In Florida, when a police officer makes a traffic stop and claims he/she observes evidence of impairment from alcohol, that officer will initiate a DUI investigation. This usually starts with questions about where the driver has been, how much the driver has had to drink and other questions about the…
In DUI cases in Florida, many people assume that the police car has a video camera that records the DUI investigation and arrest. The DUI video can be a good thing for a defendant if the defendant looks good on the video, and it shows that the police officer is…
In Florida, the law establishes what it considers a legal limit for a driver’s blood alcohol content. Most people know that the legal limit in Florida in DUI cases is 0.08. If a person blows a 0.08 or higher on the breathalyzer, that does not necessarily mean he/she will be…
In a normal DUI case in Florida, where there is no accident with serious injury or death, the police do not request or seek to obtain a blood sample of the defendant to test for alcohol content. The procedure is often different when a DUI case does involve an accident…
In Florida, most DUI investigations start after a police officer observes the suspect driving erratically or violating a traffic law. However, some DUI cases start fairly innocently after a police officer is just checking to make sure a person is alright. Normally, a police officer needs to have reasonable suspicion…
In Florida, most DUI arrests occur after the police officer stops the driver for committing a traffic violation and then claims to make observations indicating the driver is impaired from alcohol or drugs. In the majority of those cases, the police officer works in the city or county where the…
In most DUI cases in Florida, the police officer observes the driver violate some traffic law, conducts a traffic stop and then moves into a DUI investigation from there. There is usually no issue with the state proving the element that the defendant was driving or in actual physical control…
it is rarely used, but people who commit a crime in Florida can use a necessity defense to avoid charges or be found not guilty of the crime. The defense is rarely used because it basically requires a defendant to establish that he/she needed to commit the crime to avoid…
In order for a DUI case to go forward in Florida, the initial stop of the driver must be legal. In other words, if the initial stop of the driver by the police officer is not a valid stop, all evidence that the police officer obtains after the stop should…
In just about every DUI case in Florida, the police officer is going to ask the driver to submit to a field sobriety exam. The police officer will not typically offer to the driver that he/she is free to refuse the field sobriety exam. The police officer wants the driver…