“I was drunk and fell asleep in my car with the keys in the ignition, parked on the wrong side of the road, and I was arrested and charged with a DUI… what are the chances of me beating this?”
The legal answer is yes, you can beat the case, but it is important to know first that you can get charged with a DUI-related offense with no keys in the ignition, and even sometimes outside of your car.
DUI While Parked
Most of us have heard stories from our friends and/or family about going out and needing to sleep it off in the car later. In fact, many of us may have done something similar during a vacation or weekend away.
While it seems harmless, today, you can actually get a DUI while parked even if you never started or moved the vehicle, and it happens way more than you would think.
When an officer sees someone in his or her car, moving or not, the officer makes the determination that this person had the intent to drive, and the person may end up being cited for a DUI based on these three factors:
- Asleep in the driver’s seat
- Key in the ignition or passenger seat
- Appearance of purpose to drive
Unfortunately, the new DUI laws are very strict with certain rules for how to sleep in a parked car after drinking alcohol or smoking Marijuana, and too many drivers today easily find themselves charged with one. These charges often happen late at night or early morning hours, in the parking lots of fast food restaurants, bars, nightclubs, neighboring houses, or private properties.
Accused drivers are currently dealing with these charges today, but luckily have strategies that will work to dismiss a case based on the individual arrest details of what happened.
For Example: many women charged with DUI have unique defenses right away; such as, how most breath testing devices are typically calibrated to read BAC levels of the average adult male.
Other arguments may include: no one had seen him/her drive, or the individual drank after, etc.
Regardless, the argument matters, and knowing which legal tactic for a specific arrest always has the better odds of reducing or dismissing charges.
You can beat the case, and it has been by our fellow featured attorney from The Denver Legal Team, who uploaded the document onto our website for sale.