Category Archives: dui
What You Can Expect at a DUI Stop in Port St. Lucie
Hearing a police car’s siren and seeing the flashing lights in your rearview mirror is always scary. You may not understand why a police officer is pulling you over, but there is always a chance that it is for a suspected DUI. It is important to know this, and to know what steps to… Read More »
What is a DUI Chemical Test, and Do I Have to Consent?
There are four basic ways that the police can test for intoxication, in order to determine whether a person is fit to drive or is driving while under the influence of alcohol or another controlled substance. These are (a) field sobriety tests, which are subjective tests that give early indications of intoxication; (b) breath… Read More »
Successfully Challenging DUI Chemical Test Results
In the early 2010s, Florida had the highest Breathalyzer refusal rate in the country. Then, lawmakers approved a failure-to-submit law which makes refusal a criminal offense. Before then, refusal was only an administrative offense. The refusal rate then declined, but it is still well above the national average. The conviction rate in test cases… Read More »
The Five Types of Driving Impairment
Driver error is responsible for over 90 percent of the vehicle collisions in Florida. Sometimes, this error involves a traffic law violation, such as speeding or running a red light. Other times, vehicle collisions begin before drivers get behind the wheel. Due to the nature of impairment-related wrecks, a Port St. Lucie personal injury… Read More »
Five Ways to Overturn a DUI Checkpoint Arrest
In 1968, the Supreme Court initially ruled that officers must have reasonable suspicion of criminal activity before they detain motorists. Generally, that reasonable suspicion is a traffic violation, such as speeding or making an illegal turn. Recently, the Supremes have watered down this rule, but it remains on the books. DUI roadblocks are an… Read More »
Overcoming the Field Sobriety Tests in a DUI
The Fifth Amendment’s right to remain silent gives drivers the absolute right to refuse to perform the three approved Field Sobriety Tests. However, for various reasons, almost no one asserts that right. Instead, almost everyone gives in to police officer pressure and performs at least some FSTs. If the defendant submitted a chemical sample,… Read More »
Your Rights, and Police Responsibilities, at a DUI Checkpoint
For many years, police officers always needed reasonable suspicion to detain motorists on suspicion of DUI. Reasonable suspicion is basically an evidence-based hunch of criminal activity. In most DUI stops, the defendant committed a traffic violation, like running a stop sign, which drew the officer’s attention. In the 1990s, the Supreme Court legalized intoxication… Read More »
Challenging the DUI FSTs in St. Lucie County
Generally, the Field Sobriety Tests do not matter too much in a DUI case. If the defendant provides a chemical breath or blood sample, and that sample is above the legal BAC limit, the defendant could be guilty as a matter of law. But in about 20 percent of these cases, DUI defendant refused… Read More »
Your Rights and Responsibilities at a DUI Roadblock
One of the most fundamental Constitutional rules in criminal law is the reasonable suspicion rule. Generally, officers must have specific, articulable facts which indicate criminal activity before they may detain motorists. The Supreme Court has diluted this rule in recent years, most notably in 2014’s Heien v. North Carolina, but the rule itself remains… Read More »
7 DUI Checkpoint Requirements
On holidays like Labor Day Weekend, Treasure Coast motorists often encounter DUI roadblocks. Since these checkpoints allow police officers to circumvent the Fourth Amendment, they are very popular in law enforcement circles. But since they are very expensive to operate, they appear only at selected times. Sobriety checkpoints had been around in one form… Read More »
