The Fifth Amendment? Maybe you've heard of it? Use it next time.

This is a perfect example of someone not able to get out of their own way. For a premise, let's start with the fact that the Fifth Amendment allows someone to just shut up. In other words, when you are stopped for DWI, you can just shut up. You don't have to talk to the police. Hard to believe, but true. Now don't get me wrong, if you do refuse to speak to the police or refuse to do their funny little tests on the side of the road or refuse to give a breath sample, there will certainly be consequences. Almost certainly, you will be arrested and charged and taken to court. It's how the system works. But think about this. Wouldn't it be nice to go to court and not have the government convict you because of something you said?

Now, technically speaking, the Fifth Amendment (and Article 1 Section 10 of the Texas Constitution for those keeping score at home) doesn't really give you the means to avoid taking a breath test for example. But you can still refuse. Again, there are consequences. You will have your license suspended for at least 180 days if you refuse, and if you go to trial the baby prosecutor will almost certainly try to argue to a jury that if you were really innocent you would have given a breath sample. There aren't really the same type of consequences for just refusing to perform the little tests on the side of the road, but you will almost certainly be taken to jail and charged and yada yada yada. The same goes for telling the cops you just finished eight boilermakers in the last two hours or you were trying to hook up with a girl and you thought those thirteen shots of Wild Turkey were the best means available. The point is, there's a Fifth Amendment. Maybe you've heard of it? So in the future, just shut up!