DUI - Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol/Drugs in San Diego

Driving under the influence is the most common offense in our society. It can be charged as either a misdemeanor or felony DUI, depending upon your record or whether there were serious injuries.
If you are arrested for a DUI in San Diego, you have the right to refuse to do the field sobriety tests and the portable breath test that the police want you to take in their field investigation. However, California law requires that you take a blood or breath test after you are arrested and brought down to the police station.
It is always better to take a blood test, because the breath specimens are never preserved while blood specimens are preserved and can be later retested for a number of purposes.

• Was an arrest made that violated your 4th amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure?
• Did the police explain your right to be silent before you were questioned?
• Was there a proper chain of custody for any evidence seized?

Refusal to perform field sobriety tests is in your best interests, because most police officers look for every possible imperfection and then write an arrest report grossly exaggerating any imperfection they may have observed.
If you are charged with a misdemeanor or felony DUI, you will need the best representation possible. Your San Diego drunk driving defense lawyer should have considerable experience in trying DUI cases in front of a jury. This will ensure that your attorney knows how to distinguish between a good close case that you can win at trial and a marginal case that you will most likely lose.
Your lawyer needs to understand how to attack breath test results, how to use special experts to attack test results, how to use eyewitnesses to support your defense and how to cross-examine the arresting officer and the prosecution experts at trial.
Finally, your San Diego DUI attorney should have a lot of knowledge about DMV (Department of Motor Vehicle) hearings. California law requires the DMV to suspend your license if your blood alcohol result is 0.08% or above and the police had reasonable cause to stop and arrest you.

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San Diego DMV / DUI Hearing

The San Diego DUI / DMV hearing for a possible license suspension is like a mini-DUI trial without a jury, but with much different San Diego DMV rules, San Diego DMV laws and San Diego DMV procedures.  The San Diego DUI / DMV hearing is presided over by a Driver Safety Officer (DMV hearing officer) rather than a real judge, an employee of the DMV not trained in law who acts as both prosecutor and judge.  As unfair as it is, she or he can legally object to your evidence, rule on her or his own objection, dually engage your San Diego DUI / DMV lawyer, and admit or not admit either party's evidence.

The San Diego Driver Safety Officer offers evidence in the form of documents and/or witnesses.  The Driver Safety Officer offers the San Diego drunk driving / DUI police report, DMV records, San Diego DUI alcohol reports and the important San Diego DUI officer's sworn statement entitled a "DS 367."  With no Fifth Amendment right at the hearing, your San Diego DUI / DMV attorney usually will not want you to be present at the hearing since the Driver Safety Officer can call you as a witness and force you to testify against yourself if you ill-advisedly appear.

The San Diego DMV Driver Safety Officer's decision will usually be mailed a few days or even weeks after the hearing.  A San Diego DMV / DMV suspension can be set aside or sustained.  If the San Diego DMV suspension is sustained, the decision can be appealed to the DMV in Sacramento and/or to the San Diego Superior court by filing a San Diego DMV petition for writ of mandamus.

A San Diego DUI lawyer's defenses at an APS hearing are specialized and technical, more so than in criminal court.  Frequent San Diego DUI / DMV proof problems - as well as legal, procedural and bureaucratic obstacles - are possible grounds for setting aside the suspension.

Because of the peculiar nature of San Diego DUI / DMV hearings and the absence of an independent San Diego DUI judge to offer some protection, you are strongly advised not to try to represent yourself.  Because these are not San Diego DUI criminal proceedings, San Diego County public defenders are unavailable. 

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