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For an offender charged with a DUI related offense, arguing against a DUI per se charge will rely on solely on contesting the accuracy or legality of any chemical, blood, breath, or urine test results indicating the driver possessed an illegal blood alcohol content while driving. In essence, per se offenses, such as DUI, require prosecutors only to establish that an offender had an illegal blood alcohol level (.08% for most DUI offenses), which in the eyes of the law is indicative of impairment, criminal intent, and other elements required to prove criminal activity. Therefore, since the prosecution’s case mostly hinges on the evidence of impairment from the blood alcohol sample, a driver and his or her legal counsel will work to contest the legality of the sample itself.

The defense strategy may focus on several notable aspects of the arrest and sampling process, including:

• Contest the legality of the traffic stop, any ensuing further questioning, and finally, the arrest itself. If law enforcement did not have a legally viable reason to escalate their activities, including even making the initial traffic stop in the first place, the admissibility of the blood sample may come into question.

• Contest the legality of the blood or chemical samples. These defenses can hinge on whether a driver was accurately informed of his or her rights and could legally consent to the procedure, but more often than not, will question items such as chain of custody of the evidence, the accuracy of the testing results and testing equipment, and in a similar manner, question the maintenance and operation of blood or chemical testing equipment, which may lead to questioning the accuracy of the test results.