Even DUI offenders have rights guaranteed by the constitution. Any Portland police officer cannot violate your rights or mistreat you if you cooperate completely and don’t overstep your bounds. Even in the case of friction, the police are bound to treat you reasonably, any attempt to aggravate you or other abusive behavior is completely unacceptable.
You can’t be forced to take field sobriety tests (FSTs) other than Alcotests, moreover, the officer can’t search your car without your consent, plus you can’t be forced to give statements if you don’t want to. Of course, you are required by the law to cooperate, but that does not mean that the officers can walk all over you, you have rights, and it is perfectly fine to demand that they be respected.
If you feel that you were somehow treated unfairly, be sure to discuss it in detail with your DUI defense lawyer because this will affect your DUI case in Portland.
Read on to explore the matter further!
A Summary Of DUI Suspect’s Rights
Let’s first understand the rights of a DUI offender (or suspected offender).
Firstly, a Portland officer can only stop you if they have a reasonable suspicion of DUI based on some unsafe driving practices such as speeding, violating traffic signals, reckless driving, and so on. Only if something of this sort happens will you attract the attention of a police officer who will then ask you to pull over.
When that happens, you are obliged to cooperate with the police officer and to give the Alcotest, you can’t refuse to do this. But the rest will go as you want it to: you can choose to stay silent, you can refuse to allow a search of your car, you can refuse to be subjected to other field sobriety tests (FSTs), and even refuse to give a statement until you’ve spoken to your DUI defense lawyer.
As long as you are cooperative, your rights are absolutely assured!
What To Do If Your Rights Were Violated?
If you think that the police officer violated some of your rights, including not reading your rights to you. Or maybe they searched your car without your permission, roughly handled you even if you cooperated, pressed you to give a statement when you said you didn’t want to, and so on. But note that all of this can become a factor in your case, most likely in your favor, if you discuss them with your lawyer.
Legal defense is your right, and you should discuss all the details of your case with your lawyer; be sincere with them and don’t miss out on anything because such details will be important. For instance, if the police officer searched your vehicle without your consent (you clearly asked them not to) then any evidence they might have gathered from your vehicle won’t be admissible in your case. So if your lawyer asks for such details, be sure to help them out here, it’s for your own good.
Plus, don’t think that such rights violations are extremely rare and infrequent, even if unknowingly so, police offers are known to violate the constitutional rights of people during DUI arrests. It is up to you to make such a violation of your rights a point in your case, if you want to do so, you’ll have to raise the matter in court, and it is highly recommended that you do so as it might help your case.
This can be done rather simply once you talk things out with your lawyer.
Firstly, you’ll have to state the violation with specific details and mention how you felt that your rights were abused when it happened, and how it progressed, etc. Then your lawyer will file a motion in the case about the said violation for review from the judge. Based on the evidence provided and the motion filed by you, the judge will decide whether or not to validate your claim.
They will decide whether the said violation even happened and if it did, then does it affect the admissibility of the evidence presented against you considering that it was collected in violation of your constitutional rights. If things work out in your favor, your case might progress much better than otherwise.
What Can A Competent DUI Defense Lawyer Do For You?
At Trilogy Law Group, we always encourage our clients to be completely open with us about their cases, that they hide nothing at all, and lay down all the facts before us for proper consultation and preparation. We are at your side, so feel free to open up to us.
If you or someone you know has been caught in some trouble, then feel free to reach out to us today!
