Is a marijuana urine sample enough to convict me of an Oregon DUI?
I'm 16 years old and am being charged with three felony counts of reckless endangerment(one for each minor in the car), one count of reckless driving, and one of a suspected marijuana-induced DUI. I do not own a license or a permit. I was driving my girlfriend and two friends home from a pa...
I'm 16 years old and am being charged with three felony counts of reckless endangerment(one for each minor in the car), one count of reckless driving, and one of a suspected marijuana-induced DUI. I do not own a license or a permit.
I was driving my girlfriend and two friends home from a party, because I was afraid otherwise they would have driven home with a drunk driver and possibly lost their lives. I didn't want that to happen. Anyway, I had smoked marijuana around 10PM and was on the road at around 1:30AM, and was (by my perception) completely sober.
I'm not an experienced driver by any means and was driving at night on a windy road with faint lines. I admit I was weaving a bit, but my girlfriend's car has horrible handling (extremely loose) and always weaves to the right for no apparent reason. Me, not being an experienced driver, was trying to constantly correcting this. I was also speeding up and slowing down (pressing down on the gas pedal and then releasing it to coast). There was 9-1-1 call from a car following us that suspected me to be driving under the influence.
I was pulled over by a police officer minutes later. I was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of marijuana. I failed two sobriety tests(the two leg ones), because because my muscles were so damn sore from playing basketball. Funny thing is I passed The Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus Test. According to the officer (who apparently is a Drug Evaluator Expert, so he can testify in court as an expert) my pupils were extremely dilated.
When I was brought into the station for booking, I took a breathalyzer with 0.00%BAC. I also took a urine test.
Now here are my questions:
What are my options?
If ANY amount of marijuana shows up on the urine test, is that enough for a DUI conviction?
What is the amount of marijuana that is needed to be found for a conviction?
Thanks for any help!
By the three counts of reckless endangerment, it's one felony for each minor in the vehicle. Which there were three.
For one, it is better that you are just 16. But any pot in your system could, and will be used against you. Fight it on the grounds that there is not enough research on the effects of pot to really say if it is an impairment. I had to give up a lucrative truck driving career because of my pot use. If I smoked on the weekend, and on Tuesday,I have an accident that is not my fault,and results in a fatality,if I pee 'dirty', I go away for vehicular homicide. Same wreck, with no pee test,and the poor kid is dead because he ran out in front of me, no arrest. I couldn't take the risk. I had a PERFECT driving record, and my boss was sorry to see me go.
"I'm 16 years old and am being charged with three felony counts of reckless endangerment"
That's where you began sounding immature.
Well first of all never drive without a license that's the first fault.
In court you're not going to be able to stand against the license
However about the marijuana.
Scientist can determine when you smoked it by the amount that's in your urine.
Next even if it is present what matter is that you smoked it which is against the law so even if it doesn't count for D.U.I that can get you penalties.
So driving without a license, driving under the influence (you were it's just a matter of proving it, and smoking marijuana. You have one hell of a legal battle ahead of you.
Here is the deal. As to the Reckless driving and endangerment, your inability to drive is going to work against you. As to the MJ DUI, it will be tough to prove that. Passing nystagmus is not a big deal as that goes more to drinking.
You need a lawyer. You are likely not get felonies, but I don't know where it happened or the DA's office. Best of luck.