How to Handle a Virginia DUI Stop

I help people with DUI charges. I help to make sure that you don't get a criminal record. If you get pulled over and you've had a few beers, what I would recommend doing is not rolling your window down too, too far. If you have a breath mint, that's probably a good idea that you use a breath mint. I would recommend that you, to the extent that you can, you assert your right to remain silent. So, you don't have to make any statements to the police.

The police officer's gonna ask for your license and registration, provide those. I wouldn't roll my window down too far. Hopefully, the officer doesn't know that, notice that you have alcohol on your breath, but I wouldn't in general advise that you make any statements to the police regarding your case. You have a right to remain silent. If the police officer does smell alcohol and he starts asking you questions about that, you have the right to remain silent, and you should assert your right to remain silent.

Field Sobriety Tests, whether you do them or not, it can be a double-edged sword. Same with the PBT. If you know that if you're extremely, extremely confident that you are below the limit, it's not gonna hurt you to do a PBT at the scene because your breath test will be below a .08, which will help you. However, if you're at all unsure, it's never gonna be a good idea in my opinion to do the Field Sobriety Tests or the PBT, simply because the Field Sobriety Tests are designed to mess you up. Almost everybody fails Field Sobriety Tests, and the PBT is just a Preliminary Breath Test, it's not admissible in court, so it only helps you if you're below a .08 on the PBT.

The Field Sobriety Tests again, unless you haven't had anything to drink, it's probably not at all advisable that you do those, because they're designed to make you fail. These are tests that were designed to do in a laboratory environment, on a flat surface with good lighting, and these are done in the dark, on the side of a road, and a lot of the tests aren't even the Standardized Field Sobriety Tests, so there's no science behind them. If you refuse a Field Sobriety Test or a Preliminary Breath Test, those are both consensual tests. S

o, there's no consequences as far as a license suspension or anything like that. It is admissible in a court of law, whether or not you declined the Field Sobriety Tests, but there's no license suspension for not doing them. So, they're absolutely consensual. And in a lot of cases, you probably should refuse them. You get pulled over in Virginia and the police officer says that he smells alcohol and starts questioning you about that, you need to know that you have the right to remain silent, and you probably should assert your right to remain silent in that situation.

It's never gonna help you to answer that question, unless you can definitively and honestly say that you've had nothing to drink. You can feel free to give us a call, and we provide a full consultation. We'll go over your case from start to finish. There's never any obligation, so there's never gonna be any pressure. You can talk to us for as long as you want about your case. We'll fully discuss your case, and there's never any obligation to move forward. It's completely risk free.