Central Florida Criminal Law Tips (NOT LEGAL ADVICE) to Providing the Least Evidence in a DUI Investigation.

This is strictly a legal guide for what to do when you have pulled over by the police in Florida and you know that you may very well have been drinking too much. A DUI is a misdemeanor with life-altering consequences as there are mandatory minimum penalties for even a first-time DUI in Florida.

1. What to Do When Pulled Over

   1. Turn off your vehicle, turn your interior lights on, do your best to gather all of your paperwork (driver's license, insurance card, registration) before the Law Enforcement Officer arrives at your window. 2. Maintain your hands on the steering wheel, and when the Officer arrives at your window simply provide your documents. 3. Do not make admissions about drinking. 4. Do not attempt to explain in detail where you are coming from, (this can be difficult when impaired), instead invoke your fifth amendment rights.

2. The Field Sobriety Exercises

   1. Assuming you are noticeably under the influence, a Law Enforcement Officer will eventually ask if you will perform some Field Sobriety Exercises (FSEs), politely decline and say "they are a false test of a persons faculties". 2. A properly trained Law Enforcement Officer will then inform you of the "Safe Harbor Doctrine", this requires an Officer to inform you that if you fail to perform the exercises, that he/she will have to make their probable cause determination based on what they have seen thus far. In plain language this means that you are almost certainly going to jail, but remain steadfast and decline to perform the FSEs. 2. Do not speak or ramble, the Officer will be able to hear the slurring or over-enunciation in your voice if you do. 3. When you have been arrested, do not speak and simply sit in the vehicle silently on your way to the jail.

3. The Breath Test (EXTREMELY IMPORTANT)

   1. Assuming that there was not a breath test machine in the Officer's vehicle, you will be given the opportunity to provide a breath sample (two actually) at the DUI Breath Center. There will almost certainly be another person in the room with you, the breath test operator. 2. Remain quiet, only answering direct questions (such as name and whether you wish to perform the breath test) 3. There is a very significant chance that there may be a video pointing directly at your face in the DUI breath center, it is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT THAT YOU APPEAR AS SOBER AND ALERT AS POSSIBLE AS THIS VIDEO CAN AND WILL BE USED AS EVIDENCE EITHER FOR OR AGAINST YOU AT TRIAL. 4. During this process, you should inquire as to wanting to speak to an attorney, you will then be read a ruling from the District Court of Appeal that informs you that at this stage of the proceedings you do not have a legal right to an attorney, which will seem to fly in the face of the Miranda Warnings that you have just been read. 5. The breath machine will begin to warm up, you will then be asked if you would perform a breath test, you should now answer "no, I heard about the problems with the machine", and then say nothing more. 6. You will then be read Florida's Implied Consent DUI warning which will inform you that you will lose your license for a period of up to one year. This warning intends to confuse or pressure a person into providing a breath sample, decline again "the machine has had problems, no". 7. THROUGHOUT THIS ENTIRE PROCESS IT IS IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER TO BE POLITE AND TO COURTEOUS AND TO NOT SPEAK UNLESS NECESSARY, AND NEVER MAKE ANY ADMISSIONS OF GUILT. REMEMBER, SOME OR THE ENTIRE INVESTIGATION MAY BE ON VIDEO.

Additional resources provided by the author

This guide is not geared necessarily towards those drivers who are on the borderline. This is a helpful guide for those drivers who know that they shouldn't have been driving and made a regrettable mistake to get behind the wheel.