If you are charged with driving under the influence of drugs, a Fairfax drug DUI lawyer can help. Virginia law prohibits motorists from driving when under the influence of any combination of alcohol and drugs. If convicted of a DUI drug offense, you can lose your license as well as face potential penalties including imprisonment. A drug DUI lawyer in Fairfax will help you try to either reduce penalties of conviction or avoid being found guilty.
DUI cases involving drug use are complicated, and you need an attorney who knows the law and the science behind these types of criminal charges. Contact an experienced Fairfax drug DUI lawyer who can investigate your charges; talk to the prosecutor on your behalf, and handle your court case. Call today to learn how an attorney in Fairfax can help you.
Authorities use various methods to determine whether you’re under the influence of drugs. First, they will use typical observations of your eyes, your motor movements, your muscle movements, your coordination, your speech, your ability to perform simple test. Officers will often use the field sobriety tests which are a variety of tests that they learned in the academy and that they use on the street to determine whether people are intoxicated.
Officers will often phrase it as though that you don’t have a right to refuse but in fact you do. You do not have to take the field sobriety tests. Field sobriety tests are once again, a variety of tests usually three to five tests that officers have learned to measure your ability to follow instructions and if you have divided attention which needs to focus on two tests at once. Additionally, they look at your coordination. So, there will be things like a walk and turn test, asking you to walk a certain number of steps out and turn around.
Along with these tests, eventually, if they arrest you, they can obtain your blood whether you consent or not. So, that is not in your hands whether they take your blood or not. You cannot refuse that with that note.
Virginia criminalizes the offense of both drunk and drugged driving under Virginia Code Section 18.2-266. This provision of the law establishes legal limits for certain types of drugs in your system. If a blood, urine, or other chemical test shows you are at or above these limits, this is sufficient proof to charge you with being impaired while driving. The legal limits are:
You can be charged even if you do not exceed these limits if there is sufficient proof that any drugs, alcohol, or combination thereof has affected your ability to drive safely.
A test that shows drugs in your system does not always lead to a conviction. A Fairfax drug DUI lawyer can help you to argue that the evidence against you was obtained illegally and thus should be suppressed and not used in a trial.
Your attorney can also help you introduce doubts about whether the evidence was correctly obtained, handled, and tested. If you can make the jury doubt your guilt, you should be found not guilty since the prosecutor must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you drove after taking drugs.
The penalties for conviction for driving with drugs in your system are determined based on whether you have been convicted of similar past offenses in Virginia or anywhere in the U.S. If you have a criminal record for drunk or drugged driving, you can expect more serious consequences.
Drug and alcohol counseling, probation, and community service are also potential additional penalties that could be associated with a drugged driving conviction in Fairfax. If you do not want to take a chance on going to court to defend yourself, your Fairfax drug DUI lawyer can sometimes negotiate with the prosecutor to reduce your penalties or even charge you with a lesser crime if you agree to plead guilty.
By working with a seasoned local defense attorney immediately, you can give yourself an opportunity to get your DUI charges dismissed or seriously reduced. There are no guaranteed results with any legal matter, but our experienced Fairfax drug DUI lawyers know what it takes to build an effective defense in court. Contact our law firm today.