Medication - to plea guilty or not guilty? Help

[laurah11]

Hi
on 16th September got arrested for drink driving and I am terrified, have never been arrested in my life and no criminal record at all.
I had a couple of drinks at my friends a couple of miles away over a period of 4 hours, and I blew 90, which I couldn't understand and it horrified me. Just as worse, I felt very confused and weak, and when I got interviewed in the morning my memory of it all was vague (I got arrested around 1am having been at my friends since 8pm) . I had stopped the car just down the road from my house, and the police found me in my card draped over steering wheel.
I told the police that I am on medication for depression and anxiety, had been going through a really stressful time because I am now experiencing great financial difficulties and that I had not been eating, been really fatigued yet at the same time not sleeping.
when I got out, I was baffled as to how the reading was that high and also how I was so confused and 'not with it', which obviously looked to the police like I was very drunk, I was in shock and devastated.
I thought about the medication I am on and forgot to tell the police that I am also on beta blockers - I found that these two meds can cause low blood sugar levels that can cause false high alcohol readings in the breathalyser , together with lack of sleep and food and great stress could account for what happened.

My question is that if you if I plead guilty with mitigating circumstances, you need an expert to help support withe affects if medication , and my court hearing is on 6th Oct, so I presume I won't have enough time to be able to get an expert involved ?

if I plead not guilty that would give me time to consult the experts etc, but If I still get found guilty, will that go against me and make sentencing worse??

i really do not know what to do, apart from the depression, anxiety and stresses at the moment, I am also prone to low iron, so having bloods done at doctors on Monday to get that checked as well as my blood sugar levels, and my blood pressure has always been low, trying to deal with this us like trying to walk through treacle. And I will lose my job as I am a courier and I live in a rural area, nearest village and bus stop is 2 miles away, I am in my own and no family - please can you help. Thank you

 

[SeanJoyceStephensons]

I cannot comment on how specific medication would affect your alcohol readings, if you want to look into this with any degree of accuracy you will need to instruct an expert as you have said. Whether or not it is worth doing this is going to be a decision for you, if you believe that your medication has affected your reading then you may want to speak to an expert over the phone to see if this is something they have come across before. You can then make an informed decision about whether you want to instruct them or not.

If you plead not guilty then you will lose the one third credit that you would get for a guilty plea at the first hearing. However this one third reduction in sentence is only applicable to the level of fine imposed rather than the disqualification. If you speak to an expert who advises you that your reading may have been affected by your medication then you should seriously consider investigating this.