DUI Enforcement in Prince William County

The following is taken from an interview with a Prince William County DUI lawyer as they discuss how DUI charges are enforced in the area. To learn more or begin building a defense for your charge call and schedule a free consultation today.

Driving Under The Influence in Prince William County

There are a number of things that can cause the person to be charged with DUI, Driving Under the Influence or Driving while intoxicated. Those technically are distinct offenses although are categorized under the same statute, Virginia Code 18.2-266.

One part of the Virginia DUI Code says that if you are .08 or higher then that is what we call “per se DUI” – which means you are automatically presumed to be intoxicated and therefore the only real other evidence that the government needs to present is that you are operating a motor vehicle.

If you are under a .08 or if they don’t have a breath sample or blood sample they can still prove DUI by establishing that you were operating a motor vehicle and at the time you were under the influence of some form of intoxicant whether it be alcohol, drugs or a combination of drugs and alcohol. If they are able to prove that, then you can still be found guilty of DUI.

Areas of Focus

The answer is yes. It is definitely an area of focus and the reason it is an area of focus is because DUIs are very politically charged in nature. There is a lot of pressure on local government to enforce these laws. Also, the lobbyists who constantly are present in Richmond in the General Assembly make it very well known that they expect the tickets or the DUI arrests and convictions to be maintained because it is their belief that the problem is not going anywhere and they need to continue to enforce the laws.

Severity of DUI Charges

If you are stopped for a DUI, then most likely the officer has a suspicion that you are driving under the influence, you will be offered the opportunity to take some Field Sobriety Tests and a preliminary breath test. If you are arrested you would be taken to the Prince William County jail.

When to Contact An Attorney

As soon as possible and the reason for that is that there is a lot of work going in to the preparation of a DUI defense, which takes time. We need to get information from several state agencies including the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office for discovery and some scientific evidence about the machine that you took your test on from the Virginia State Police Department of Forensic Science. These things take time. The more time you give your lawyer to work on your behalf, the better it is going to be for you.