Driving while under the influence (DUI) of alcohol or drugs is never a good idea. It has the potential to lead to severe consequences. For the lucky people, a DUI arrest will be a wake-up call that encourages them to change some behavior and carries few legal consequences. For the unlucky, a DUI will lead to an accident that causes injuries or even death to others. When that happens, a person faces more than DUI charges—they face charges for DUI or intoxication manslaughter.
While many people use being drunk or high as an excuse for undesirable behaviors, that is not how the government views voluntary intoxication. While people may not choose their behavior once they are too drunk to make logical choices, the law presumes that you chose the behavior that leads to intoxication. As a result, unless you can show that the intoxication was involuntary, you could be facing stiff criminal penalties. An Avalon Park DUI manslaughter lawyer can help you understand the charges against you and plan a defense against those charges.
Florida takes a strict approach to homicide, including DUI manslaughter. It is a second-degree felony, with potential penalties including up to 15 years in jail and a fine of up to $10,000. While these punishments may seem extreme, they are much less severe than the punishments for some other types of homicide, which can be as extreme as the death penalty in Florida.
On the other hand, the punishments for DUI manslaughter go beyond the potential criminal punishments for the offenses. A felony conviction follows people for the rest of their lives. It can keep people from getting most jobs, make them ineligible for many types of federal aid, keep them from getting housing, and even prevent them from volunteering with many organizations. A DUI manslaughter attorney in Avalon Park focuses on defeating the criminal charges to prevent you from having to endure those other hardships.
When an accident results in a death, even innocent survivors can feel guilt about the incident. It can be tempting to take blame at the scene of an accident. A person who happens to have been under the influence at the time of a wreck might even more likely to take responsibility for the death.
However, it is vital to understand that a conviction for intoxication manslaughter requires more than someone dying at the scene of an accident. It even involves more than showing that a defendant was intoxicated while driving during that accident. The intoxicated person has to be the one responsible for the accident. The intoxication cannot be incidental to the death. Instead, the intoxication must be the cause of the death.
One of the most critical roles of an Avalon Park attorney in a DUI manslaughter case is to challenge test results suggesting intoxication. There are particular rules for law enforcement officers administering sobriety tests. They have to calibrate machinery for breathalyzer tests, and they have to follow specific guidelines for blood alcohol testing.
For example, blood alcohol concentration (BAC) testing needs to be done as close to the accident as possible. While it is possible for BAC to decline over extended periods after an accident, it is also possible for BAC to rise in the immediate aftermath of an accident, depending on when someone consumed alcohol or drugs.
Any charges involving someone’s death must be taken seriously. Even though the potential punishment for DUI manslaughter is less than the punishment for many homicide charges, it is still substantial, and the stigma, social consequences, and civil consequences can be life-changing.
An Avalon Park DUI manslaughter lawyer can help you navigate the potential fallout from these charges. They do not take a one-size-fits-all approach, and the correct defense depends on the facts of the case, your criminal history, and many other factors. Schedule a free consultation to discuss those factors with a criminal defense attorney.
The Umansky Law Firm Criminal Defense & Injury Attorneys
