With a population of more than 36,000, Oakley lies within California’s Contra Costa County, and is bordered by Antioch, Brentwood and Bethel Island. The 3,849 Mount Diablo Peak dominates the Oakley skyline and is visible from most of the San Francisco Bay area. Prehistoric sites have been found in the Oakley area, with more than three-dozen projects taking place within the city limits over the past quarter-century.
If you reside in Oakley, you may have found yourself at the Providence Bar and Eatery on Main Street. The Providence Bar offers $5 beer as well as a full bar, with Happy Hour three hours every weekday afternoon and from 12-4 on the weekends. Perhaps you prefer Cap’s Oak Street Bar and Grill on Oak Street in Brentwood, which offers great wines and mixed drinks, comedy shows and live bands. You may have also stopped by the Imperiale Beer Café’ on Empire Avenue in Brentwood, with its truly amazing selection of beer.
Whichever bar you choose to enjoy, if you are pulled over on your way home and charged with DUI, you could find yourself full of anxiety about your future. Whether you were pulled over because an officer thought you were driving erratically, or if you were stopped at an Oakley DUI checkpoint at Laurel Road and Mercedes Lane, it is important to contact an Oakley DUI attorney as soon as possible after you are charged.
Understanding Your Miranda Rights as They Relate to California DUI Charges
It is important that you fully understand your Miranda rights in order to determine whether those rights were violated during your DUI arrest.
First of all, there is no blanket legal requirement for police officers to read you your Miranda rights while you are being arrested. You must legally only be Mirandized when you have been arrested and are in custody AND you are being interrogated by the police. The interrogation must consist of questions which are specifically designed to incriminate you by your response.
When a DUI investigation is still ongoing—meaning when you have been pulled over but not yet arrested, or placed in custody with no interrogation being conducted—then the police have no obligation to read your Miranda rights to you. In other words, while the officer is investigating—and looking for evidence of intoxication—that evidence may be obtained through any statements you may give, any questions you answer, any signs of mental or physical impairment and field sobriety tests.
If you were in custody, however, being asked incriminating questions by the police, then the police must read you the Miranda rights. If the police failed to Mirandize you under those circumstances, your DUI attorney could file a motion to have any statements you may have made excluded.
The Purpose of Miranda Rights
Miranda rights offer protection from self-incrimination, giving you the right to remain silent, as well as telling you that anything you say will be used against you in a court of law, and that you have the right to speak to an attorney, and have that attorney present while you are being questioned.
It is also important that you remember you are only legally obligated to provide a police officer with your license and registration, and that every other question you are asked does not legally require an answer. As soon as you are charged with DUI, it is imperative you contact an experienced Oakley DUI attorney who will ensure your rights are protected and that your arrest was by the book.
Arrested in Oakley? Call a DUI Defense Attorney Serving the East Bay.
If you were not read your Miranda rights and unknowingly provided self-incriminating testimony to the police, our Oakland DUI attorney knows how to protect you. Let the Law Office of Nabiel C. Ahmed assert your rights. Call (510) 907-6600 for a free consultation, or tell us your story in a short online form.
Our Oakland attorney offers jail interviews and over-the-phone consultations to defendants all over the East Bay. Call our firm as soon as possible.