DUI levels in Arizona. I am Gordon Thompson and today is June 30, 2016. The topic for today’s podcast is what levels of alcohol or drugs make somebody guilty of DUI in Arizona?
Now for this podcast I will only be talking about defenses of the charges for the levels of drugs or alcohol; I will not be talking about the second issue, which is impairment, which could be any drug or alcohol, including level less than what would be a violation of the per se limits, those limits that pertain to specific levels.
First, for alcohol there are three basic levels. One is having an alcohol level of .08% or more within two hours of driving, which is known as a regular DUI; a second offense, more serious offense, is an extreme DUI of having an alcohol level of .15% within two hours of driving; and there is a third offense which is commonly known as the super extreme DUI, which is having an alcohol level of .20% or more within two hours of driving.
Notice when I am talking about this I’m not saying at the time of driving but rather within two hours of driving. Until about 15 or 20 years ago, legally we can always show that if the alcohol level was less than the limits at the time somebody was driving they are not guilty of these offenses. However the legislature changed the law, and so now the state only has to show what the alcohol levels are within two hours of driving. If the alcohol level could have been less at the time driving on these charges that doesn’t make any difference. The only limitation on this is that the alcohol or drugs must have been consumed before driving or while driving, and not after driving; and so for example if someone is involved in an accident near their home, then they go home and drink some alcohol while waiting for the police to arrive and then take breath or blood tests later, that alcohol would not make them guilty of the DUI. Whether that happened or not is always a defense to the case.
A person should never accept this given truth that the blood or breath tests were accurate. Alcohol levels, however testing has been done, can always be challenged in court. With blood testing you can get the blood retested to see how accurate the State’s test is, as well as have the test result records reviewed to see how accurately the testing procedure was done by the police.
Breath testing is also certainly subject to errors and we can always get maintenance records to see how reliable the particular breath testing machine was working at the time of the tests.
So that is the alcohol levels for DUI in Arizona.
A second way somebody can be DUI in Arizona for being over limit would be for drugs, and there are three possibilities here.
The first, say is if it is an illegal drug and the person does not have a prescription for the drug, for example heroin are methamphetamine. If there is any level of that drug present and the person doesn’t have a prescription for that then they are guilty of driving and having any illegal drug within their body. It doesn’t matter how much of the drug is present but if it is present the person is guilty.
The second possibility is if the person has in their body a prescription drug and they have a valid prescription for the drug. What then happens it is a defense that the person was taking the medication pursuant to the prescription and was taking it in accordance with the prescription. If that is true then the person is not guilty regardless of what the level is of the drug in the body, as long as it is taken consistent with the prescription.
The third possibility is something that’s new just from this year and is, what happens if it is marijuana and the person has a valid medical marijuana card? In that case then it is a defense if the person is taking it and levels of THC or the active metabolite of THC is at a level which would not cause impairment. Now that question is at this stage an open question, namely, is the level we’re talking is it one for all people in general, like for example with .08% (with alcohol) or is it the level of impairment for that particular person? That question is open and we’ll have to wait and see what cases say about it later down the road.
So these are the various levels of alcohol and drugs which can make somebody guilty of DUI in Arizona. Again please keep in mind that regardless of the alcohol or drug level somebody can be impaired even if the level of drugs or alcohol within them is below legal limits, for example below .08% alcohol level.
If you have any questions about this podcast please call me.