Prosecution of Drug DUI in Virginia Beach

Drug DUI prosecutions in Virginia Beach will generally require some sort of medical document and the precise information surrounding the drug at issue. Because the burden of proof lies with the prosecution in all criminal cases, the government will rely heavily on the results from blood tests and testimony from medical professionals.

While forensic evidence is given a lot of weight in court, and even though local prosecutors will argue their cases passionately, a Virginia Beach drug DUI lawyer can still help clients build strong defenses, as long as there is the opportunity to jump on the case early on in the process.

What to Expect From the Prosecution

It’s important for someone who’s been charged with driving under the influence of drugs in Virginia Beach to know what the prosecutor needs to prove in order for them to be convicted of the charge. It’s important for them to have an experienced lawyer who can explain to them exactly what it is that needs to be proven and that can explain what options there are for their particular case’s outcome.

The discussion about all the outcomes should also go over what penalties there could potentially be and should outline what the defendant should be doing before the court date in order to best prepare themselves for court.

Traffic Stop Process

From the beginning, the law enforcement officer will stop the driver for any number of reasons. It could be a traffic violation completely unrelated to the DUI or something kind of related like weaving back and forth or driving erratically or too fast.

Once they are pulled over, if there is any reason to suspect that the driver has been driving under the influence, then at this point, the officer will attempt to collect evidence to prove this, which comes in the form of field sobriety tests and the breath test.

Arrest Process

Eventually, if they do have enough evidence, they will charge the person with a DUI and take them to the station where they will submit to either a blood test if they believe a person is driving under the influence of drugs or a breath test.

The driver then goes in front of a magistrate who will charge the driver with driving under the influence and decide whether or not there should be a bond issued. At this point, once you’re in front of the magistrate and everything is concluded then you’re allowed to contact an attorney.

Possible Defense Strategies for Virginia Beach DUID

One of the best ways to begin any type of DUI defense is to find out why the officer stopped the vehicle in the first place. There needs to be enough reasonable suspicion for a crime that had been committed for the officer to stop the vehicle. They cannot arbitrarily pull somebody over for no reason.

It is really important to start here because if a Virginia Beach drug DUI attorney can get the initial stop declared as invalid, then whatever happens after that doesn’t matter because it is all suppressed and generally the case is thrown out completely.

The next step after that is to challenge what occurred at the scene which means the field sobriety tests and how they were administered. There’s a very specific way that each test needs to be conducted and if they’re not performed in that manner then they also should be suppressed.

After that, the defense gets a little bit more complicated because it relates to the blood test. Defenses will relate to how the blood was handled after it was drawn from the defendant right up until the time it was tested by the Department of Forensic Science. There’s a bunch of steps that need to be documented very accurately in this time and there’re also defenses related to timing of how long it took for them to draw the blood after the defendant was actually driving.

It is also helpful to have the doctor who prescribed the drug to the defendant testify regarding the defendant’s reaction and what the possibility of that reaction actually was.