Finding an effective defense against your DUI charges will depend entirely on your unique case. Your attorney can investigate your arrest and the evidence against you, determining whether your rights were violated or if there were other errors in the process.

Some of the potential defenses that are commonly used to dismiss or reduce DUI charges include:

1. Stop: In Arizona, an officer can pull over a vehicle if they have reasonable suspicion or probable cause to conduct a traffic stop, such as reckless driving. An officer can also conduct traffic stops at a DUI checkpoint. However, when neither of these situations applies, the arrest would be unwarranted, and any evidence gathered at the stop could be inadmissible.
2. Lack of Probable Cause for Arrest: Even if there is cause for a traffic stop, there may not have been probable cause for an arrest. Physical symptoms like slurring words, lack of balance, or bloodshot eyes can be caused by other issues like fatigue, injury, or allergies. If there was not enough cause for an officer to suspect the driver of being intoxicated, but they arrest them anyway, this may be grounds for a defense.
3. Improper or Inaccurate Field Sobriety Tests: Field sobriety tests (FSTs) can determine a driver’s intoxication level, but they are often inaccurate due to numerous factors. The officer must only use standardized FSTs and cannot give them to certain drivers and in certain conditions. Officers do not always follow these requirements. Uneven roads, older drivers, medical conditions, physical injuries, poor administration and instructions, and inclement weather can all affect the outcome of an FST and cause poor results.
4. Lack of Actual Physical Control: There must be proof that the individual was in actual physical control of the vehicle. All the circumstances must be reviewed to determine that the individual was in control of the vehicle rather than simply being in their vehicle. This could be used as a defense if you were not driving or intending to drive prior to the police arriving.
5. Breath Test Inaccuracies: Medical conditions and a person’s diet can accurately elevate or result in false positives on breathalyzer tests or other blood alcohol concentration (BAC) readings. These can sometimes mimic intoxication or impairment, even when the driver is not impaired. Breathalyzers can also be calibrated or administered improperly, leading to false results.
6. Involuntary Intoxication: If a driver’s drink was spiked, or they otherwise unknowingly ingested an intoxicated substance, this could be an effective defense.
7. Lack of Established Time of Driving: If the arrest happened after an individual was driving, and the officer or prosecution cannot establish the actual time of driving, then BAC readings may not be relevant.

Police misconduct can affect a DUI arrest and its defense in many ways, such as a denial of an independent blood test or the failure to read the driver’s rights. An attorney can review these and other defenses to see how they can apply to your situation.