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The latest in DUI Defense READ MORE
Sep
3

DUI CRACKDOWN THIS HOLIDAY WEEKEND

by admin

I want to wish you a safe and enjoyable Labor Day weekend and encourage you to celebrate responsibly. Police will be out in force, looking to bust motorists for just about anything and conducting law enforcement roadblocks during the last big overtime weekend of the summer.

“Drunk driving is simply not worth the risk. Not only do you risk killing yourself or someone else, but also the trauma and financial costs of a crash or an arrest for impaired driving can be significant,” said Florida Highway Patrol Director, Colonel John Czernis. “Violators often face jail time, the loss of their driver license, higher insurance rates, attorney fees, time away from work and dozens of other expenses. Do not take the chance. Remember, if you are over the limit, you can expect to be under arrest.”

Law enforcement in all 50 states will be participating in the “Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest” campaign, which is part of a $13 million public service campaign on radio and television, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“Drunk driving is deadly, it’s against the law, and unfortunately, it’s still a problem,” said Secretary Ray LaHood. “With the help of law enforcement around the country, we are going to continue doing all that we can to stop drunk driving and the needless tragedies that result from this reckless behavior.”

The reality is that a significant number of serious and fatal car accidents are caused by drunk drivers. However, it is just as true that law enforcement frequently blame an accident on a driver when it is determined that he or she has been drinking. Further investigation may have determined a driver accused of DUI was not at fault in the accident. This can have a dramatic impact on your case and can even prevent you from being charged with a felony DUI or with DUI manslaughter.

Additionally, holiday weekend enforcement frequently leads to sobriety checkpoints and other questionable enforcement tactics that often result in questionable arrests. Those charged with drunk driving should always seek the advice of an attorney. DUI charges, particularly for first-time offenders, are often beatable. By the highway patrol’s own estimates, only about half of all motorists charged with drunk driving last year had been convicted of DUI by year’s end.

Drunk driving can result in the loss of your driver’s license, jail time, fines, court costs, mandatory treatment and skyrocketing insurance rates. Job loss and the inability to hold certain jobs or enter certain professions is also a common consequence of a drunk driving conviction. Financial estimates put the cost of a DUI at $10,000 or more. Spending the money to hire an experienced DUI attorney in Miami can help protect your rights, your freedom and your financial well-being.

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Posted in Driving Under the Influence

Aug
24

DUI policy challenge must wait

by admin

BY ADAM LINHARDT Citizen Staff
alinhardt@keysnews.com

A Monroe County circuit court judge said Wednesday he lacked the authority to overrule a new state policy by granting a drunken driving suspect a temporary driver license, but urged attorneys to quickly pursue a greater “due process” issue with the policy.

Judge David Audlin told defense attorney Sam Kaufman that state law did not empower him to temporarily grant one of his clients charged with driving under the influence a “hardship” driver license to drive to work, school or other necessary tasks.

Since July 1, if a law enforcement officer does not show up for a defendant’s license hearing, the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DMV) tells him or her to take their case to court instead of automatically granting a temporary permit, as was the previous policy for decades.

Kaufman contends that denying his client a hearing in which law enforcement must present evidence in his case violates the client’s constitutional right to due process. He filed an emergency motion last week challenging the policy on behalf of two clients, Louis Licitra of Key West and Jenny Tyler-Marquis of Casselberry, both of whom were arrested in Key West.

The first step was asking Audlin for emergency relief on Licitra’s behalf, but Audlin noted that law did not give him the authority to stop or suspend DMV proceedings.

“Basically, I was asking for [the court] to allow my client to keep his driver license pending his DUI legal case,” Kaufman said. “I was asking for temporary relief today, but the larger issue is going to heard next month.”

Kaufman and other defense attorneys, notably Miami lawyer Richard Hersch, are challenging the state and want the courts to overturn the policy change.

DMV attorney Damaris Reynolds wrote in her response to Kaufman’s motion that the state is trying to keep drivers safe.

“It is the expressed intent of the Florida Legislature that persons … who pose a danger to the public safety should not be permitted to drive during their appeal,” Reynolds wrote. “The purpose and intent of the administrative suspension statute is to protect the public who use the state’s roads and highways.”

She further noted that “driving is a privilege, not a right,” and that revoking a driver license in some cases is a “legitimate legislative goal.”

Nonetheless, Audlin said “it appears there is merit” to Kaufman’s due process argument, and he placed attorneys on a “faster briefing schedule” in an effort to have the larger issue heard by Sept. 29.

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Posted in Driving Under the Influence

Aug
15

Driving Under the Influence of…Bread

by admin

Phil Price, a nationally known DUI attorney in Montgomery, Alabama, conducted an interesting series of tests a few years ago on one of the most commonly used breath testing machines. Without consuming any alcoholic beverages, he submitted himself to repeated breath testing — after eating various types of food.

His findings were startling.

After consuming almost any type of bread product — white loaf bread, donuts, pretzels, pastries, etc. — Price consistently registered blood-alcohol readings on the machine. These levels were commonly around .03%, but rose as high as .05% (enough, along with a drink or two, to reach illegal levels). Further, the Intoxilyzer’s slope detector (an electrical circuit designed to detect alcohol from the mouth rather than from the lungs) failed to indicate the presence of any “mouth alcohol”. He reported this in an article entitled “Intoxilyzer: A Bread Testing Device?”, 15(4)Drinking/Driving Law Letter 52.

Reacting to the use of this article by defense attorneys in their state, the Washington State Toxicology Laboratory conducted their own studies to refute the findings — this time with the machine used in Washington, a DataMaster. Unfortunately, their research only confimed Price’s experience.

As reported in Logan and Distefano, “Ethanol Content of Various Foods and Soft Drinks and their Potential for Interference with a Breath-Alcohol Test”, 22 Journal of Analytical Toxicology 18 (1998), a variety of breads and soft drinks were tested and found to contain no alcohol. Alcohol-free subjects then ingested these products and provided breath samples into a DataMaster. The law enforcement researchers’ conclusions:

We found that, particularly at low concentrations but as high as 0.046g/210L, mouth alcohol rather than expiratory breath alcohol may be reported as apparent true breath alcohol…

In other words, alcohol-free subjects who consumed bread or soft drinks were causing the machines to read up to .05% blood alcohol concentrations (readings are rounded off to closest 1/100th percentile). Furthermore, the slope detection system failed to screen the effects of mouth alcohol from that of alcohol coming from the lungs:

It is evident from these results that the slope detector feature was unable to distinguish mouth-alcohol concentrations at these very low levels.

What caused bread to register on breath machines as alcohol? The theory of the state lab’s experts:

Most baked products with listed contents indicating they contained yeast did in fact have some alcohol present. Alcohol is produced by the fermentation process in yeasts by their action on simple sugars used in preparing the dough….Although most of the alcohol in the dough is lost during the baking process, some is evidently retained in the matrix of the bread…

Parenthetically, there exists additional scientific literature reporting intoxication in animals eating dough and sourdough. Suter, “Presumed Ethanol Intoxication in Sheep Dogs Fed Uncooked Pizza Dough”, 69(1) Australian Veterinary Journal 20 (1990); Thrall, et al., “Ethanol Toxicosis Secondary to Sourdough Ingestion in a Dog”, 184(12) Journal of American Veterinary Medical Association 1513 (1984).

The effects of bread on breathalyzers is not just an interesting anecdote. The significance of these findings should be apparent. First, bread dough tends to stick between the teeth and remain there for extended periods of time, later to be breathed into a breathalyzer; it also absorbs alcohol while between the teeth. Second, although it is not illegal to drive with a .04% blood alcohol level,adding one or two drinks to the bread reading could raise that above the illegal .08% level.

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Posted in Driving Under the Influence

Jul
19

How Lawyers Should Handle Traffic Stops

by admin

By Elie Mystal

*
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I talk a lot about what legal education doesn’t prepare you for. You know what it does prepare you for? Any future interaction with police officers. By the time I finished 1L year, I knew the golden rule for dealing with officers of the law: keep your mouth shut. Knowing the law and knowing your rights helps. But whenever you deal with a cop, you should say as little as possible.

Look, as a black man that lesson probably increases my life expectancy. But every person with legal training can benefit from simplicity of silence when cops are around. If I was the victim of a home break-in and called the cops myself, I wouldn’t say anything to them when they showed up. I’d just kind of point at things and shake my head.

You don’t even have to be a practicing lawyer to reap the benefit of these skills. On his blog, Concurrent Sentences (gavel bang: Volokh Conspiracy), a Michigan area law student explains how he masterfully handled a recent traffic stop. It’s a skill all lawyers should have…

You should read the full account between the law student and the traffic cop here. But I want to show you a couple of excellent excerpts:

I got pulled over again on Friday evening. In the same exact spot I was pulled over a couple weeks ago. And again, no ticket and no warning because the stop was an illegal stop and detention. My interaction with the Asshole Police Officer (APO) went something like this:

APO: Good afternoon
ME: [silent]
APO: Good afternoon sir
ME: [silent]
APO: GOOD AFTERNOON SIR [raising voice]
ME: [silent]
APO: Do you know why I pulled you over?
ME: No
APO: I pulled you over because you have window tint on your front side windows
ME: [Silent]
APO: You ever been pulled over for this before?
ME: No, my car is registered in Colorado.
APO: In Michigan you are not allowed to have window tint on your front side windows.
ME: Officer, I am not trying to argue with you, but I am very familiar with the statute relating to window tint in Michigan and I know that the statute specifically exempts vehicles that are not registered in Michigan.

[I am VERY familiar with it, and I keep a copy of it in my car. MCL 257.709 (3)(d) "this section shall not apply to a vehicle registered in another state . . ." My car is registered in Colorado and has clearly visible Colorado plates.]

At this point, all the kid really needed to do was remind the officer of the law, and answer direct questions with simple yes or no answers. Pretty much, that’s what the guy did:

ME: Officer, if you think it is illegal write me a ticket and we’ll have a judge decide.
APO: Just give me your license, insurance and registration. How long have you lived in East Lansing?

[Trying to get me to say something that would be an admission that my vehicle is illegally registered in Colorado because residents have to register vehicles in Michigan I think within 90 days of taking up residency. It is not illegally registered.]

ME：Officer, my vehicle is registered in Colorado.
APO: I know but how long have you lived here?
ME: Officer, my vehicle is registered in Colorado.
APO: Ok, you don’t want to talk to me . . .

No, you should never want to talk to the cops. They can’t misconstrue something if you don’t say anything.

Click here for the full article.

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Posted in Driving Under the Influence

Jul
12

Marijuana Drug Information

by admin

Marijuana is a preparation derived from the leaves and flowering tops of cannabis plants (Cannabis sativa) that is capable of producing psychoactive effects when ingested. One of the primary classes of compounds found in marijuana is called cannabinoids. There are up to 60 cannabinoids in marijuana with delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) being the primary psychoactive constituent.

Metabolism

When marijuana is smoked, THC is rapidly absorbed through the lungs and enters the bloodstream in minutes. Following oral ingestion, THC does not reach the bloodstream for approximately 1.5-3 hours. Once in the blood, THC is bound to blood proteins and carried throughout the body where it is either absorbed into body tissues (including the brain, heart, and fat) or transformed by the liver into the water soluble metabolites 11-hydroxy-THC and carboxy-THC. These water soluble metabolites, are readily excreted into the urine, with the inactive metabolite carboxy-THC being the predominant metabolite detected.

Initially, THC is quickly absorbed into the body tissues and then is slowly released back into the blood stream where it is carried to the liver and metabolized. Because THC tends to be stored in fatty tissues, it accumulates faster than it can be eliminated in chronic repetitive smokers. This leads to extended retention of THC which is then eliminated from the body at a relatively constant rate with an average elimination half-life being estimated at 18-30 hours. Urinary concentrations of THC are very difficult to interpret due to variables such as dosage of THC ingested, frequency of use, timing of urine collection relative to last exposure to marijuana, rate of release of stored cannabinoids in adipose tissue, and an individual?s hydration state. Therefore, the detection of THC metabolites in the urine is only an indication of past marijuana use and is not related to the degree of intoxication or impairment.

Abuse

The psychological effects of THC include an increased sense of well being or euphoria, relaxation, slowed psycho-motor response, an altered sense of time, short term memory impairment and impairment of multi-tasking performance.

THC Retention Time

* Infrequent (less than twice/week) Smoking: When screening assays of 50 ng/mL or greater are used, urine samples will generally be positive for 1-3 days.
* Regular (several times per week) Smoking: May result in urine specimens testing positive for 7-21 days.
* Chronic (daily) Smoking: An individual who smokes marijuana daily for prolonged periods of time can test positive for 30 days or longer.
* Oral Ingestion: Metabolic profiles in urine samples cannot generally differentiate between marijuana ingested orally versus marijuana ingested by smoking. However, oral ingestion requires approximately three times more THC than smoking to produce similar effects or “highs”; therefore, visual detection of the marijuana in the ingested item would seem reasonable, thus ruling out unknown consumption. Retention time of orally ingested marijuana ranges from 1-5 days.
* Passive Inhalation: In general, routine passive exposure to marijuana smoke will not result in a positive result for cannabinoids in excess of a 50 ng/mL screening cut-off.

Laboratory drug testing: Methods of Analysis

The most common analytical methods used to detect cannabinoids in urine include immunoassays (EIA, RIA, and FPIA), gas chromatography (GC), gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC), and thin layer chromatography (TLC). Urine cannabinoid immunoassays are usually optimized for the detection of carboxy-THC, but also react with other cannabinoids present in the urine. Because of this cross-reactivity, immunoassay results are expressed in terms of “total cannabinoids” and not specifically in terms of carboxy-THC concentration as is detected by GC/MS. Therefore, when interpreting THC concentrations, it is important to realize that GC/MS, which measures only carboxy-THC, generally yields quantitative results which may represent only 10-50% of the “total cannabinoid” value as detected by immunoassays. While immunoassay cross-reactivity to non-cannabinoid compounds is extremely rare, most immunoassay manufacturers recommend that positive results be confirmed by an alternate analytical method. The chromatographic methods meet this requirement, with GC/MS considered the most reliable method. Other methodologies such as TLC and HPLC also achieve good sensitivity and specificity.

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Posted in Driving Under the Influence

Jul
9

University Of Georgia Athletic Director ARRESTED For DUI, Had Previously Filmed ‘Don’t Drink And Drive’ PSA

by admin

Damon Evans, athletic director at the University of Georgia, was arrested Wednesday night and charged with driving under the influence.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports:

A Georgia State Patrol trooper pulled over Evans, in his 2009 BMW, shortly before midnight at Roswell Road and Chastain Drive.

The trooper arrested him on charges of DUI and failure to maintain his lane, and took him to the Atlanta city jail. Evans refused to take a breath test, Wright said.

Evans has since been released from jail. His five-year contract with the university, under which he will be afforded a $110,000 raise, begins today. He became the school’s athletic director in 2004.

Evans is the star of a public service announcement urging students and sports fans not to drink and drive played at UGA home games, SportsByBrooks reported. “If you drink and drive, you lose”.

UGA Athletic Director Damon Evans, whose lucrative new five-year contract takes effect today, will appear before the media at 6:30 p.m. to discuss his arrest for driving under the influence.

It’s not known if Evans will take questions but his remarks have been coordinated with university officials. According to a spokesman, UGA President Michael Adams will issue a written statement following the news conference at the Rankin Smith Center on campus.

A Georgia State Patrol trooper pulled over Evans, driving a 2009 BMW, shortly before midnight Wednesday on Roswell Road and Chastain Drive.

“The trooper made the traffic stop after observing the manner he was driving,” said Gordy Wright, the state patrol spokesman. “He got him stopped, detected an odor of alcohol, administered field sobriety and determined he was less safe to be driving.”

Evans, charged with DUI and failure to maintain his lane, was booked at Atlanta city jail, where he refused to take a breath test, Wright said. The 40-year-old was released early Thursday.

Wright said a passenger with Evans also was taken to jail but further details have not been made available.

In Athens, coaches and senior staff met in Evans’ office in the Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall at 1:20 p.m.

Evans, who became one of the youngest athletic directors in the nation when he succeeded Vince Dooley in 2004, received a $110,000 raise in February to $550,000 annually, with additional $20,000 raises each subsequent year.

Sophomore Kaitlin Miller said students will be buzzing about Evans, who played football at UGA.

“It’s a huge disappointment,” said Miller, a member of the Student Government Association. “I can see students naturally pointing to hypocrisy because of everything he has said against drunk driving.”

Miller said there will need to be accountability and she expects some sort of apology.

“He needs to apologize because there is no condoning that behavior,” she said. “But this was a mistake, a lapse in judgment. I hope it doesn’t jeopardize his previous messages against drunk driving.”

Under Athletic Association policy, student-athletes get suspended for 10 percent of the season for an alcohol-related arrest.

University employees may receive disciplinary action or be suspended for a wide variety of offenses, including “bringing discredit to the university.”

By Larry Hartstein
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Watch the Video of the PSA here.:

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Posted in Driving Under the Influence

Jul
8

New device “Hawkeye” to Detect HGN

by admin

AcunetX, a California firm, has developed a device that will aid police in determining if a motorist is driving under the influence. The ‘HawkEye’ uses infrared light to test the movement of the eye during a field sobriety test. The results are transferred to a computer.

The technology adds documentation to the horizontal gaze nystagmus test, which requires a motorist suspected of drunk driving to follow an officer’s finger. The officer is looking for jerky motion in the eye which could be a sign of impairment.
Currently the California Highway Patrol has been using the HawkEye only as a training tool, not in the field. A few local police departments have begun trying the device at sobriety checkpoints. The HawkEye still faces the challenge of being accepted as a source of evidence in a DUI trial. The courts typically need time to consider the accuracy and dependability of any new technology.

However, be advised that HawkEye only records eye movement, and it does not reflect whether the officer is conducting the test correctly. There also continue to be medical conditions that cause natural jerkiness in eye movement, meaning the new technology must be used in conjunction with another test for driving while intoxicated, such as a breathalyzer.

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Posted in Driving Under the Influence

Jul
5

Pre-Written DUI Arrest Reports

by admin

When a deputy makes a DUI bust, the officer writes an arrest report. It’s the official record of what the deputy says happened. But Eyewitness News in Orlando has uncovered dozens of Orange County DUI arrest reports that apparently have come from pre-written templates. One report, for instance, says the suspect “stumbled slightly when walking and swayed moderately … with a three inch to five inch orbital rotation/sway.” At least ten reports, written by the same deputy over a six-month period, use the exact same phrase. Even reports written by other deputies contain that exact phrase.

In many reports, the deputy noticed the “strong odor of an alcoholic beverage within my interior cab.” That exact phrase appears in report after report. And it’s there whether the suspect’s blood alcohol content was anywhere from .03 to .16. 9 Investigates found 11 other reports, written by a different deputy, that use those exact words, again, no matter how much the suspect had to drink.

“It just doesn’t smell right,” said DUI defense attorney Stu Hyman. “It’s a sad state of affairs when somebody hasn’t even committed the offense yet, but the report has already been written.” 9 Investigates found one deputy whose suspects always do an “orbital rotation” and always “counter-clockwise.” Five deputies always leave their suspects in the car for exactly five minutes before smelling alcohol. In one case, a suspect was described as “he/she.”

It all leads Hyman to believe the reports were pre-written. “Why is it that everyone is swaying three to five inches? Why isn’t it two to eight? Why not one to seven inches?” questioned Hyman….

The TV Station found court testimony where a deputy indicated the sheriff’s office has computer DUI templates. The deputy testified, “I’ve been told people use them. I just choose not to.”

Visit our website to learn more www.duilawdefense.com

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Posted in Driving Under the Influence

Jul
5

DUI in a motorized La-Z-Boy

by admin

Dennis LeRoy Anderson is the Minnesota man who got a DUI in a motorized La-Z-Boy. Apparently he hit a parted vehicle while he was tooling around on his motorized lounge chair. He has pleaded guilty.

Dennis Anderson, 62-years-old, has a pretty unique method of getting around. His motorized La-Z-Boy (pictured above) turns out not to be the best place for him to get soused though. On Monday, October 19, 2009, he appeared in the St. Louis County District Court and pleaded guilty to DWI in connection to an incident in which he hit a parked vehicle while driving his La-Z-Boy under the influence of alcohol.

The driving a recliner under the influence incident happened on August 31st. Apparently, he had used the motorized chair to get himself to a bar in Proctor, where he is from. He told police that when he left the Keyboard Lounge he was driving just fine until a woman jumped on the chair. At that point, he lost control and hit the parked car. He says he had eight or nine beers in the bar. His blood alcohol level at the time was measured at 0.29 percent which is more than three times the legal limit for driving.

According to the Proctor Deputy Police Chief Troy Foucault, Anderson has the chair rigged up using a converted lawnmower Briggs & Stratton engine that is set for different power levels. He’s got it customized with a stereo, cup holders, steering wheel and a National Hot Rod Racing Association sticker on the head rest.

As cool as he’s made the chair, he had to give it up due to the DWI conviction. He had a previous conviction for drunk driving. The police plan to auction off the chair.

Dennis LeRoy Anderson, now known as the Minnesota man who got a DUI in motorized La-Z-Boy, plead guilty. Sixth Judicial District Judge Heather Sweetland sentenced him to 180 days in the St. Louis County jail. He was fined $2,000 plus court fees. She commuted the jail time and half the fine as long as Anderson completes two years of supervised probation and be electronically monitored for 30 days. He is also ordered to submit to a chemical dependency assessment, comply with their recommendations, abstain from alcohol and/or drug use and submit to random drug and alcohol testing.

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