Why Your DUI Stop in Pennsylvania Might Actually Be Illegal
The last thing you need to see is flashing lights in the rearview mirror when you’re driving home, and it’s a bit late. There’s that sudden, sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach as your mind starts racing.
“Was I speeding? Did I miss a sign?”
For many, a routine traffic stop turns into a DUI investigation, and suddenly, life feels like it’s spinning out of control. But there’s something many people don’t realize, which is also an important part of any defense.
Just because you were pulled over, it doesn’t mean the police actually had the legal right to do it in the first place. And you have the right to seek the help of a Pittsburgh DUI attorney to fight for your rights.
The Illegal Stop and the Fourth Amendment
A DUI charge isn’t always about what the blood test or the breathalyzer says. In fact, in specific instances, those numbers don’t even matter. Especially when the entire case hinges on the very first moment of the encounter.
The Fourth Amendment protects us against unreasonable searches and seizures. It isn’t just some abstract concept from a history book. For law enforcement, it’s a literal requirement. To pull you over, an officer needs “reasonable suspicion” or “probable cause.” They can’t just stop a car on a whim or because they have a hunch that something’s off. If they do, the case’s entire foundation starts to crumble.
The Power of a Motion to Suppress
The Pittsburgh DUI attorney doesn’t just walk into court and ask for mercy. They fight back with what’s called a Motion to Suppress. It sounds like high-level legal jargon, but it’s basically a way of telling the judge that the officer broke the rules at the start. Thus, everything they found afterward shouldn’t be allowed in court.
It’s what Pittsburgh DUI attorneys often call the “fruit of the poisonous tree.” If the initial stop (“tree”) is illegal, then so is everything that follows. Thus, the field sobriety tests, the officer’s observations, and the chemical results (“fruit”) are considered illegal.
If the fruit is poisoned, the judge might agree that the officer lacked a valid reason for the stop. The evidence may get thrown out, and the DUI charges could be dismissed. The person charged can walk away with a clean record and an intact license.
Why You Need Legal Representation
The biggest mistake people make after a DUI arrest is assuming the facts are set in stone. They see a high BAC reading and think it’s all over. But the law is as much about process as it is about evidence.
This is exactly where Logue Law Group steps in. Our team of Pittsburgh DUI attorneys doesn’t just take the police report at face value. We go over the dashcam footage frame by frame. We look at the blinker’s exact timing, the lane lines, and the officer’s stated justification for the stop.
We know a DUI is a threat to your job, your freedom, and your family’s stability. We find procedural errors that lead to dismissals by focusing on the how and why of the arrest. Whether it’s an unconstitutional stop in a county or a technical error in a lab, we offer the aggressive, local defense that turns a potential conviction into a dismissed case.
Your rights are more than just a technicality, and aren’t just loopholes. They are the rules that keep the system fair. Having a dedicated DUI attorney means having someone who knows how to hold the system accountable to its own rules. Reach out to us at 412-387-6901 if you’re facing unconstitutional charges.