Many people belive that if they failed there field sobriety test, they are certain to be convicted.
That question is much more complicated.
First Field Sobriety test are only one part of the reason you were arrested.
There is the initial stage meaning when you were pulled over.
This could be at a DUI checkpoint or
Because of bad driving.
An officer needs a valid DUI checkpoint or Reasonable Suspicion that you have violated a law or traffic infraction in order to pull you over.
You leaving a bar at two a.m. is not reasonable suspicion. It could even be argued that puting on your blinker accidentally when no one is around to be affected by that mistake is not reasonable suspicion.
Then the offcer will usually state he smelled the odor of alcohol eminating from your breath. ( I have never seen a police report without this language) and then he has you perfrom FST’s.
The FST’s as you might have guessed can be difficult for people who are completely sober.
Currently more and more officers have dash cam vidoes called MVERs and body cam videos we either get these from the District Attorney as part of our investigation or we will serve a subpeana to get the vidoes ourselves. What is on the vidoes is important. Such as does what the officer wrote in the report actually happen on the video?
It will certainly hurt the credibility of the officer if he stated in his report that you were doing very poorly on FST’s and that is not indicated on the vidoe.
If you have further questions please give us a call to discuss your options.
