Broward DUI Lawyer Blog

On June 16, 2007, Heather Dison was driving a 2006 GMC pickup truck against traffic when she caused a head-on collision with a Cadillac coupe in Dade City, Florida. Another vehicle swerved to avoid collision, but hit a pole and overturned. The driver of the Cadillac, Jason Hamilton, died at the scene, and his passenger as well as the driver and four passengers in the overturned vehicle were injured.

Dison had a previous DUI conviction in 1995 and did not have a deal with prosecutors. Though she faced up to 20 years in prison after a guilty plead to DUI Manslaughter charges and related DUI charges, Dison, 35, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after Circuit Judge Pat Siracusa took her previous DUI conviction into account, stating she should have learned back then, but didn't.

Jason Hamilton's fiancee was three months pregnant with his child when the accident occurred. His fiancee was in the car ahead of him when the collision occurred, and held his body in the road until help arrived. Hamilton's mother attempted to speak at the hearing, but was too emotional and couldn't.

Continue reading "Woman Receives Reduced Sentence for Florida DUI Manslaughter Charges" »

In 2006, a driver crashed into a road construction site and injured one of the maintenance workers on site. A few months later, the worker died from of those injuries, which included broken legs and internal bleeding. The driver, Elias Soto, was reported to have been laughing when he got out of his car, and announced he had to urinate. Soto is facing DUI Manslaughter charges.

The Florida Highway Patrol trooper who reported to the scene stated that Soto failed field sobriety tests and smelled of alcohol.

But was the driver drunk? This is the question coming up in court. The breath test ran at the jail showed blood alcohol level was at 0.051 and 0.055, both numbers being far below the threshold of 0.08 that Florida law deems a driver to be impared.

Soto's attorney argued at the trial Tuesday that Florida Highway Patrol failed to collect substantial evidence against Soto that would prove he was intoxicated when the crash occurred. Florida Highway Patrol failed to collect a blood sample from Soto to measure his blood alcohol levels.

Continue reading "Florida DUI Manslaughter Case Underway" »