When Should You Call a Lawyer After a Virginia DUI Arrest?

After you are arrested for an alleged DUI in Virginia, you need to know what to do in order to preserve evidence in your case, which is why it is important for you to contact a knowledgeable Manassas, Virginia DUI attorney as soon as possible.

The job of an attorney is to give you advice on your next steps and to build a strong defense for you. Often people do not know they may have a chance to fight a drinking and driving charge in Virginia. Here are some critical steps to take to help strengthen your defense.

1. Take Detailed Notes: It is important that you put together a timeline of the night and the events that led up to your arrest. Write out what you ate and drank. Your timeline should include what you drank and the estimated time you drank it. The timeline helps toxicologists conclude what your BAC level may have been at the time you were arrested for allegedly drinking and driving.

This outline could also help your attorneys confirm if your alleged BAC would have matched what you drank. What if you only had one glass of wine at 6 p.m. with dinner and then had a cocktail around 8 p.m.? Although the police officers told you that you blew a 0.10, your DUI defense attorney will be able to gather from this information that there must have been something wrong with the test to give a reading so high when only a small amount of alcohol was consumed.

2. Get Documentation: After the arrest, it is wise to gather the receipts that prove what you ate and drank. If you did not save your receipts from that night, find out from one of your friends if they saved the itemized receipts. If not, credit card statements will help but won't be as accurate of an account as an itemized receipt showing where you were and what you drank. This also helps to establish your itinerary.

3. Talk to Someone Who Knows You ASAP: If you call someone who knows you, such as a friend or relative, from jail, they will be able to hear your speech and listen to your thoughts. An officer may say you weren't making any sense or that you were mumbling; however, if someone on the other end of the line knows you well and doesn't get that impression, then he or she may be a crucial witness in your case.

If you are arrested for DUI in Northern Virginia, please call the Wilson Law Firm today so we can start investigating your matter and helping you preserve possible evidence in your case. You can reach an experienced Virginia DUI lawyer by calling (800) DUI - LWYR or (703) 361-6100.

The Wilson Law Firm
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The lawyers of The Wilson Law Firm have traveled Virginia’s several interstates helping clients just like you - appearing in courts all across the Commonwealth of Virgnia - from Virginia Beach and Norfolk in the southeast, to Wise County in the southwest, all the way up I-81 to Frederick County / Winchester in the northwest, and all the way across Warren County, Fauquier County, Prince William County, and Fairfax County on the way to Arlington County and the City of Alexandria in the northeast. The Wilson Law Firm regularly serves Prince William County, the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park, the towns of Haymarket, Fauquier County, Stafford County, Spotsylvania County, the city of Fredericksburg, Loudoun County, Fairfax City, Fairfax County, the city of Falls Church, Arlington County, the City of Alexandria, Culpeper County, Warren County, Clark County, Frederick County and the city of Winchester.