What Defense Strategies Can An Attorney Use Under These Circumstances?

It can sometimes be hard to try to explain that a vehicle in and of itself is not a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument, and that it would all depend on how it was being used. Using a vehicle as a vehicle, as a mode of transportation, would not be the same as using the vehicle as a weapon. The attorney would have to try to argue that what the prosecutor was alleging as recklessness or negligence, was not actually recklessness or negligence.

There would be a couple of different ways for the prosecutor to try to prove an aggravated assault by making sure that the jury understood what they were trying to prove and what they had alleged and that it would not be enough to simply be outraged that the incident had occurred, but to actually follow the law. Sometimes, jurors get emotional and want the person to be guilty of something and it would then be our job as defense lawyers to sometimes show the jury that although it was an emotional incident, they would still have to follow the law.

The court would require them to follow the law because they swore an oath to uphold the law. Sometimes during these trials, there is a lot of focus on the emotional side of things because pictures of dead bodies may be shown, or the victim may walk in with a cast on their leg. It would be very easy to sympathize with someone who was sitting there with a broken leg because someone was drinking and driving and then hit them, but the law is the law and jurors are tasked with following the law, not doing what they feel would be best based on sympathy or empathy.

Are There Different Defense Strategies Between Aggravated Or Enhanced DUIs Versus Vehicular Assault And Homicide Charges?

This would really depend on the facts of the case. With misdemeanor DUIs, the issue would usually be whether the person was truly driving and whether they were in actual physical control of the vehicle and whether the prosecutor could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the person was impaired to the slightest degree or was truly above a prescribed alcohol level or whether they had prescription or illegal drugs in their system and whether they were taking it as prescribed or whether it was truly even prescribed to them.

Talking about aggravated DUI would add two additional elements to the offense of the standard misdemeanor DUI. Those two additional elements would be that the prosecutor would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the person’s license to drive or their privilege to drive had been suspended, revoked, canceled, refused, or restricted, and that the person knew or had reason to know that their license to drive was suspended, revoked, canceled, refused or restricted.

Usually, if an aggravated DUI case went to trial, the most common argument would be that the person truly did not know nor have reason to know that their license to drive was suspended, revoked, canceled, refused or restricted because that would be a required element.

There are usually other factors involved when talking about aggravated assault cases, vehicular manslaughter, or vehicular homicide cases. There would also be more arguing about whether the person was truly reckless as opposed to having impairment or whether there was the presence of alcohol. Fault would usually be an issue. Other factors would usually be more scientific by way of accident reconstruction factors than it would be about impairment and whether the person was driving, or whether the person knew or had reason to know there was an issue with their license.

Does Your Firm Employ Experts Such Accident Reconstruction Specialists?

We have access to and we do usually utilize experts in the field of accident reconstruction. These are people who can go out and do interviews, who could do scene measurements, who could review the police officers’ accident reconstructions, and determine whether or not they used the proper measurements and whether they used the proper calculations in coming to their conclusions.

Oftentimes, when dealing with these aggravated assault and vehicular manslaughter cases, our accident reconstructionist and our experts would come up with different ways of evaluating what the prosecutor’s experts said. This tends to come up most often when talking about speed estimations, and it would not be uncommon for a defense expert to be able to significantly lower the estimated speed that the state’s witnesses indicated took place. We would have access to those, and it is something that is normally utilized in aggravated assault or vehicular manslaughter cases.

Utilizing experts would usually come at an additional cost, which is one of the other reasons why Knapp counsel is such a great option, because rather than spending tens of thousands of dollars on a defense lawyer and then an additional thousands of dollars on experts, the client would be able to pay half the costs of the defense lawyer and then use the resources of a public defender’s office and their in-house experts to do the accident reconstruction and provide some of the investigative services.

For more information on DUI Defense Strategies, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you’re seeking by calling 480-900-0384 today.

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Brian Douglas Sloan

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Why Attorney Brian Douglas Sloan?
Phoenix DUI Lawyer

Why Attorney Brian Douglas Sloan?

18+

18+ Years SOLELY Focused on DUI Defense

4,100+

4,100+ DUIs Successfully Defended

Top Accolades

  • Only DUI "Power Lawyer" in the Nation Featured in USA Today, 2022

  • Top 10 in Arizona

Top 1%

Top One Percent in the Nation

Superb 10/10

AVVO.com

Preeminent
4.9 / 5.0

Martindale-hubble

“I am one of only a handful of Phoenix DUI Lawyers that focuses solely on DUI Defense representation.”

I have spent my entire career focused on DUI Defense representation, having personally defended more than 4,100+ DUI clients in the past 18+ years.

If you’re looking for a divorce attorney, tax attorney, or civil attorney, then I can comfortably say: "I’m not the one for you".

Coming up with traditional, as well as outside-the-box motions and defenses for my clients, often with good results, is the hallmark of my practice.

Lawyers that say they are "aggressive", or "will fight for you", are a dime a dozen. They use these phrases because that is what they think people want to hear. The truth of the matter is, being "aggressive" rarely gets the client anywhere in these court systems. Being "aggressive" isn’t the same as being good, and is often used to put on a show for a client to hide the fact that they aren’t doing anything meaningful for the client.

The same is true for the lawyers that claim to do DUI Defense... and Criminal Cases..., and Accident cases..., and Divorces. A Jack-of-all-Trades is a master of none. By handling all different sorts of cases, they take away from their ability to truly focus on DUIs, and keep up to date on the latest changes in DUI Defense Representation.

What I offer is intelligent, quality DUI Defense, at an exceptional price.

I am one of only a handful of Arizona DUI Lawyers that focuses solely on DUI Defense representation.

I have not only taught other lawyers how to do DUI Defense Representation at statewide seminars, but I produce DUI Legal Guides used by defense lawyers across Arizona.

I am one of the most award-winning DUI Defense Lawyers in Arizona; have been recognized nationally, including in a 2022 issue of USA Today; and there are only a few lawyers in Arizona who have personally defended more DUI cases than I have. I am also one of the most reasonably-priced DUI Lawyers, as I pride myself on charging a Flat Rate only for the legal services you need, and not for the legal services you don’t.

I am also the lawyer who people call once they realize that their original lawyer screwed something up, gave them false hope or false promises, or simply just took their money and didn’t do much on the case. You would be surprised at how often this happens.

Save yourself the trouble of hiring the wrong lawyer, and hire the right DUI Defense Lawyer from the start.

You can reach me on my personal cell phone: 480-720-7839.

Let me know if you have any questions!


Brian Douglas Sloan

DUI Attorney

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Email address:
Sloan@ArizDUI.com
2 N. Central Ave Suite 1929
Phoenix, AZ 85004