Driving Under the Influence and Illegal Stops and Searches

Before an officer can pull over a car he or she must have reasonable suspicion to believe that the driver has broken the law. Often the officer claims the person committed a moving violation such as speeding, weaving in and out of lanes, or failing to make a complete stop at a stop sign. It is important to have an experienced DUI attorney in Sacramento or other nearby counties to scrutinize the stop of your vehicle to make sure the stop was legitimate. Recently, I had a client pulled over because the officer claimed she failed to use her turn signal before making a left turn. However, the law only requires the use of a turn signal if other cars are nearby and would be impacted by the turn. In my client’s case, she was the only car on the road and thus signaling was not required. We contested the stop of her car in the form of a Motion to Suppress Evidence. At the conclusion of the hearing on the motion, the judge ruled that my client was not required to signal before her turn and thus the officer had no legal basis to pull her over. As such, the resulting DUI was dismissed.

Likewise, except under limited circumstances, an officer may not enter a person’s home in order to investigate and/or arrest them for DUI. Entry into the home in a DUI case without a warrant or consent may be a violation of the Fourth Amendment’s right to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures. For example, in a recent case of mine, an officer entered my client’s home through an unlocked door in his garage in order to apprehend him on a DUI. Following a Motion to Suppress Evidence, a Sacramento Superior Court judge ruled that the entry into the home was illegal and thus the subsequent DUI arrest was as well. Case dismissed!

If you are arrested for a DUI in Sacramento or Northern California and you feel your rights were violated, contact the Law Office of Jonathan Turner