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When drivers in eastern Iowa see flashing lights in the rearview mirror, one of the first questions they often ask later is the same one attorney Peter Riley hears in his office: Is it worth fighting an O.W.I. or drunk driving charge?
For Riley, an attorney with the Tom Riley Law Firm in Cedar Rapids, the answer always starts with a closer look at the facts.
“There’s no reason for fighting if you don’t have a defense,” he said. “What’s the point?”
That’s why his first step is to examine exactly how the traffic stop and testing were handled.
One key issue is whether law enforcement had probable cause — or at least reasonable suspicion — to make the stop in the first place.
“They can’t randomly pull people over. They have to have some cause,” Riley said. Today, body cameras and squad car videos often capture the moments leading up to the stop, including a driver’s manner of driving. If the video doesn’t support the officer’s stated reason, that can become an important part of a legal defense.
“If they didn’t have a reasonable suspicion of drunk driving, then everything that happens after that is not admissible,” he said.
The next focus is the testing itself. Officers commonly use field sobriety tests along with a portable breathalyzer at the roadside. Riley stresses that the portable breath test is just for screening and it’s not admissible as evidence at trial. He recalls a legal seminar where attorneys demonstrated how unreliable these devices can be in certain situations. A lawyer took a drink of beer at 9 a.m. to show how a recent sip could send a portable reading “way off the chart,” even though it did not accurately reflect impairment.
Those portable readings are typically used only to decide whether there is a basis to take a driver to the station for testing on a more sophisticated machine. From there, questions remain about how all of the tests were conducted, whether procedures were followed, and how the evidence will hold up in court.
For drivers facing an O.W.I. charge, understanding these details can be the difference between assuming there is no hope and learning that real defenses may exist.
For more information, visit the Tom Riley Law Firm’s website.