Public Intox/DUI

Tennessee/First offense/perfect record. Hello, new to site and looking for some help. I was arrested and charged with P.I. a week ago on the 22nd. I was driving and performed half of a field test (which I cut short b/c I was feeling very uncomfortable b/c their was 4 officers staring me down like I was a criminal) and was never offered a breath test and the charge DUI never came up. I was charged with P.I. and I spent my 4 hours in jail and was released the next morning. I was told by the arresting officer that I would pay my fine of $186 and that would be it. I went to arraignment to pay my fine and the judge tells me I should have gotten a dui and to come back on the 7th so the DA can look at it. The sitation reads that I admitted to having 6 beers after midnight and I was arrested at 2:45 in the morning. I weigh 201 pnds and any bac calculator will tell that my bac should have been around .075-.076 at the time. I'm a Tennessee resident and the limit is .10 here. I am scared to death, can I be charged with dui now? I asked the officer what I was pulled for at the jail and he said that I swerved 1 time less than 6 inches over the white line. I do know that there is a case that states that crossing the white line 1 time does not constitute reasonable cause to pull over. I have an attorney going with me on the 7th.

It really depends on what kind of jerk the DA is going to be. Based on the info you have provided, they have no case and the DA should not pursue it. But that doesn't mean they won't. You have a lot of good things in your favor. 1) you were arrested for P.I. which will be stated in the police report. This will tell the jury that the officer didn't think you were driving under the influence at the time. 2) Field sobriety test was not completed 3) no breathalyzer was done. 4) no video tape.

What it all boils down to is they have NO EVIDENCE! If the DA decides to proceed, good thing you have already retained a lawyer. It shouldn't be too hard in proving your innocence, after all they have NO EVIDENCE!

Thanks

I wouldn't think that they would persue the matter, but then agian, I didn't think the judge would make me come to a hearing ! I believe in this day and age, it all boils down to money, if they can keep me in the system longer I'll keep paying court cost. If they charge me with dui, I'm going to try and beat the thing. I am willing to pay my P.I. fine and go on my way but if they try the dui, I'll pull out all the stops b/c I know this can be beaten easily. Thanks for your reply, I need all the positive support I can get.

One question, is it within a officer's rights to charge someone driving with a P.I.? I think my case is unusual, but I'm just wondering if the DA can say the officer can't charge a driver a driver with only a P.I. Tenn law does state that an offender can be charged with P.I. if the officer feels he going to cause harm to himself or others. It says nothing about driving. Also, DUI law states that an officer can make a judgement call on intoxication if the offender blows between a .05 or .09. Since my estimated bac would have been .075-.076 should this be brought up by my attorney in court? My big mistake is not bringing a lawyer with me to my arraignment, but I wasn't that worried b/c I was told by the arresting officer it would be no big deal.

I think I'm getting ahead of myself b/c I would say when the DA sees this, he'll realize very fast that he has no case agianst me. Reguardless, the system has worked for me, I'll never drive agian when I'm anywhere near borderline.

Also, when the officer pulled me over, he pulled over further off the shoulder of the road and his driver side door was almost looking at my back bumper, if there was a video tape,would he have to tell me, and wouldn't he be directly behind me. I have never seen a tape that shows the camera being operated through the officer's driver side door I would think that would be impossible.

Don't get your hopes up too high. The DA can pursue it, and they often do even if they don't have a case. Sometimes they will pursue all the way up until the day of the trial and dismiss it before the trial starts. There are a lot of "politics" invovled when it comes to dwi/dui these days.

The arresting officer can't change a thing. So in his police report he will state why he/she arrested you for P.I. The DA on the other hand can pursue it as a dwi.

No matter how it comes down, just remember...they have NO EVIDENCE.

They will also be on offense for a change. He'll have to prove the DWI/DUI unlike usual. I understand the politics involved, I just don't understand why they would persue this since it can be written off as a simple P.I. I'm not famous, there won't be any coverage of this. Like I said before, there are numerous faults the officer made before even charging me with P.I. not to mention the fact that he did. The other thing I have going for me is the arresting officer is probably around 23-24 years old, that makes his creditabilty even more shakey. In fact, that night there wasn't an officer over the age of 25 at the scene.

budylee....you don't need to be famous for them to pursue this matter. It's politics all across the boards. You have groups out there such as MADD which puts a lot of pressure on dui/dwi, states get funding for cracking down on dwi/dui's, etc. Just because the HAVE NO CASE doesn't mean they won't pursue it. I'm not saying that they will, just be prepared for it. Because situations similar to your own happen day in and day out...and they pursue it. What it's really going to boil down to is the police report. The DA is going to rely heavily on that police report in making their decision on whether to keep it at a P.I. or bump it up to a dwi.

Since you have already retained a lawyer, they can get a copy of that police report for you.

As FKNA states,there is a lot of politicing in a DWI/DUI case. 99% of it has nothign to do with reality,it has to do with the DA keeping his record,and the judge being re-elected based on convictions.
The DA is going to try like hell to scare you,or intimidate you into accepting the DUI charge. He will tell you that he is going to lock you away for the max penalty because you took it to a court room. DONT SWEAT IT.........you won. Your not going to be convicted for lack of evidence.....think about it for a second........what are they going to present in court?

don't give up

do not give up your fight to win this, i did and now i am spending two years on home detention. i to was origanaly charged with a pi. i went to court only to be arrested again and charged with a feloney dui. iwas also re-arested because my attorney had taken my bond money for my case after i discharged him. the judge said i needed more money to get another lawyer so he imposed another $ 2500 bond on my case. i finally took the plea because i was scared and threatened. i am trying to find someone to help me with my case as we speak. don't let this happen to you. good luck!