Best Consumer Protection Lawyers in San Marcos, TX

Deciding whether or not to take the field sobriety tests is a personal decision. We have seen people who are completely sober fail the tests, and we have seen sober people perform very well on the tests. You are not required to perform the field sobriety tests.

Whether or not to submit a breath specimen is a personal decision. What the arresting officer may not tell you is that the breath test machine is assuming a myriad of factors (i.e. blood/breath ratio, body temperature, etc.) in order to guess what it believes to be your blood alcohol content. If you do not feel comfortable trusting your freedom to a machine that you know nothing about, then you may refuse to provide a specimen or your breath. You can say no to breath tests.

Gas chromatography is the method by which a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is measured. While it can be a reliable scientific method, in the hands of law enforcement, generally accepted industry standards are quite frequently compromised. Find Out More

Subject to a few limited exceptions, if an officer does not have a warrant, you do not have to permit a search; however, officers do not have to advise you that you have the right to refuse their search. Consequently, there are any number of coercive statements, or outright lies that officers use to obtain your consent to search. For example, officers may say "if you have nothing to hide, then surely you don't have a problem with me looking around," or "if you don't let me look now, I'll just get a warrant." You have the right to just say no to unauthorized police searches.

Generally, if a citizen consents to a search, they have waived Fourth Amendment protection. In order to be a valid search, a citizen's consent must be voluntary. Thus if an officer asks "would you mind opening your trunk," even though the officer is not directly asking for consent to search the vehicle, by opening the trunk a citizen has in effect consented to the search. Don't be misled, you have a right to say no to an officer's request to search.