OOT lawyers:drinking and driving question
Here's the situation:
Tonight, my girlfriend and a couple of friends head out to the bar for a couple hours. We reach the bar at around 10:30, and closing time is at 1:30. My girlfriend in that span has 4 beers, and by 1:30 we leave the bar, and me and her get dropped off at my house by about 1:45. She has to go home, so she leaves my house about 10 minutes later. Well it turns out that on the way home she gets pulled over, after she (according to her), slightly sped up to pass through a yellow light.
The officer comes up to the window and tells her that she sped up to pass through the light,etc. She explains that she didn't think she would be able to safely break and time and didn't want to slam on the brakes. The officer then asks if she had been drinking, to which she responded that she had "one beer at 11pm" (stupid to admit drinking at all I know...she just said she was nervous and didnt know what would happen if the officer said he smelled it). He then tells her to get out of the car because he has to talk to her about something (questionable?). They do a field sobriety test (sans breathalyzer) which she passes, and the officer issues her a traffic violation for $140-150, most likely for "running a red light".
My question: she is going to appeal the ticket, does she only have to articulate why she sped through the yellow light, or will the officer bring up the mere fact that she admitted to drinking one beer about 4 hours before (and no more)? Also, if it were to be brought up, what would be the best course of action for her to take?
Cliff notes:girlfriend gets pulled over for running a yellow/red light, admits to drinking 1 beer 4 hours previous, passes field sob. test (no breathalyzer),gets a ticket for running the red light. Will her admitting having drank one beer be brought up by the officer in court?
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