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2 possible defenses when facing a Louisiana DWI charge

On Behalf of | Jul 22, 2022 | DWI |

With the exception of charges related to causing a crash that hurts or kills another person, driving while intoxicated (DWI) charges are probably the most serious traffic offenses possible in Louisiana. Someone who pleads guilty to a DWI offense will face license suspension, large fines and possibly even incarceration. 

If you failed a breath test and then wound up facing charges, your conviction isn’t inevitable. Before you plead guilty because you feel like there is no other option, you may want to consider whether one of the two common DWI defense strategies below might work in your case. 

Challenging the breath test results

Do you assert that you were not under the influence but the chemical test seemed to show otherwise? Although people put a lot of faith in them, breath tests fail quite frequently and burden innocent people with criminal records. You may be able to challenge the accuracy of the test results and defeat your charges that way. 

Challenging the traffic stop

For a police officer to have you perform a breath test for a field sobriety test, they first need to have probable cause to stop you. 

If you didn’t display obvious signs of impairment or violate other traffic laws, they may not have a legal justification for interfering with your travels. If you can show that the traffic stop was illegal, then the evidence gathered during the traffic stop from your court proceedings can possibly be excluded.

Defending yourself against DWI charges is possible, and even those who can’t use either of the two strategies above may have other opportunities to avoid a conviction.