When I speak to a potential client, we discussed how they came in contact with the police, and any chemical test results, but we also send a great deal of time discussing the field sobriety tests, which can help or harm your case. They may be very helpful in backing up a defense that the chemical test results are wrong, or could squash that sort of argument pretty quickly. Here are some common questions that a DUI attorney in Michigan may ask a potential client about field sobriety testing.
- Were you asked to perform any field sobriety tests?
- What tests were you asked to do, if you remember?
- Were you asked to recite the alphabet? If so, how did you do?
- Were you asked to count backward? Any problems?
- Did the officer have you touch your thumb to your fingers while counting each finger? How did it go?
- Were you told to extend your arms to your sides and then touch the tip of your nose with your index finger using one arm and then the other in a certain order? How do you think you did?
- If you were asked to do so, how did you do on walking heel to toe with your arms at your side? Did you wobble? Did you take the correct number of steps?
- Were you told to lift one foot six inches off the ground and hold it there? Did you put your foot down before the officer told you to?
- Did the police give you a gaze nystagmus test? That is, did they tell you to focus your eyes on a pen or other moving object without moving your head?
- Were you offered a preliminary breath test at the side of the road or perhaps in the police car? Did the officer wait 15 minutes to administer this test? Were you shown the results?
- Did anything seem unfair about the field tests? For example, were you asked to do the walking test on uneven or icy pavement?
- Were the tests given on the shoulder of the road or far away from traffic?
- Were the tests given in front of the officer’s car? Were you told that the tests were being recorded?
- Was the volume of traffic nearby low, medium, or heavy?
- Was there a great deal of noise? Was it difficult to hear instructions?
- Do you have any reasons why you might have had trouble with any of the tests? Were you nervous? Sleepy? Cold?
