Pennsylvania Probable Cause

Before you plead guilty, contact our DUI lawyers.

Whether you’ve just been charged with your first DUI or you have previous convictions, we have the experience to successfully defend your case—and we’ve done so with countless clients already! We specialize in this complex area of law and we know the many, many ways that there are to expose weaknesses in the prosecution’s claims against you. And one of those weaknesses is the issue of probable cause.

Before police can arrest you and detain you, probable cause must exist. Probable cause simply means that the officer has reason to believe (based on his or her own observations and facts) that you have committed a crime or are committing a crime. For example, you are stopped by an officer for speeding. Now as far as he or she knows this is the only violation that you have committed.

Unless they have reason to believe you have been drinking and driving (such as physical signs of intoxication or the smell of alcohol coming from the vehicle) they cannot suddenly ask you to step out of the car and start performing field sobriety tests. In this case, they haven’t witnessed anything or have any reason to believe that you have been driving under the influence and no probable cause for them to arrest and detain you exists.

There is also a separate issue going on in Pennsylvania in regards to whether or not police need probable cause in order to stop your vehicle in the first place. An amendment to the Motor Vehicle Code was passed by Pennsylvania Legislature, which allows officers to stop a vehicle if they believe a violation was committed. This has sparked a debate on whether or not this action is even constitutional. However, the Pennsylvania Legislature cannot amend the state’s constitution by passing an ordinary new law.

Probable cause is a very important part of any DUI case. If you have reason to believe that police did not have probable cause to arrest you or bring you into custody, you need to discuss this with your attorney.