A drunk driving charge such as DUI or DWI can leave a Florida resident with a difficult legal burden to bear. Even if they are able to pay any fines associated with conviction on their charges they may see their license revoked, their insurance premiums increase, and extra scrutiny placed on them when they are allowed back behind the wheel of a car.
As such, DUI and other drunk driving charges should be taken very seriously by those who must confront and overcome them. While in some cases a person may have little to offer in the way of an explanation to the circumstances that gave rise to a drunk driving charge, in others individuals may be able to explain away or refute the claims of drunk driving made against them. When a person can justify or refute a criminal charge the explanation is called a defense to the outstanding legal matter.
Depending upon the circumstances of a drunk driving arrest, a party may have defenses to their pending criminal charges. Some defenses are affirmative defenses because they do not deny the illegal conduct of the charged party. For example, if a person is accused of driving while drunk but is able to show that they only did so because they were placed under duress then they may see their charge mitigated or eliminated due to the facts surrounding the case.
Affirmative defenses are not common, however, and most individuals who offer drunk driving defenses do so by refuting facts and evidence proffered by the prosecutors on their cases. They may question the legality of the traffic stops that led to their drunk driving arrests, or they may challenge whether evidence against them should be admissible in court. Lawyers who represent individuals in drunk driving matters are well equipped to help their clients prepare defenses that both reflect the circumstances of their cases and address the problems with the prosecutors’ cases against them.