Alexandra Benevento, Attorney at Law:
Adding a breath sample in a DUI case amounts to handing the prosecution an additional piece of evidence against you. And the answer to whether you should take the test is complicated. We have implied consent laws in the state of South Carolina, which means that by driving on the roads, it is implied that you have already provided your consent to take a breath, blood or urine test when requested by law enforcement. So, failure to do so will then trigger some administrative consequences.
Alexandra Benevento, Attorney at Law:
In South Carolina, if you fail to provide a breath sample when a law enforcement officer requests one of you, you will automatically be suspended for six months. There is a process in place to challenge that suspension. And as a general rule, we prefer that a person not provide a breath sample because those administrative sanctions against a person’s driver’s license are easier to deal with than having a case where we might be dealing with a high number on a breath test, which will be used against that person in a criminal case.
Alexandra Benevento, Attorney at Law:
Not having a breath sample reading in a criminal case leaves open additional opportunities and possibilities to obtain a more favorable outcome at trial.
