DUI Attorney and Field Sobriety Tests

This week I became certified to administer the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Standardized Field Sobriety Tests. These tests include the walk and turn, the one leg stand, and the horizontal gaze nystagmus. I also had the opportunity to learn what a pile of junk they are. And I am now prepared to go in and crush a cop's soul with the information I have.

As a DUI attorney, or any criminal lawyer, for that matter, you quickly learn two things. First, you learn that winning any case is an uphill battle. And second, you learn that the more information you have the more likely it is that you are going to have something in your arsenal that is going to greatly help your clients in the future.

Certification in the FSTs did that for me. The class was amazing because it showed me exactly what the cops see when they are learning how to do this stuff, and I learned all of the junk science that is actually behind the tests. And trust me, it is all junk (the one fact that should, in a perfect world, discredit all FSTs is there has been no peer review and publishing of the science behind it).

If you've read any of my DUI lawyer posts in the past, you know that the key to beating the FSTs is not taking them at all. In Washington State they are completely voluntary, and not taking them puts you much better off than taking them. And, as always, if in doubt, ask to talk to a DUI lawyer.