3. Rising Blood Alcohol
If your body is still absorbing alcohol at the time that the blood alcohol testing is administered to you by Mendocino County law enforcement, then the later test results in Ukiah will not be an accurate reflection of your alcohol level at the time of driving. Your Mendocino DUI lawyer will explain that this defense usually arises when you drank alcohol just prior to driving.
A Rising Blood Alcohol Example.
Your Ukiah DUI attorney should explain a rising blood alcohol case to you this way:
Let's say you live in Laytonville and you arrive at a party in Ukiah at 10:00 p.m. You have had nothing to drink and you have no alcohol in your body. Minutes after arriving you drink three healthy shots of tequila on a dare. Then you see your ex at the party and decide to go home. At 10:05 p.m. you leave and drive highway 101 north from Ukiah to Laytonville. As time progresses during your driving, your blood alcohol concentration ("BAC") will be rising. For example, when you reach Laughlin, your BAC may be .04%, still below the .08% legal limit. However, by the time you reach Willits, your BAC may be at .09%, and by the time you reach home, your BAC may have reached close to twice the legal limit at .15%.
But what if you are stopped by CHP in Fair Oaks? Let's say that your BAC at the time of that stop is .06%. But your alcohol absorption doesn't stop just because your vehicle stopped. By the time you take a breath test, typically 15-25 minutes after the police stopped you, your BAC has risen to .13%. Click here to see Scientific Examples Of Rising Curves.
The Defense.
The law allows the Mendocino County prosecutor a legal presumption, to argue to the jury in a Ukiah courtroom that the .13% result is presumed to be your BAC at the time of your driving (because obviously the police can never test you at the time you are actually driving). This presumption is discussed in further detail in Tip #7 below. But if we can show by affirmative evidence that it is more likely your BAC was below .08% at the time you were observed driving (which is the only legally relevant time -- it is not illegal to be over .08 while stopped at the side of the road) then your DUI lawyer may win your case in Mendocino County court and at Santa Rosa DMV.
This defense is strongest when your test results show low blood alcohol levels and if you offered a credible drinking history at the time you were interviewed by the Mendocino County police prior to arrest. If you took a preliminary breath test prior to arrest that actually shows you were below .08% with later tests showing modest gains, then you may have a very strong defense.
On the other hand, if you lied when interviewed at the scene (many people do), and said you had nothing to drink all night, or "just one drink hours ago," then your Mendocino County DUI lawyer may have difficulty convincing a Ukiah jury or the DMV that you are telling the truth later when you testify differently than the police report account by Mendocino County law enforcement. This is why Mendocino DUI lawyers nearly always suggest that during an encounter with Mendocino County law enforcement, it is best to say nothing at all about your activities, but don't lie.
Click here to see an example of a winning DMV Case Applying Rising Defense.