According to experienced criminal lawyers, the arresting officer’s testimony in any DUI case can be devastating. It’s important to mitigate their impact to achieve desirable results at trial. The following tips are easy to set up and inexpensive and will hopefully achieve their goal of bringing balance to the arresting officer’s testimony.
- The Walk and Turn Test: A DUI arrest can be the most stressful point in a person’s life. The impending cost and possible incarceration are enough to make anyone a basket case. As such, the entire event will tend to evoke extreme anxiety in any defendant and, in turn, cause their bodies to function abnormally. This is particularly true with the so-called “Walk and Turn” Test, where the motorist must keep his arms at his side, walk heel-to-toe for a certain distance, make a turn, and then walk back to the officer. The test is not done correctly if the person uses their outstretched arms for balance. The key is to ask the officer whether “nervousness” is considered when failing a motorist on the Walk and Turn test. The officer will likely respond that nervousness is not taken into account; the test is the test, no matter what the emotional state of the motorist is. Next, ask the officer if he were to suspend a two-by-four between two ten-story buildings and then attempt to walk across it whether he would outstretch his arms for balance. If he’s honest, he’ll say “yes”. If not, he’ll say no, and the jury will disregard his testimony completely.
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