Broward DUI Lawyer Blog

As the Broward DUI Lawyer Blog reported in September, a Coral Gables police officer was arrested and charged with DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide after an accident in July. The Miami Herald recently reported that the officer has now entered a not-guilty plea after his attorney appeared on his behalf in court.

In Florida, it has become increasingly popular for prosecutors to charge suspects involved in fatal accidents not only with vehicular homicide, but also DUI manslaughter. While some people would consider this inappropriate when one person dies in an accident, courts have allowed state prosecutors to do this.

What this allows the state to do is have a big advantage over a Fort Lauderdale DUI defense attorney and his or her client. For one, while the charges are similar, they are still different. So, the defense must prepare for two different, major charges. Both vehicular homicide and DUI manslaughter in Fort Lauderdale are punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

While a defendant can't legally be convicted of both charges if there is one victim, they can still face both charges at trial, giving jurors equal opportunity to convict on a serious felony. The difference between the two charges is the alcohol influence on the driver and whether the state can prove it.

In DUI manslaughter, the state must prove that the driver not only was under the influence of alcohol, but that he or she was intoxicated as defined under the laws of the state, and it was that intoxication that caused the crash.

To prove vehicular homicide, the state must prove that the person's negligence caused an accident that killed a person, either another driver, a pedestrian or bicyclist. This can be caused simply by speeding or driving recklessly, without the influence of alcohol.

DUI manslaughter is considered a more serious charge because of the use of alcohol. Under the law, a driver must spend at least four years in prison if convicted. Vehicular homicide, however, has no minimum mandatory sentence, as it is considered more of an accidental death.

In the case of the Coral Gables officer, it took three months for blood tests to return from the lab to confirm that his blood-alcohol level was .229, or nearly three times the state's legal limit, at the time of the crash in July, The Miami Herald reports.

According to the newspaper, the 24-year-old officer, a member of the force for five months, was driving at approximately 4 a.m. on July 16 when his vehicle hit another vehicle driven by a 24-year-old student. Witnesses estimated the officer was driving about 60 mph in a 45-mph zone when he struck the other vehicle as it was turning left.

The family of the victim is upset about the way the case unfolded. They were first upset that the officer was allowed to go home and wasn't arrested on the spot, even though officers knew he "smelled of alcohol" and was hospitalized after the crash.

A police report wasn't immediately released after the arrest, as the department cited an "ongoing" investigation. Neither his personnel file nor a press release by the department stated that he was involved in the accident.

Family members said that police officers grilled family members at the hospital, asking questions about why the victim was out so late and whether she was on the phone. Blood tests before she died showed that she hadn't been drinking. The mother of a 4-year-old daughter had been studying that night for a test. The officer's father is a longtime Miami-Dade police officer.