I have always told my clients that, despite the expense, they owe it to themselves to hire an attorney to challenge a DUI charge.  Although many defenses have been eliminated over the years, the state still has the burden of proof, and the courts are quite clear on what hurdles must be overcome in order to get the results of a breathalyzer test into evidence to prove that you were driving under the influence.  The machines must be inspected and calibrated on a regular basis, officers must be properly trained (and re-trained) on how to operate it, all of the instruments used in those calibration tests must also be certified as accurate, and the test results must be in a certain range of tolerance.

Nothing could prove this point more than the story in The Philadelphia Inquirer today about 1,147 breathalyzer test results being thrown out, resulting in all of the cases being reopened.  In fact, the problem was brought to the attention of city officals by a DUI defense attorney!  In DUI cases, as in life, the devil is in the details, and those details need to be scrutinized.  Many a DUI has been amended down to a careless or reckless driving offense because the breathalyzer results were found to be inadmissible.

The moral of this story is that if you have been charged with a DUI, you should contact my office as soon as possible  to go over the state's proofs.  With the significant penalties that would result from a conviction, it could make all of the difference in the world!