North Carolina Criminal Law Updates
What are my options? Can a lawyer help? What happens if I was Over the Legal Limit?
One common misunderstanding with DWI’s is that there are no options if charged – Danny Glover
- The State must be able to identify you as the driver beyond a reasonable doubt
- The officer must have at least “reasonable suspicion” pull over the vehicle
- Standardized Field Sobriety Tests are part of an Impaired Driving Investigation
See More: Standardized Field Sobriety Testing
Reasonable Doubt in North Carolina – Pattern Jury Instructions:
- Based on Common Sense and Reason
- State’s Burden
- Defendant Has NO Burden of Proof or Production
- Defendant Presumed Innocent Until Proven Guilty
- Not a vain, imaginary, or fanciful doubt
Modified Transcript of “What Happens if I Was Over The Legal Limit” for the Hearing Impaired
DWI has several different components to it. The first is the state’s ability to identify you beyond a
reasonable doubt as the driver or operator of the vehicle. Sometimes, DWIs occur in scenarios where you
are not followed down the highway for two miles by the state trooper.
Oftentimes, a state has problems identifying you as the driver of the vehicle that’s found. Then the officer
has to have reasonable suspicion that you are driving while impaired or probable cause that you have
committed a crime before you can stop your vehicle.
Then he has to have probable cause to arrest you for DWI. That includes issues such as field sobriety testing or portable breath test known as chemical screening tests. Then he has to perform all of the tests correctly.
I am a certified administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Standardized Field Sobriety Test. Those are not pass/fail test. You don’t do good or bad.
They are designed to be instructed a certain way, administered a certain way. They are looking for a certain number of clues that have to be interpreted a certain way.