Defense of Rising Blood Alcohol in DC DUI Cases
Rising blood alcohol occurs when someone consumes alcohol but their body does not process it and they do not feel its effects until later on. So someone may have had something to drink at one point before getting into a car, feeling sober, but have an elevated BAC by the time they arrive at their destination. A person who may not have had much to drink might still get pulled over and arrested for a DUI even if they were sober when they started driving. That is why the defense of rising blood alcohol in DC DUI cases can be a valid defense that a qualified DUI lawyer can pursue.
Evidence
The most important evidence when building a defense of rising blood alcohol in DC DUI cases is how much the individual had to drink, the hours they were drinking, and how long after they were drinking they began to drive. At what point did the police come into contact with the individual being in actual physical control of a vehicle? The person could be sitting in the vehicle, listening to the radio or could be pulled over while driving. The key is the timeframe between when they stopped drinking when they were pulled over, and when they gave the chemical test the prosecution tries to use against them as objective scientific evidence.
Circumstances Where Rising BAC is a Defense
When a test of a person’s blood alcohol level happens 10 minutes after they are driving, it is an invalid test because the police must do a 20-minute observation period. They must make sure the individual does not ingest anything else, does not burp or regurgitate, and there is nothing in their mouth to ensure that the breathalyzer provides accurate results.
The police might pull somebody over, do their initial evaluation, quickly arrest the person following the correct procedures, and have the person doing a breathalyzer test 35 minutes after they were driving. In that situation, the expected increase in blood alcohol content due to the rising blood alcohol content is not nearly as much as if the test is done two hours after that individual was driving; especially if they were driving shortly after they stopped drinking.
The defense of rising blood alcohol in DC DUI cases can be used in any situation where an individual was driving shortly after they were drinking and then tested. It is most useful when the driving occurs shortly after the consumption of alcohol ended and the testing was done some length of time after the person was done driving.
Reasons the Defense is Convincing
People know that it is not wise to do a lot of shots of alcohol in succession and it can be dangerous. When a person does shots of alcohol in short order, they do not feel the effects of the alcohol for some time. The person can over consume alcohol in a short period of time because they do not feel the impact of the alcohol right away. When the alcohol begins to affect the person; it hits them hard and may lead to alcohol poisoning. Usually, people have personal experience with consuming alcohol. They realize that when they drink, the alcohol does not immediately affect them. Because of that personal experience, people understand how their body processes alcohol which makes it very controllable.
Benefit of a Lawyer
An experienced DUI defense lawyer gathers the necessary information from their client, from discovery materials provided by the government, and from any witnesses. After reviewing the evidence, the DC DUI defense lawyer pinpoints the available defenses and whether they include a defense of rising blood alcohol in DC DUI cases. An experienced and skilled defense lawyer identifies all the pertinent information obtained from the client and other sources and works with the client to determine whether there is a viable defense. If there is a viable defense; the defense lawyer properly prepares and presents the defense in court.