Pennsylvania Field Sobriety Tests
The Pennsylvania district attorneys prosecuting your Pennsylvania DUI case will attempt to use your field sobriety test performance as evidence of your intoxication. However, your defense lawyer may be able to use the same field sobriety test result to demonstrate that you were not impaired. Your Pennsylvania DUI attorney at Ciccarelli Law Offices will thoroughly review your field sobriety test performance to determine whether the results may be used to advance your defense.
Field sobriety tests are known as divided-attention tests – they purportedly detect mental and physical impairment by forcing you to concentrate on two separate tasks simultaneously. The district attorney in your Pennsylvania DUI case will likely present any variation between the directions given by police and how you performed as evidence of mental and physical impairment.
However, field sobriety tests in Pennsylvania are imperfect, and there are many factors unrelated to alcohol intoxication that could cause you to perform poorly. Your Pennsylvania DUI attorney will attempt to prove that you “failed” your field sobriety test because of issues unrelated to alcohol use.
There are many factors that could cause you to perform poorly on a field sobriety test, including illness, injury, fatigue, or even nervousness. If you performed physical aspects of the test poorly but did well on the mental tasks, your attorney can argue that you were not impaired. Experts agree that mental impairment occurs before physical impairment when an individual drinks alcohol.
“Failing” a field sobriety test doesn’t mean you’ll automatically be convicted of drunk driving. Your Pennsylvania DUI attorney at Ciccarelli Law Offices will thoroughly review your field sobriety test performance and all of the other evidence in your drunk driving case to determine the appropriate challenges. Please contact us today for a free consultation.
If you’re like many drivers arrested for Pennsylvania DUI, you may be tempted to plead guilty just to put the experience behind you. That’s completely understandable, but you should know that there may be excellent reasons to fight your case. To learn more about aggressive defenses to DUI charges, please contact the Pennsylvania DUI attorneys at Ciccarelli Law Offices today for a free consultation.
Gain the over 25 years of combined DUI experience.
Contact Lee Ciccarelli and the Ciccarelli Law Offices Criminal Defense Team to discuss your problem, to confidentially and professionally discuss the dui, drunk driving or driving while intoxicated charges, arrest, and legal issues facing you and your family. We have an attorney on call 24/7. Contact us on line or by phone at (877) 842-1529 for a free consultation at one of our Pennsylvania locations
