Henrico DUI Drug Enforcement
When a person is charged with a drug DUI (DUID) in Henrico County, it is crucial that they hire a Henrico County DUI drug attorney who can help them minimize the impact of damages in their personal and professional lives and relieve the burden of handling the case on their own. It can be overwhelming to receive charges as severe as a DUID and therefore having an experienced adviser and friend to assist throughout will make the process less stressful.
Analyzing a DUID Suspect
When an Henrico County police officer pulls someone over on suspicion of a DUID, the officer will look for evidence of impairment either through slurred speech or lack of coordination. The officer will also look for actual drugs in the vehicle or on someone’s person.
Field Sobriety Tests
Officers use field sobriety tests on DUI drug cases. These field sobriety tests are very similar, if not exactly the same as a DUI alcohol sobriety test. Again, there are tests to determine coordination, ability to follow instructions, and ability to communicate.
How Henrico Police Regard DUI Drug Charges
Drug DUI cases are a priority for officers in Henrico County. Again, as with any DUI-related charge, it is a public safety issue so they are very stringent and very proactive in pursuing these sorts of cases.
In a drug DUI case in Henrico County, the state needs to prove not only that the operation of the vehicle was impaired, but also they need to show how it was impaired and that the impairment was caused by the intake of drugs. This is shown through the blood test.
Marijuana in DUID Cases
Marijuana drug cases are routinely less severe than other drug cases in Henrico County. With the changing attitude towards marijuana use, law enforcement doesn’t treat marijuana the same as in the past and as other drugs.
In many cases, officers will not charge a DUID case when it involves marijuana. Routinely it is very hard with the blood test to determine how the marijuana may be affecting a person or affecting that person’s impairment. Again, with the trend towards softening stances on marijuana throughout the country, we’ve routinely seen officers simply charge them with possession of marijuana rather than a DUID if the individual is smoking or has marijuana on them while operating a motor vehicle.
Common DUID Legal Defenses in Henrico
The most common challenges an Henrico County DUI drug attorney will raise in these sorts of cases are, number one, challenging the validity of the initial traffic stop. Was the stop valid and was the stop legal? Next, an attorney will challenge the tests that were conducted—whether it would be the field tests and whether the individual passed the test or not. Next, what they’ll challenge the blood test itself; how the blood test was done, how it was handled, and then lastly the actual results of the blood test. By this, the defense is challenging whether the results of the blood test can lead to a finding of intoxication or impairment due to drugs.
