Drink Driving Technicalities?

derry_man

Hi,

New to this forum so not sure if anybody can help...

I have a query about the technicalities of drink driving. My dad was stopped, arrested & gave a blood sample this week for analysis, he had a glass of wine with dinner & drove home (not a good idea i know). He believes he wasn't over the limit so expects all to be fine with the results. A friend of mine told me that a lot of these cases are subject to technical scrutiny by solicitors if you get a solicitor to represent you, so what constitutes a technicality in these cases? Is it a misspelled name on Garda documentation or is it to do with having your rights read correctly, blood samples etc??

Just curious to see if there is experience of this & if in a worst case he does require legal representation what he could expect them to be investigating.

Thanks in advance!

derry_man

MagicSean

derry_man wrote: »

Hi,

New to this forum so not sure if anybody can help...

I have a query about the technicalities of drink driving. My dad was stopped, arrested & gave a blood sample this week for analysis, he had a glass of wine with dinner & drove home (not a good idea i know). He believes he wasn't over the limit so expects all to be fine with the results. A friend of mine told me that a lot of these cases are subject to technical scrutiny by solicitors if you get a solicitor to represent you, so what constitutes a technicality in these cases? Is it a misspelled name on Garda documentation or is it to do with having your rights read correctly, blood samples etc??

Just curious to see if there is experience of this & if in a worst case he does require legal representation what he could expect them to be investigating.

Thanks in advance!

derry_man

There are loads of things that will be investigated. The traffic stop, if a sample was provided at the roadside, the forming of the opinion, arrest, detention, taking of sample, handling of sample.

If a person had one glass of wine with dinner then they are very unlikely to be over the limit. However it would be very strange for a person with only one glass of wine to be arrested. Unless they can't handle their drink or spilled it all over themself. I'm not saying it doesn't happen though.

Drink driving is the most argued piece of legislation. Mostly because rich people don't like losing their licence and can afford to challenge it. Even if all the evidence is in order, many cases will go ahead on the hope that someone will make a mistake while on the stand. It has really become quite a farce.

derry_man

Hi k_mac,

Many thanks for your response. The situation was that the hand held breathalyser was busted so they decided that they would take him to the station for an intoxilyser breath test (if thats the correct name??) but on the way there it turned out there was nobody available to use this machine so they went for a blood or urine sample, he provided a blood test & was on his way. He did mention that they may have misspelled his name & possibly took his DOB incorrect & scribbled it out to ammend. Also they didn't ask for his drivers license which I thought was strange.

I'm sure he'll be fine but worst worst worst case he's going to need a good solicitor to try & find an issue with the case me thinks...

Thanks again,

derry_man

Jo King

He should write down everything that happened as soon as possible. By everything, I mean all words spoken, the times everything happened. How many guards there were at all times, the names of the guards and their role. He should get a copy of his custody record from the guards as soon as possible as well. If he needs to go to a solicitor all of the above may be very important.

derry_man

Hi Jo King & k_mac,

Many thanks for your replies on this. As expected blood test results arrived today & his BAC was well below 80mg so nothing to worry about!

BTW found this excellent BAC calculator that was really spot on with the results.

http://dogsbody.psych.mun.ca/Tools/BAL/

derry_man

Bosco boy

Jo King wrote: »

He should write down everything that happened as soon as possible. By everything, I mean all words spoken, the times everything happened. How many guards there were at all times, the names of the guards and their role. He should get a copy of his custody record from the guards as soon as possible as well. If he needs to go to a solicitor all of the above may be very important.

He won't get a copy of anything unless he is before a court and charged with the offence, a Gary Doyle order and normally by then a solicitor is well involved. If he only had a glass of wine he'll be fine, but sometimes they can forget about the few they had before the very last one!

Jo King

He has a right to his custody record whether charged with an offence or not. The guards can give out statements without a gary doyle order. Some districts do and some wait until there is a court order.

spurs2010

Hi,

Your dad shoulor speak to or get a drunk driving or court solicitor if he wishes to fight the case there are plenty to techical points but they would have to be substantive..... mistakes on the paperwork can and nowadays are amended almost automatically on an application from the prosecution. Indeed the Judge can of his own motion make an amendment to do justice to the parties.

A solicitor is not needed for a plea of guilty as the bans are mandatory unless their is an aggravating factor or the person lacks the confidence to speak in Court. A solicitor will make a difference to mitigation and level of fine though so it can be a good idea

Be sure that the solicitor has criminal law experience as other civil law solicitors will just farm it out to a barrister which is a waste of money.

Best of luck.

spurs2010

New to this forum so not sure if anybody can help...

I have a query about the technicalities of drink driving. My dad was stopped, arrested & gave a blood sample this week for analysis, he had a glass of wine with dinner & drove home (not a good idea i know). He believes he wasn't over the limit so expects all to be fine with the results. A friend of mine told me that a lot of these cases are subject to technical scrutiny by solicitors if you get a solicitor to represent you, so what constitutes a technicality in these cases? Is it a misspelled name on Gardld a documentation or is it to do with having your rights read correctly, blood samples etc??

Just curious to see if there is experience of this & if in a worst case he does require legal representation what he could expect them to be investigating.

Thanks in advance!

derry_man[/QUOTE]

Our man in Havana

The sample came back under the limit, so there will be no charges or court.