Testing

White Plains Lawyer for DWI Testing Issues

Chemical testing, along with field sobriety tests, can have a significant impact on your charges for driving while intoxicated. There are various charges you can face for driving while intoxicated, and those charges are based in part on how impaired you are and what tests reveal about your blood alcohol content (BAC). Once your BAC reaches .08% or higher, you’re considered intoxicated under the statute and can be charged with a DWI or a “per se” DWI. However, you can also face charges for driving while ability impaired (DWAI) if your BAC is .05% – .07%. The stakes are high in either case. If you are concerned about the effect of testing on DWI charges you face, you should call the seasoned White Plains DWI lawyers of the Law Office of Mark A. Siesel. Mr. Siesel has 35 years of experience representing clients who have been harmed by the outcome of testing in their drunk driving case.

Testing

After you’ve been pulled over for drunk driving, testing could include a blood test, urine test, Breathalyzer test, or field sobriety tests or some combination of these. In order to pull you over at all, an officer must have a reasonable suspicion of criminal wrongdoing. He cannot act on a hunch. If he doesn’t have reasonable suspicion of a crime, the subsequent tests may be subject to a motion to suppress. When successful, these motions can have favorable effects for defendants.

Refusal of Testing

Under New York law, you have given implied consent to chemical testing if you are stopped on suspicion of DWI. While you could refuse the test, there could be consequences depending on the specific place where you are arrested, and where charges were brought.

In order to arrest you, an office must have probable cause to believe you engaged in criminal wrongdoing. To obtain probable cause, he may administer field sobriety tests on the side of the road where you were detained. Field sobriety tests include the one leg stand, horizontal gaze nystagmus, and the walk and turn. Appropriate instructions must be given to you for the test results to be admitted as evidence.

Our White Plains lawyers, with years of experience representing DWI clients, may be able to challenge the outcome of a field sobriety test if it was not administered properly or correct instructions were not given. There are also field sobriety tests that are not considered reliable by experts, and this can also provide an avenue for attack.

The officer may ask you to breathe into a portable breath test. This test is different than the Breathalyzer that’s used to determine your blood alcohol concentration (BAC). Rather, it looks for the presence of alcohol on your breath.

If the portable breath test or field sobriety test suggests you were drinking while driving, you will be taken to the station to go through the chemical test that measures your BAC. You may be asked to undergo another field sobriety test. If your BAC is .08, you can be arrested and charged with a per se DWI.

Refusal Hearing

In some situations, your driver’s license may be revoked for at least a year, and you may need to appear for a refusal hearing before an administrative law judge at the Department of Motor Vehicles. Further consequences could include fines of $500.

Procedural Issues

In some cases, our White Plains lawyers for DWI charges may be able to get testing evidence excluded in a motion to suppress or motion in limine, where the police or the lab have failed to follow proper procedures. Proper procedures should be followed from the moment a sample is collected until the testimony of a state toxicologist interpreting the findings of the state testing. We will scrutinize the initial administration through the chain of custody in handling the testing samples with great care and attention to detail to see whether there are any discrepancies or problems with procedures used. Among other things, it’s important that samples taken were not tampered with in the chain of custody.

Call a Seasoned White Plains Premises Liability Lawyer

If you are concerned about the impact of testing on DWI charges, you should discuss your situation with an experienced and aggressive White Plains DWI lawyer Mark A. Siesel. Mr. Siesel has more than 35 years of experience building the best available defenses for clients. He represents those charged with DWI in Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Sullivan, Rockland, Orange, and Ulster Counties, along with Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens. Please contact us at (914) 428-7386 or complete our online form for dedicated legal representation.