What Does Probable Cause to Stop Mean in a DUI Case?

In Boise, when defending your rights in a DUI (driving under the influence) case, your attorney may challenge the police officer’s probable cause to stop. Under the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, unreasonable searches and seizures are illegal. In various legal cases, attorneys have questioned whether authorities violated the defendant’s Fourth Amendment rights. This defense strategy also applies in a DUI case because the officer must have probable cause to stop, which means specific facts that justify a reasonable suspicion and warrant a stop.

Probable cause to stop does not rise to the level of evidence in a criminal case. The term indicates that a police officer had a reasonable suspicion to stop a vehicle based on explainable facts. An example would be seeing a car weaving in and out of lanes and suspecting that the driver is intoxicated. A few years ago there was an Iowa case that went to the state appellate court based on challenging the probable cause to stop. The officer testified that he saw the car weaving and yet the police officer’s dash camera video recording of the car traveling down the road did not corroborate the officer’s testimony. No significant weaving was obvious in the video. This lack of facts meant that the officer had no probable cause to stop the car and the stop was a Fourth Amendment rights violation. Therefore, the court ruled that all evidence gathered after the stop was inadmissible.

In Boise, even when the police show that your blood alcohol content is .08 or higher, your attorney may have strategies that are capable of beating DUI charges.

Gulstrom Henson & Petrie, P.C. works diligently, investigates cases thoroughly and provides our clients with effective criminal defense in DUI cases.