After you are charged with driving under the influence in Houston, Harris County, Montgomery County, and surrounding areas, there are a number of different potential defenses that you could raise in order to try to avoid being convicted of these serious charges. A DUI defense lawyer can review the circumstances of your arrest and help you to determine what types of arguments may be most effective in order to help you avoid conviction.

Some lawmakers are considering added a new possible defense to DUI charges. This defense would allow people to justify the decision to drive while impaired if they needed to do so in order to protect their safety. This could provide important protections to people who drove while impaired because they had no other choice but to get behind the wheel after having consumed alcohol.

Proposal Could Allow a New DUI Defense

According to MPR News, bipartisan legislation is pending in Minnesota that would provide protection for people who drive impaired because their physical safety is at risk.

The legislation arose out of the case of a woman who was forced to drive while impaired because she was at risk of domestic violence. The woman had a fight with her husband in a cabin that the couple was sharing and she was afraid that she would be injured. As a result, she had no choice but to get in the car and drive a mile to safety despite the fact that she had consumed too much alcohol at dinner and she was over the legal limit.

Although her safety was at risk, she still had her driver’s license revoked under implied consent laws. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, and a divided court upheld the revocation because there is no provision under state law that permitted her to use the risk to her safety as a defense in the civil proceeding against her. The Chief Justice indicated that it would be up to the Legislature to provide protection from DUI laws for domestic abuse victims. The new proposed bill is an effort to provide this protection.

The legislation adds a defense of necessity, and gives people accused of impaired driving the right to argue that the fear of serious injury could override the state’s right to revoke a driver’s license for driving drunk.

If the law passes, this could provide protection not only for people who drive because they are at risk of domestic violence but also in other situations as well, such as if a bar fight occurs and you need to leave the scene to avoid being injured.

The new law, if passed, will be specific to the state. However, the defense of necessity has been accepted in varying degrees throughout the United States among defendants accused of drunk driving. In Texas, Sec 9.22 addresses the defense of necessity. Necessity is a defense if you reasonably believe your actions are necessary to avoid imminent harm; the urgency of avoiding the harm outweighs the harm that the law seeks to prevent; and a legislative intent to exclude a necessity defense does not plainly appear.

An experienced DUI defense lawyer can help those who have been accused of driving under the influence to determine if they can raise a necessity defense in their particular case.

Call Joseph LaBella & Associates today at 800-395-5951 or visit http://www.texas-dwi-lawyers.com/ to speak with a Houston DUI defense lawyer. Serving Harris County, Montgomery County, and communities along Interstate 45 through The Woodlands and Conroe. 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 8th, 2015 at 5:44 pm and is filed under Drunk Driving. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.