re: In Louisiana, do you have the right to refuse a field sobriety test?

I think the lose your license part (from refusing) is a civil matter, where the dwi/dui is a criminal matter.

If you can afford a lawyer, they can usually argue successfully to keep your license.

I was. I made many 98 cases.

The only Field sobriety that is taught in Applied Science in the academy is

Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus

Walk & Turn

One leg stand.

The HGN is very accurate. The other two can be if done properly, but many officers are too slack in administering it.

The only admissible machine is the Intoxilizer 5000. Before you get to it, you are read a form. The very first sentence is, You are under arrest by a police officer who has probable …….

The 3 FS tests gets you to that point.

Not in Louisiana. A field sobriety test is not a chemical test for intoxication.

The implied consent laws in Louisiana require an individual to submit to a chemical test for intoxication when a peace officer has reasonable grounds to believe that the individual was operating a vehicle on a public highway while impaired.

If the individual does not submit , the suspension of their license is longer than it would be if the test(s) were to be taken and failed.

A chemical test for intoxication includes breath, blood, and urine, but not necessarily all three. It does not include field sobriety tests.

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Disagree about not taking sobriety test when u feel u can do good. (especially since dash cams). I have seen attorneys get a lot of mileage from a solid dash cam sobriety test and the subject did not blow. That dude could be swaying like a small tree in the storm but the dash cam looks like his steady as a rock.

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It’s been a while since I went back and read the old NHTSA training manuals (before you rascals removed the study), but all clues present, conducted perfectly, in perfect laboratory conditions has a, what, 28% false positive rate?

But it’s not conducted in perfect laboratory conditions, and it’s almost never conducted perfectly. Some frick ups I can clock on video, like if the sweeps aren’t taking the full two seconds, or if the stimulus is held way too high/low, but I have no way of arguing whether there was or wasn’t nystagmus or smooth tracking. I can’t see whether there was a proper neutral background behind the stimulus because the camera is never pointed in that direction. Etc, etc.

You’re right when you say that someone looking solid on dashcam or BWC is tremendously useful, but I don’t need SFST for that. And considering that SFST is unreliable at the best of times combined with any errors being construed against the driver, and any theoretical benefit isn’t worth the risk of frickery, in my opinion. Sober people should blow; no one should do SFST.

It always astonishes me how many people on this site strive to learn the best ways to avoid being convicted of DWI, instead of simply deciding not to drink too much before driving a vehicle. Others are so proud of their expert insight that they promote it as failsafe.

Not taking the intoxilyzer will indeed result in a license suspension. However, it does not mean that one will not be convicted of DWI. Many, many, many convictions for DWI have been obtained when neither blood nor intoxilyzer results were available. Remember, there was a time when such devices did not exist (but DWI convictions did).

On the other hand, taking the intoxilyzer and registering a level LESS than 0.08 will almost always result in one NOT being charged with DWI. Exceptions to this can be seen when there is evidence suggesting that a driver had consumed drugs, too, before driving. I suggest that someone who would have scored less than the legal limit had they taken the intoxilyzer is actually exposed to a risk of being convicted of DWI because - as I have indicated - convictions are obtained all the time when no BAT results are known.

Shame on you if you are afraid to take an intoxilyzer because you believe you are over the limit. You have nothing to be proud of. The BS you learn on this site likely won't help you.

They cannot suspend your license for refusing a fiend sobriety test. But they will arrest you after you refuse. Then you have to decide to blow in the machine or not.

And your license is not suspended automatically. You have the right to file for a hearing within 30 days in front of a civil judge. The part with your license bring suspended is actually not a criminal matter, it’s a civil matter. Most attorneys have no clue about this.

Cops will lie, cheat, and steal to make a case against anyone they deem guilty. Don’t put yourself in that position for them to come after you.

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Cops will lie

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Almost every police report of a suspected DWI will say the driver had bloodshot, glassy eyes.

Really? Next time you are at a bar or party, look around at all the drunk folks and see how many meet that cartoon description. It’s a bullshite lie 90% of the time, but they’ve done it for decades.

Technically it is not even civil. It is an administrative matter where you’ll get an administrative hearing with the DMV. Dealing with the dmv may be the worst pat of your sentence though.