cases, they administer only one type of test. You can also ask for an independent test performed by a medical professional of your choosing.

In most cases, you take a breath test

Most of the time, the law enforcement officer is going to ask you to take a breath test. That’s because the breath test is generally the easiest to administer. The law enforcement agency typically keeps the breath testing instrument at the police station. It’s relatively easy for law enforcement to turn on the breath test machine and explain what you need to do.

The breath test is also the only test that produces instant results. The officer can see the results of your breath test in a matter of a few seconds. A blood test can take months to send to the lab and receive the results. A urine test can also take significant time to return a result. You have a right to a speedy trial and resolution of your case, and waiting months for test results can be problematic for law enforcement. They prefer to have the test results as soon as possible so that they can decide whether to pursue charges.

In cases of suspected drug DUI, you may take a blood test

The breath test is the preferred test when law enforcement suspects you of operating under the influence of alcohol. However, when drugs are involved, a breath test isn’t adequate. That’s because a person’s breath doesn’t have any drugs in it. Breath contains alcohol from a person’s body, but it doesn’t contain drugs.

If your case involves suspicion of drug use, law enforcement will likely ask you to take a blood test. The officer doesn’t draw your blood themselves. Instead, they may have a medical professional at the police station draw your blood, or they may transport you to a medical facility. The implied consent is the same for both types of tests. You must take the blood test if that’s what the officer asks you to take.

Are the tests all the same?

There are some differences between the various tests. The blood test may produce a higher result than the same individual may receive taking a breath test. In all cases, the time that lapses between the time of your arrest and the time of your test may create doubt as to whether the test result is an accurate measure of your bodily alcohol or drug level at the time of your driving. Your attorney can help you explore how to challenge the evidence if your case goes to trial.

What tests will I take on the side of the road?

Law enforcement may have a handheld breath test machine with them when they’re on patrol. They can give you this preliminary breath test in order to determine whether to arrest you for DUI with alcohol. If the police suspect you of DUI with drugs, they can only administer a blood test after they formally make an arrest.

Even though drunk driving offenses are some of the most common police investigations, they’re also some of the most complex investigations that a law enforcement officer has to complete. Conducting a DUI investigation requires personal observations, field sobriety tests and chemical testing. All of these steps must be accomplished according to established procedures and rules in order to make sure that the investigation is conducted honestly and accurately.

Breath testing in alcohol DUI cases

One of the important steps in an alcohol DUI case is the breathalyzer testing. There are two types of breath tests that a law enforcement officer might administer during an alcohol DUI investigation. One of the tests is a test at the side of the road. The device used for testing at the side of the road is a small, handheld device. The instrument produces an estimate of a person’s intoxication levels.

At the police station, the chemical testing instrument is more sophisticated. Like the handheld device, the chemical test at the police station measures the alcohol content in a person’s body by measuring the alcohol in their breath. However, these testing instruments only produce accurate results when the people who administer them use them properly.

What is mouth alcohol?

Mouth alcohol is the common term for alcohol present in the mouth that can cause an alcohol test to produce an inaccurate result. Mouth alcohol is alcohol that may be directly in a person’s mouth when the person submits to a chemical test. When a person has alcohol in their mouth, the testing instrument may misread the person’s bodily alcohol content and produce a reading that is too high. Mouth alcohol is a complication that can render an alcohol test invalid.

How does mouth alcohol invalidate a result?

A chemical breath test works by measuring the air in the person’s lungs. The test collects a sample from the person’s breath and then measures how much alcohol is in the sample. The density of the alcohol in the breath becomes the test result and the measure of the person’s bodily alcohol content.

The purpose of the test is to measure the alcohol in a person’s body. The purpose of the test is not to determine how much alcohol there is in a person’s mouth at the time of the test. A person may have alcohol in their mouth without having alcohol in their body. A person may smell like alcohol without being over the legal limit.

The presence of alcohol in the mouth can skew the test results. Mouth alcohol can push an extra amount of alcohol into the breath sample that the person submits for the test. The end result can be that the result of the test is much higher than the person’s actual bodily alcohol content level.

What should law enforcement do to prevent mouth alcohol from skewing test results in DUI cases?

When law enforcement administers a chemical test, they are supposed to enact safeguards to make sure that mouth alcohol doesn’t produce inaccurate test results. Before a law enforcement officer asks you to take a chemical test, they should observe you for 20 minutes. They should watch you to make sure that you don’t drink, that you don’t put anything in your mouth and that you don’t vomit or regurgitate. The waiting period should be sufficient to ensure that your test result doesn’t produce an inaccurate reading.

What does a mouth alcohol test result look like?

A test where mouth alcohol is a factor often produces a test result that’s much higher than a person’s intoxication level. Waiting the prescribed 20 minutes should be enough to clear the alcohol from the person’s mouth and produce an accurate test result. When there are wide swings in a person’s test results, it’s a sign that there could be a problem in testing procedures.

What to do if mouth alcohol is a factor in your case

If mouth alcohol is an issue, the result might be that the test results are inadmissible. When law enforcement doesn’t conduct chemical testing with the proper safeguards in order to ensure that the test results are accurate, they can’t admit the results of the chemical test against you. An experienced DUI attorney can help you review the chemical testing in your case to see if the police followed the rules when they performed the tests.

In order to exclude the evidence in your case, you can bring a motion to the court ahead of your trial. It’s up to the judge to decide whether to admit the chemical testing in your case. It’s up to the jury to decide if the evidence is credible. You can argue to both the judge and the jury that the chemical testing in your case is invalid because of mouth alcohol.

The U.S. and California constitutions protect the rights of individuals from unfair and invasive law enforcement activities. Protecting the rights of individuals means making sure that individuals understand their rights when they’re under arrest and charged with a crime. When you’re facing a DUI arrest, the arresting officer has an obligation to make you aware of your rights. Here’s what an officer must tell someone following a DUI arrest:

Your Miranda Rights

When you’re arrested, law enforcement must inform you of your rights. Your rights are commonly called your Miranda rights. The name comes from the case Miranda v. Arizona. Law enforcement must inform the arrested person about their rights so that the person can choose how to proceed in the case.

The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees a person’s due process rights. That means that the government can’t deprive a person of their liberty without the proper processes and procedures to make sure that the deprivation of their liberty is fair. The Sixth Amendment guarantees that a person has a right to the assistance of an attorney when they’re charged with a crime.

What are your Miranda rights?

The officer must tell you:

You may stay silent
It’s your choice to answer questions. You don’t have to answer any questions
If you ask, you may consult with an attorney before speaking with police
When you choose to speak to the police, your attorney may accompany you
If you decide to answer questions without an attorney, you can stop answering questions anytime you want to
When they must tell you about your Miranda rights

Your Miranda rights apply following your DUI arrest. As soon as you’re under arrest, law enforcement must tell you about your rights. They shouldn’t proceed with questioning you about the case until they’ve told you about your rights. However, they don’t need to tell you about your rights until you’re under arrest. They can lawfully ask you questions during the traffic stop without informing you of your rights.

What happens when you exercise your right to a lawyer?

If you tell law enforcement that you want to consult with a lawyer, they must stop questioning you. All of the questions should stop at that point. They can still arrest you and charge you. However, they shouldn’t continue to ask you to answer questions.

Your chemical test rights

When you’re arrested for DUI, law enforcement should also inform you of your chemical test rights. When you operate a motor vehicle in the state, it’s implied that you agree to take a chemical test to measure your alcohol and drug intoxication levels if law enforcement suspects you of drunk driving. The rule of implied consent applies to all drivers in the state.

Following a DUI arrest, the arresting officer must inform you of your chemical test rights. They must tell you about the implied consent rules in place. They must tell you that you have an obligation to take the test. Finally, the officer must tell you that if you refuse to take the chemical test, your driver’s license will be suspended.

The arresting officer should read you these chemical test rights before asking you to take a chemical test. The officer should tell you that the suspension is a summary suspension that applies regardless of whether or not you’re convicted of DUI. You may also lose your right to drive a commercial vehicle.

If you’re under 21 years old

When law enforcement arrests a minor, they must also warn the minor that there are consequences if the test reveals that they have an alcohol content. If a minor takes a chemical test that reveals an alcohol content of any kind, their license is suspended even if they’re not charged or convicted of DUI. A minor should receive this warning from an officer following their DUI arrest.

Instructions for taking a chemical test

When law enforcement asks you to submit to a chemical test, they should tell you how to take the test. They should give you instructions. Law enforcement must tell you this information because they can’t fairly accuse you of failing to properly take the test if they don’t tell you what to do.

What happens if law enforcement doesn’t inform you of your rights?

If law enforcement doesn’t tell you about your rights, the evidence they collect against you may not be admissible. That means that the chemical test results and your statements to law enforcement may not be admissible at trial. It’s up to you to ask the court to suppress the evidence collected unfairly. An experienced DUI lawyer can help you review your case and evaluate whether law enforcement made errors in your case.

If you get in your car and move it even one inch while under the influence of alcohol, you are guilty of a DUI. If you are stopped while this happens, an officer will arrest you and charge you with a DUI. What happens next depends heavily on the specifics of your situation. No two DUI arrests are the same, but the law is strict regarding DUI in every state. Here’s what you need to know if you are arrested for a DUI and someone is injured because of your choices.

Understanding DUI Arrests

Understanding how a DUI arrest works and what it means is the best way to help you want to avoid getting into this situation. A DUI arrest occurs if you are driving with a blood-alcohol content (BAC) of .08 percent or higher. If you are younger than 21, the law is different. Some states limit those younger than 21 to a BAC of .02 percent. Other states impose a zero tolerance law for underage drivers driving under the influence. If you have a commercial driver’s license (CDL), you won’t find the law on your side, either. The legal limit with a CDL is .04 percent and automatic suspension of your CDL.

An officer cannot pull you over only because he or she suspects you are under the influence. The officer must have probable cause, which is the downfall of many DUI arrests. Probable cause occurs when the officer witnesses you breaking a law. Speeding, running a red light or stop sign, driving without your lights, or doing anything else against the law while you drive is probable cause. Only then can an officer ask if you’ve been drinking.

If the officer suspects you have been drinking based on your eyes, your breath, or the presence of open containers in the vehicle, they can ask you to step out of the car to prove you are not drunk. You might want to take a field sobriety test or a BAC test to prove you are not drunk or to find out if you are. You have the right to refuse, but most states work with an implied consent law in which your refusal results in an automatic arrest and the loss of your driver’s license.

Once a BAC test is performed, the officer knows how drunk you are. If you are above the legal limit, you are arrested. If you are excessively over the legal limit, you face even harsher consequences. Most states consider excessive a BAC of .15 percent or higher. If there is a minor child in the car with you, if you have been arrested and convicted of multiple DUI arrests, or you injure someone while driving under the influence, you will face much more serious consequences.

What happens if I injure someone?

There is no way to say for sure what will happen to you if you injure someone while driving under the influence. It depends on several factors.

– Where you are
– Your age
– How many DUIs you have
– Your BAC

Even if this is your first DUI, you’re facing much more serious consequences if someone is injured because of your choices. However, a DUI with an injury without any prior DUIs is going to be less serious than one with priors.

The major difference if there is an injury is the way your crime is classified. If you are arrested for a DUI even as a first-timer and no one is injured, it’s a misdemeanor. If there is an injury, the game changes and you arrested and charged with a felony. A felony is on your permanent record for the rest of your life, and it can change the way you live your life.

If you drive under the influence and injure someone, you’re facing longer jail sentences, higher fines, longer alcohol rehab programs, community service hours, a suspended license, and more. You are also looking at losing your job, and it will be much harder for you to find gainful employment with a felony charge on your record.

Driving under the influence is a bad idea every single time, and it’s made horrible if there is an injury. If the person you injure doesn’t live, the entire situation becomes even worse. You can be charged with vehicular manslaughter, and you could spend years in jail. One poor decision is all it takes to change your life forever. Don’t make this decision.

If you’re arrested and charged with a DUI in which someone was injured, call an attorney right away. You have rights, and you need someone on your side who knows the las and is familiar with this kind of legal situation. Don’t attempt to handle this kind of situation on your own.

If you have been charged with a DUI, the prosecutor in the case will need to prove a variety of items took place to win a conviction on that charge. For instance, it may be necessary to show that the driver was actually at or above the legal limit for impairment when charged. It may also be necessary to show that there was probable cause to conduct a traffic stop or make contact with a driver.

What Is the Legal Blood Alcohol Limit?

The legal blood alcohol limit throughout America is .08 percent. This is roughly equivalent to four drinks, but the amount it takes to get to that threshold will vary depending on the weight and gender of a driver. It may also depend on whether an individual had eaten recently.

Can You Be Charged If You Are Under the Limit

You can be charged with DUI if you are at or under the legal limit. This is possible if the officer who takes you into custody believes that you are impaired or otherwise not fit to drive. In some cases, a person may test at or below the legal limit because the alcohol has yet to be fully absorbed into the bloodstream. Therefore, you may be charged and convicted of DUI regardless of what a Breathalyzer test says.

How Can a Prosecutor Prove Impairment?

There are several ways in which it can be proven that a driver was impaired when police made contact with that person. For instance, a driver may admit that he or she had been drinking prior to a traffic stop or prior to being found impaired inside of a vehicle. A series of field sobriety tests may also be conducted that may establish that a person is too intoxicated to drive.

However, field sobriety tests are generally not enough by themselves to show that a driver was drunk while behind the wheel. It may be necessary to include the results of a Breathalyzer test or the results of a blood or urine test as well. In some cases, authorities may need to get a warrant to take an individual’s blood or urine.

What Constitutes Probable Cause?

To charge a driver with a DUI, there must be some initial reason to stop a driver. This may be that an officer noticed a vehicle speeding or a vehicle that was being operated erratically. If an officer sees a bottle of beer in plain sight, that may be probable cause to suspect a driver may be impaired. Drivers may also emit a strong odor of alcohol when they talk.

What Are Some Common Defenses to a DUI Charge?

It may be possible to assert that a driver was simply experiencing a medical emergency at the time that he or she was pulled over. Medical issues could produce glassy or bloodshot eyes or cause a driver to slur his or her speech. It is also possible that a driver had knee or leg pain that made it hard to stand up or perform well on field sobriety tests.

Other defenses to a DUI charge may revolve around whether or not evidence was handled properly. For instance, a police officer may break chain of custody protocols or otherwise make mistakes that make it harder to determine if a driver really broke the law. If blood samples are not kept at a cold enough temperature, they too may be unreliable. As a result, they may be suppressed or otherwise not allowed to be considered during a case.

Does a Prosecutor Have to Prove All Elements to Win a Conviction?

In a criminal matter, the prosecution has to be able to show beyond a reasonable doubt that a person was driving while intoxicated. Unless there is video footage of a person being pulled over, it may be difficult to prove exactly what happened during a traffic stop or after an accident. This is why many DUI cases are resolved by a plea bargain or are thrown out entirely.

If you are charged with DUI, it is important to seek out legal counsel who may act as your advocate in the courtroom. Depending on the strength of the case against you, it may be possible to plea to a lesser charge or have a case dismissed before it even gets to trial.