The offense of Driving Under the Influence (DUI), like any other criminal charge, requires the State to prove your guilt beyond all reasonable doubt.  Ultimately, you are entitled to have the issue of whether you operated a motor vehicle while impaired by drugs or alcohol submitted to a jury for their consideration.  It is not necessary that you prove anything.  Rather, the burden rests with the State to prove that you were: Driving or in actual physical control of a motor vehicle on the roadways of the state of Florida; and that you were under the influence of alcohol or drugs; and your normal faculties (defined as the ability to walk, talk, judge distances, act in emergencies, or carry out the normal activities of every day life) were impaired.
 
The State can meet its burden of proving the offense of DUI in one of two ways. First, you may have submitted to an approved test of your blood alcohol level either through having blood drawn or submitting to an intoxilyzer (breath) test.  If the State can be establish that your blood alcohol level was above the legal limit (.08 percent) at the time that your were operating or in actual physical control of a vehicle, the State will have met its burden that you were operating a vehicle with an unlawful blood alcohol level (UBAL).  Although your blood alcohol level as measured by blood or breath may be above the legal limit (.08 percent), the admissibility of this test result or its significance may be challenged in court.  In some circumstances, the reliability of the State's evidence of blood alcohol may be suppressed.  In such cases, at the trial of your DUI, the jury would not be made aware of any test results showing your blood alcohol level. Other evidence collected from you at the scene may include observations made by the officer of your demeanor, physical condition, condition of your eyes, the odor of alcohol about you,  your ability to walk or stand, your reliance upon other objects for support, and/or your performance on standardized field sobriety tests.  In most jurisdictions, your submission to or refusal to submit to a breath test may be video taped at the breath testing facility or county jail.  A copy of the video tape of your performance must be produced by the State. Second, should the State be unable to, or elect not to, proceed under the theory of unlawful blood alcohol level (UBAL) discussed above, the State may also prove the case of DUI against you by proving that, notwithstanding the absence of evidence of blood alcohol level, that you operated a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol to the extent that your normal faculties were impaired.  At trial, under this impairment theory, the State may elect to produce evidence as to your physical condition, your demeanor at the roadside, performance on standardized field sobriety tests, and/or statements which you made at the time of your stop and arrest.

Challenges to the State's evidence of your impairment may take the form of pretrial motions.  Before deciding whether to enter a plea or proceed to trial, your attorney can review the State's case, including witness statements, charging affidavits, audio and video tapes, and physical evidence, in an effort to determine whether any of your constitutional rights have been violated in collecting evidence against you.  Your attorney may then ask the Court to consider whether evidence collected against you in violation of your rights should be suppressed or kept from the jury hearing your case.

In some instances, should evidence crucial to the State's case against you be suppressed, your case may be dismissed by the Court or dropped by the prosecutor.  Short of that, pretrial motions may decrease the strength of the State's case and improve your likelihood of winning at trial or reaching a favorable negotiated plea.

Florida Statute requires that, upon conviction for a first DUI, the Court shall impose the following minimum sentence: Adjudication of guilt (conviction); One year supervised probation; $250.00 fine plus court costs; 50 hours of community service; Attendance and completion of the DUI Counter-Attack School; Attendance and completion of the Victim Awareness Program; Six (6) months to one (1) year driver's license revocation; and Impoundment of your vehicle.

DUI is one of several enhancable offenses under the laws of the state of Florida.  This means that a second or subsequent conviction of DUI, the Court must impose other mandatory minimum sentences including jail sentences, multiple year driver's license revocations, increased fines, and attendance and completion of advanced DUI schools and alcohol counseling. Despite the minimum mandatory sentencing requirements, the judge in your particular case is free to impose greater punishments based upon aggravating circumstances including, but not limited to, presence of a child in the vehicle, commission of any additional traffic violations at the time of the charge of DUI, damage to property, injury to persons, lack of cooperation with law enforcement, and/or elevated blood alcohol levels. In place of proceeding to trial, many DUI charges are resolved through plea negotiations.  In cases where the State may have difficulty obtaining a conviction of the offense of DUI, the State may agree to amend your charge of DUI to that of Willful and Wanton Reckless Driving.  Under the charge of Reckless Driving, there are no minimum mandatory sentencing requirements. Prior to going to court on your DUI, it is of the utmost importance that you discuss the resolution of your DUI charge with a qualified attorney with experience in the handling of alcohol related driving cases.