Know Your Legal Rights

If you are stopped and detained by law enforcement or placed under a arrest, the officer must tell you the reason(s). Law enforcement officers must have a valid legal reason to pull you over and stop you in your vehicle before they can get to the issue of whether you are driving under the influence. It is illegal for law enforcement to see you leaving a bar and to pull you over for that reason alone; they must have a legal basis for the stop.

Once a law enforcement officer pulls you over, you are subject to being observed and evaluated for signs of intoxication and you are subjected to being asked questions and to being asked to perform tests, which are designed to incriminate you. You do not have to answer these questions. Your only legal obligation is to provide a valid Driver’s License, vehicle registration, and if requested, automobile insurance information. You should cooperate with the officer and answer basic questions regarding your Driver’s License, vehicle registration, automobile insurance information, and your basic identification information, such as your name and address. This is all that you are required to do.

Law enforcement officers are trained to look for signs of, and to illicit information about, intoxication. It does not take much for law enforcement officers to decide that you are intoxicated. For instance, any odor of alcohol on your breath will lead them to conclude, and to write in their report, that they “detected the strong odor of an alcoholic beverage” on you. They will gage your speech and conclude that you slurred your speech. They will look at your eyes and determine that they are red and glassy. They will evaluate you as you retrieve your Driver’s License and Registration to see if you are fumbling or if you are clumsy. They are noting your complexion to see if you are flushed. They even note what you are wearing because if you look disheveled, wrinkled, or untucked, then in their opinion, you must be drunk.

After this initial evaluation, if the law enforcement officer determines that you have been drinking, which in all likelihood he or she will unless you truly have not consumed any alcohol, you have virtually no chance of avoiding an arrest. The officer will next ask you to perform some tests in order to determine whether your ability to drive is impaired. These tests may be in the form of a Preliminary Breath Test (PBT), Standardized Field Sobriety Tests (SFSTs), and or a Breathalyzer Test. The officer will not tell you that you do not have to do these tests. You have an absolute right not to perform any of these tests. It is important to know that by performing these tests, you are giving the prosecuting attorney at your trial the evidence to use against you to convict you.

There are no negative legal consequences for refusing to take the Preliminary Breath Test (PBT), or the Standardized Field Sobriety Tests (SFSTs). As for the Breathalyzer Test, there is no criminal consequence to not taking this test, but there is a civil sanction imposed by the Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) of a suspension period. For a first offense, it is a suspension of your driver’s license for 120 days and for a second or subsequent offense, it is a suspension of your driver’s license for one (1) year. The reason for this is due to Maryland’s Implied Consent laws. When you obtained your Driver’s License, you consented to take a test (Breathalyzer Test) if you should be detained on suspicion of driving or attempting to drive while under the influence of alcohol, while impaired by alcohol, while so far impaired by any drug, any combination of drugs, or a combination of one or more drugs and alcohol that you could not drive a vehicle safely, while impaired by a controlled dangerous substance, in violation of an alcohol restriction. This law allows for the suspension of the license of a driver who refuses to submit to testing for alcohol concentration. Again, you are not compelled to submit to a chemical analysis and a refusal will result in a suspension of your Driver’s License.

Electing not to provide a breath sample may not save you from a conviction though, because you can still be convicted based on other evidence besides your blood-alcohol concentration level (BAC), such as the officer’s testimony that you were swaying while talking to him or her, or that you were driving erratically and that the officer smelled the odor of alcohol on your breath.

Clients often tell me that the arresting officer failed to give them their Miranda Right. If you are placed under arrest, the officer may give you a Miranda Warning. This warning comes from the United States Supreme Court case of Miranda v. Arizona and states in pertinent part that:

“You have the right to remain silent; anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law; you have the right to speak to an attorney, and to have an attorney present during any questioning; if you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be provided for you at government expense.”
Miranda warnings are required to be given if you are in custody and being interrogated. In drunk driving cases, a police officer might not give you a Miranda Warning after arresting you because, although you are in custody, they usually are not interrogating you at this point. They will have interrogated you when they first stopped you (or tried and failed if you have received my information).

If you find that after being arrested, you are being asked questions that may incriminate you, and you are not given a Miranda Warning, then the information you provided can not be used against you in Court.

The other absolute you right you have if you are apprehended for drunk driving is your right to counsel, as provided in the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. You have a due process right to consult an attorney prior to deciding whether to submit to a police administered Breathalyzer Test. This includes the right to a face-to-face consultation with the attorney, and not just telephonic contact. However, the driver may not postpone the Breathalyzer Test until the consultation with the attorney if the postponement exceeds the two (2) hour limit to take the test imposed by the implied consent statute. Once you request an attorney all interrogation and testing must stop.

Call me at 410-446-6644 or complete the Free Attorney Consultation box on this page to discuss your case at no charge and to fully protect your interests.