William B. Mange

Criminal Defense Lawyer in Austin, Texas

Criminal Law Blog

October 06, 2007

10 Commandments On What To Do On The Roadside To Avoid A DWI Conviction.

If you are stopped by a police officer …

1. Hand over your driver’s license and proof of insurance once you’ve been asked for them.

2. Politely tell the officer that you do not want to answer
any questions.

3. Tell the officer that you want to leave. If you are not allowed to leave, tell the officer that you want to speak to an attorney immediately.

4. If the officer tells you to get out of your vehicle, get out.

5. If the officer tells you to perform some roadside maneuvers, DON’T DO THEM.

6. Do not take a preliminary breath test. Do not submit to an examination by a Drug Recognition Expert.

7. If the officer asks you to blow into a breathalyzer, refuse. DON’T BLOW.

8. If the officer asks for a sample of your blood, refuse.

9. If the officer asks for permission to search your car, refuse. If the officer searches your car without your permission, say nothing about it to him. Your objective is to get through this DWI roadside stop without getting convicted and without provoking the officer.

10. Talk as little as possible. Move as little as possible.

Some of the commandments deserve a bit of discussion.

Let’s start with Commandment 2: Politely tell the officer that you do not want to answer any questions.

Here is how things start: first the officer will say that he “just wants to make sure that you are okay to drive.” This comment implies that if he is sure that you are okay to drive, then you can go home instead of to jail.

While this may happen occasionally, and so the officer’s comment is not a lie, the comment is misleading just the same. It is misleading because the vast majority of the time, if a conversation between the officer and the driver begins with “I just want to make sure you are okay to drive,” the driver will usually go to jail.

If the officer were more forthright and candid, he would say: “I want you to talk to me while I am secretly video- and audio-taping our conversation. Some of the questions I will ask you will seem harmless. Actually, your answers to those questions may have enormous potential to harm you.

“Also, I want you to do certain Field Sobriety Tests ["FSTs"] which I expect will show me that you are intoxicated. Once I decide that you are intoxicated, you will go to jail, and the prosecutor’s case against you will be that much stronger because you answered my questions and did the FSTs.

“If you decline to answer my questions and decline to do the FSTs, I will act as if I have no choice but to arrest you when I might not have arrested you had you just answered my questions and done the FSTs. The truth is: you are going to jail whether you answer my questions or not, and whether you do the FSTs or not.

“The truth is that I know there are central Texas police officers who have been stopped while off-duty and they refuse to do the FSTs and they refuse to blow, but I’m not going to tell you that.

“There have even been prosecutors and County Judges who have been stopped, and they have refused to blow. I know all this, but I don’t want to tell any of it to you.”

The officer will want to ask you:
without looking at your watch can you tell me what time it is?
where are you coming from?
where are you going to?
have you been drinking?
how much have you been drinking?
what time did you start drinking?
what time did you stop drinking?
what did you drink?
when did you last have something to eat?
what did you have to eat?
how much do you weigh?
do you have any kind of medical problems?
do you have anything physically wrong with you?
do you have vision in both eyes without glasses?
whether you were taking any medications?
whether you had suffered any head injuries?
whether you had any leg, foot, or ankle problems?

To each and every one of those questions, just calmly say: “Sir, I respectfully decline to answer your questions and I want to speak to an attorney.”

If the officer tells you that you don’t have the right to remain silent and that you have no right to an attorney, then just stop talking altogether. He is really on the edge at this point. He will try to bait you into answering his questions, or try to get you to lash out verbally.

Don’t take the bait. Maintain your dignity, even if the officer can’t maintain his. Calmly comply with instructions such as “put your hands behind your back” or “sit down in the back of my patrol car,” but do not break The 10 Commandments On What To Do On The Roadside To Avoid A DWI Conviction.

When you tell the officer that you do not want to answer any questions, he will ordinarily ask you “why not?” Just calmly say “I just don’t want to and I want to speak to an attorney.” Don’t give him an explanation. You don’t owe him one.

This sort of thing upsets police officers, because they are trying to get you to give up your constitutional rights and start providing evidence against yourself. They will say things like “there has got to be a reason why you won’t answer my questions. What is that reason?” Just calmly say: “Sir, I want to speak to an attorney.”

William B. Mange

Criminal Defense Lawyer in Austin, Texas

Criminal Law Blog

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