A mid-range PCA charge could seriously cause a lot of trouble in your life. If you were driving under the influence of alcohol, and the breathalyser test showed alcohol levels between 0.08 and 0.15, a mid-range PCA offence may be levied against you. A mid-range PCA offence is a pretty serious crime, and can include hefty fines or even jail time.
Unless you have a pretty strong lawyer to fight your case, you may find yourself in prison for up to a year. The authorities may even slap a fine as high as 3,300 AUD, and your license may be suspended for up to three years. Needless to say, this could cause serious trouble in your life.
If you have been charged with a mid-range PCA offence, the first thing that you should do is contact an experienced lawyer that handles drink driving cases. Experienced lawyers know a variety of defence arguments that they can use in order to get the sentence reduced. In some cases, the lawyers may even invoke Section 10 to get the charges completely dismissed.
Obviously, this is much easier said than done. You will need to sit down with the lawyer and explain all the circumstances before a defence argument can be created. Here are just some of the ways by which the lawyers can get the sentence minimised, or completely dismissed:
Duress
The PCA test generally determines the prescribed concentration of alcohol in a person’s blood. Needless to say, most blood alcohol tests are extremely unreliable. As a result, even if you are caught, there are several ways to get you out of trouble. First of all, the lawyer may look to get the charges dismissed, or reduced by claiming that you were asked to drive under duress.
Your lawyer may say that you were forced to drive, even though you were over the PCA limit, and you knew that. If the lawyer is able to convince the court that you were threatened and forced to drive by another person, the case may be dismissed as you were under duress.
Emergency
If the lawyer is able to convince the jury that you were driving due to an emergency, the case may be dismissed immediately. In any case, the charges may be reduced significantly. However, establishing the fact that you were driving in an emergency is not easy. The lawyer will have to consider many factors in order to make sure that the evidence and circumstances are presented in the correct light in court.
An Honest Mistake
This is obviously one of the most difficult defence arguments. However, if proven, all the charges may be dropped. The lawyer will just try to prove to the court that you believed that the PCA level were below 0.05 when you got in the driving seat. The traffic laws in Australia are pretty strict. You will need an experienced attorney on your side in order to stand any chance of getting a reduced sentence.