A Tricky Situation

[gemini]

I was involved in a traffic accident while driving home from work one night. I had been working two jobs (8am - 1am) for a couple of nights in a row. I guess I was more tired than I knew and in my gated community fell asleep behind the wheel and hit 4 parked cars. When the police arrived they accused me of being on a 4-5 day crank binge. They said they only way my eyes wouldn't respond was because of crank or a head trauma. Since I only woke up as I hit the last car & was pretty spacey I didn't know if I hit my head. One of the officers grabbed my wrist to take my pulse. He said my was heart rate was racing out of control and proceed to put my arm behind my back while announcing I was under arrest. They never read me my rights. Does that even matter in today's world? Upon searching my car they found a very minimal amount of pot. I am an occasional smoker and I have socially participated with crank & coke, but on the evening in question I had done nothing except overwork myself. I'm not sure how to plead when I go to court. I don't feel I should plead guilty. They did make me take a urine test, but that only proves it is in my system. Don't they have to prove I was doing it that night? They never even had a doctor or nurse check me out. My pulse was probably responding to the fact that I just woke up as I was totaling my car.
Any advice on not being read my rights or how to plea at my court date? I have no previous record and have never even been detained in the past. Am I basically at the mercy of the judge and what kind of mood they'll be in? Any advice is appreciated.
Sincerely,
Freaked out in San Jo

 

[DT7777]

Yes, the officers should have read you your Miranda rights upon arresting you. But as for the arrest itself, they probably had reasonable suspicion to believe you had been under the influence of something. Even though you had not been doing drugs that night, is it possible it was still affecting your perception and ability to drive? Nevertheless, you do have rights. You should not speak to anyone about this until you've consulted with a criminal defense attorney. These charges can lead to serious consequences. An attorney will advise you what your options are, and the likelihood of prevailing. An attorney will also be able to research the affects of drugs within a certain time period, and use that information to argue that you were not intoxicated but rather overworked. There are lawyer referrals on this website.