D.C. Prosecutors having trouble with DUI convictions

The District of Columbia Attorney General, Irvan Nathan, said in a city council meeting that people suspected of DUI are not being punished or prosecuted because they don’t have breathalyzers to back up allegations.

Washington D.C. area police stopped using Breathalyzers after it was revealed that much of the equipment was not calibrated properly and gave inaccurate test results. Since police in the D.C. area have been relying on field sobriety tests and urine tests to determine if driver is intoxicated, but without the numbers to back up the allegations Washington D.C. drunk driving lawyers are having a much easier time getting their clients out of a conviction.

AG Nathan has stopped convicting people of DWI since the statute requires hard proof to get a conviction. And as a consequence DUI  and DWI arrests have declined. The Breathalyzers were taken out of service twice over the past two years because the contractor noticed irregularities in the calibration and results.

According to Foxdc.com, DWI arrests in 2010 totaled about 519, while DWI arrests in 2011 dropped to just 109. Out of the people stopped for suspected DUI 302 refused to participate in field sobriety tests.

Even without the irregularities in breathalyzer test results a Washington D.C. drunk driving lawyer can have a person’s charges minimized and maybe even dropped. A DWI or a DUI can land a person in jail and keep them from driving and the surest way to prevent this is to hire an accomplished Washington D.C. drunk driving lawyer.