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DUI charges can upend your life, which is why no one should be in this situation without the assistance of an Indiana DUI lawyer. An experienced attorney can guide you through the criminal process and help you with the various myths and falsehoods that swirl around DUI cases.
Sometimes what we think of as common knowledge is really just a popular misconception. This blog won’t be pointing fingers, but it will be correcting the top five dirty lies about Indiana DUIs.
Many people believe that if you fail a breathalyzer test, that’s that—case closed. The breathalyzer is science, and science is where we go for Objective Truth. You can’t fight Truth, can you?
Let’s back up a moment. Different kinds of tests may offer differing degrees of reliability, but all tests involve some kind of measurement. You can’t take reproducible measurements without standardized instruments, and all instruments come with a margin of error. On top of that, tests are administered by imperfect people in a world of fluctuating conditions.
A certified breath test is designed to measure the alcohol concentration equivalent (ACE) of a person’s breath to determine if they meet the legal threshold—0.08*—for intoxication. This standard, however, represents an estimate based on the average person. The average person does not actually exist in the real world, which is populated only by particular people with actual physical bodies.
Every body has its own rate of metabolism, and this can vary depending on things like age, weight, body temperature, and recent physical activity. A breath test is taking an ethanol measurement, but there is no test that measures intoxication.
The State is happy to use the ethanol measurement to show that a person’s reached the 0.08 threshold, but it rarely dwells on the fact that a result of 0.08 might—with the margin of error factored in—actually represent a reading as low as 0.077.
When the results of a certified chemical test are admissible as evidence, this makes it much easier for the State to win a DUI conviction. With that in mind, one of the most important possibilities for an Indiana DUI lawyer to explore is whether those results can be challenged.
Here are some potential strategies:
It’s the defense attorney’s job not to take anything for granted, and that includes the ACE reading on their client’s breath test ticket.
When you’ve been pulled over and are being investigated for DUI, it’s easy to be overwhelmed. Generally speaking, it’s a good idea to comply with the investigating officer’s requests.
You may be surprised to learn, however, that you’re not legally obligated to perform the standardized field sobriety tests. These include the horizontal gaze nystagmus (HGN), the stand on one leg, and the walk and turn.
These tests are usually administered on the side of the road under conditions that are less than ideal. There is no penalty for refusing these tests, and it may be in your best interest to politely decline and avoid creating additional evidence that can be used against you.
Standardized field sobriety tests were designed to help officers determine if someone is intoxicated. The problem for drivers is that no test is foolproof. These particular tests rely on the investigating officer’s subjective interpretation of the clues provided by you, the driver.
Guess what? A number of different factors—unrelated to alcohol consumption or intoxication—can affect your performance on these tests. Medical conditions, legal medications, and physical ailments can all result in false indicators of intoxication.
The HGN involves tracking an object with your eyes. The officer is looking for eyes that seem to jerk involuntarily, because they’ve been trained to associate involuntary eye movements with intoxication. There are, however, at least 40 medically recognized causes of nystagmus, including Lyme disease, glaucoma, and various types of head injury.
The walk and turn and the one-legged stand, on the other hand, require balance and coordination. Not everyone is blessed with these traits, and certain people are going to struggle, regardless of their sobriety, especially those afflicted with:
You have no legal obligation to perform field sobriety tests, and no formal penalty can be imposed for refusing them. If an officer asks you to perform field sobriety tests, you can decline politely, but always try to avoid a confrontation.
Field sobriety tests are flawed tools, and there are good reasons not to allow them to be used on you. A word of caution though: If you decline to take the field sobriety tests, is the officer going to smile and send you on your way? Probably not. And when the officer follows up by asking you to take a certified chemical test, that’s not something you should ever refuse.
A lot of people believe that you can’t be charged with DUI if your vehicle isn’t in motion. There’s a certain logic to this, but that’s not the way the law works. DUI—or driving under the influence—is a generic term. Technically, there is no DUI charge in Indiana. Instead, there is operating a vehicle while intoxicated.
Operating is not the same thing as driving. Indiana defines operate as to navigate or otherwise be in actual physical control of a vehicle, watercraft, off-road vehicle, or snowmobile. With an expansive statutory definition that potentially applies to anyone in actual physical control of a vehicle, the State can charge you with DUI even if your vehicle is stationary.
The police absolutely do not need to catch you in the act of driving in order to charge you with DUI. Sometimes people are arrested when they’re parked on the side of the road, or even when they’re sitting in a parking lot.
In Indiana, the State can establish a presumption of intoxication if your ACE is measured within three hours of operating a vehicle. So even if no one saw you driving, the prosecution can argue that if you were driving in the three hours prior to the chemical test, this strongly supports the inference that you were operating while intoxicated.
Here are a few common situations where a person can be charged with a DUI, even if the vehicle isn’t in motion.
Maybe these tactics sound unfair to you. All the more reason for you to understand how the system works. The Indiana DUI lawyers at the Marc Lopez Law Firm investigate the facts of every case and don’t take anything for granted.
A DUI defendant has more options than simply pleading guilty. To stand up to the law, however, you need to partner up with someone who understands the law. If you want to fight your DUI charges in Indiana, your first call should be to the Marc Lopez Law Firm.
Some people think you can’t get a DUI unless there’s alcohol involved. This is simply untrue. In Indiana, DUI charges are grounded in intoxication, not in drunkenness. Intoxication concerns being under the influence of a substance so that there is an impaired condition of thought and action and the loss of normal control of an individual’s faculties. This can result from drugs, alcohol, or any creative combination of the two.
Indiana law is clear: A person who operates a vehicle with a controlled substance listed in schedule I or II of the Indiana Code or its metabolite in the person’s blood commits a Class C misdemeanor. Those three words or its metabolite can cause problems for the recreational marijuana smoker.
A frustrating and unfortunate truth is that legal consumption of cannabis in neighboring states can lead to unexpected consequences in Indiana. If you smoke, vape, or eat THC in Michigan (or Illinois, or Ohio) and then return to the Hoosier State, you’re legally exposed for as long as those THC metabolites remain in your body.
Most drugs are only detectable in a person’s system while that person is under the influence of the drug in question. THC is different in that its inactive metabolites can remain in a person’s body for weeks after the fact. Testing for marijuana doesn’t just tell police whether you’re actively under the influence—it can also produce a positive result for something you did last month. It may not be fair, but this can lead to a DUI charge.
Despite the growing trend of legalization across the United States, Indiana continues to classify cannabis as an illegal substance with absolutely no medical value. This zero-tolerance policy means that even if you legally smoke or consume marijuana elsewhere, you can still be prosecuted for DUI upon returning to Indiana—even if you’re no longer under the influence.
It’s important to be aware of the potential consequences of your actions. An activity that’s increasingly being treated as a relatively harmless, recreational vice is still a crime in Indiana. We’re old fashioned, and we like it that way.
One of the greatest tricks the State ever pulled was convincing its citizens that DUI charges can’t be contested. By this way of thinking, you’re innocent until you’re charged, and then you might as well be guilty. There are a number of potential defense strategies available, depending on the facts of the case.
For example, your Indiana DUI lawyer might challenge the conduct of the officer who pulled you over. If they’re thorough, your attorney will also scrutinize the administration of the certified chemical test to make sure everything was done by the book. It’s also possible that certain behavior was misinterpreted by the police as a sign of intoxication.
To secure a DUI conviction, the State must prove the following elements beyond a reasonable doubt:
The burden of proof is on the State, and when it comes to the elements of a crime, it’s an all or nothing deal. If the State proves three elements and there’s reasonable doubt on the fourth, the defendant is not guilty.
The State is allowed to make inferences in a DUI case, but the prosecutor still needs to show the basis for these inferences. If you’re found sleeping in a parking lot, the State has to do more work than if you were pulled over by police who witnessed you driving.
For DUI purposes, Indiana defines vehicle as a device for transportation by land or air. In other words, if you want to challenge the allegation that what you were driving was a vehicle, you’re going to have an uphill battle.
A better option is to look at the element of while, the crucial point where intoxication overlaps with operation. The prosecutor can’t just show that you got drunk on the same night that you drove a car. Lots of people do that. They must specifically show that you were operating and intoxicated at the same time.
If certified chemical test results are admissible at trial, the judge or jury is allowed to presume that the defendant was intoxicated at the time of operation. For this reason, it’s always important for an Indiana DUI lawyer to consider whether there’s any possible way to exclude the test results or call them into question.
Some DUI clients are genuinely innocent. Others just don’t want to see their lives ruined. The attorneys at the Marc Lopez Law Firm are ready to fight for all of their clients, and they know that investigating the case is the only way to apply the proper strategy. A comprehensive defense is the only kind of defense you deserve.
Don’t be fooled by the dirty lies about DUIs! If you’re looking for an Indiana DUI lawyer, the Marc Lopez Law Firm has the experience you need. Whatever you do, don’t try to face criminal charges on your own. Give us a call at 317-632-3642 and remember—always plead the 5th!
* grams of ethanol per 100 milliliters of blood or 210 liters of breath