How Can I Challenge a DUI in Florida?

March 2016

Orlando DUI defense attorney Jack Kaleita briefly talks about how can you challenge a DUI charge in Florida:

How can I challenge a DUI in the State of Florida?

The short version of the answer is, you can challenge a DUI in Florida, by showing that the stop or the actions of the police, were somehow not in conformity with the law. If there’s something wrong with the stop, or if there’s something wrong with the breath test, or if there’s something wrong with the way the person was required or administered field sobriety exercises, or any of those things, then you can successfully challenge a DUI. The way you would do that procedurally, is you would file “motions” with the court. A motion is a written pleading asking the judge to do something. Normally, you would do those before the trial, and if the judge agrees with you and finds that there was something wrong that the police did, then the stop, or anything after it, would be suppressed. If everything after the stop is suppressed, all of the evidence goes away, and the state can’t go forward on your case. Maybe the stop was found to be valid by the judge, but the actions of the police afterwards were found to be flawed or unlawful. In that case, some of the evidence, but maybe not all of the evidence would be suppressed. And then you’d have to decide whether or not you wanted to go to trial and see if the state with that limited amount of evidence could convict you. It certainly would increase the probability of you being found not guilty, and it would also increase the probability that the state would make you some type of a favorable dispositional offer maybe a reduction to a reckless driving or a careless driving or something like that.