Before I get into it, though, let me give you a little historical background for your information. We all know about the Constitution. We all know that the Constitution gives us certain rights. We all know that when we are arrested we are told that we have certain rights. Those rights are, the right to remain silent (also known as, Constitutionally, the right to be free from incriminating yourself in a crime), the right to an attorney, and that if you cannot afford a criminal attorney a criminal attorney will be appointed to you. For today, we are focusing on that first one, the right to remain silent.
You may not know this (some judges don't even get this concept) but your Constitutional rights are alive and well before you are arrested and the rights are told to you. What I mean is, you have a right to remain silent from incriminating yourself the very moment you are reading this post. Your rights don't begin once you are arrested. They are always alive, and you can always exercise them, at your discretion.
Now back to field sobriety tests. When you take field sobriety tests, what you are doing is providing the officer information that he is planning to use against you at a later time. In essence, your bodily movements are "speaking" to the officer by providing him information on you sobriety. Because the actual language of the Constitution reads that one is free from incriminating themselves, this includes providing information from bodily movement. So, essentially, if you consent to field sobriety tests for a Seattle DUI lawyer, you are waiving your right to be free from incriminating yourself. This is a right you do not want to give up.
So, if you are arrested for Seattle DUI, you are guaranteed to have a better chance at resolving it in your favor if you don't talk to police and don't do field sobriety tests. Assuming you hire a good Seattle traffic lawyer, your chances of a good resolution to your case are very good. If you are charged with a DUI or need a Seattle traffic lawyer give us a call today.
Related Posts:
Seattle Traffic Lawyer | Your Rights
Seattle Traffic Lawyer | What IRLJ means
