In North Carolina, there are many types of defenses to a Driving While Impaired (“DWI”) charge. One such challenge is a pretrial motion based on a case called State v. Knoll which dealt with the dismissal of the charges against the Defendant due to a violation of the Defendant’s constitutional and statutory rights. Basically, in order for a Knoll challenge to a DWI to be successful, the Defendant must prove 2 things: that there was a substantial statutory or constitutional rights violation on the State’s part and that the Defendant’s case was irreparably prejudiced as a result of those violations.
Usually the way this plays out in practice is that the Defendant was not processed in a timely fashion and thus held too long at the jail when they were able to meet the conditions of their bond or they were denied access to phones in order to call witnesses to come observe their breath test or observe their condition at the jail. Another common violation is when the magistrate does not follow the local bond rules and sets a secured bond when it is not warranted under the bond rules. A secured bond means the Defendant has to actually post money or hire a bail bondsman to do so. They are not simply released on a written promise to appear in court. Because alcohol leaves the body over time, time is of the essence in impaired driving cases. Therefore, the Defendant has the right to be around family and friends at a relevant time to the alleged offense so they can observe his condition and be able to testify that the Defendant really did not seem impaired, or did not have a strong odor of alcohol as the officer said. The Defendant also has the right to obtain an independent chemical analysis of his blood after he gets out of jail. If he is delayed at the jail through no fault of his own, then the relevance of a chemical test several hours after he last consumed any alcohol becomes very low. Therefore, due to your rights being violated, your case and your ability to defend against the charges has been unduly prejudiced. As such, the only remedy would be dismissal.
If you have been charged with Driving While Impaired in Charlotte North Carolina or any other counties in North Carolina, don’t hesitate to contact our experienced DWI attorneys to see if you may have a possible Knoll challenge to your case or to see if you have other defenses at your disposal.
