Drink Driving
Drink Driving Solicitors
Recent Success Cases
Drink Driving
Result: Acquittal
Court: Criminal Court
Prosecution: Public Prosecutor's Office
Requested sentence: 1 year imprisonment for drunk driving offence
Drink Driving
Result: Acquittal
Court: Criminal Court
Prosecution: Public Prosecutor's Office
Requested penalty: Fine and withdrawal of license for alcohol offense
The breathalyzer test
Drink-driving Lawyers in Barcelona.
When the police stop your vehicle for a breathalyzer test, they order you to blow into a breathalyzer or evidential breathalyzer. If you exceed 0.25 mg/l, the officers will proceed to perform a second test with an approved breathalyzer.
This second test consists of blowing twice through the apparatus with 10 minutes of difference between one attempt and the other. If the results exceed the legal maximums allowed, the police will report you, and the court will open criminal proceedings.
This approved test constitutes evidence in court and not the first test carried out with the evidential nephelometer.
It is possible to obtain an acquittal when the police forget to bring with the police report the certificate of approval of the nephelometer since the measurement cannot be considered legally obtained.
If the results exceed the legal maximums allowed, the police will report you, and the investigating court will open criminal proceedings.
Suppose you are in this situation and have tested positive in a breathalyzer control. In that case, you should first contact the best lawyer in the breathalyzer, such as Esteban Criminal Lawyers, a law firm specializing in criminal law and drunk driving offenses.
The penalties for the crime of alcohol abuse
Explained by our drink driving solicitors
Drunk driving is a crime against Road Safety, described in articles 379 to 385 of the Penal Code.
The drunk driving conviction is 3 to 6 months imprisonment or a fine of 6 to 12 months and deprivation of the right to drive between 1 and 4 years.
The fine does not have a predefined amount and depends on the economic capacity of the convicted person. Withdrawal of a driving license for more than two years entails re-examination to regain it.
Blood concentrations punishable by law
The concentration of alcohol in the blood or expired air and the existence or not of symptoms determine whether the offense of driving under the influence of alcoholic beverages is committed.
The offense is committed if the measurement of the nephelometer device shows a value between 0.25 and 0.60 mg/l. Also, there are evident symptoms that consuming alcoholic beverages negatively affects your ability to drive.
This impairment can be deduced from irregular behaviors such as speeding, strange maneuvers, zigzagging trajectories, or external physical symptoms of drunkenness in the driver.
When the BAC exceeds 0.60 mg/l, the prosecutor doesn’t need to prove that the driver had impaired driving abilities: it will be a crime in any case, with or without symptoms.
The margin of error of the breathalyzer
If you have given a rate between 0.60 and 0.64 mg/l, it will be possible to invoke in your defense the margin of error that any nephelometer has, which ranges between 5 and 7.5%. In practice, these margins allow you to defend that a blood alcohol level that does not exceed 0.64 mg/l is, discounting the margin of error, below 0.60 mg/l.
Suppose you disagree with the nephelometer reading. In that case, you have the right to ask the agents to take you to the nearest health center for a contrast test consisting of a blood or urine or analogous analysis, which will be at your expense if the result is positive.
This is not highly recommended unless you are entirely convinced that you have not ingested a drop of alcohol and that the measuring device is wrong since the analysis, if confirmatory, will only serve to cement your guilt.
If you refuse to take the breathalyzer tests, you will incur an offense of refusal, which has a higher penalty than that of a breathalyzer.
The prosecutor will be charged with two offenses: refusal and breathalyzer. And if you disobey in other aspects to the agents of the authority and get too upset, you can end up charged with a crime of disobedience or resistance to authority.
Speedy Trial for a drink driving Crime
Our drink-driving solicitors have the experience and professionalism that your case needs.
If the police charge you with a drunk driving offense, the court will summon you to a speedy trial. In reality, a speedy trial is not a trial.
It is a rapid appearance, within a few days, before the local duty judge to see if you accept the facts in exchange for a reduced sentence.
If you do so, the judge will pass the sentence at the same time.
If, on the other hand, you do not accept an agreement and plead not guilty, you will be summoned to a regular trial to be held after a few months.
As drink-driving lawyers, we offer you urgent legal advice if you are in this situation.
Conformity for drunk driving cases
The main advantage of a plea bargain is that your lawyer can negotiate a sentence close to the minimum with the prosecutor and, on this minimum, apply a one-third reduction.
Thus, the minimum penalty of deprivation of the right to drive for the crime of drunk driving is one year, which, discounting the third, is eight months. It can never be lower than this amount. Another advantage is that the process will be finished earlier since you will begin to serve your sentence from that moment on.
If you disagree with a plea bargain, you will be summoned to an ordinary trial after a few months. You should be aware that accepting a plea agreement entails the immediate loss of your driver’s license. If your job depends on maintaining your driving license, consider this and discuss other defense strategies with your criminal defense attorney.
Our law firm specializes in these types of settlements. We are endorsed by numerous successful cases in which we have achieved very favorable plea agreements with the Prosecutor’s Office for our clients.
How to face a drunk driving trial?
We are Lawyers Specializing in Drinking and Drunk Driving Crimes in Barcelona.
If you have tested positive in a breathalyzer test and want to properly prepare for trial, it is essential to have a lawyer who specializes in this crime.
Your lawyer will determine the line of defense and will evaluate all the circumstances of the case:
- If the rate of alcohol is within the margin of error of the breathalyzer.
- If the police report has the certificate of verification of the breathalyzer.
- If it could have been a false positive for taking any medication that enhances the effect of alcohol.
On the other hand, the lawyers specializing in alcohol-impaired driving also take into account your situation, if your work depends on the maintenance of your driving license, if you are a repeat offender, or if you have a prison sentence previously suspended, in these cases, it will be necessary to follow the most appropriate course of action.
When is the driver's license withdrawn due to alcohol breathalyzer?
If, in the breathalyzer test, the rate of alcohol is higher than 0.6mg/l in exhaled air or 1.2 grams per liter in blood, it will be considered a serious offense. The driver’s license will be withdrawn between one and four years, in addition to a prison sentence of 2 to 6 months, a daily fine of 6 to 12 months, or community service for 31 to 90 days. If you are involved in this crime or other crimes against Road Safety, count on our drunk driving solicitors in Barcelona.