Does this describe you?

Police stopped you in Porterville or Tulare for DUI and tested you at the station using a breath or blood test. You clocked in at just over the legal limit -- around 0.09% BAC. That was still an illegal and unacceptable BAC level, as stipulated by California Vehicle Code Section 23152.

So will you GO TO JAIL? Will you lose your license? Will you have to pay fines, fees, and steeper auto insurance premiums for the next several years, assuming you even get to keep your license and continue driving?

The answer might hinge on a subtle detail of your physiology that most DUI defendants don't know even exists -- a concept called being "on the rise." Here's the gist. When you drink alcohol, your body metabolizes the alcohol over time in the liver. But your blood alcohol level doesn't just spike right after you drink and drop incrementally as the minutes and hours tick by. The curve is slightly more complicated.

Your blood alcohol level does rise, but there is a delay in how quickly it rises. So let's say you had three drinks before you left the pub and then got in your car. Then police stopped you, arrested you, took you to the station and gave you a BAC test. Your BAC level might have been rising THAT ENTIRE TIME. You might be able to make the argument that you were UNDER the limit in your car and only peaked above the limit while at the police station. In other words, technically speaking, you weren't DUI, as defined by the California Vehicle Code.

This is a complex argument to make, and it's not very easy to prove. But a sophisticated and aggressive attorney, like Christopher Martens, can help you find strategies and tactics to use. We fight aggressively for DUI defendants at 300 East Olive (Porterville) and 221 South Mooney Boulevard (Tulare).