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Intoxication Explained by an Expert El Paso DWI attorney
When you have been arrested for a DWI in El Paso you need a competent El Paso DWI attorney that can fight for your rights. They must have intimate knowledge of intoxication levels and how they relate to DWI law. 1. What is DWI? Driving While Intoxicated is a criminal offense that says a person may not operate a motor vehicle in a public place while ''intoxicated''. The DWI statute does not say ''driving while drunk.'' 2. What does ''Intoxicated'' mean? A person need not be drunk to be ''intoxicated'' but a person who is drunk must be intoxicated. ''Intoxicated'' is defined by the DWI statute in two ways. First, a driver is ''intoxicated'' when, through the use of an alcoholic beverage, drug, controlled substance, or any combination thereof, he or she has lost the ''normal'' use of either ''mental'' or ''physical'' faculties. Second, a driver is ''intoxicated'' when the driver has an alcohol concentration of.08 or more in his or her body. 3. Whose ''normal mental and physical faculties'' are we judged by, and ''what is normal?'' What exactly does this mean?
The ''normal mental and physical faculties'' the statute refers to are those of the particular person who was arrested. The term does not refer to the normal faculties of the arresting officer, jurors in a DWI criminal trial, or a fictitious average person. Indeed, the term ''normal'' actually refers to a range of measurement of the faculties of the person arrested. For example, ''normal'' would not be a particular point on a 12'' ruler. Rather, it is better explained as the distance between two particular points on the ruler, e.g. between the 3'' and 9'' marks. 4. What is .08 alcohol concentration? Alcohol concentration is defined by statute as: a. the number of grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood; b. the number of grams of alcohol per 210 liters of breath; or, c. the number of grams of alcohol per 67 milliliters of urine. If you have been drinking, it's next to impossible to determine if you have a concentration of .08 or more. In addition amounts of alcohol in the concentrations defined above are not equal and can result in a person being innocent in one concentration but guilty in another. Under the statutory definition of intoxication, it is also possible for a person to be innocent of being intoxicated because there is no loss of his/her normal mental or physical faculties, but still is considered guilty of being intoxicated per a .08 concentration. An expert El Paso DWI attorney will be able to provide guidance on this and help decide what your defense strategy is. The law provides that it is a crime of DWI when a person operates a vehicle, and at that time has an alcohol concentration of .08 or more in his/her body. It is not a crime per se to have a .08 alcohol concentration in the body before or after one has driven. It depends on the time the test was taken to make sure that such an alcohol concentration may be relevant to determining if the person had a .08 or more alcohol concentration when they were driving the vehicle.
The timing of the test in question may present a challenge for both the prosecution and your El Paso DWI attorney representing you. A .08 alcohol concentration test is hardly ever done at the time or immediately following driving. It is not uncommon for the alcohol concentration test to be completed 45 minutes to one hour and 15 minutes after driving. In this scenario the delayed testing will cause uncertainty, as it is next to impossible to determine if the person was over the legal alcohol concentration limit at the time of driving. For more information, please visit http://www.dwielpaso.com or call (915) 317-1933 to schedule a free consultation.