You go out to dinner with friends. The restaurant is packed, which makes you feel a little anxious, so you order a drink to calm you nerves. You laugh and talk with your friends, and eventually the waitress comes by and asks if you’d like another drink. “Sure,” you say.
Another hour passes, and your friend wants to take shots. Not wanting to be a party-pooper, you agree.
The waitress comes by again, asking you if you’d like another drink but you decline since your plan was to drive home. Eventually, the dinner comes to an end and you and your friends walk to the parking lot. You wonder, briefly, if you should drive, but you decide that you feel fine and your apartment is only a few miles away.
You are fiddling with the radio a few minutes later when flashing lights catch your eye. “Oh no,” you murmur out loud, realizing that you are being pulled over.
Your hands slightly tremble as you pull your wallet out of your purse and grab your ID, and then reach for the glove compartment to retrieve your insurance card. You have never been in serious trouble before.
When the officer approaches your window, he asks if you have been drinking. You say you had a couple drinks with dinner, and he asks you to get out of your car. He asks you to perform field sobriety tests, starting with a one-leg stand.
Your heart is now pounding in your chest and you feel embarrassed as cars slowly drive by. Eventually, the officer asks you to take a breathalyzer test, and you hesitantly agree, thinking about the times you have heard in the past to refuse the test.
The officer tells you that you are over the legal limit to drive. I’m completely screwed, you think.
What you have been through was extremely stressful, but that doesn’t mean you should just give in and take the consequences of a DUI by pleading guilty.
An experienced criminal defense lawyer can investigate the facts surrounding your case to determine whether you should have been pulled over or charged in the first place. Even if you were technically over the legal limit to drive according to a breathalyzer test, it doesn’t automatically mean that you have lost your case.
For more information on how we assist Wisconsin residents who have been charged with drunk driving, please see our Waukesha OWI DWI DUI Attorney page.