When a person has been charged with a DUI, they often think that there is no way to have their DUI case dismissed or broken down to a lesser crime. However, an experienced attorney may be able to help show that there is no reasonable suspicion for roadsides or no probable cause for a DUI arrest in your case.

 

Reasonable suspicion or founded suspicion is something less than probable cause, but more than an inchoate and unparticularized suspicion or hunch. An officer’s request that a suspect perform roadside exercises is justified under the 4th Amendment when an officer has reasonable suspicion that a crime is being committed.

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Examples of where courts have found that there was reasonable suspicion to ask for roadsides to be performed in a DUI case:

• Speeding + Bloodshot eyes + Odor of Alcohol = Reasonable Suspicion

• Running Red Light + Odor of Alcohol + Bloodshot/glassy eyes = Reasonable Suspicion

• Weaving Pattern + Odor of Alcohol = Reasonable Suspicion

• Accident + Odor + Slurred Speech = Reasonable Suspicion

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Furthermore, the Fourth Amendment requires that any arrest be based on probable cause. Whether or not there is probable cause typically depends on the totality of the circumstances, meaning everything that the arresting officers know or reasonably believe at the time the arrest is made. Courts usually find probable cause when there is a reasonable basis for believing that a crime may have been committed.

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Examples of where courts have found that there was probable cause to make an arrest for DUI:

• Odor of Alcohol + Bloodshot/Watery Eyes + Accident = Probable Cause

• Erratic Driving + Odor of Alcohol + Watery Eyes + Slurred Speech = Probable Cause

• Speeding + Odor of Alcohol + Admission of Drinking = Probable Cause

• Motorcycle on Side of Road + Damage to Motorcycle + Defendant Lying in the Grass + Odor of Alcohol + Bloodshot Eyes + Watery Eyes = Probable Cause