Our Drunk Driving Defense Trial Strategies
Our trial strategy is geared towards effectively communicating to the jury the prosecution's burden of proof in a drunk driving case. Drunk driving defendants face juries that have been indoctrinated to believe that drinking and driving is against the law. It is important to dispel this incorrect assumption. It is legal to drink and drive. It is illegal to drive while intoxicated. It is the prosecuting attorney's burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a driver was intoxicated.
It is equally important that the police officer's opinions and bias be examined on cross- examination. People generally tend to believe police officers, even after taking an oath to hear the evidence impartially on a jury. The police officer's opinion cannot replace the objective facts and evidence in a case, however, and it's important to reveal the facts underlying the officer's opinion and raise potential conflicts in the officer's testimony.
In cases where chemical testing shows a breath or blood alcohol limit in excess of the legal limit, it's important that the jury understand how these machines work. It's important that the jury realize that the machine is fallible and is subject to numerous errors.
Our firm maintains access to some of the best experts in the nation in breath testing, blood testing, and field sobriety testing. Experts in many other fields are also available depending upon the facts of a particular case.
To effectively communicate the above points to the jury, we employ effective trial exhibits and use PowerPoint presentations to help jurors retain critical points that challenge the police officer's opinion and attack the prosecuting attorney's evidence.