Virginia blood DUI defense calls for knowledge of the science and the particularized law- Anatomy of a recent settlement for reckless driving after a 0.22 BAC blood draw in a Fairfax DWI case

Virginia blood DUI defense is not a mere variation on defending DWI cases involving breath testing or no blood alcohol content (BAC) testing at all. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I fully prepare these and all criminal defense cases for victory at trial, and obtained a spectacular settlement of a 0.22 BAC blood draw case, resulting in a reckless driving disposition with only a fine and a requirement to complete VASAP / alcohol education.. My client’s license was not suspended nor did he get any suspended (nor active) jail time. We had a forensic toxicologist present to testify, where I have used the expertise of forensic toxicologists in defending hundreds of Virginia DUI defense cases. How did I obtain such a spectacular result against this Fairfax DUI prosecution? Read on.

Being perpetually battle ready obtains the most favorable Virginia blood DUI negoatitions

In this Fairfax DUI prosecution, my client was found by emergency medical professionals — followed by police — in his running vehicle in a one-car accident. He declined field testing and pre-arrest breath testing. He was taken to the hospital, where police claimed he consented to blood testing. (Virginia blood DUI defense calls always for challenging whether such a blood draw was consensual. Police proceed with such blood draws without a search warrant at their own risk.) The Virginia Department of Forensic Science (DFS) concluded that my client’s BAC was 0.22. As always, I timely obtained a judicial order for a sample of my client’s blood to be transferred to a private lab for testing. I usually use NMS labs in Pennsylvania, which the DFS has found reliable enough in the past for conducting independent testing of alleged controlled substances / drugs. With no exceptions for more than the past year, NMS’s results have always been at least slightly lower than the DFS’s results, but in this instance brought us close to but not below the threshold of ovoer a 0.20 BAC, which can make the difference between a ten-day and five-day mandatory minimum in jail if convicted beyond a reasonable doubt of DUI exceeding such a threshold.

Keeping a cool head in negotiating Virginia DWI cases

This 0.22 BAC Virginia blood DUI case was scheduled for an afternoon trial. Curiously, the prosecutor in this Fairfax DUI case started talking with me about the matter when we had a case together the day before, and the morning of trial when I was still hadnling another case. He told me that he wanted to know what my client wanted to do with the case. I responded with genuine collness — already fully prepared for trial — that I wanted first to see which witnesses appeared for trial. Do not automatically expect that the absence of the blood draw witness will automatically win a Virginia DWI blood trial, because the prosecutor might attempt to use certified documentation and police testimony to still get the blood exam into evidence (but I object that the absence of the blood draw witness deprives us of knowing whether the necessary standards of their health care licensing were followed). Furthermore, even excluding the BAC result at trial does not deprive the prosecution from trying to provee the alternative definition of a Virginia DUI offense, which is whetehr the defendant consumed enough alcohol to noticably affect his or her appearance and/or behavior.

Seizing the moment when a Virginia DUI prosecution witness is absent

Witht his Virginia DUI defense, the blood draw witness did not appear. The prosecution did not seem to even know which statutorily-permitted category the blood draw person fell under for drawing blood for a Fairfax or other DUI case (for instance registered nurse or phlebotomist) let alone even having certified docuemtnation of the blood draw person’s status in that reguard, to try to admit the results without a witness. We settled this case for this great reckless driving disposition that I detail at the beginning of this article.

Fairfax DUI lawyer Jonathan Katz relenteless pursues your best defense against Virginia DWI, felony and misdemeanor prosecutions. Call 703-383-1100 for your free in-person consultation about your court-pending case.