Is there such a thing as a simple DUI case? Certainly some impaired driving cases are more straightforward than others. However, having successfully defended well over a thousand DUI cases over the years, we think that we can reliably say that, as you work on each file, virtually every drinking-driving case is complicated in some manner. Every file has challenges. Some DUI cases have extraordinary facts. Sometimes it hurts, but complicated DUI defence is part of our job.
The standard old lawyer mantra is “don’t assume that you’re guilty just because you blew over .08.” It’s accurate, but it really doesn’t tell you anything. In criminal court (as opposed to IRP defence) everyone is innocent unless they are found guilty in court.
Our DUI lawyers operate on a different assumption. Our mantra is that we’ll prove that you’re not guilty, despite the fact that you blew over .08. That’s what we work for. And in the vast majority of cases we get there – even in complicated DUI cases.
What is it about complicated DUI defence?
We explained last year why we defend drunk driving cases. As criminal lawyers we feel that we have a moral obligation to stand up for people who are charged with criminal offences, including drunk driving. A DUI charge may be the worst thing that happens to a person in their lifetime. A criminal record is a stain that won’t go away and in a great number of cases our clients are not just innocent due to the technicalities we find – they are factually innocent.
Moreover, we keep the system in check. Our work exposes shoddy police behaviour, inadequate breath testing procedures and bad evidence. With DUIs issued at the roadside, (IRPs) you just have to go back over our blog to see all the work we’ve done to challenge the BC Government’s drunk-driving laws. Go back far enough and you’ll see that we also exposed the major problem with the breathalyzer machines that they use in the police departments, and that our investigations of breathalyzers never stops.
But what is it about the difficult DUI cases that intrigues us? What is it about complicated DUI defence that gets our hearts aflame?
Simply put, we like the challenge of complex drinking driving cases. Ever day there is something new to learn, some new angle we can find and some new defence that we refine to help our clients get the best result in their case.
The fact of the matter is that no DUI case is simple. Each case is a puzzle that we want to solve. It’s a challenge. In some respects every drinking driving case is complex. It is the complicated DUI defence and the complicated criminal cases that intrigue us and that keep us as criminal lawyers, interested in our legal work.