Articles Posted in DUI

A man convicted of felony DUI in Florida has been granted a new trial by Florida’s First District Court of Appeals, which ruled a violation of the state’s accident report privilege in Wetherington v. Florida was not harmless.

For Lauderdale DUI defense lawyers recognize that this decision underscores the rights of defendants in the course of a DUI investigation.

Florida Statute 316.066 holds that information given to a law enforcement officer for the purpose of completing a crash report, as required by Florida law, will be done so without prejudice to the individual reporting. That is, no such report or statement can be used as evidence in any trial, civil or criminal.
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A 36-year-old with a long history of driver’s license suspensions and DUI convictions is facing yet another charge after Broward County Sheriff’s Office officials say he wrecked his motorcycle into a car while drunk in Fort Lauderdale.

Based on the statement by the judge at his first appearance, it doesn’t seem as if the court will be inclined to grant him reprieve. The judge was quoted as saying the defendant is an “extreme danger” to the community with multiple driver’s license revocations and suspensions, no insurance and a record of fleeing and eluding police and driving impaired.

DUI defense lawyers in Fort Lauderdale know that for many, ignition interlock has been the go-to deterrent for repeat offenses. However, that only works if the driver is legally allowed to drive a vehicle. Now, lawmakers have proposed a new solution that essentially amounts to forced sobriety.
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Last spring, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Missouri v. McNeely that in all except for the rarest circumstances, police seeking to force you to submit a blood sample for the purpose of having it tested for its alcohol content must have a warrant.

This was an important clarification in terms of ensuring the Fourth Amendment protections of the accused. However, our Fort Lauderdale DUI defense attorneys know that your rights don’t end there. Any warrant that is issued has to have a strong basis in probable cause. Absent that, the search may be illegal and therefore any evidence suppressed.

This is what happened recently in Snell v. State, a case heard before the Wyoming Supreme Court. In reversing a lower court’s findings, the state supreme court found that a police affidavit used to obtain a search warrant did not contain enough information to establish the necessary probable cause.
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Florida voters are on the verge of determining whether marijuana should be legal in this state for medicinal purposes, as so far 21 other states and D.C. have done.

It’s important to note that such a measure wouldn’t make driving while intoxicated legally acceptable under any circumstances. This is why our Fort Lauderdale DUI defense attorneys are unclear about why state legislators felt it necessary to introduce Florida Senate Bill 1118.

If passed, this measure would result in substantial changes to the state’s current DUI statutes, under FL Statute 316.193. The rewrites are extensive (and can be read here), but the crux of the issue is this: Police and prosecutors would no longer need to prove that a driver who consumed any federally-controlled substance was actually impaired by that substance. Rather, the measure would establish an arbitrary “metabolite DUI” provision. In these cases, prosecutors would only need to show that the drug was present in the driver’s system prior to getting behind the wheel.
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Colorado, one of just two states in the country to approve the use and sale of marijuana for recreational purposes, also has one of the strictest drugged driving laws in the nation, holding that the presence of 0.5 nanograms of pot in one’s system necessitates a DUI.

The state’s department of transportation has recently unrolled a series of advertisements aimed at discouraging driving while stoned. The primary message: “Get high, Get a DUI.”

Our Fort Lauderdale DUI defense lawyers recognize this approach as a bit misguided. Here in Florida, the drug remains illegal for any purpose, but voters will be given the opportunity in November to decide whether to green light medicinal marijuana, following in the path of 21 other states and the District of Columbia.
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Since pop singer Justin Bieber was arrested in South Florida for DUI recently, it has become apparent that there were some things that the singer did that may not work in his favor with regard to his criminal case. However, there are some things that his DUI defense lawyers will no doubt work to his advantage.
The case is relevant not so much because of Bieber is a relatable celebrity (many would argue the opposite) but because the situation resembles so many others involving young people arrested for DUI.

To start out with, we have these basic facts, as gleaned from the news media’s reporting:
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Outrage was spurred after a 16-year-old drunk driver received 10 years of probation following a fatal wreck in which four people were killed and two seriously injured.

A psychologist at the trial testified that the teen, who lived on his own in a home purchased by his father, suffered from “affluenza,” and was the entitled product of wealthy parents who reportedly never allowed him to suffer any consequences for his actions.

The teen driver was reportedly traveling 70-miles-per-hour in a 40-mile-per-hour zone when he collided with the broken down vehicle of a teen girl, whom two families had stopped to help. Two of the teen’s passengers reportedly suffered severe and permanent brain injuries. The defendant’s blood-alcohol content reportedly measured at 0.24 three hours after the crash, and prescription drugs were found in his system.

The teen could have faced up to 20 years behind bars for his DUI manslaughter arrest.
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The Fourth Amendment well establishes that before a police officer can initiate a traffic stop, he or she must have reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed or is about to be committed.

But in the case of Navarette v. California, the question is what obligation does a patrol officer have to corroborate anonymously provided information relating to reckless drivers. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take on this issue, with oral arguments slated to for late next month.

The resulting decision is likely to have a great impact on whether Broward DUI defense lawyers will have additional grounds on which to challenge the evidence against our clients.
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These days, people have become accustomed posting almost every element of their lives on social media. There are vacation photos, music choices and even snapshots of daily meals.

But this atmosphere of over-sharing has in some cases led to the casual and sometimes bold admittance of involvement in criminal activity.

A recent South Florida drunk driving arrest may well illustrate this, if the reports prove true.
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The Florida DUI arrest of a former corporate bigwig from New York may well have made headlines regardless of the words that came out of his mouth. However, those headlines undoubtedly appeared more prominently as a result of his perceived audacity.

Like far too many people, this individual made the mistake of assuming he could talk his way out of a DUI. In the process, he probably made the situation worse.

What we try to stress to our clients is that almost nothing you say to a police officer is going to make him or her have pity on you and let you go if in fact you’ve been drinking and driving (which you should never admit). It’s even less likely that an officer will be intimidated by threats of who you are or who you know. In fact, that almost always serves to make the officer more determined to arrest you.
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