How can I prove an officer is lying with no video?

Question

There was no cause to pull me over for DUI, but my 2 witnesses from my company who could agree, could be diced up by prosecution if I try to use them in court since they were drinking heavily.

This was in Georgia and none of the 3 of us live there. The report says we were "weaving numerous times" crossing lanes.. a total lie, but there is no video used in his car. He is lying in nearly every sentence of the incident report, even saying I told him we were coming FROM the hotel that was in front of us.. I'm talking *egregious* lying. The stop was certainly illegal, but I cant prove it.

I passed all tests easily but I have heard when they say to "blow harder!! blow harder!!" (he did, every time) they do this when they are in jeopardy of being wrong, so they want the last bit of breath from the bottom of the lungs where more alcohol is present, but isn't truly "a breath".

Either way, is there any possible way to convince a jury of all this if I went to trial, or even that the BAC (.11) was incorrect as read by the machine? Or am I screwed by a typical corrupt cop and should just accept the plea/conviction rather than paying for an expensive trial that I have no visible evidence to win?

Answer 1

You're right you're screwed. Pay up and shut up.

First, you'll never win against a cop. Nor could you afford an attorney and all the time and money that goes into a court appearance/trial. Plus, you could get worse. Why take that chance...it isn't worth it. It's a good story you can tell ....anywhere we've all had some run in with the law and will empathize with you.

Answer 2

This one is a "No Brainer", Take His Butt to Court. The "Fact" that you have Three witnesses and depending on the process used every time He re-administered the test, you have a Winner. IF, He made you blow through the "Same" mouthpiece every time during the administration of the tests, the test is inadmissible in Court. Plus, If your witnesses state that you were not weaving, or all over the road, that's three against ONE. As long as your witnesses aren't of "Dubious" character, there word will stand up against the Cop all day long. P.C., in the eyes of the Court may have been established but, the administration of the test is Questionable. I would take it to Trial, If the Cop doesn't show up, the case gets dismissed. Alot of times the prosecutor will reject the case where there are more Defense Witnesses, than Police evidence. Challenge the sufficiency and Test for Cause.

Answer 3

I won't comment on the whole incident, only you and the officer know if you committed a moving violation in order to get pulled over. If your BAC was a 0.11% then your driving probably was impaired.

The part I wanted to comment on was your remarks about the Officer directing you to "blow harder". Actually we are trained to do that, the exact phrase we are taught in Ohio is, "keep blowing". The BAC test is designed to test "deep lung air" as you indicated by saying he wanted the air in the bottom of your lungs.

The test is set to basically deplete your lungs before it gets enough of a sample (2100 cc's for a Datamaster machine). Typically the subject has about run out of air by this point. The machine indicates to the officer if the subject isn't breathing hard enough, or isn't exhaling at all. The machine only runs for so long then it will reset and assume the subject is refusing.

When this happens the Officer has to restart the machine and instruct you to give another sample. If you refuse it will count as a refusal and your license will be suspended for that refusal. I have witnessed many people try to give insufficient breath samples and run the machine 2 or 3 times. By the time you do this you are so out of breath you can barely give a sample even if you are truly trying.

The Officer has a much better chance of getting his required amount of deep lung air on the first try, hence his cheering you on to blow that last bit of air out. If it makes you feel better as an Officer I have watched numerous BAC displays when people are giving their tests. The BAC jumps up when you start breathing, and the last 10 or 15 seconds that you are being encouraged to blow it almost never increases.

Answer 4

The prosecution will use the "blow test" and you will be VERY hard pressed to fight that. The only leg you may have is to prove that it was an illegal stop. In this argument, there are three of you and only one of him. He cannot prove your friends intoxication without a positive test and I assume they did not take one.
You are correct on the vapors at the bottom of your lungs, but I don't think it will hold up in court. So if you fight it concentrate on the initial stop being thrown out.
Make sure you check the requirements of the state first, because if it's like Louisiana, You're screwed. The mayor and the local judge are not only the same person, they are the chief of police's brother

Answer 5

So you were drinking and driving but not drunk.......I understand, You know every drunk I ever pulled over said the same thing. I am such a bad man.

Ok, back to it......then he makes up all this weaving stuff and other violations too? I used to get accused of that a lot too....

Did I get off track again? Sorry.....and to top it off you blew a .11 but it wasn't really the alcohol in your body but a reservoir that is at the bottom of your lungs and not really used for breathing?

Then to just even the pile off a little more, your witnesses were too drunk at the time to corroborate your story?

Yes. You have a valid complaint. I would call the DA and tell him everything you just said. I guarantee you a day in court to fight this great injustice. We need more people like you to get those big mean cops off the street.

Where can I mail a donation?

Answer 6

You're S.O.L. buddy. You have two strikes against you. First you're from out of town so you woudln't win any sympathy with a jury.

Secondly. if you don't have a tape to prove anything and that will work against you. Especially in Georgia where people still have some respect for law enforcement officers.

Another thing working against is most people have little sympathy for people who drink and drive. Lastly, you know you were drinking and shouldn't have been driving anyway, that will be a factor too. The first question you;re likely to be asked is why didn't you hire a taxi or something along those lines. My advice to you is hire a lawyer.

Answer 7

Your best bet would be to retain a reputable DUI attorney. They can usually have a breathalyzer test dismissed. As for the condition of your witnesses, I assume they weren't given a breath test, so a good lawyer can instruct them on how they should respond to a cross examination. A good DUI attorney should be familiar with the line of questioning that will be posed by the DA's office.
I also assume that you don't have any prior convictions for a DUI, but either way, hiring an attorney is the best way to handle a case such as yours. OK.

Answer 8

The answer depends on how much dispensible cash you have. Guilt and truth are not relivant in court (sad but true). What does matter is how good your lawyer is at getting stuff dropped. Cops can pretty much do what they want. It sounds to me like you were drunk though because, unlike cops, breath tests don't lie. The fact that you say you should not have been pulled over will not help you if you argue it but a lawyer may get it kicked.

Answer 9

He told you to blow harder because the machine needs a certain volume of air to work properly. Breath techs call this "coaching" and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. Our case law states that you must provide a "suitable" sample, and the breath techs are the ones that decide if it is suitable. If the machine can't get a good sample because you aren't blowing hard enough, you will get charged with refusing to provide a breath sample. Why did the police stop you in the first place? You are saying that they randomly stopped you and you happened to be drinking?
I have dealt with numerous people that were all over the road because they were impaired and then would tell me that they didn't do anything wrong. They just don't realize it because they were impaired. How would your drunk buddies know if you were swerving or not?
You blew over the legal limit. Here in Canada there is a disctinction between impaired driving and blowing over. You could be driving perfectly and still be charged with blowing over the limit. I have had a couple of impaired driving charges tossed because the defense could provide an explanation for the driving (ie. dropped cigarette in lap and swerved) but they were found guilty of blowing over .08mg.

What you need is a good lawyer that will help you decide if this is worth going to trial over. Select one that specializes in DUIs.

Stop blaming the police for your mistake and your choice for driving that night after you drank. You blew over PERIOD, I would call the police officer corrupt and not doing his job if he wouldn't have stopped and charged you, that is his job. He was doing his job.


EDIT: Dude0795 I LOVE this.......
"Did I get off track again? Sorry.....and to top it off you blew a .11 but it wasn't really the alcohol in your body but a reservoir that is at the bottom of your lungs and not really used for breathing? " Gave me chuckle, thanks.

To Nicolasraage: We don't have video in our cruisers here in our city. There aren't very many police services in my neck of the woods that do. There might not be a video.

Answer 10

Sounds like you caught a straight-up DWI. .11 on the BAC in Ga. (as most states) is prima facie evidence of impairment by law. You can hire an atty. for damage control and it might help some. I really don't think the presence or absence of a video would make a big difference. In reality, if there was one, your atty probably wouldn't want it shown in court.
You asked for others' opinions on here, I know you won't like some of the replies. But you asked. Good luck.