Articles Posted in DUI

Two people were killed after being hit by a suspected drunk driver in Clearwater, Florida according to an article at www.news4jax.com. Local police said the alleged drunk driver made a left turn in front of a motorcycle ridden by two people, both of whom died as a result of the accident.

The suspected drunk driver was arrested on two counts of DUI manslaughter. In Florida, the crime of DUI carries significantly greater penalties when a person dies as a result. DUI manslaughter can be a first or second degree felony depending on the facts of the case. Those people in Florida convicted of DUI manslaughter face up to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine along with a permanent driver’s license revocation, although there is the possibility of obtaining a hardship driver’s license after five years (if no prior DUI convictions). If a person kills someone while driving drunk and leaves the scene of the accident, he/she can be charged with a first degree felony and may face up to 30 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

In Florida, the legal limit for a driver’s blood or breath alcohol level (BAC) is .08. In other words, a driver in Florida may be arrested for, and convicted of, the crime of DUI if he/she drives with a BAC of .08 or higher. According to a recent article on Foxnews.com, a driver in Rhode Island was arrested after crashing on the highway and submitting to the Breathalyzer test which showed results of .489 and .491. According to the DUI officers, this was the highest BAC reading the police department had seen.

A breath or blood alcohol content reading over .40 is extremely rare during DUI investigations. It is amazing (and scary) that this person was able to start and operate a car at all in that condition. To put this in perspective, I have included an alcohol consumption chart which gives estimations as to the number of drinks a person needs to consume to have a BAC of 0.08 or higher. Please note that everyone is different, and this chart is a rough estimate. Factors such as: a person’s weight, body fat percentage, the amount of food and other liquid in the system, amount of time it took to consume the drinks, gender, body chemistry, the Breathalyzer machine itself and other factors can alter the BAC score for different people who have consumed the same number of drinks.

The alcohol consumption chart also discusses how a person’s blood alcohol level is likely to affect his/her normal faculties, which is another factor in a DUI investigation. According to the chart, when a person reaches a BAC of .30, he/she is likely in a stupor, does not know what is going on and is likely to pass out. At .40 or higher, the chart says the person should be in a coma and has a good chance of dying.

A drunk driver was driving the wrong way on I-95 in the Jacksonville, Florida area yesterday and caused a head-on collision killing the drunk driver and a mother in the other vehicle, according to an article on www.News4Jax.com. Another thirteen year old victim suffered a broken neck in the crash.

The drunk driver had a blood alcohol level of .20, according to the article. That is twice the legal blood alcohol limit of .08. When a person is convicted of DUI with a blood or breath alcohol level of .20 or higher, it subjects a person to increased DUI penalties in terms of a much higher fine, more jail time and an increased mandatory ignition lock device period.

As most people in Jacksonville and throughout Florida are aware, penalties for a DUI are very severe. Even an arrest for DUI without a conviction can bring significant penalties in terms of the loss of driving privileges.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has established a program to address what they refer to as hardcore drunk driving, or repeat DUI (also referred to by the NTSB as DWI) offenders with multiple DUI convictions within 10 years or people driving with a blood or breath alcohol content (BAC) of 0.15 or greater (the legal limit in Florida is 0.08). According to the NTSB, this group is a small percentage of those drinking and driving but were involved in about 53% of the DUI-related fatal accidents in 2006.

Some of the elements of the NTSB’s hardcore drunk driving program are as follows: statewide sobriety checkpoints, laws that define a high BAC as 0.15 or higher as an aggravated DUI/DWI offense, alternatives to jail such as home detention with electronic monitoring, laws that restrict a person’s ability to plea bargain to a lesser offense such as reckless driving and license suspensions for BAC test failures and refusals. For a complete list of the NTSB hardcore drunk driving program, see the NTSB website.

It may be the personal characteristics and personality of the police officer that determine whether you will be arrested for DUI (also referred to as DWI, drunk driving and driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs) in Jacksonville, Florida. Much of the evidence that a police officer uses to support a DUI arrest is subjective- i.e., slurred speech, strong odor of alcohol or marijuana, bloodshot eyes, swaying, behavior consistent with being drunk or otherwise intoxicated, inconsistent answers and of course, the results of a field sobriety test. If a particular police officer decides that you failed the field sobriety test or are exhibiting signs of intoxication, he/she will likely make an arrest.

A study of DUI arrests by the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration confirmed that the difference in characteristics among police officers is a very important factor in determining whether a DUI arrest will be made or not. The study showed that a police officer’s age and experience are important factors in DUI arrests. Younger, less experienced police officers make more DUI arrests than older, more experienced police officers. Not surprisingly, police officers who do not drink are much more likely to make a DUI arrest than those who do drink. A police officer nearing the end of his/her shift is less likely to make a DUI arrest than one early in the shift. If the police officer perceives the driver as uncooperative, the officer is more likely to make a DUI arrest. Specialized traffic enforcement police officers are more likely to make DUI arrests than police officers with general duties. The less a police officer has been educated about how much alcohol consumption is required to cause a driver to be over the legal limit, the more likely the officer will sympathize with the driver.

In Jacksonville, Florida, a DUI arrest has serious potential penalties and ramifications from jail time to a prolonged license suspension. Given the serious nature of a DUI charge, it is disturbing to see a study that shows the many arbitrary factors that would lead one police officer to make a DUI arrest while another may not that have nothing to do with whether a driver actually committed the crime. As it turns out, maybe the last police officer you want to see after having a couple of drinks at dinner is a young, new police officer in the DUI enforcement unit who does not drink and is just starting his/her shift.

In Jacksonville, Florida it is very common for Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) officers to increase the number of DUI arrests (aka DWI or drunk driving) around July 4th, particularly when July 4th falls on or near a weekend as it does this year. Jacksonville residents may see an increase in DUI checkpoints or roadblocks and Jacksonville police officers on the roads looking for people they suspect are driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs in certain areas they consider higher DUI crime areas.

Interestingly, police checkpoints for DUI stops and investigations may be more trouble than they are worth, according to an article last year on www.azstarnet.com. That article notes that in two years of DUI checkpoints in Arizona, more than 46,000 drivers were stopped, but only 1% of them were arrested for DUI and fewer than half of that 1% were convicted of DUI. The number of DUI arrests did not change whether the DUI checkpoints were in place or not.

If you have any questions about a DUI arrest in Jacksonville or the Northeast Florida area or DUI laws in general, we invite you to contact us any time.

Jevon Kearse, who was one of the best defensive players ever to play for the University of Florida, was arrested and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) after a traffic stop in Tennessee this past weekend, according to an article on ESPN.com. According to police, Kearse’s vehicle was weaving in the road and speeding which was the basis for the traffic stop. When the officer approached Kearse, police said that his eyes were red and watery, his speech was slurred and he emitted an odor of alcohol. Kearse then performed the requested field sobriety test but refused to take the breathalyzer test. He was then arrested for DUI.

This is a fairly common DUI arrest scenario. When the police see a vehicle weaving and/or speeding in the early morning hours on the weekend, their suspicion of a DUI is raised. Red, bloodshot eyes, slurred speech and an odor of alcohol are classic signs that police look for when deciding to initiate or continue a DUI investigation. Police will then often request a field sobriety test which the driver has a right to refuse. Police will often also request the driver submit to a breath or blood alcohol test which, if refused in Florida, subjects the driver to driver’s license suspension penalties, which are further detailed here on our website.

After an arrest for drunk driving in Jacksonville, Florida the police officer is going to take your driver’s license away. If you are otherwise authorized to drive (i.e. your license is not suspended or revoked), the police officer will give you a ticket that will serve as a temporary driver’s license that lasts for 10 days. After ten days after your arrest for DUI, your temporary privilege to drive expires. However, even though your license will be suspended following the ten days after your arrest, you still can apply for a hardship license that allows you to drive in certain circumstances.

After your arrest for DUI in Jacksonville, there is also a procedure that allows you to challenge the suspension of your license with a Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) officer. You must apply for a hearing within ten days of your arrest.

If that appeal of the suspension of your driver’s license after the DUI is unsuccessful, that does not affect your ability to get the hardship license. The procedure for getting the hardship license is as follows. If you submitted to the breath or blood alcohol test and your blood or breath alcvohol level was 0.08 or greater, you have to wait 30 additional days after the initial 10 day temporary driving period after your arrest to petition for the hardship license. So, on the 41st day after your DUI arrest, you may have the hearing to obtain the hardship license. If you refused to submit to a blood or breath alcohol test, you have to wait 90 days after the initial 10 day temporary driving period to try to get the hardship license. So, on the 101st day after your DUI arrest, you can go to the hearing to get a hardship license.

A law enforcement officer was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) after he was found passed out in his truck which was stopped in the road, according to an article at www.News4Jax.com. The officer was given a field sobriety test which he reportedly failed, and was then arrested for DUI.

One question in the DUI context that may arise from this arrest is how a person can be arrested for drunk driving, or DUI, when he is not even driving the vehicle. In other words, does a person have to actual drive the vehicle to be arrested and ultimately convicted of a DUI defense? The answer is no. A person can commit a DUI if he/she is driving the vehicle when his/her normal faculties are impaired or with a blood or breath alcohol level of 0.08 or higher, or if he/she is in “actual physical control” of the vehicle. “Actual physical control” means the person has the capability to direct the vehicle even if he/she is not doing so around the time of the arrest. So, if a person is in the driver’s seat of a stopped vehicle with the keys in the ignition, that person may be at risk of a DUI arrest even if the person is not driving. If the vehicle is stopped in the middle of the road and the driver is passed out, as reported in the article referenced above, the risk of a DUI arrest increases.