Free DUI Lawyer In California

Reader’s Question:

A friend of mine got arrested in Los Angeles, California because of DUI. He had a slurred speech according to the police report. Can a slurred speech be used as evidence in a DUI trial?

Alonzo

Los Angeles, CA

Just like the odor of alcohol on the breath of a person arrested for DUI, a very few police reports would fail to include an observation by the police officer that the person arrested exhibited “slurred speech” during the DUI arrest. The police officer usually expects to hear slurred speech in a person whom he/she suspects as intoxicated or driving under the influence, particularly after smelling alcohol on the breath. Also, it would be a psychological fact that we tend to “hear” what we expect to hear. And upon hearing a slurred speech, it supplies the police officer with a proof of his suspicions that the person was indeed intoxicated, and thus driving under the influence.

Assuming that the police officer was honest that your friend who was arrested for DUI in Los Angeles, California had a slurred speech during the DUI arrest, there is little evidence that this is a symptom of intoxication. For example, impairment of speech, even when sober, is a common reaction to the stress, fear and nervousness that a police investigation would be expected to happen. Fatigue is also a well-known cause of having a slurred speech. A study of phonetician showed that even self-proclaimed experts are not good at estimating people’s alcohol levels by the way they talk.

Reader’s Question:

How many drinks does it take to have a 0.080 alcohol concentration and what must I do to avoid a DWI in California?

Payton

Bakersfield, CA

How many drinks do you need to have a 0.08 alcohol level in your blood? Well Payton, to tell you frankly, the response to your question is not pretty as clear cut as you may imagine. Alcohol is a very toxic substance. The moment you place alcohol into your bodily system, your body will begin to get rid of it. Alcohol levels will only go up when you drink further alcohol or at a more rapidly rate than your body can do away with it.

The most excellent response is by exemplar. If a common one hundred fifty pound man drinks four typical beers in sixty minutes, his alcohol level at the end of the sixty minutes would be 0.080. This is the identical whether the drink is a twelve ounce beer, four ounce of wine or one ounce of 80 proof whiskey. This evaluation will differ from person to person and has many other factors that have an effect on it.

For your next question on how to avoid DWI in California, the best advice I can give you is not to drink and drive. If you are planning to drink, drink sensibly or plan a ride if you are not. If you will border your drinking to one drink per hour, you ought to be fine.