The type of evidence that a prosecutor would use to try to convict someone of driving under the influence is going to include several different types of evidence. There will be some testimony from the police officers and a crime lab technician or expert, as well as some computer printouts or breath test equipment or blood testing equipment records.
The evidence typically will involve observations and notes from the officers as far as field sobriety tests, and then the prosecutor will attempt to use the chemical test results, if there are any, to try to get a conviction or to find a person guilty or to get a guilty plea out of the person. The evidence that’s used includes observations on how the person was driving, if they were swerving or straddling, if they had problems maintaining control of the car, and if there were any accidents.
These are typically observations of the police officer or civilian witnesses. There also may be a video camera in the police car that would provide evidence as to how a person was driving the car and whether that is consistent with somebody who is sober or somebody who is under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.
The evidence would also include the administration of field sobriety tests and the pre-field sobriety test questions. A lot of times people will be asked if they had anything to eat or drink. People will admit to drinking alcohol, and the police officer will take notes on this. The police officer will then testify in court and use that information against somebody to try to get a conviction. The field sobriety tests that the officers may administer or rely upon each have their own scoring method and clues that an officer should be trained to look for. These can be used as evidence to try to convict somebody.
Of course, after somebody has been arrested, there typically will be a chemical test. A chemical test is usually a blood test or breath test and the breath testing results will be noted by the police officer in his report as well as printed out from the breath testing instrument. If the case were to go to a jury trial, that would be used to show a jury what the instrument read.
It’s also important to know if somebody has a prior driving under the influence conviction. The prosecutors should obtain the records from the previous case to show that there was actually a conviction, because they need to prove that in court in order to use it against somebody. So that is some of the evidence that would be used by the prosecution in an effort to convict somebody of driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.
Personal Attention
