DUI Lawyer in Montana

Gibson Perryman will vigorously defend your constitutional rights. Our attorneys fight for justice at the municipal, state, and federal levels daily. From everyday traffic citations to capital offenses, the attorneys at Gibson Perryman are here for you.

Enforcement never takes the possibility of a driver under the influence lightly. If enforcement suspects that you might be intoxicated, you could encounter a challenging journey ahead. Do not face the penalties that come with drunk driving alone. If you experience a DUI incident, reach out to our team of attorneys at Gibson Perryman. We will offer you the assistance of a  DUI lawyer in Montana to guide you. Our team always consider the severity of these charges and the impact DUIs can have on families and friends. We want to ensure that we take care of the well-being of you and your family.

I Have Been Charged with Driving Under the Influence in Montana, What  Are My Options?

If you have been charged with driving under the influence of a drug or intoxicant in Montana, you might be asking yourself what your next steps might be to resolve your DUI. Several factors are extremely important in determining how I, as your lawyer might work to resolve your DUI. It matters if you have had prior DUI charges in the past, and how those prior DUI charges were resolved. Your interaction with law enforcement officers also matters. If during your interaction
with law enforcement officers, you absolutely cooperated with law enforcement, you likely don’t have a very good triable issues to fight.

The way for you to create good, triable issues for trial is for you to not cooperate with law enforcement. In simple terms, you should deprive law enforcement and the prosecuting agency from having the ability to prosecute your case under
Montana law. If you refused to give blood, breath, or urine samples during the course and scope of the police investigation, good job. Physical evidence is the most important factor that the prosecuting agency uses to convict one of a DUI charge. Without it, prosecuting agencies will attempt to look to certain evidence which may or may not be admissible into evidence at trial. Your refusal to provide police with blood, breath, or urine samples will only serve to increase your negotiating power with the prosecuting agencies.

If you refused, your attorney should file a pleading with the Montana District Court in the county in which you were arrested to appeal your driver’s license suspension in the State of Montana. Filing this pleading in the Montana
District Court will give you an additional bargaining chip to negotiate with the prosecuting agency. Filing this pleading will unsuspend your driver’s license, and will allow you to drive as a normal citizen during the pendency of your DUI case.
In following with the narrative of your refusal to give physical evidence to police, that gives me, as your attorney, more leverage with the prosecuting agency to negotiate your case so that a DUI isn’t stuck to your record. Montana Code Annotated §61-8-1002 provides that “ (1) A person commits the offense of driving under the influence if the person drives or is in actual physical control of:
a.) A vehicle or a commercial motor vehicle upon the ways of this state open to the public while under the influence of alcohol, any drug, or a combination of alcohol and any drug;
b.)  Noncommercial vehicle upon the ways of this state open to the public while the person’s alcohol concentration, as shown by analysis of the person’s blood, breath, or other bodily substance, is 0.08 or more;
c.) A commercial motor vehicle within this state while the person’s alcohol concentration, as shown by analysis of the person’s blood, breath, or other bodily substance, is 0.04 or more;
d.) A noncommercial vehicle or commercial motor vehicle within this state while the person’s tetrahydrocannabinol level, excluding inactive metabolites, as shown by analysis of the person’s blood or other bodily substance, is 5 ng/ml or more; e.) A vehicle within this state when the person is under 21 years of age at the time of the offense while the person’s alcohol concentration, as shown by analysis of the person’s blood, breath, or other bodily substance, is 0.02 or more.

(2) Upon the trial of any civil or criminal action or proceeding arising out of acts alleged to have been committed by any person driving or in actual physical control of a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, the concentration of alcohol in the person at the time of a test, as shown by analysis of a sample of the person’s blood, breath, or other bodily substance drawn or taken within a reasonable time after the alleged act, gives rise to the following inferences:
a.) If there was at that time an alcohol concentration of 0.04 or less, it may be inferred that the
person was not under the influence of alcohol;
b.) If there was at that time an alcohol concentration in excess of 0.04 but less than 0.08, that fact may not give rise to any inference that the person was or was not under the influence of alcohol, but the fact may be considered with other competent evidence in determining the guilt or innocence of the person; and
c.) If there was at that time an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more, it may be inferred that the person was under the influence of alcohol. The inference is rebuttable.

(3) The provisions of subsection (2) do not limit the introduction of any other competent evidence bearing on the issue of whether the person was under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or a combination of alcohol and drugs. ”As stated in the Montana Code provided above, generally, the prosecuting agency must prove that you were in control of a motor vehicle, being operated on the highways and byways of the State of Montana, while under the influence of a drug or intoxicant. As
such, the best way for the prosecuting agency to prove that you were under the influence is by taking blood, breath, or urine samples. Depriving law enforcement of their ability to take such samples will promote your ability to fight your DUI, but also to retain your right to refuse again. The threshold that must be proven is that your were intoxicated over the statutory limit of 0.08.

If you happen to give law enforcement a blood, breath, or urine sample, and your sample is between 0.04 and 0.08, then the prosecuting agency can use that at trial against you as a presumption that you were drunk at the time that law enforcement stopped you. You, as a criminally accused of DUI might fall into several categories. Maybe you provided zero samples to law enforcement. Maybe you were forced to give a sample because you were involved in a motor vehicle accident. Maybe you voluntarily gave a sample to law enforcement. My defense of your case will depend on whether you did any number of the above.

The more evidence you voluntarily gave to law enforcement, the harder it will be for me to defend you in your DUI. The less evidence you gave to law enforcement, the better your outcome will likely be.

What Are My Possibilities for Resolution of My DUI?

If you did not give any evidence to law enforcement whatsoever,  the more likely it will be that I will be able to either get the prosecuting authorities to either reduce your charge of DUI to a lesser included offense, or to have them dismiss it outright.  Prosecutors HATE to dismiss charges, because it essentially means that the law enforcement agency that arrested you had no right whatsoever to arrest you or charge you with the offense they decided to charge you under.  If there is no evidence to convict you under the Montana Code for DUI, I can explore possibilities to have the prosecuting agency reduce your offense from Driving Under the Influence to Reckless Driving, or Negligent Endangerment.  If there is literally nothing, I would like to go for a complete dismissal.  However, most prosecuting agencies do not opt for a dismissal, and you likely would have to push your case to trial to achieve that result.  

If you opted to cooperate with law enforcement, and gave them blood, breath, or urine samples, your options are different.  Don’t feel bad.  Most people fall in this category. If you provided a blood, breath, or urine sample, and it is close to 0.08, then I have an arguable basis to reduce your charge from DUI to a lesser included offense.  If you provided a blood, breath, or urine sample, and it is above a 0.08, then, I still might be able to argue for a lesser included offense, but it will be very important to see how you performed on your standard field sobriety tests, if any, and your interaction with law enforcement. If your blood, breath or urine tests indicate you had a blood alcohol content above a 0.10, then the prosecutor may offer a negotiated plea to a DUI Per Se, which means that you do not serve any jail time, Everything depends on the evidence that you voluntarily give to law enforcement.  

If you have been charged with the offense of Driving Under the Influence of a drug or intoxicant in Montana, I will be happy to evaluate and work hard to achieve a goal commensurate with the facts of your case.  I have litigated matters all over the State of Montana from Plentywood, Montana on the Eastern side of the State of Montana to Plains, Montana on the far Western side of the State of Montana and most literally, all places in between.  Please feel free to contact me today to discuss how I might be able to resolve your DUI case in Montana today.

Contact An Attorney Today

Small Firm, Big Results

Let us help you get back on course after the consequences of a DUI charge. When dealing with a situation like this, you need intelligent, aggressive, ethical representation. We have a veteran DUI lawyer in Montana who possess the necessary skills and diligence to protect your rights, your freedom, and your future.