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Florida State DUI Question. Could someone weigh out the pro’s and con’s of not taking the breathalyser OR

FLORIDA DUI
J B asked:


Taking the breathalyser? In other words, If I get pulled over and I know I’m drunk - what are the advantages of taking it or not taking it? Thankyou

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This entry was posted on Sunday, August 9th, 2009 at 3:09 am and is filed under Florida Dui. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “Florida State DUI Question. Could someone weigh out the pro’s and con’s of not taking the breathalyser OR”

  1. Refusing the test is considered evidence of intoxication.

    Most attorneys will tell you to take the test.

  2. You don’t have to take the test. But you are basically telling the cop your drunk by doing so. The police can order a blood test also.

  3. When I lived in Florida 4 years ago, refusing the test meant automatic license suspension for one year. That is quite a bit longer than a conviction.

  4. neoimperialistxxi on August 11th, 2009 at 7:27 pm

    You’ll lose your license for a little while if you refuse. On the other hand, better to be defending yourself in an administrative hearing over a temporary suspension of your license than to be facing a DUI with a failed test. If that were to happen, the suspension of your license would be the least of your worries. The guy above who said that refusal is evidence of guilt is incorrect. Refusal is evidence of refusal. Period. The State will try to persuade a jury to “infer” that it means that you knew that you’d fail it, but any good lawyer should be able to get you past that because it is hardly the only reason that someone might refuse a breath test.

    The con of taking the test is obvious. It’s that it can be entered into evidence against you and would support a conviction all by itself. There is no pro to taking the test if you already know you are drunk. The only time it ever makes sense to blow is when you know that you are NOT drunk. If florida is a state in which a cop can demand a nonconsensual blood test, that’s great. There’s just no downside to forcing the cop to do that. it can take quite awhile to get you to the hospital and get the test administered. Usually, time is your friend when your drunk. It could easily be that a person is legally over the limit at the time of the stop, but below the limit by the time the police actually administer the blood test. Another possibility is that the cop could screw up the procedure which could result in a suppression of the test results.

    I never once heard of any lawyer who advised their client to take the test if they knew they would fail it.

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