You can be charged with a DUI for an impairment in Chantilly while you are under the influence of a drug or any combination of drugs, specifically substances or a combination of drugs and alcohol. Depending on the circumstances around your charge and your arrest, such as your level of impairment, the type of drugs that are found in possession or within your system, any kind of criminal history that you have, or any other type of factors that can be present in your case, the charges can be much more serious for drug DUIs than they are for an alcohol-related DUI.
With these things in mind, it is important to contact a Chantilly DUI drug lawyer when you are facing these charges because an experienced local attorney who has experience in a variety of cases will know what to challenge, what the judges tend to consider to be sufficient evidence, what the prosecutors are looking for, and what types of questions the prosecutors are going to be asking, and will best be able to build your defense for a favorable outcome.
They can prove someone had the drug in their system from a variety of factors. The easiest way for impairment to be proved is through observable behavior and specifically their observable driving behavior. There could be some type of driving behavior that is indicative of drug impairment that would give them the probable cause needed to arrest them, but then it would also create a situation where it could be enough in front of a jury or in front of a judge to actually convict them depending on the behaviors that were observed and how bad the behaviors were.
Authorities are going to test for the presence of drugs by using either a urinalysis or using some type of blood test. A person can refuse these tests and they should refuse them, unless the police officers have a warrant to get this information from them. If they have a warrant, then they are able to do so under the law.
Someone can be charged with a drug DUI whether or not it is prescribed to them, and whether or not it is legal for them to have. If someone is impaired or they are showing signs of impairment either under the influence of the drug, it does not matter whether or not they have a prescription for it especially if it is something that has a particular effect that will cause them to be an unsafe driver while they are under the influence of it, so it is not going to be something they can necessarily use as a defense in a DUI charge.
Someone can be charged for an over-the-counter medication. Any kind of drug, whether it is legal or prescribed or not, that has some kind of discernible effect and impairs someone’s driving to a significant degree, or to a degree that is visible to a police officer, is going to be charged as a DUID.
The biggest mistakes to avoid in drug DUI cases for a defendant would be first and foremost for someone to not carry their drugs around with them in the car, which is going to be an added charge and an added reason for officers to pull someone over and suspect them of a drug-related DUI. Someone could have a possession charge or multiple possession charges depending on what is in their vehicle at the time that they were pulled over for the DUID.
It is a mistake for someone to admit they took any kind of medication whatsoever even if they are somebody who thinks they were allowed to be under the influence of that medication. Any kind of admission or offering of a blood sample without the officers obtaining a warrant is giving officers another chance to find the evidence against them to charge them with a DUI. Offering any information to the officers verbally or offering any type of blood information or evidence would be a mistake for somebody who is charged with a DUID. A person should get the help of a Chantilly DUI drug attorney before offering any information voluntarily.
If there is a situation where someone should have known or they reasonably could have known that it would impair them, for example, if it is a drug that is supposed to help them sleep and they did not know they could not drive on it, they are probably warned by their doctor and that is not going to be a good defense to a DUID.
Involuntarily intoxication defenses usually occur where someone did not knowingly take the drug at all and they were not responsible for putting it into their system. Using a certain type of drug makes them responsible for the effects that drug might have on their system, at least to the extent that it would be reasonably knowable, but depending on the facts of the case, it could be a possible defense.
An experienced DUI drug attorney in Chantilly will help to show your case in the best light. You are going to need somebody in a case to provide information to a judge or jury. Judges and juries are laypeople, and they are not familiar often with the effects drugs might have or with the different symptoms associated with certain drugs.
They are going to need somebody who can effectively and fully communicate this to them and walk them through the process especially in situations where an attorney’s defense is based upon the fact that your driving behavior was not indicating driving under the influence of drugs. Perhaps there were symptoms of something else, some other type of medical impairment, or some other type of unrelated behavior that can be explained without somebody being on under the influence. A Chantilly DUI drug attorney is your best chance for a proper defense in your case.