If you, a loved one, or a friend has been arrested for or charged with Driving Under the Influence (DUI) in Miami, Florida, the attorneys at Musca Law can help. We have an experienced and dedicated team of Miami DUI lawyers that are familiar with the laws and the different types of evidence that may be involved in your DUI case.

Miami DUI Defense Strategies

Our team of attorneys will aggressively defend your case to bring about the best possible outcome in your favor. There are a number of factors that make your case unique. We offer a free, confidential consultation to address your concerns and consider all of the circumstances and possible defenses in your Miami DUI case.

Refusal to Submit to Testing

At the time you are stopped by an officer for driving impaired, chances are you will be asked to take a blood, urine or breath test. You do have the right to refuse testing, but you will face administrative sanctions (you have 10 days to request a hearing) and possibly a suspension of your driving privileges. Musca Law can help you turn this refusal into a positive for your defense.

DUI Breath Testing

A knowledgeable Miami DUI attorney will tell you that the breath tests are often reliable. It is no longer automatic that a breath test result that is over the legal limit of .08 will result in an automatic “guilty” in your criminal case. There are many factors which determine the overall blood alcohol level, and many things that can cause an inaccurate level. A MuscaLaw Miami DUI lawyer can consider a number of possible defenses revolving around your breath test and its results.

DUI Urine Testing

It is not uncommon for a law enforcement officer to request a urine test when a breath test returns at lower than .08. This is generally done to look for evidence of marijuana, cocaine or other drugs, prescription or non-prescription, in the bloodstream. However, these tests are also often unreliable or inaccurate. Your Miami DUI lawyer may determine it is inadmissible to use these results and this can be used in your favor.

DUI Blood Testing

A blood test after a suspected DUI is just one of the additional methods of measuring your blood alcohol content after a Miami DUI stop. However, drawing blood to test for impairment is limited by State in the manner in which it can be obtained, who may take the blood sample and under what circumstances. Quite often, proper procedures are not followed, providing a strong defense for getting the charges dismissed or reduced.

Property Damage

When there is property damage or personal injury associated with a DUI incident, charges and penalties may be compounded. Penalties are more severe when there is property damage, and the resulting affects to the individual charged and the victim associated with the accident are great. A Miami DUI defense attorney can examine and, when appropriate, challenge the evidence taken in the case. This can possibly result in the reduction of penalties or even dismissal of the charge altogether.

DUI Penalties

Penalties that result from a DUI charge vary depending on the number of of factors, including the number of prior DUI convictions, the severity of the impairment, whether there was any harm caused during the incident, and other individual circumstances of the incident. Penalties include fines, court costs, jail time, community service, driver license suspension, vehicle impound, DUI school, substance abuse evaluation and possible treatment, random testing, and even victim impact panel requirements.

DUI Manslaughter

DUI manslaughter is when an impaired driver causes a fatality while driving under the influence of alcohol or another substance. As you can imagine, the charge holds the harshest penalties after a conviction. A DUI manslaughter charge must be addressed immediately.  The sooner you  starts aggressively defending your case, the better chance you have of achieving the best possible outcome.

Defense For Women

There are a number of reasons that DUI charges against women are skewed. More women are being unfairly arrested for drunk driving. A savvy Miami DUI attorney can help you fight those charges. They will point out the discrepancies in accuracy for breath test analyzers on female subjects. They will also point out the difficulties that are sometimes encountered when women are wearing high heels or are barefoot and attempting to perform sobriety tests.

Formal Administrative Review Hearing

A Miami DUI arrest results in the suspension of your privilege to drive. The duration of the suspension may be affected by a formal review hearing. This is part of the administrative process of a DUI charge. The defendant has 10 days from the arrest date to request a hearing. Having a Miami DUI attorney that is well-versed in the process can improve the outcome of the hearing.

Controlled Substance DUI

Driving under the influence of a controlled substance is against the law, but very difficult to prove. The substance itself is often not in the vehicle. If you have been charged with a controlled substance DUI in Miami, a qualified attorney may be able to help your case. The prosecution may be unable to prove that the substance or drug in question actually caused the impairment.

Boating Under the Influence

The penalties for Boating Under the Influence (BUI) are serious, and include fines, community service, jail time and/or supervised rehabilitation. A qualified Miami BUI lawyer can help you get the best possible results for your case. Boaters of all ages carry substantial penalties and fines, and boaters under the age of 21 may be charged if they have a BAC of .02 or higher, similar to obtaining a DUI while driving a vehicle.

Commercial Vehicle DUI Charge

A DUI while driving a commercial vehicle is a very serious offense. Because the severeness of the damages that can result from an incident with a commercial vehicle, there is a lower threshold of intoxication allowed by law. While legal requirements differ, there is very little room for error. Some requirements call for a zero tolerance for alcohol, and others have restrictions with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of .04 or lower. In most if not all cases, penalties are higher for BAC levels over .04. Commercial vehicle DUI charges carry more at stake for defendants, as they usually result in the loss of income and extreme difficult in obtaining future commercial vehicle employment.

Juvenile DUI Charge

The State of Florida has a zero tolerance policy for minors. This means that any juvenile with a blood alcohol content level of .02 or great to be charged with a DUI.  It is important for a juvenile charged with a DUI to act quickly in the defense of his or her case, as a DUI convicted at such a young age will carry him indefinitely. An experience Musca Law attorney can vigorously defend you or your family member.

DUI Roadblocks & Checkpoints

Many drivers receive a DUI charge after being stopped at a checkpoint – it is one of the most controversial way to receive a driving under the influence charge. Quite often, one of our experienced attorneys can show that checkpoints and roadblocks come close to violating basic 4th Amendment rights.

It’s getting harder for tech-savvy drivers in Miami, Florida and throughout the country to pinpoint the locations of police drunken-driving checkpoints: Apple will ban from its online store future applications that inform users of checkpoint locations not publicized by police.

It’s a move that doesn’t come as a big surprise but comes three months after four Democratic U.S. senators:

• Charles Schumer of New York
• Harry Reid of Nevada
• Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey
• Tom Udall of New Mexico

asked three smartphone manufacturers to quit selling such downloadable apps or to remove the DUI checkpoint function.

Canada-based Research in Motion, maker of Blackberry smartphones, pulled the apps immediately. Apple, manufacturer of the iPhone, and Google, which makes the Android, did not. Last month at a hearing before the Senate subcommittee on privacy, technology and the law, Schumer pressed top executives from Apple and Google to restrict sales.

On Wednesday, Apple updated the review guidelines for its App Store: “Apps which contain DUI checkpoints that are not published by law enforcement agencies, or encourage and enable drunk driving, will be rejected,” the new guidelines say.

The senators applauded Apple’s move to restrict future such apps but said the company also should remove current ones.

USA Today reported in March on the growing popularity of free or cheap, downloadable applications that help drivers avoid getting nailed for road offenses such as red-light camera violations and speed-trap busts. The report noted that the DUI function troubled some police agencies.

Fuzz Alert, one popular app that had the DUI checkpoint function, was altered last month to remove it, Fuzz Alert CEO Steve Croke said. “Fuzz Alert was not a DUI app and was never intended to be a DUI app,” he said. “(It) was designed as an audio-visual electronic device to warn drivers of traffic enforcement and speed impediment areas (such as) speed cameras, red light cameras and road hazards. The DUI aspect was never a core component to Fuzz Alert, so we took it out.”

If you or a loved one has been arrested for a DUI in Miami or Dade County, it is imperative that you contact a Miami DUI Attorney from Musca Law to discuss your rights.