Special Investigative Considerations in an Orange County DUI

Increasingly, police are using closed-circuit cameras to record a motorist’s actions before and during a traffic stop as evidence to support the arrest.  The recording may include not only the interaction between the officer and the defendant, but also the motorist’s driving patterns prior to the stop, and the performance of field sobriety tests.  This type of evidence is of utmost importance to a defense attorney fighting a drunk driving case.

There are limitations to the video.  Cameras aren’t always equipped with sound capabilities, but police agencies are increasingly using microphones attached to officers’ uniforms to provide audio recordings.  The video recording may be under questionable lighting conditions and the sound quality may be very poor.  The entire stop may not be recorded – for example, the officers may only have taped the most incriminating aspects of the stop and arrest, giving an unreliable and unfair representation of the event.
The prosecutor likely will want to use this evidence to help convict the driver, but some recordings actually support the defense.  A recording of a driver performing all tests with flying colors will go a long way in defending the position that the defendant was not intoxicated.  Additionally, the recordings may refute a police report that states that the defendant had slurred speech or a staggering gait.  An experienced and qualified DUI / DWI attorney will argue to exclude this evidence in court.