Palm Coast, FL DUI Law Firms & Lawyers

Many folks wrongly but reasonably believe that a police officer must immediately inform an arrested person that he or she has the right to remain silent and other rights.  They are referring to "Miranda" rights, or warnings, which in fact must be provided to an individual by a police officer if two conditions exist: First, the individual must be "in custody."  That doesn't necessarily require handcuffing or the actual restraint of one's physical liberty.  A person is "in custody" if, given all of the attendant circumstances, a reasonable person in the given situation would believe that he or she is not free to leave the presence of the officer.  Secondly, the officer must intend to ask questions of the person who is "in custody." Standard procedure by police in DUI investigations is to not provide Miranda warnings until after "non-testimonial" aspects of the investigation have occurred.  Those would include roadside sobriety tasking and breath, blood or urine gathering.  That is because they know that Miranda warnings may cause an arrested person to not cooperate with that part of the investigation. If a person, without Miranda warnings being provided, at any time during any investigation, states to a police officer that he or she wants to consult with a lawyer, or is unwilling to answer any questions, there can be no interrogation.   So, during the investigation when you mentioned your desire to speak to an attorney, you were then invoking your Constitutional rights to an attorney and to silence.

You mentioned that you obtained a lawyer, I suppose my first question to you is have you discussed your concerns with your lawyer, as he/she would be in the best position to discuss your case. You did not state whether you submitted to a breath test, it sounds like you did not based upon what you wrote. If you submit to a breath test the results will either show you were not impaired as defined by a BAC under .08, or you were presumed impaired if BAC was over .o8.  If you refuse the breath test you give up the opportunity to show that your BAC was under .08.  As for the questions, field sobriety tests, and breath test, the law is clear that you are not entitled to a lawyer for field sobriety testing or breath testing. The only time you are entitled to a lawyer is during questioning. The officer should have read you your miranda rights before asking you any questions. however any spontaneous statement made by you which was not in response to a question, is evidence,  and not protected by Miranda. Most police have a video tape rolling in in the breath testing room and any statements made should be on tape. With regard to your passing or believing you passed the field sobriety tests, there are six to eight clues related to each test that determine whether you passed or not. These tests are divided attention tests and designed to not only assess your physical ability but also your mental ability to listen and follow direction, something which decreases with impairment. Many people believe they passed the field sobriety tests but actually failed based on the assessment criteria.  

Probably the first thing to do is contact your PO to determine the status of you case. Most likely there was a violation hearing and you didn't know about it. Best case scenario, it didn't take place and an attorney could do something for you. Hope it helps.