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| The dui stop, it is important that the police officer establish probably cause for pulling the vehicle over. Most tampa dui lawyers will tell you that often times this is the easiest lowest cost and easiest way to exonerate someone from a dui. Driving without your headlights on, speeding, running a stop sign, etc all give the officer probable cause for making the stop. |
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| If the tampa police officer followed right behind the car for an extended period of time, the stop occurred immediately after leaving the establishment where the alcoholic beverages were consumed. Then these could provide evidence of entrapment. When subpoenaing the officer ask for information such as his prior five arrests and five arrests following the accused stop. This could give rise to a pattern whereby all of the accused were stopped leaving the same establishment. If a pattern can be proven then a jury will likely view the stop as entrapment. |
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| If the police officer followed a driver for several miles and the arrest is on camera most juries will look at this evidence as being detrimental to the police officer because the person was clearly able to maintain control of the vehicle for a long period of time and if the officer thought there was eminent danger the stop should have occurred more immediately. |
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| Officer Comes to the car door ::. |
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| Tampa dui lawyers will tell you that one of the first questions the officer will ask is "have you been drinking tonight?" |
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| The three typical choices a person may answer is :::... |
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- "Yes" – the result will be taking the field sobriety test
- "No" – the result maybe not taking the field sobriety test if the officer does not spot other clues.
- "I would like to speak with my attorney" before answering any questions – this will result in an arrest. Ask the officer if you are free to leave. If the officer tells you that you are not free to leave then you have been placed under arrest at this point.
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| We advise that you never lie to an officer of the law. If you do not feel like you will pass the field sobriety test or the breath test then your decision becomes simple. Fully cooperate with the police and be charged with a dui and hope the judge will be lenient on you. Or do what the majority of prosecutors and judges do and ask to speak with your attorney and refuse all tests. |
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| The police officer will get your blood sample at some point whether you speak to an attorney or not. However once the difference is that if you did not admit to having drank, preformed none of the tests then the officer has not established probable cause and therefore the blood sample based upon the U.S. Constitution maybe deemed inadmissible in court. |
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| For those of you that have already answered "No" and are going to trial. Remember that the majority of people answer "No" because they panic and are afraid of getting into trouble. The prosecutor will want to hammer the fact that you lied into the ground. Remember juries are people too, lying is not something they can relate with, being panicked is something they can. |
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| 2-beer rule : I would not recommend that a person state that they had two beers. It is better if you are going to tell the officer that you drank that you don’t remember. Most people can not remember but as drinking out is expensive that you try to limit your alcohol consumption. |
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