Richard J. Emhof DUI/DWI Law Blog on Lawyers.com

Anyone who has ever taken a high school civics class knows that in the United States, those accused of violating the law are entitled to be presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. This requirement, although not made explicit in the U.S. Constitution, has long been agreed to flow from the Bill of Rights.

However, this is one several areas where exceptions to our civil liberties have been made by our legislatures and courts (including the U.S. Supreme Court) specifically to increase the conviction rate of DUI cases. For some reason, drunk driving is the one crime in our 200-plus year history that has caused courts to condone and approve of denying basic rights to U.S. citizens. Those accused of murder, robbery, rape, etc. still enjoy the presumption. But DUI defendants are denied this right in the following way.

A DUI arrestee will almost always be asked to submit to a chemical test (blood, breath, or urine) by the police officer to determine the person’s BAC (blood-alcohol content). Many people, remembering their right to remain silent upon arrest and to refuse to provide incriminating evidence against themselves, refuse to submit to a test. This is a problem because Pennsylvania law requires anyone who drives in PA to submit to a BAC test if the police have probable cause to arrest for DUI. The consequences of refusal are that the person’s license will be suspended for at least 12 months, EVEN IF THEY ARE LATER ACQUITTED ON THE DUI CHARGES. The only way to fight the suspension is to appeal, go to court, and prove either (1) that they did not really refuse, or (2) that the officer did not have legal cause to make the request.

So, even if the driver has not been proven guilty of anything, they must take affirmative steps (filing an appeal and going to court) to maintain a basic necessity of modern life (i.e., the ability to drive). The rationale courts have provided is that driving is a privilege, not a right, so the government may deny it to citizens without first proving that the person committed a crime. We all know that for most Americans, without driving it would be impossible to:

• get to work,
• get to school or get the kids to school,
• go to the doctor’s office,
• buy food from the grocery store, etc.

Losing the driver’s license often means losing one’s livelihood. To say that driving is a privilege that the government may take away upon a mere showing of probable cause (i.e., that the driver might have been driving drunk) is patently absurd. And it’s a scary thing in our free country.

If you’ve been arrested for DUI in Pennsylvania, whether you submitted to the BAC test or not, you need the services of an effective advocate on your side. Call PA DUI Attorney Richard J. Emhof at 1-866-457-9957 or email for a free initial consultation.