Articles Posted in DUI

Reports out of Sarasota suggest that the state’s version of the FBI, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, paid its employees recently to get drunk and test the Intoxilyzer 8000 breath test machine in order to use it in the prosecution of thousands of Fort Lauderdale DUI cases.

Fort Lauderdale DUI defense lawyers have become more and more skeptical of breath testing machines as evidence has come out that they are faulty. Lawyers have been able to get judges to write orders allowing them to see how the breath testing machines are manufactured.

This is because DUI cases are the only kind in Florida where the defendant isn’t currently allowed to see how a key piece of evidence works. In murder cases, defendants get to see how blood evidence is collected and tested and those witnesses are available for questioning. In burglary cases, the defense is provided with information about who collected fingerprint evidence and how it was processed.

But in Fort Lauderdale DUI cases, until now, defendants weren’t able to see the workings of breathalyzers, the machines that law enforcement relies upon heavily for arrests and convictions for driving under the influence. This has recently changed, but these machines are still coming under fire.

The Herald-Tribune in Sarasota has been reporting for months how experts testing these machines have seen that they work improperly. In many cases, defendants blew up to 12 liters of breath into the machine, though the human lung can only hold five liters of breath. That called into question hundreds of cases that prosecutors and judges tossed out.

And in Florida, FDLE only allows one type of breathalyzer to be used. And now that it has been questioned as potentially faulty, this raises questions about the thousands of DUI cases throughout the state, including in Fort Lauderdale. Current cases should be examined, as should past cases.

In the most recent news, the newspaper reports that FDLE bought about $300 of booze, snacks and mixers and allowed their employees to get drunk on company time in order to test the devices. The workers were told to drink and then blow into the machines. Their blood was also drawn and sent off to a lab, bringing the taxpayer tab to about $8,000.

FDLE employees testified about the results in a Sarasota courtroom recently in order to try to save the Intoxilyzer 8000 from being shelved statewide. But judges were skeptical because the blood tests have not yet been returned from the lab. DUI defense lawyers questioned the validity of the study since it was highly unscientific.

Fort Lauderdale DUI defense lawyers believe this is a last-ditch effort by the state to convince judges that these machines, which have already been proven to be faulty, are accurate. As more and more pressure is put on the state to replace these machines or ensure somehow they are accurate, it’s possible that cases will be dropped or police will be reluctant to use these as their main piece of evidence.
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The routine of strict Broward County DUI enforcement will be in full swing this Labor Day weekend in Fort Lauderdale, Plantation, Hollywood, and Wilton Manors. All Broward County Law Enforcement agencies will be conducting a crackdown on Driving Under the Influence including the Florida Highway Patrol. Officials in Miami Dade are planning similar “DUI saturation” stops in and around Miami Dade and North Miami Beach.
The South Florida DUI arrest crackdown is a direct result of the national “Over the Limit, Under Arrest” campaign promoting strict enforcement of DUI laws in Florida and throughout the nation.
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Robert Ray Huizenga, the son of famed Fort Lauderdale billionaire H. Wayne Huizenga was sentenced to 18 months in Florida State Prison for the offense of Boating Under the Influence today.
Circuit Judge Michele Towbin Singer accepted the plea today while allowing this sentence to run concurrent with the 24 month prison sentence Huizenga received for violating his probation. Huizenga was originally placed on probation due to a driving under the influence (DUI) incident which left a pedestrian in Fort Lauderdale with a concussion, a gashed head, and a broken elbow.

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A warning from Fort Lauderdale DUI Lawyer Richard Ansara. With Memorial Day just around the corner you can be sure that the police agencies throughout Broward County will be out in force! Please pay particular attention to the 4500 block of State Road 7 in Hollywood. The Florida Highway Patrol will be checking vehicles for faulty equipment as well as driver’s licenses and registration checks all while looking out for impaired drivers.

Additionally, the Broward Sheriff’s Office will be at the corner of the 1000 block of East Oakland Park Boulevard from 10 p.m. Friday until 3 a.m. Saturday.

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Four Hollywood Florida Police Officers are being accused of faking a crash report. The entire incident was accidently caught by the on board dash camera. They were identified Tuesday as Dewey Pressley, Joel Francisco, Andrew Diaz and Karim Thomas. They’re on administrative duty pending an investigation.

It is alleged that Officer Joel Francisco accidently rear ended a vehicle. The Officer then placed the individual under arrest for drunken driving related charges. A video depicts the Officers apparently attempting to create a story in which blame for the accident could be placed on the other driver. Apparently, the Officers were unaware that the entire incident was being recorded. The accident report written by Officer Pressly states that the driver of the other vehicle was distracted when a cat sitting on her lap caused her to loose control striking the officers vehicle. The Broward County Office of the State Attorney has agreed to drop the driving under the influence charges stemming from this incident.

ANSARA RESPONDS
It appears that the Broward County Office of the State Attorney has taken the initiative to drop all charges stemming from the incident involving these Hollywood Police Officers in this particular case. However, what is the Broward County Office of the State Attorney doing to investigate other arrests by these officers? It appears to me that the Broward County Office of the State Attorney has a duty to further investigate pending and prior arrests involving these officers. The Hollywood Police Department is no stranger to scandal. Recently the Department was shaken when the FBI arrested fellow Hollywood Police Officers. The FBI posed as an underground criminal ring and used the Hollywood Police Officers as protection during drug transports.

Retired FBI agent Jack Garcia was one of the undercover operatives and gave his account of the investigation in a book published last year. In an interview last October, he said of his dealings with the Hollywood Police Department: “What was amazing to me is that it was so easy to get cops to look the other way, to guard trucks for us, no questions asked. I’d never seen anything like it.”

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The Sun-Sentinel Published a story today alleging that Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy Charles Grady managed to keep his job despite numerous complaints from women regarding his behavior.

A review of Grady’s service record by the Sun Sentinel turned up complaints from women over the years who claimed the deputy had berated, belittled, molested, fondled, hog-tied or pepper-sprayed them. In 2006, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office paid $7,500.00 to settle a claim after the Deputy hog-tied a Broward County DUI suspect while she was in her holding cell. Yet, the Deputy still managed to keep his badge, his gun, and the ability to harm the public at large.

After recent complaints by female Broward County DUI suspects, Deputy Grady was charged by the Office of the State Attorney with two counts of misdemeanor battery. The Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy received two years probation. However, as part of the plea deal the State Attorney’s Office has agreed not to prosecute the Deputy for armed sexual battery. This incident allegedly occurred when the Deputy forced a woman to perform oral sex on him while at gunpoint.

Prosecutor David Schulson insisted Grady received no special treatment because he was a sheriff’s deputy, and said the stripper’s complaint would not have held up in court because “there was no independent evidence supporting [the victim’s] allegations, forensic or otherwise.”

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BOCA RATON – Florida Highway Patrol charged a 20-year-old Boca Raton woman with two counts of negligent manslaughter and drunken driving relating to a fatal car accident that killed two people.
Daniela Torres was arrested Monday afternoon following a six-month investigation into the crash, which happened on Interstate 95 near Palmetto Park Road in August.

Torres was on her way home from work at a restaurant in Fort Lauderdale and driving about 85 mph when she changed lanes and rear-ended a slower-moving sedan driven by James Andrew Carr, 42. Torres’ Saab pushed the sedan onto a grass shoulder, and it overturned. Carr and passengers Deborah Peterson, 44, and Calvin Braggs were ejected. Carr and Peterson were killed. A witness said she was weaving from the outside lane to the center lane when she hit the sedan.

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Former Yankee Jim Leyritz caught a legal break Tuesday when a Broward circuit judge released him from jail.

Leyritz, facing DUI manslaughter charges stemming from the December 2007 crash that killed Fredia Veitch, 30, in Fort Lauderdale. A court-ordered monitoring device showed he drove four times with alcohol in his system since September, a violation of his bond.

Attorneys agreed in court this week that Leyritz should be released from jail because of a technicality that voided the warrant for his arrest that had been signed by Broward Circuit Judge Marc Gold.
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Florida’s “Move Over” law states in part:

316.126 Operation of vehicles and actions of pedestrians on approach of authorized emergency vehicle.–

(b) When an authorized emergency vehicle making use of any visual signals is parked or a wrecker displaying amber rotating or flashing lights is performing a recovery or loading on the roadside, the driver of every other vehicle, as soon as it is safe:

1. Shall vacate the lane closest to the emergency vehicle or wrecker when driving on an interstate highway or other highway with two or more lanes traveling in the direction of the emergency vehicle or wrecker, except when otherwise directed by a law enforcement officer.

ANSARA RESPONDS

This law was enacted with the intent to do one simple thing; prevent Florida law enforcement from being hurt or killed by oncoming vehicles while on a traffic stop. However, critics of the Florida “Move Over” law are alleging that the Move Over law is being abused by Florida Law Enforcement.

It has been referred to as the “Move Over Trap”. An officer will wait on the side of the road with his lights on simply to use the Move Over law as justification to conduct a traffic stop. Florida law enforcement knows that simple traffic stops often turn into arrests for crimes such as drug possession and driving under the influence.

I recently asked a Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy about his thoughts on the Florida Move Over law.
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