Broward DUI Lawyer Blog

An Orlando mother was arrested and charged with drunk driving in the pick-up line of her child's elementary school, Channel 9 reported.

As a Fort Lauderdale drunk driving defense attorney, we have reported before on the complications that arise when a motorist is charged with DUI and children are present. Frequently, child endangering charges are also filed. It is necessary to aggressively defend such charges to prevent the intrusion of child welfare officials, who frequently do little aside from introducing your family to a government bureaucracy from which it can be difficult or impossible to escape.

In May, we reported on our Broward DUI Lawyer Blog that the presence of children is an aggravating factor often present when mothers are charged with drunk driving. The issue has become more prevalent as more and more women are charged with drunk driving. DUI arrests involving women have increased nearly 30 percent in the last decade.

In this case, a crossing guard told police the 31-year-old woman ran over a stop sign as she drove into the student pickup-drop-off lane. When troopers arrived, she said she was at the school to pick up her 9-year-old daughter.

Troopers say she failed a field-sobriety test while in the pickup line and was charged with DUI and hit and run. Police say her breathalyzer result was .20, above the .08 limit for drunk driving in Florida.

Channel 9 reports a mother was arrested on Sept. 8 while picking up her child in a Lake Mary bus loop. And another mother was arrested and charged with DUI while picking up a child in a Palm Bay bus loop. Last month, a woman was arrested in Volusia County after crashing with two kids in the car.

Authorities said the Department of Children and Families will be notified.

Continue reading "Presence of children aggravating circumstance in Fort Lauderdale DUI arrests" »

TMZ is reporting that Glenn Douglas Packard, who appeared on "Hogan Knows Best", was arrested for drunk driving in Miami Beach on Wednesday morning.

The officer reported "red and watery eyes, slurred speech, and unsteady stance" and that Packard "definitely had a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath." But when Packard agreed to a breath test, he tested .65 and .77, below Florida's legal limit of .08.

As a Broward County DUI Defense Lawyer, we have reported before on the issue of probable cause. TMZ does not report why Packard was stopped. But officers must also document probable cause for requesting a driver participate in field sobriety tests or take a breathalyzer examination. "Watery eyes, slurred speech, odor of alcohol" are probably cited in 95 percent of all drunk driving arrests.

An experienced attorney may challenge probable cause, either for the traffic stop or for the arrest. In cases where an officer is shown to lack cause, a dismissal of the charges often results.

We also frequently discuss the role of the breathalyzer examination. Refusal to submit to a test can be used against you in court. However, it also deprives the state of a key piece of evidence that will be used to convict you of drunk driving. In this case, Packard told police he was the designated driver and was not intoxicated. He then tested below the legal limit twice.

Continue reading "Reality show actor charged with DUI in Miami Beach" »

We may be into the leftovers, in so far as the Thanksgiving feast is concerned, but authorities are still gearing up for what is expected to be one of the busiest weekends of the year for sobriety checkpoints and drunk driving enforcement.

Whether you are watching football at your favorite sports bar, or celebrating the long weekend with friends and family, law enforcement is promising to conduct the type of increased enforcement that frequently leads to unfair or marginal drunk driving arrests in Broward County and the surrounding area.

The Florida Highway Patrol is promising to use administrative personnel, Reserve Officers and volunteers to conduct enforcement efforts.

"The Florida Highway Patrol is committed to making Florida's highways safe, and we plan to do that by bolstering our forces to reduce the number and severity of crashes," said FHP Director, Colonel John Czernis.

Fort Lauderdale DUI defense lawyers know such officers frequently lack the necessary training to properly conduct a DUI stop or make a drunk driving arrest.

Sobriety checkpoints will be another law enforcement favorite this weekend and throughout the upcoming holiday season. As we reported recently on our Broward DUI Lawyer Blog, failure to follow specific guidelines when conducting checkpoints can result in the reduction or dismissal of the resulting charges.

We encourage you to enjoy the holidays responsibly and don't hesitate to pick up the phone and give us a call in the unfortunate event you are cited for drunk driving. The charges are often beatable, particularly for first-time offenders, those stopped as a result of a sobriety checkpoint, and those stopped during enhanced enforcement efforts through the holiday season.

Continue reading "Weekend of football and family -- Stay safe, beware of sobriety checkpoints, call if you need DUI defense in Fort Lauderdale" »

An incident in which a woman was charged with drunk driving in Florida after ramming a school bus is making news, primarily because she then agreed to an on-camera interview with a local news crew. "Not where you want to find your face after a good morning of drinking and school bus ramming," is how the Miami New Times put it.

An experienced Fort Lauderdale drunk driving defense attorney will tell you that silence is your best defense in the wake of an arrest. Obviously, giving an interview to a news crew violates that advice. But too often, more mundane statements and actions can also come back to haunt a defendant facing a DUI charge in Broward County or elsewhere in South Florida.

As we have discussed here before, whether you submit to a breathalyzer test is a personal decision. Refusing to do so will result in an automatic suspension of your license but will also deny the state a key piece of evidence used to convict you of drunk driving. Field sobriety tests are worthless and should be politely declined. Beyond that however, your words and actions can have a great deal to do with whether you are convicted of drunk driving.

Unfortunately, defendant's sometimes make the correct choices when it comes to field sobriety tests and breathalyzer examinations but they are belligerent, violent, or altogether too talkative throughout the arrest and booking process.

Stress, alcohol, fear, anger and embarrassment can all play a role. When it comes to your words and actions in the wake of a drunk driving arrest, we encourage you to be polite and silent.

Continue reading "Fort Lauderdale DUI arrests: Exercise your right to remain silent" »

With the holiday season just around the corner, Fort Lauderdale drunk driving defense lawyers remind motorists it is the time of year when officers are out in force looking for drunk drivers. The added emphasis frequently involves so-called "sobriety checkpoints" and other questionable or marginal arrests on the part of law enforcement.

The Herald Tribune reported recently that a judge dismissed a DUI case in Sarasota County after the sheriff's office was found to have improperly conducted the law enforcement roadblock.

It is the second time in a year that DUI checkpoint arrests have been dismissed in Sarasota because of the sheriff's department's apparent inability to follow the law. The latest ruling could open the door for additional defendants to challenge their arrests at three checkpoints where the sheriff's office used the same plan.

DUI checkpoints are a violation of your basic right to privacy, and to be free from unlawful search and seizure. In a nod toward the Constitution, courts have placed strict guidelines on how they must be operated. Each checkpoint must have an operations plan. Specific training is required and numerous rules must be followed. Those arrested for drunk driving at a sobriety checkpoint in Fort Lauderdale, Miami or West Palm Beach, should consult an experienced DUI defense lawyer.

In this case, Sarasota's plan required drivers who were selected to perform field sobriety tests to also submit to a breathalyzer, even if the field sobriety tests revealed no evidence of intoxication. This is another indication, as we frequently report, of the worthlessness of field sobriety testing. Too often, motorists think successful completion will permit them to go on their way. In reality, an officer has typically already decided to arrest them for drunk driving and is simply gathering evidence of their guilt.

The judge ruled officers had no right to detain motorists at that point and that the plan failed to meet "constitutional muster."

Under the plan, motorists who tested between .05 and .08 were also not permitted to leave, even though Florida law considers .08 to be the legal threshold at which a driver is intoxicated.

The judge also took exception to officers asking drivers where they had come from and where they were heading.

The checkpoint guidelines were also reworked in January 2009 after 13 drunk driving cases were thrown out. Two judges ruled the 2008 guidelines gave law enforcement too much power.

Continue reading "Dismissal of sobriety checkpoint arrests illustrate motorists' rights when stopped by law enforcement roadblocks in Fort Lauderdale and Miami" »

The arrest of property developer and promoter Michael Capponi on a South Beach DUI charge illustrates the importance of protecting your rights against overzealous law enforcement by consulting an experienced South Beach drunk driving defense lawyer.

The Miami New Times reports he was arrested shortly after promoting a Grey Goose-sponsored Asher Roth party at W's WALL.

According to Capponi, he was pulled over at 3 a.m. and asked to perform roadside sobriety tests. He said the officer told him he failed. Two breathalyzer examinations both tested .06 -- below the legal limit of .08. The officer then insisted that he must be on drugs. Capponi then said he volunteered a urine sample and past.

Capponi said he was held over night, despite passing the tests. And that he intends to fight the charges.

As we have reported in the past, field sobriety tests rarely, if ever, result in a defendant being let go. They are designed to do nothing more than collect evidence of your guilt in the opinion of a police officer whose job it is to collect evidence of your guilt.

In this case, Capponi said he took taxis throughout the night and believes he was targeted by the officer because of a well-publicized past involving drugs.

Continue reading "Promoter's South Beach DUI charge illustrates danger of questionable arrests by law enforcement" »

Time Magazine recently questioned whether the blood-alcohol level of .08, used as the drunk driving threshold in all 50 states, is too liberal and should be further reduced.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports it has only been in the last 5 years that all 50 states have adopted the .08 driving limit. Previously, the legal limit was .01. It had been as high as .15 in some states.

The United States joins Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom as countries with a .08 limit. However, many, many nations have a legal limit of .05, including Australia, parts of Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Israel and much of South America.

In Japan, the legal limit is just .03 and in China, Sweden and Norway, it is .02. And in Russia and Saudi Arabia, it is essentially .00, with an arrest warranted for any driver showing any signs of intoxication. Consequently, Time Magazine reports that driving home from a bar in Sweden is nearly unheard of.

A BAC of .08 requires a 180-pound male to consume about six beers in two hours, according to various estimates. However, each person is different. A driver's metabolism, what type of alcohol he or she is consuming, and a host of other factors all play a role.

Our Fort Lauderdale DUI Lawyers do not think lowering the threshold for DUI will have a practical impact on the safety of motorists. In 2009, state law enforcement officers arrested 63,089 motorists for DUI, according to the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. That is nearly 50 percent more than the 42,167 arrested in 2003.

The problem is not that law enforcement are not making enough arrests. And a lower threshold will likely only lead to more marginal arrests and poor cases. Only about half of those charged with DUI in Florida -- 36,872 of 63,019 in 2009 -- are found guilty in any given year.

But with that said, we also think there is a better than average chance that the level will be further reduced in the future. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration blames one-third of the nation's traffic deaths on drunk driving -- 11,773 last year. And few will stand to protest such a move by politicians, who are always eager for public approval.

From a practical standpoint, it just makes it all the more critical to keep your driving record clean by fighting a drunk driving charge. If and when the thresholds are lowered in the future, it will be even easier to be stopped and cited again. And the state's tiered penalties for DUI make for a greater likelihood of jail time or other substantial penalties for a repeat violation.

Continue reading "Lower DUI limits possible for future drunk driving offenders in Fort Lauderdale" »

A Port St. Lucie man has been granted a new trial after a judge overturned his 14-year prison sentence on a vehicular homicide charge, the Treasure Coast Palm reported.

Our Fort Lauderdale vehicular manslaughter lawyers and vehicular homicide attorneys often discuss the important of accident investigation in representing a client facing criminal charges. Too often, those charged with DUI in Fort Lauderdale are blamed for causing an accident. Attempts to thoroughly investigate the cause cease, and the focus switches to gathering evidence of a defendant's guilt.

Consequently, a comprehensive approach to criminal defense requires a thorough review of the causes of the accident. If a defendant can be shown to be not at fault in the accident, he or she cannot be convicted of vehicular manslaughter or homicide.

In this case, the defendant was convicted in 2006 and sentenced to 14 years in prison for a 2002 accident that claimed the life of his passenger. Trial testimony by the investigating officer alleged that the defendant was racing and driving on bald tires in wet conditions when he lost control, struck a minivan and flipped over on Port St. Lucie Boulevard.

A West Palm Beach criminal defense lawyer who argued the appeal said she was shocked at the lack of defense related to accident reconstruction. A private accident reconstruction found the defendant was traveling about 46 mph in the 45 mph zone, or about 20 mph slower than what was testified to at trial.

The investigation also determined that the tires were not bald but were within the state's legal limits. The defense also argued against characterizing the state's witness as an accident reconstruction expert -- noting the officer had completed only one of three courses offered by the state in accident reconstruction.

At this point, prosecutors said it's not even certain whether the defendant will face another trial. A hearing has been set for Nov. 16, at which time the state will have to decide whether to attempt to try him again or whether the proper defense has earned him permanent freedom more than a decade before his scheduled release from prison.

Continue reading "Accident reconstruction provides proper defense for Port St. Lucie vehicular homicide defendant" »

A spokesperson for David Cassidy denies the former teen star was drunk when he was arrested for drunk driving in St. Lucie County, according to a report in the Miami Herald.

"He would never jeopardize anyone on the road," Jo-Ann Geffen told TMZ.com. "He's never been arrested in his life before for anything."

The former teen idol and Patridge Family star was arrested and charged with DUI after police say his 2008 Mercedes was weaving. The officers also report finding a half-empty bottle of bourbon in the back seat.

Our Fort Lauderdale DUI defense attorneys frequently discuss the role of probable cause in a drunk driving arrest. Without a legitimate reason for pulling you over, an officer has no right to stop you. Neither may an officer request that your perform field sobriety tests without probable cause to believe you've been drinking. Of course, the time-honored "failure to drive within marked lanes" is often used to justify a stop and "glassy eyes and an odor of alcohol on or about the person" is cited as reason to request sobriety testing in many, many drunk driving cases.

Without an experienced lawyer, you are at the mercy of the state and the court. However, according to the Florida Highway Patrol's own statistics, only about half of those charged with drunk driving in any given year are convicted. Hiring an attorney is the best course of action to protect your rights, your freedom, your livelihood and your reputation. Too often, police make marginal arrests based on faulty evidence and a driver ends up with a conviction because he or she did not go to the trouble to consider the potential penalties and consequences.

It doesn't sound like that will be the case here: Cassidy's rep said the star plans to fight the charges.

The Florida Highway Patrol reports that Cassidy admitted to having a glass of wine earlier in the day and to taking a pain pill for a bad back. He also said he was tired due to attending an early morning funeral. Police say his breath-test results were .139 and .141, above the legal limit of .08 for drunk driving in Florida.

Continue reading "Cassidy cases illustrates need to protect your rights in wake of St. Lucie DUI arrest" »

A West Palm Beach DUI accident has resulted in a 10-year prison sentence, the Palm Beach Post reported.

As we frequently report on our Broward DUI Lawyer Blog, fatal drunk driving accidents frequently lead to long prison sentences in South Florida. What we mention less frequency is the importance of seeking experienced and aggressive legal representation as early in the process as possible. In this case, a West Palm Beach DUI defense attorney had an obligation to defend the client against both the allegation of drunk driving and the accusation that he was responsible for causing the accident. The fact that drag racing was allegedly involved makes it even more critical to begin investigating the accident as soon as possible.

Too often, days or weeks or even months pass before a defendant understands the seriousness of his or her situation and seeks the advice of a qualified attorney. It is important to understand that law enforcement at the scene of an accident are charged with deciding who is at fault and collecting evidence of his or her guilt. Consequently, evidence of innocence is frequently ignored. The resulting one-sided police reports do not begin to tell the whole story. This is never more true than when one party to an accident is accused of being under the influence of alcohol or drugs. At that point, any attempt to gather evidence objectively typically ceases and the focus is on gathering evidence pointing toward the guilt of an allegedly intoxicated driver.

The earlier a defense lawyer can begin defending a client, the better the chance of collecting solid evidence related to the accident. Additionally, statements made by a defendant after arrest can be among the most damaging evidence in such cases. Exercising your right to remain silent and contacting an attorney is always your smartest option.

In this case, the defendant was sentenced on two counts of DUI manslaughter, and two counts of DUI while causing or contributing to injury to a person or property. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison followed by five years of probation. His driver's license was permanently suspended.

He was convicted of a four-car accident that killed two teenagers in March 2008. One of the victims was allegedly drag racing the defendant at the time of the crash.

Continue reading "DUI drag racing accident in Palm Beach highlights importance of accident investigation" »

Separate judges have made conflicting rulings in two high-profile DUI manslaughter cases in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach that could have a dramatic impact on the cases.

In the case of former major league baseball player Jim Leyritz, who is on trial for caused the death of a 30-year-old mother of two in a 2007 Fort Lauderdale DUI accident, the judge has ruled that the jury will not learn of the victim's contributing negligence. Thus, they will be left to decide Leyritz's fate without knowing that the woman had just finished her job as a bartender, was even drunker than Leyritz, was not wearing her seat belt and was allegedly text messaging, according to the Sun-Sentinel.

Meanwhile, the same newspaper reports an opposite ruling handed down by a judge in another high-profile DUI accident case just up the road in Palm Beach County. The Sun-Sentinel reports that attorneys for Polo club founder John Goodman will be allowed to argue that the victim in the fatal crash with which he is charged was partially responsible for the accident.

Goodman has been charged with DUI manslaughter, vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of a crash. Despite the fact that there was no evidence of drugs or alcohol in the victim's system in that case, the judge has thus far declined to strike the victim's partial liability as a defense in the wrongful death lawsuit. With the criminal case still pending, Goodman has cited his Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination in not saying how the defense will argue the victim was liable. No ruling has been made on whether that defense will also be permitted in the criminal trial.

These rulings illustrate the need for an experienced and aggressive DUI accident defense lawyer. Unfortunately, judges are not always right. When an adverse opinion severely impacts a defendant's ability to receive a fair trial, an experienced attorney will take the steps necessary to preserve the issue for appeal.

This is particularly critical in vehicular manslaughter cases in Fort Lauderdale and throughout South Florida, where a defendant faces the possibility of years behind bars.

Continue reading "Different rulings in Fort Lauderdale area DUI accident cases highlight judges' impact" »