Articles Posted in DUI

It is no secret that police in Jacksonville, Florida, like in most other cities, focus their attention to certain areas and certain times of the year when investigating certain crimes like DUI (aka driving under the influence, DWI, drunk driving). One of those times is Georgia v. Florida weekend (or Florida v. Georgia weekend depending on your affiliation). And the areas the police seem to focus on when looking for DUI’s are, among others, the streets downtown near restaurants and bars, and the streets at and coming to and from Jacksonville Beach and Ponte Vedra such as beach Boulevard, Atlantic Boulevard, A1A and J Turner Butler Boulevard (JTB). Police officers will hang out near bars and restaurants watching people go to their vehicles and also along the roads watching for any traffic violations.

Obviously, if you have been drinking, the best course of action is to get a ride with a friend or call a taxi. However, if you have been stopped by a police officer in Jacksonville or elsewhere and he/she starts asking DUI-related questions, it is important to know your rights. Keep in mind that field sobriety tests are very difficult tests of balance and coordination that are tough under any circumstances. Even worse, the results are completely subjective based on the opinion of a police officer who already thinks you are drunk. Otherwise, he/she would not have asked you to do them in the first place.

Once the first DUI-related question comes out, you should know that any follow up question is designed to gather evidence to be used against you after the DUI arrest he/she is going to make. So, under those circumstances, you need to decide whether you want to answer incriminating questions and perform difficult, subjective tests or politely refuse to incriminate yourself and request to speak with a lawyer. In other words, you have a right to remain silent and not help the police make the DUI case against you.

Every now and then, a driver in Jacksonville, Florida and other areas of Florida will come across a DUI roadblock and get stopped by the police who are randomly looking for people driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. We all should know that normally the police cannot stop a person in his/her vehicle (or otherwise) without specific facts indicating he/she is committing a crime or traffic violation. If a DUI roadblock randomly stops people without any prior facts indicating a crime or traffic violation, how can this be legal in Florida?

The highest court in Florida decided that DUI roadblocks are legal if they meet certain criteria. The main criteria of a proper DUI roadblock is that the police must establish a written plan in advance detailing how the DUI roadblock will operate and when and how vehicles will be stopped. This plan must take as much discretion away from the police officers as possible regarding the decision as to who will be stopped. In other words, if the police officers at a DUI roadblock are allowed to decide at the scene who gets stopped based on their own subjective observations or the police officers develop their own plan for stopping vehicles at the DUI roadblock, this is not a legal DUI roadblock. The police officers are required to plan in advance how the vehicles will be stopped that does not leave the decision up to the discretion of the police officers. If the plan dictated that the police officers can stop every vehicle or every 5th vehicle, that would be legal. But if the police officers were permitted to stop every vehicle that looked a certain way or every vehicle with a certain kind of driver, that DUI roadblock would likely be considered illegal. If the DUI roadblock is considered illegal, the DUI charge should be thrown out of court.

Other factors relating to a valid DUI roadblock are whether the DUI roadblock is well marked and warning signs are provided so it is as safe as possible for motorists. The police officers must also be in uniform and easily identifiable as police officers. While police officers are permitted to stop drivers at a valid DUI roadblock, that stop must be as brief as necessary to investigate DUI’s, and the encounter with the driver must not be more intrusive than necessary.

In order to successfully prosecute a defendant for the crime of DUI (also referred to as driving under the influence, driving while intoxicated, DWI or drunk driving), the State has to prove that the defendant was the actual person driving the vehicle. In most DUI cases, that is obvious because the DUI investigation and arrest result from an alleged traffic violation committed by the defendant who is in the process of driving the vehicle. However, many DUI investigations and arrests result from traffic crashes where the police officer arrives to the scene after the crash. In this case, the police officer does not have personal knowledge that the defendant was driving. If there are other people involved in the crash, they may or may not be able to say that the defendant was driving depending on what they were able to see, whether they were seriously injured or other factors. In a one vehicle crash, it is likely that there are no witnesses to testify as to who was driving other than the defendant him/herself.

In Florida, we have what is called the accident report privilege. This law provides that when a person is involved in a traffic crash in Florida, he/she is required to talk to the police and say what happened in the crash. However, what that driver says cannot be used against the driver in a criminal case, such as a DUI case, or a civil case for personal injuries or wrongful death. So, if the only evidence a police officer and the State have in a DUI case to prove that the defendant was the one driving is the defendant’s own statement that he/she was driving, that cannot be used against the defendant to prove the DUI case.

In a DUI case in Florida, the fact that the defendant was driving seems like an obvious element for the State to prove. However, in some cases where an accident occurred, it can be a very difficult element for the State to prove and one that can result in the DUI charges being dropped.

During the course of a DUI investigation, the police officer will often request that the driver submit to a breath test, aka breathalyzer. If the driver agrees to submit to the breathalyzer test, there are certain rules the police officer must follow for the breath test to be valid. When a person gets arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol (“DUI”) in Florida, the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (“DMV”) will automatically suspend the driver’s license. This suspension is independent of the criminal case and the potential suspension that is part of a criminal sentence.

A person arrested for DUI in Florida has a right to challenge the DMV’s license suspension through a formal hearing. At that hearing, the criminal defense lawyer can raise certain issues relating to whether the stop of the driver was legal, the police officer had reason to arrest the driver and the breath test was valid.

One of the rules relating to breath tests referenced above is the 20 minute observation rule. If the driver agrees to the breathalyzer test, a police officer must observe the driver for at least 20 minutes prior to administering the breathalyzer test. The purpose of this rule is to make sure the driver does not ingest anything by mouth or throw up which would alter the breath test results. Once a police officer has confirmed that the driver has neither taken anything by mouth or vomited for a continuous 20 minute (or more) period, it is proper to administer the breathalyzer test.

There has been a significant increase in the number of women who have been arrested and convicted for DUI in the Jacksonville, Florida area according to a study and interview reported at www.News4Jax.com. The article cited a study that indicated the percentage of women pulled over and arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs (also referred to as a DUI, a DWI or drunk driving) has increased almost 30% between 1998 and 2007 (the article does not indicate what area these numbers cover). A member of the State Attorney’s Office for the Jacksonville, Florida area also confirmed that they have noticed an upward trend in the percentage of women defendants who have been arrested and charged with DUI, particularly in the more serious cases such as DUI manslaughter when the DUI was allegedly related to an accident that resulted in a death.

Another DUI trend noted by the Jacksonville, Florida prosecutor is the increase in DUI arrests related to drugs as opposed to alcohol. A person can be arrested for driving under the influence of illegal drugs or prescription drugs just as he/she can be arrested for driving while intoxicated.

However, despite the increase in women arrested for the crime of DUI, men are still arrested for DUI at a much higher rate than women.

There is a difference between drinking and driving and being guilty of driving under the influence of alcohol (aka DUI in Florida or DWI in some states). Clearly, if you have been drinking, the safest course of action is to stay the night where you are, let a friend drive or call a taxi. However, we handle a lot of DUI cases in the Jacksonville, Florida area and often see people arrested for DUI who may have had a couple of drinks but whose condition did not rise to the level of a DUI. It is not proper for a police officer to make a DUI arrest just because a person has been drinking. However, this often occurs. That a driver has been drinking is just the threshold factor for a proper DUI investigation. In order for a DUI arrest to be proper, the police officer must have evidence that the driver was under the influence of alcohol to the extent his normal faculties, such as sight, balance, coordination, judgment, are impaired. Therefore, if a person had a couple of drinks at dinner and may have committed a traffic violation but is not showing signs of impairment from alcohol, he/she should not be arrested for DUI. However, police make arrests under these circumstances all of the time.

There are ways for criminal defense attorneys to combat DUI arrests that are based on insufficient evidence and point out common inconsistencies and exaggerations in the police officer’s arrest report and testimony. DUI videos, jail videos and pictures are available that can help disprove an officer’s report and testimony about the condition of the person arrested for DUI both during the DUI investigation and after the DUI arrest. If you have been arrested for DUI in the Jacksonville, Florida area and have questions about how to fight the DUI charge, feel free to contact us for a free consultation.

There have been fewer drunk drivers and drivers intoxicated from drugs driving on the roads according to a study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The study found that tougher DUI laws and stricter enforcement of DUI laws have contributed to the reduction in drunk driving. Back in 1973, 7.5% of drivers surveyed had blood alcohol levels over the current legal limit of at least 0.08 compared to only 2.2% surveyed in 2007, according to an article on News4Jax.com. A government survey also found that 16.3% of nighttime weekend drivers tested positive for drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine. However, a positive drug test does not necessarily prove that the driver is under the influence of drugs at the time since a drug can stay in a person’s system after the effects of the drug have worn off. The study also reached a fairly obvious conclusion that a person is more likely to encounter a drunk driver or a driver intoxicated from drugs late at night or early in the morning.

Here in Jacksonville, Florida, the police are definitely focused on making DUI arrests. As expected, Jacksonville police looking to make DUI arrests are more concentrated in certain areas, such as Jacksonville Beach and the main roads going to and from Jacksonville Beach, and more likely to make DUI stops late at night and on the weekends. Before answering any questions or submitting to any tests after you have been pulled over by a police officer, keep in mind that once a police officer has an inclination that you have been drinking, everything he/she asks and does will be designed to obtain evidence to support the DUI arrest he is about to make. If you have any questions about how to handle a DUI stop or a recent DUI arrest, feel free to contact us for a free consultation.

Last year we posted a blog article about DUI checkpoints in the Jacksonville, Florida area as police come out in force on a holiday weekend like this one to try and make arrests for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs (also referred to as DUI, DWI and drunk driving). Because July 4th falls on a Saturday this year and the holiday is taken on the Friday before July 4th, we expect Jacksonville area police officers to be all over the place looking for potential DUI arrests. At Jacksonville Beach and the main roads leading to and from Jacksonville Beach like J. Turner Butler Boulevard (JTB), Beach Boulevard and Atlantic Boulevard, Jacksonville police are out in higher concentrations looking to make DUI arrests.

More and more recently, we have spoken with clients and read DUI arrest reports where it appears that police officers make the decision early on that a person is driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and the DUI investigation is just a formality leading to a certain arrest. In other words, police officers put the same information on every DUI arrest report (odor of alcohol, slurred speech, swaying, mumbling or stuttering, and failed field sobriety exams) and decide to arrest a person for DUI regardless of whether or not there are any actual signs of impairment. As a result, it is important to know your rights if a police officer stops you and asks questions about alcohol or drugs. Ideally, you would call a DUI lawyer who is available at all times and ask questions immediately. If you are unable to speak to a DUI lawyer when stopped, understand that you do not have to answer the question about whether you have had any alcohol or drugs or how much you have had. You can also refuse the field sobriety exams. Keep in mind that if a police officer has it in his/her head that you are guilty of DUI, he/she will request that you submit to a field sobriety exam for the sole purpose of giving him/her and the State more evidence to convict you of DUI. Very few people, if any, get out of a DUI arrest by submitting to the field sobriety exams, even if they are perfectly sober.

Many people do not know their rights, or do not exercise their rights, during a DUI stop. If you have been arrested for DUI in the Jacksonville, Florida area or have any questions about how to handle a DUI stop, feel free to contact us any day, any time for a free consultation.

In a recent Florida DUI case (not in Jacksonville), a defendant charged with driving under the influence of alcohol had his case thrown out of court because the police officer failed to turn on the camera in his police car during the DUI stop, in violation of police department policy.

Like many police officers do, particularly specialized DUI police officers, this officer had a video camera in his vehicle designed to record encounters with suspects. In DUI cases, the cameras are particularly helpful to judges and juries because the evidence supporting a DUI arrest is so subjective and based on the observations of alleged impairment by the police officer. In just about every DUI arrest since the history of time, police officers say that the defendant had slurred speech, had bloodshot eyes, was swaying and failed the field sobriety exams. In-vehicle cameras can help a judge or jury determine whether those routine claims by police officers that appear in every arrest report are true in a particular case.

In this DUI case, the officer had a camera in his vehicle but did not turn it on to record his DUI investigation and subsequent arrest. When asked, the police officer merely said he chose not to turn it on. No other reason was given. The policy of his police department provided that the camera should have been turned on. Because the police officer failed to comply with the department policy for no apparent reason, and the defendant was deprived of video evidence of the DUI, which is often a good source of information for the defense, the judge dismissed the DUI charge.