Personal Injury, Family Law, Bankruptcy, and Criminal Lawyer

Driving Under the Influence
and Chemical Tests

It is a violation of state law to operate a car or other motor vehicle while your abilities to do so are impaired as a result of the consumption of alcohol or drugs such as marijuana. Even if you are allowed to use marijuana for medical reasons, you are not allowed to operate a motor vehicle if the use of the drug has impaired your abilities to do so.

If your blood alcohol content level is 0.08 percent or greater, the law considers you to be driving under the influence. Police may ask you to submit to a breath, blood or urine test after you are arrested for DUI. The purpose of the test is to measure your BAC level.

A refusal to submit to a test to measure your BAC level is a violation of the implied consent rule. Anyone who is issued a license to drive operate a motor vehicle is deemed to have consented to taking a test to measure BAC levels. A refusal results in a 12-month suspension of your driver’s license. This suspension is in addition to any suspension or penalties imposed by a judge on the DUI charge.

Even if you submit to a chemical test, you could still lose your driving privileges while the case is pending in court. A BAC that exceeds the legal limit of 0.08 percent triggers a statutory summary suspension of your driving privileges for six months for a first offense and for one year if you have a prior DUI conviction within the five years. You are entitled to an administrative hearing to oppose the suspension.

Have Our Bloomington DUI Attorneys Protect Your Rights

Our DUI attorneys in Bloomington & Eureka Illinois are skilled at defending individuals charged with violating the state’s DUI laws. The DUI attorneys at Pioletti Pioletti & Nichols will devise a defense strategy that challenges any weaknesses in the prosecution case against you. This might include challenging the accuracy of the chemical test that measured you BAC level, or they might attack the validity of the original stop whether it be in Bloomington, Eureka, Peoria or else where in central Illinois.

Police officers cannot stop you without having reasonable suspicion to believe that you are engaged in some type of criminal activity. Such violations of your rights under the Constitution could form the basis for dismissal of the charges against you.