DUI Checkpoint Arrest? A DUI Attorney Seattle WA Can Help

Throughout Seattle, law enforcement agencies routinely set up DUI checkpoints. These checkpoints are intended to catch people who are driving under the influence of alcohol. If you are stopped at a DUI checkpoint and you are found to be intoxicated and arrested for a DUI, it is absolutely imperative you consult with a DUI attorney Seattle WA as soon as possible. A DUI attorney Seattle WA can review the case against you and the manner in which evidence was obtained. Your DUI attorney Seattle WA can then help you to explore possible defenses that could help you to get the charges dropped or to be found not-guilty of the DUI offense.

How a DUI Attorney Seattle WA Can Help

A DUI checkpoint is considered to be a form of a search. After all, law enforcement is stopping your vehicle and checking whether you are intoxicated or not. Under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution, you are supposed to be protected from unlawful search and seizures, unreasonable searches and searches without probable cause.

A DUI attorney Seattle WA will, therefore, review the information about the DUI checkpoint at which you were stopped in order to determine if a constitutional rights violation occurred.

Advice from a DUI Attorney Seattle WA on DUI Checkpoint Laws

Although a DUI checkpoint is a search, and being pulled over without reasonable cause to be checked can be considered a violation of your constitutional rights, courts have generally held that law enforcement is permitted to set up these checkpoints. This is because there is a fundamental interest in keeping the streets safe from drunk drivers.

As your DUI attorney Seattle WA will explain to you, this does not give law enforcement carte blanche to simply do anything that they want. They still must operate within strict guidelines to ensure that they are fair and just and that the violation of your constitutional rights associated with the checkpoint stop is minimal.

A DUI attorney Seattle, therefore, will look at the manner in which the DUI checkpoint was conducted. If your DUI attorney Seattle WA finds evidence that the law enforcement officer running the checkpoint signaled you out or did not have a specific organized system of pulling people over to randomly check their BAC, then your DUI attorney Seattle WA may be able to show that the search conducted was not within the bounds of the law.

If your DUI attorney Seattle WA is able to successfully prove that the search was conducted unfairly, then any evidence collected as a result of the search may be suppressed or kept from being presented in a court of law. Evidence collected improperly is considered tainted evidence or "fruit of the poison tree" and will not be used against you in court.

Without evidence, the prosecutor in the case cannot prove your guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. This means the prosecutor might dismiss the charges that were brought against you and you won't have to go to court at all. If you do go to court, your DUI attorney Seattle WA can highlight the lack of evidence in order to help you get a not-guilty verdict.