If you attend a South Carolina Gamecocks game at Williams-Brice Stadium or are among the legions of fans rooting for the Atlanta Falcons or Carolina Panthers at a local bar, there is a good chance you will consume alcoholic beverages. Study after study has shown football and alcohol go hand-in-hand. This means police are aware of more alcohol use on game days and may be more aggressive in pulling drivers over- which means you could face an arrest for impaired driving.
If you are charged with DUI, you have options- even if your BAC was over-the-limit at the time of your arrest. You should explore possible DUI defense options as soon as possible post-arrest so you can fight against a conviction which could lead to the loss of your license and other serious consequences.
What to Do If You Are Arrested for DUI With a BAC Over-the-Limit
ABC News reports one out of 12 football fans will leave a football stadium legally drunk. Tailgaters are 14 times as likely to leave a game impaired as others, and fans 35 and under are also more likely to leave impaired.
Even fans who watch games at friend's houses commonly consume a lot of alcohol, with studies from the Department of Transportation in one state revealing 45 percent of people who drink while watching games have three or more drinks.
Having multiple drinks can result in a blood alcohol concentration above .08 percent if police pull you over and require you to submit to a breathalyzer test. This can result in a charge of DUI and prosecutors can point to the test as evidence of your intoxication.
When you have a BAC above-the-limit, you may assume you don't have options for an effective DUI defense. The reality, however, is there are ways to fight a conviction for impaired driving, even when prosecutors can point to a breath test, a blood test, or a urine test showing too much alcohol was consumed.
In some cases, you can prevent the tests from actually being used to try to secure a conviction if you can show you were pulled over without justification or police had no probable cause to insist upon a test. BAC tests are considered searches, which means Fourth Amendment protections apply.
Even when tests were performed, there may have been problems with the way the evidence was handled or issues with the crime lab where the testing was performed. Recently, ABC News reported on one crime lab where testing processes were abominable. The crime lab admitted it had errors with its scientific method and internal audits showed testing problems.
Attorneys for one DUI defendant who had been charged with causing an accident were able to obtain internal audits showing problems with the testing. As a result, the prosecutor opted against using the evidence and the defendant- who had been facing 15 years imprisonment- was able to avoid conviction in a court case.
Crime lab problems and other evidence handling issues can happen, and it often takes an attorney to find them. After a DUI arrest following a football party or game, contact an attorney so you can fight conviction.
