New North Carolina DUI Laws Face Court Challenges
North Carolina DUI defense attorneys say they expect North Carolina’s new, tougher, DUI laws to be challenged in court. While New Mexico leads the way, many states are enacting tougher DUI laws, some of which may run afoul of our constitutional protections. North Carolina’s new laws took effect on December 1, 2006.
DUI defense lawyer, Griff Anderson, a former district attorney, said “It’s clear to me that the group that got together to draft this legislation was intent on removing all the defenses attorneys have used to defend drinking drivers. In doing so, I think they have run afoul of some constitutional protections in the courts. We will find out in the next year or so.”
In North Carolina, unlike most states, DUI cases are tried to a judge rather than a jury. The new laws enhance the admissibility of breath tests (Intoxilizer) and road-side sobriety tests. Anderson says most Intoxilizer devices in the state are old, out of date, and unreliable. He also complains that the road side sobriety tests rely on a officer’s assessment of the driver’s performance in those tests.
Of course, as a DUI defense attorney, Anderson asserts that no law in North Carolina prohibits a person from drinking and then driving. “We draw the line at a level,” he said.