DC Criminal Lawyer discusess whether you have to agree to Breathalyzer
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Mark Rollins. I am an attorney here in Washington D.C. My office is located in D.C. but I am also licensed in the state of Maryland primarily focusing in the area of criminal law. Today we’re going to be discussing whether you have to submit to a breath, blood, or urine test upon suspicion of DUI, DWI, or OWI in D.C.
So you’re driving down the road and you’ve been pulled over for what the police say changing lanes or improperly changing lanes and they pull you over on suspicion of what they call DUI or DWI or OWI; driving under the influence, driving while intoxicated, and operating while intoxicated. So under those three offenses, the police officer pulls you over, and now the question becomes whether you have to submit to the breath test that he’s asking you to submit to. Now he’s already found suspicion that he thinks that you’ve been drinking and driving so now he’s trying to make a better determination, now he wants to have you submit to a chemical test; either the breath test, the blood test, or the urine. Now, under D.C.’s law you do not have to submit to that test. You, in fact, can tell the officer, “No, no thank you.” You do not have to submit to that test.
Now there is an exception to that rule and that is if you were involved in an accident where there was physical property or personal injury done at the accident. The police in D.C. can forcibly have you submit to that test, and so at that point you would be required to take the test. Now, where’s the downside to not taking the test? The downside to not taking the test is if you do not take that test, and you do not take one of the three tests that the officers give you then your license will be suspended for one year. There’s no exception to that so your license would be suspended for one year. If you take the test and you go to trial and you win, then your license won’t be suspended at all; but if you lose at trial then your license will be suspended for six months. So you can see the benefit is that your license will be suspended in Washington D.C. for one year if you do not take that test because of the implied consent law. In other words, they assume that if you’re driving on the roads in D.C. then you are consenting to their rules and regulations and you owe them that test. If you do not submit to that test, again, it’s a one year loss of your license.
Now where do we stand on that? Where does my firm stand on that? We tell you do not take the test. Do not submit to the test, and the rationale behind that is because, one is that under the new D.C.’s laws there are mandatory times that you could face in jail, and there’s no exception to those mandatory times so if a certain substance is found in your blood, your urine, or on your breath, then in certain circumstances you can actually face mandatory time. Now if you want to discuss this in more detail, I want you to simply call the number on the screen. Give me a call and I’d be more than happy to discuss this with you in more detail, and again, thanks for watching and subscribe to our channel.
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