DWI News Links

Minnesota woman arrested for DWI twice in less than an hour

noreply@blogger.com (iLitigate) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 02:08:00 +0000

St. James, MN

It is said that insanity is exemplified by the expectation of a different result upon repeating the same behavior. I guess we'll know if this woman is insane when the release her again...

A Mankato, Minnesota woman finds herself in the Blue Earth Jail twice in one night. Mankato Police arrested Raquel DeVito at 12:22 this morning after being called to a disturbance. DeVito had left the area but returned while officers were still on scene and was arrested for DWI. At 2:29 DeVito was released. The arresting officer then witnessed DeVito driving back to the area of the original disturbance at 3:17 and arrested her again. DeVito is currently being held in the Blue Earth County Jail awaiting formal charges.

DWI Defense Attorneys

Driver with 78 license suspensions pleads guilty to 15th DWI, 2 more DWI charges still pending

noreply@blogger.com (iLitigate) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:03:00 +0000

Morristown, NJ

The man is 40 years old and has had his license suspended 78 times in the past 20 years. That's an average of 3.9 license suspensions per year. He has just pleaded guilty to his 15th DWI and still has two more DWI cases pending.

I admire the optimism of his lawyer, who states: "[He] will not be driving for a very long time."

On issues unrelated to the case, the lawyer also stated, "The Easter Bunny and Santa Claus do exist, Bigfoot is real, and Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone."

A 40-year-old man with 14 prior drunken driving convictions pleaded guilty today to his 15th, admitting he was plastered on beer when he struck a vehicle with a Chatham father and young daughter inside in April in Morris Township.
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Shaun Campbell pleaded guilty before state Superior Court Judge Salem Vincent Ahto in Morristown to one count of assault by auto on April 23, and to the motor vehicle offenses of driving while intoxicated and driving with a suspended license.

Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Brian DiGiacomo said Campbell's blood-alcohol level was .288 percent, or more than three times the .08 percent level at which a motorist is deemed legally intoxicated in New Jersey.

The prosecutor's office is seeking the maximum sentence it can for Campbell, whose driving record also shows 78 revocations in about 20 years. Defense lawyer John Paul Velez said Campbell still has two DWI summonses pending in Pequannock and Wayne.

The state will seek 18 months imprisonment on the assault-by-auto charge, and consecutive terms of 180 days and 180 days on the motor vehicle offenses of driving while intoxicated and driving while suspended. His driver's license would be revoked for a minimum of 10 years but Velez said that with other revocations banked, Campbell "will not be driving for a very long time.''

The judge revoked Campbell's $50,000 bail, which he has never been able to post, and he will remain in the county jail until his sentencing on Aug. 7.

''What did you drink?'' the judge asked Campbell, who was polite throughout the hearing.

''Beer. Quite a bit. Enough to not know what was going on,'' he replied.

“This defendant has pleaded guilty to the maximum time allowed under the law. We need to ensure that these cases are handled sternly to ensure, as best as is possible, the safety of the community from the dangers of drinking and driving. This is especially so with a person who has shown an utter disregard for the law, as this defendant has,” Robert A. Bianchi, Esq. said.

MO DWI Defense Attorneys

Criminal defense lawyer arrested on DWI charge on way to court for murder trial, maintains innocence

noreply@blogger.com (iLitigate) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:43:00 +0000

New Boston, TX

The Sneeze Defense: "The lawyer told The Associated Press that he lost control of his car during a sneezing fit brought on by allergies and black pepper sprinkled on catfish he had just eaten."

The lawyer, exhausted from working around the clock to prepare for the trial, demanded a breath alcohol test, which the cop refused to administer.

I'm very interested to see how this case turns out...

A state district judge declared a mistrial in a murder case and ordered a defense attorney to reimburse Bowie County for jury costs after the attorney was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated on his way to court.

Bryan Simmons of nearby Atlanta was taken into custody Tuesday after a car wreck near New Boston.

On Friday, he told The Associated Press that he lost control of his car during a sneezing fit brought on by allergies and black pepper sprinkled on catfish he had just eaten. His car left the road and landed in a ditch with a flat tire.

Simmons says he was "not under the influence of alcohol or any illegal drugs." He said he was just really tired from having kept late hours preparing for the murder trial.

"I might have been too tired to be driving, but hindsight is 20-20," Simmons said.

He demanded a Breathalyzer test but the officer didn't administer it, he said. The results of a blood test he submitted to won't be known for several weeks.

District Judge John Miller declared a mistrial halfway through jury selection Tuesday.

At a Thursday hearing, Miller ordered Simmons to pay the county $318 for the 53 $6 checks it had to give potential jury members, the Texarkana Gazette reported.

"I agree with that," Simmons says of the payment. "But again. I'm entitled to the same presumption of innocence as everyone is."

His client, Thomas "Hunter" Davis, is accused of fatally shooting Sammy Glass on Sept. 9, 2007, in a park in the Liberty-Eylau community.

Simmons says he was not the lead attorney on that case. He was scheduled to handle a suppression hearing later that day and that his co-counsel was prepared to oversee jury selection.

But Miller told Simmons on Thursday that he was considered lead counsel because he was slated to conduct direct and cross-examinations of witnesses on Davis' behalf.

"I'd like to apologize to the court, to my partner, to my client and to the Glass family," Simmons said. "If any wrongdoing on my part caused this, I do apologize."

The trial is now slated to get under way Aug. 10.

DWI Criminal Defense Lawyers

New study: Texting and driving worse than drinking and driving

noreply@blogger.com (iLitigate) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 05:26:00 +0000

New York, NY

Maybe so, but MATD just doesn't sound right...

Admit it.

You've done it.

You've been driving down the side street (and yes, the highway as well) when your phone, blackberry, or whatever you use to call and text with goes off.

You immediately grab it, even though you are driving in traffic and really shouldn't.

It's a dangerous and terrible habit American drivers have developed.

The folks at Car and Driver Magazine have now documented just dangerous it can be.

Rigging a car with a red light to alert drivers when to brake, the magazine tested how long it takes to hit the brake when sober, when legally drunk at .08, when reading and e-mail, and when sending a text. The results are scary. Driving 70 miles per hour on a deserted air strip Car and Driver editor Eddie Alterman was slower and slower reacting and braking when e-mailing and texting.

The results:

* Unimpaired: .54 seconds to brake
* Legally drunk: add 4 feet
* Reading e-mail: add 36 feet
* Sending a text: add 70 feet

When I took the test for reading e-mail or texting, I was just as slow to react. On average, it took me four times longer to hit the brake. Mike Austin at Car and Driver told me in blunt terms that I was "way worse" than the average driver.

None of this should surprise you.

Sure, the headline about texting and driving being more dangerous than drinking and driving got your attention.

Maybe that's because the American public correctly views drinking and driving as wrong. But when it comes to texting and driving, we are not as outraged.

Probably because many of us have done it and still do it (even though it's banned in 14 states).

Sadly, it will likely take more accidents and more deaths to change that attitude. There are countless stories of teens dying in accidents because the driver was texting while driving.

Unfortunately, I fear there will be more. Too many people have become too accustomed to checking e-mail or sending a text while behind the wheel, even though it's as dangerous as drinking and driving.

DWI Information

Intoxilyzer alcohol breath test results thrown out in Flordia counties

noreply@blogger.com (iLitigate) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:16:00 +0000

Sarasota County, FL

Judges realize that the crux of the argument in favor of the Intoxilyzer is "just trust us" and they aren't buying it anymore.

Two Sarasota county judges have struck another blow to the breath-test machines police use to catch drunken drivers, throwing out the results in 72 more DUI cases.

Like other legal battles over the Intoxilyzer 8000, the latest one centers on technical aspects of how the machine works.

Defense attorneys questioned exactly how the machines use an infrared spectrum to detect alcohol in a driver's breath. When prosecutors could not answer detailed questions about the machines, the judges threw the test results out. Now the DUI cases are stalled while prosecutors appeal the ruling.

The cases join about 450 DUI cases in Sarasota and Manatee counties that already have been delayed for up to four years because defense attorneys questioned the reliability of the machines, and judges have ruled that the defendants should have access to the computer code inside the Intoxilyzer.

Judges threw out breath-test results in those cases when the manufacturer refused to turn over the computer code to defense attorneys. Prosecutors appealed and lost, and the cases are now set to proceed to trial.

The rulings have not stopped law enforcement from using the Intoxilyzer 8000 to test suspected drunken drivers. The breath-test results are a key piece of evidence in DUI cases, but even in cases where the tests results are thrown out, prosecutors can still try to prove the case using testimony from law enforcement officers who administer field sobriety tests.

Defense attorneys across the state have made similar arguments, but the rulings last week are the first throwing out breath-test results based on the infrared spectrum.

In this latest challenge, prosecutors could not convince judges that the Intoxilyzer 8000 measures alcohol in the breath at exactly the same wavelength in the infrared spectrum that the manufacturer says it does.

Without that, prosecutors cannot prove the machine is the same one approved for use in Florida, the judges ruled. And state law only requires drivers to submit to breath tests using an approved machine.

"These are the rules they need to follow to make sure they have a reliable machine," said Venice defense attorney Robert Harrison, who has led the fight against the Intoxilyzer 8000s. "They can't just pick any machine."

County judges David Denkin and Kimberly Bonner issued the ruling on these 72 cases, but two other judges heard the same arguments and could rule similarly on another 27 cases, Harrison said.

Florida man arrested for DUI, attempting to bribe officers

noreply@blogger.com (iLitigate) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:02:00 +0000

Kissimmee, FL

It seems to me that the cop wouldn't have been so by-the-book had the alleged bribe not ben such a paltry amount. I don't think this story would have been a story at all had the man offered the cop $3,000-$4,000...

A motorist stopped for driving recklessly last week guaranteed his day in court by offering to bribe deputies, according to the Osceola County Sheriff's Office.

After being stopped Friday morning on Poinciana Boulevard, Carlos Rocha-Nevarez was unable to tell deputies where he was drivingo or where he had been, according to the arrest report.

The 44-year-old motorist told the deputies he had $300 to $400 cash in his pocket and he would pay them to resolve the problem there, the report stated.

"The defendant approached with a roll of cash in his hand," a deputy wrote. "The defendant then proceeded to count out the money and put it in my pocket. I advised the defendant that I did not want his money."

Missouri DWI Information

Cops: Man charged with DUI after driving into lake

noreply@blogger.com (iLitigate) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 06:46:00 +0000

Middlefield, CT

Almost 40 years ago, on July 19, 1969, Sen. Edward Kennedy borrowed his chauffeur's keys to his Oldsmobile limousine and offered Mary Jo Kopechne a ride home from a party on Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts...

A 41-year-old man Meriden was charged with DUI after his car ended up in Lake Beseck early Friday morning.

Police say Telmo Ordonez was driving west on Lake Road when he lost control of his car and drove into the lake.

His vehicle was partially submerged and police say he got out of the car and left the scene. He was not injured, they said.

Ordonez was charged with DUI, failure to drive in lane and evading responsibly

Missouri DWI Lawyers

DUI enforcement cop arrested for drunk driving after crash

noreply@blogger.com (iLitigate) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 06:30:00 +0000

Yet another hypocrite cop has been busted for drunk driving.

Virginia Beach, VA

Police in Virginia Beach, Va., say a drunken driving charge has been filed against a DUI-enforcement officer.

Police said Master Police Officer Bryan K. Womble, a member of the department's Selective Enforcement team, was arrested Saturday after a two-vehicle crash, The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot reported Sunday.

The Selective Enforcement team, which has eight members, focuses on enforcing drunken driving laws in Virginia Beach.

As a member of the unit, Womble arrested former NFL star Bruce Smith on a drunken driving charge in May.

The Virginian-Pilot said in 2007 alone, Womble was responsible for 70 DUI arrests.

A police spokesman said Womble, 36, has been assigned to administrative duties following his arrest. He posted a $500 personal recognizance bond, the Virginian-Pilot said.

There were no injuries in Saturday's accident but further details were not reported.

Retired NY trooper found guilty in fatal DWI crash

noreply@blogger.com (iLitigate) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 03:11:00 +0000

Buffalo, NY

Yet another hypocrite-cop-drunk-driving-killer...

How many non-cops do you think would be out on $1,000 bond awaiting sentencing after being convicted of vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and misdemeanor drunken driving charges?

David M. O'Brien, a retired State Police investigator, was found guilty as charged Tuesday of the drunken-driving head-on crash that killed a Seneca Allegany Casino cashier last year.

The jury verdict cane after a two-week trial before State Supreme Court Justice Richard C. Kloch Sr. he jury deliberated about an hour and a half before finding O'Brien guilty.

O'Brien, 69, of Boulder Ridge Road, Allegany, insisted he only remembered waking up in his car in a ditch after the incident.

Though David A. Foley, the special prosecutor handling the case, sought to have O'Brien jailed or forced to pose substantially higher bail given the state prison term he faces,

O'Brien remains free on $1,000 bail pending his Sept. 9 sentencing.

O'Brien declined to comment following the verdict. However, his attorney, Edward C. Cosgrove, accused the jury of a "lack of courage" and faulted Kloch for not allowing him to call character witnesses on behalf of O'Brien. The verdict will be appealed, he said.

A state trooper for 26 years until his 1986 retirement O'Brien, faces a prison term of up to to seven years on vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and misdemeanor drunken driving charges.

DWI Lawyers - St. Louis, MO

DWI deaths called 'pandemic' in Houston

noreply@blogger.com (iLitigate) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 02:39:00 +0000

Houston, TX

Pandemic - pan·dem·ic (pān-děm'ĭk)
(adj.)

Etimology. 1666, from Gk. pandemos "pertaining to all people," from pan- "all" + demos "people". Modeled on epidemic. The noun is first recorded 1853, from the adj.

Definition. 1) (adj.) disease occurring over a wide geographic area and affecting an exceptionally high proportion of the population ; 2) (n.) a widespread epidemic affecting a whole people or a number of countries; everywhere epidemic.

plague
[pleyg] noun, verb, plagued, pla⋅guing.
–noun
1. an epidemic disease that causes high mortality; pestilence.
2. an infectious, epidemic disease caused by a bacterium, Yersinia pestis, characterized by fever, chills, and prostration, transmitted to humans from rats by means of the bites of fleas. Compare bubonic plague, pneumonic plague, septicemic plague.
3. any widespread affliction, calamity, or evil, esp. one regarded as a direct punishment by God: a plague of war and desolation.
4. any cause of trouble, annoyance, or vexation: Uninvited guests are a plague.
–verb (used with object)
5. to trouble, annoy, or torment in any manner: The question of his future plagues him with doubt.
6. to annoy, bother, or pester: Ants plagued the picnickers.
7. to smite with a plague, pestilence, death, etc.; scourge: those whom the gods had plagued.
8. to infect with a plague; cause an epidemic in or among: diseases that still plague the natives of Ethiopia.
9. to afflict with any evil: He was plagued by allergies all his life.
Origin: 1350–1400; ME plage < L plāga stripe, wound, LL: pestilence

Related forms: plaguer, noun

District Attorney Pat Lykos says the "DWI problem" in Harris County is a "pandemic plague."

I say Pat needs to pull his head out of his ?*#?! and push his face into a dictionary.

Harris County has the highest rate of alcohol-related traffic deaths among the nation’s most populous counties, researchers say, and a series of horrific crashes blamed on drunken drivers in recent days seems to back the claim.

Experts agree the county’s high DWI fatality rate is partly a byproduct of limited public transportation for the region’s 3.9 million residents and an urban sprawl leading them to drive many miles. Stepped-up enforcement by more officers patrolling the roadways at peak times for drunken driving offenses, meanwhile, keeps the county jail full of DWI suspects. Adding to the deadly mix is a stubborn reluctance to rely on designated drivers, or cabs and other services that keep the intoxicated from driving.

“We don’t make our plans before we drink, we try to figure out how we’re going to deal with it after we start drinking — that’s our biggest problem,” said officer Paul Lassalle, with the Houston Police Department’s DWI task force.

District Attorney Pat Lykos, citing around 10,000 driving while intoxicated cases filed each year, has called the county’s DWI problem a “pandemic plague.”

The most recent victims of crashes that authorities have blamed on intoxicated drivers include: a housewife from The Woodlands whose pickup was forced off a Hardy Toll Road overpass, a Pakistani immigrant killed while helping a stranded motorist on the Southwest Freeway, a volunteer firefighter from Cy-Fair left legless after being hit in an auto parts store parking lot, and a veteran Houston police officer critically injured while directing traffic around a crash on the Southwest Freeway.

Lykos hopes to lower DWI rates by offering first-time offenders a pretrial probation term that avoids a conviction, in hopes of getting more into treatment. In recent years, most of those charged with drunken driving in Harris County have pleaded guilty, served jail time and paid a fine, rather than be placed on supervised probation where alcohol education and treatment assessment is mandatory. Probation for DWI fell from 4,700 cases in 2000 to 2,150 in 2007, according to the district attorney’s office.
Not really that bad?

Lykos announced the new DWI policy at a recent meeting of the Houston/Harris County Office of Drug Policy, which released a report noting the county has been designated the worst in the nation for alcohol-related fatalities per capita. And about 60 percent of the county’s traffic fatalities are alcohol-related, twice the national average, the report states.

Hope Rangel, head of Mothers Against Drunk Driving’s Houston-area chapter, said those who drink any amount of alcohol should not drive.

“It’s about choice. We don’t have enough folks who are really being cognizant about what their responsibility as a driver is when they get behind the wheel of a car,” Rangel said.

But some question that worst county designation, arguing the statistics are manipulated to make a serious problem appear worse.

“I’m not saying there are no intoxicated drivers; clearly there are. But I don’t think it’s as bad as statistics make it appear,” said attorney JoAnne Musick, president of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association. “As far as I’ve been able to tell, the statistics don’t differentiate between those that are DWIs and those that are not.”
Statistics can differ

Finding the exact number of DWI fatalities in Harris County can be confusing.

The city-county report, citing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and other sources, lists 174 fatalities in 2006 involving drivers who were legally drunk. In contrast, The Texas Department of Transportation lists a significantly lower toll of 145 deaths in 2006 in crashes in which a driver had any measurable amount of alcohol.

Lassalle, with HPD’s DWI task force, provided figures showing the NHTSA ranked Harris County first in per-capita alcohol-related deaths among 10 of the nation’s most populous counties in 2006 based on 232 alcohol-related traffic deaths and 203 traffic deaths in which a driver was legally drunk. Second was Dallas County, followed by Phoenix’s Maricopa County.

“You have a huge population covering a huge territory and they’re doing it all in their own vehicles,” Lassalle said.

Houston’s DWI task force receives about $480,000 a year in grants to pay overtime for officers to catch and process drunken drivers, said task force member Don Egdorf, also HPD’s liaison with the district attorney’s vehicular crimes unit. “I don’t know if there are more drunks on the streets, but there are more officers looking for the drunks so there are more of them getting picked up,” he said.

Troy McKinney, a Houston attorney who specializes in defending DWI cases, said alcohol-related deaths are being “massively overstated” and notes large numbers of DWI cases are eventually dismissed by the courts.

“The realty today is, if you’re drinking and driving and are stopped by police, you’re going to jail whether you’re intoxicated or not. That’s the default,” McKinney said. “The attitude making its way to the government is: People shouldn’t be drinking and driving at all, but it’s not against the law.”

St. Louis DWI Lawyers

DWI machine’s source codes will soon be given to MN defense attorneys

noreply@blogger.com (iLitigate) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 19:26:00 +0000

Minneapolis, MN

Attorneys of suspected drunken drivers can breathe easier. The breathalyzer source code impasse is over.

Monday, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) announced it had reached a settlement with the manufacturer of the Intoxilyzer 5000EN, the country’s most widely used alcohol detector for suspected drunken drivers.

Defendants in drunk driving and implied consent cases will now have access to the computer codes used to calibrate the breath machines.

A recent Minnesota Supreme Court decision granted them that right, throwing DWI prosecutions into turmoil.

Defense attorneys wanted the codes to see if their clients had been wrongly convicted due to a faulty mechanism in the machines, or were wrongly charged.

CMI, the Kentucky manufacturer, contended it was a trade secret. DPS sued the company in federal court over the codes, which law enforcement officers don’t have.

It appears, however, that access to see the actual codes will be provided only at company headquarters out of state. But attorneys are entitled to view a hard copy of the code in Minnesota, and CMI will provide up to $50,000 for experts to interpret and analyze the highly technical computer codes that run the machine. CMI will have to defend it under attack by defense attorneys.

The settlement is contingent on court approval and a hearing June 11. “We are very pleased that we have given the defense attorneys everything they need to analyze the source code,” said DPS Commissioner Michael Campion in a news release. “The settlement should finally put to rest the issue of the Intoxilyzer’s reliability.

“Law enforcement needs the Intoxilyzer 5000EN to keep drunk drivers off our roads.”

According to DPS, there were 38,699 impaired driving incidents that occurred in Minnesota in 2007 and were entered onto people’s driving records.

The Intoxilyzer 5000EN was used in approximately 24,000 of those cases.

Hubbard County Attorney Don Dearstyne said he’s not sure what the case means for future prosecutions until he’s seen the decision.

Currently one defendant is asking for the source code in a Hubbard County DWI arrest.

“Nothing will happen until after June 11,” Dearstyne said.

DWI Defense Lawyers

Demonstration: Texting while driving "as dangerous" as driving while intoxicated

noreply@blogger.com (iLitigate) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 01:38:00 +0000

Charlotte, NC

"Mothers Against Texting While Driving" just doesn't seem to have the same political appeal as "Mothers Against Drunk Driving."

A recent study found drivers who use their cell phones behind the wheel perform just as poorly as legally drunk drivers.

While texting, the average driver spends two to three seconds looking at their phone and only one second looking at the road.

If you think that won't really affect their driving, think again.

"Four out of five drivers say texting while driving is dangerous. Yet half of those say they text while they drive," notes Tom Crosby, president of the AAA Carolinas Foundation for Traffic Safety.

Crosby and troopers with the North Carolina Highway Patrol set up a challenge course to show people just how bad driving while texting really is.

Elisabeth Crosby volunteered to put her driving and texting skills to the test.

When Crosby sent two text messages, she was a full nine seconds slower on her time, and she hit 13 additional cones.

Court rules that DWI defendants can request Intoxilyzer 5000 code

noreply@blogger.com (iLitigate) — Thu, 28 May 2009 03:20:00 +0000

Park Rapids, MN

No blow, no mo'. Get stuck or pee in a cup. What do you think the new Minnesota DWI slogan should be?

Suspected drunken drivers in Hubbard County will either have to urinate into a cup or give a blood sample after being pulled over if they flunk a field sobriety test.

That’s because Hubbard County Attorney Don Dearstyne has asked law enforcement agencies to stop using the Intoxilyzer 5000 breath machine in the wake of a recent state Supreme Court decision that has wide-reaching ramifications for past and future DWI cases.

The court ruled in late April that defendants have a right to request the breath test machine’s “source code” to determine if it has been calibrated correctly and the results are reliable.

But there’s a problem inherent in that ruling. Cops don’t have the secret codes. Intoxilyzers are made by a private Kentucky company that refuses to divulge its trade secret as to how the machines are calibrated.

“The source code is not in any county attorney’s possession,” said Dearstyne, reiterating the difficulty now facing prosecutors. “It belongs to CMI, which manufactures the Intoxilyzer.”

DWI suspect Joshua Allen Zubke, facing two counts of DWI and one count of careless driving in Hubbard County, is the first defendant hoping to capitalize on what could become a systemic loophole.

His attorney, Blair Nelson, of Bemidji, wants to either get the machine blueprints and expose deficiencies in it, or wear prosecutors down to the point they have to dismiss the charges because they can’t produce the source code.

Dearstyne, an assistant attorney general and Nelson will be filing briefs Friday before Judge Robert Tiffany on their opposing positions.

The larger ramifications are that prosecutors throughout the state could be stymied by the ruling and be forced to dismiss hundreds, perhaps thousands of pending DWI cases.

The Supreme Court bought into the argument that if voting machines could have faulty source codes as found in the Minnesota Senate race, so, too, could breath test machines be flawed.

Blood-alcohol tests will back up the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension lab as prosecutors await results of the blood or urine samples, Dearstyne worries. The cost will be enormous at a time when the state is strapped financially and the lab is already overloaded, BCA officials said.

There are 260 Intoxilyzers in use throughout the state, said Department of Public Safety spokesman Andy Skoogman. DPS, which oversees the BCA, is currently embroiled in a federal lawsuit with CMI to get the codes, which the company maintains are proprietary information that, if revealed, would put the company at a competitive disadvantage, or out of business.

DPS says 80 percent of Minnesota DWI cases involve the use of an Intoxilyzer test.

Defense attorneys like Nelson want the codes to determine the machine’s reliability. Dearstyne believes that argument is a red herring and cautions: Be careful what you wish for.

“In one Minnesota case the defense did obtain the source code, but they had to sign a non-disclosure, protective order not to reveal it.” He said. “That was a couple years ago. Interestingly enough, once they got the source code they came in and pled the case.”

And, he said it will take extensive testimony from a computer geek to explain what the “thousands and thousands of printout pages of computer codes are. I just can’t see what the advantage is to the defense bar and I used to be a defense attorney.”

Dearstyne also used to be a cop. “I ran thousands of Intoxilyzer tests as a cop. It’s an incredibly accurate machine,” he maintains. In test comparisons with blood samples, he said the machine was “surprisingly accurate.”

CMI Inc.’s Web site stands by its machine, asserting: “No unproven technology here!”

“Right now we’ve fortunately got, as part of the field sobriety, to give them a portable breath test (PBT) so that at least gives us a thumbnail of what their blood alcohol content is,” Dearstyne said.

“It’s not admissible in a trial except in a refusal case but at least it gives us information enough to do the charging and then we just await the results of the lab. Then we amend the complaint to comport with what the test is. It’s a lot of extra work.”

And that may be what Nelson and Zubke are banking on. They don’t have an automatic right to the code. The Supreme Court ruling says they must request the code and show it is essential to proving Zubke’s innocence before Judge Tiffany will weigh the request.

“Until the federal lawsuit is settled, in the meantime it will cost the state of Minnesota, which can’t afford it, thousands and thousands of dollars in defending this type of action,” Dearstyne said.

St. Louis, MO DWI Law Firm

Man who drove truck into house charged with DWI

noreply@blogger.com (iLitigate) — Tue, 26 May 2009 02:31:00 +0000

Potomac Park, MD

"Those pesky houses just keep getting in my way..."

A man has been arrested in Allegany County after police say he drove his truck into a house.

The owner of a home on Flower Street in Potomac Park says she heard a loud bang yesterday afternoon.

When she went to check it out, she saw Michael Kuykendall in the driver's seat, attempting to back his truck away from her home.

When he couldn't, Kuykendall ran from the house on foot but was eventually caught by police.

He faces a number of charges, including DUI, DWI and failure to avoid a collision.

St. Louis, MO DWI Lawyers - Driving While Intoxicated

Scranton cop on restricted duty after suspected DUI

noreply@blogger.com (iLitigate) — Thu, 21 May 2009 11:02:00 +0000

Scranton, PA

Do what I say, not what I do...

A city patrolman is on restricted duty under suspicion of DUI after crashing his car Monday morning, said Chief David Elliott.

Nick Hurchick, 24, of Scranton, was off duty when he crashed into a wall at 1502 N. Washington Ave. at 2:27 a.m. Monday, Chief Elliott said.

Patrolman Hurchick admitted to drinking, and was taken to a hospital for a blood-alcohol test Chief Elliott said. Pending the toxicology report, Patrolman Hurchick will be "on a restricted-duty status," the chief said.

There were no injuries in the crash, the chief said.

Mock DWI scare tactics used to "educate" highschool stuents

noreply@blogger.com (iLitigate) — Sun, 17 May 2009 22:31:00 +0000

Dunkirk, NY

In a continuing effort to indoctrinate children into the cult of MADD and forward its agenda, propaganda techniques carefully calculated to traumatize children are employed. Save me from the good guys.

Tonight is Dunkirk High School's prom at the Dunkirk Moose Club. Will some of the prom goers show up under the influence of alcohol or drugs? If they do, they will likely get caught and not be admitted to this important traditional dance. How?

At a mock DWI demonstration Friday, an administrator announced that the prom is a school function and all school rules and regulations apply. Every student entering the Moose Club will be subjected to a Breathalyzer test, he said.

Whether to prove they were above such warnings or simply didn't care, a number of the students appeared not to be impressed by this cautionary speech. What did impress them however, was the mock driving while intoxicated presentation they witnessed on the Dunkirk High School's football field.

It was sponsored by the school's SADD Club, working together with the Dunkirk Police, Dunkirk Fire Department, Alstar Ambulance Service, Starflight Helicopter, county coroner Warren Riles and the Mackowiak Funeral Home.

In an ironic twist of fate, the funeral director's cousin, senior Bridget Mackowiak, agreed to represent the fatal victim in the mock two-car crash. When asked afterward what it felt like, lying on a backboard with a bloody sheet thrown over her body she said it was weird. "I tried to avoid bad thoughts as I lay there," she said.

Among the list of charges placed against Josh Sobilo, a junior, was driving while intoxicated and vehicular manslaughter. He experienced a mock arraignment before Dunkirk City Judge Walter Drag and was jailed in lieu of $10,000 cash or $20,000 property bond bail.

At he mock funeral, Bridget spoke to the audience one last time. "I'm asking you not to drink and drive. If you consider it, think about what a DWI did to me. I'm in a good place now; remember, this is not goodby it's 'see you later,'" she said.

The curtain in the high school auditorium drew to a close and there was a round of applause for the SADD performers.

Bridget's friends Giana Porpiglia and Hannah Catalano were particularly moved by her mock death. "I felt terrible and it was hard to watch; I can't imagine what it would be like to have it really happen," Giana said.

Hannah said it made her cry. School counselors were available to help students who were particularly upset by the demonstration. At least one student was escorted from the field.

During the auditorium presentation, Coroner Riles and Dunkirk Police Chief David Ortolano spoke to the students about their personal experiences in real life DWI cases. The chief told of having to notify a fellow police officer and friend of his about the death of this friend's son in a car crash that involved alcohol. "These memories stay with you," he said.

Coroner Riles said a friend of his who sat on the stage with him hours before in a graduation ceremony was killed when his car was hit by a train. "I was working for a funeral home at the time and was assigned to respond to the scene," he said, noting that alcohol was also involved in this tragedy. "I graduated 50 years ago and each time my graduation class gets together, this death so long ago is always brought up."

Noting proms and graduations should be happy occasions, Coroner Riles said, "Don't become a similar topic for your class."

Chief Ortolano said the mock DWI presentation is not a joke and is not something to laugh at. "This is about as real as we can make it for you guys.

"I want all of you to give what you see and here today serious thought and give it the respect it deserves," he said, adding, "Make sure you make the right decision. If it prevents one DWI crash, we've done our job."

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Amish teen ticketed for having beer in buggy

noreply@blogger.com (iLitigate) — Sat, 16 May 2009 02:20:00 +0000

Buffalo, NY

It is hard to fathom that this article was published by Associated Press, not The Onion.

Police cracking down on rowdy Amish youths ticketed a teenager for having beer in his horse-drawn buggy when they pulled him over on a western New York road. They said the 17-year-old was charged with underage possession of alcohol after he was stopped by deputies late Monday night in the town of Leon, 40 miles south of Buffalo.

Detective Nathan Root said the teen admitted drinking beer, but passed a field sobriety test.

Root says another Amish man in the buggy, a 22-year-old, was charged with providing the beer. Both are scheduled to be arraigned June 22.

Patrols were stepped up after an Amish elder's property was vandalized when he confronted youths about their drinking and listening to radios.

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Police Chief charge with DWI pleads not guilty

noreply@blogger.com (iLitigate) — Fri, 15 May 2009 10:29:00 +0000

Stratham, NH

What's good for the goose is good for the gander. What a hypocrite! What a self-righteous clown!

Police Chief Michael Daley likely will face trial in July on a drunken-driving charge following his arrest in North Hampton last month.

Daley has pleaded not guilty and has remained on paid administrative leave since his April 11 arrest.

The case has been moved to Strafford County to avoid any potential conflicts in Rockingham County, where Daley has worked in law enforcement for many years and has served as police chief in Stratham since 1992.

"We'll be aggressively and vigorously defending the case," said Andrew Cotrupi, a well-known Seacoast defense attorney who is representing Daley.

Strafford County Attorney Tom Velardi could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Daley was due to be arraigned in Hampton District Court on May 18, but his not-guilty plea already has been entered and the case is headed to trial.

Daley was arrested at North Hampton State Beach when police found his vehicle in the parking lot just before 2 a.m.

According to the North Hampton police log, an officer said he checked the beach parking lot and saw Daley's vehicle in the lot after hours. The officer "made contact" with Daley, the log said, and a field sobriety test was performed.

Daley subsequently was arrested without incident and charged with driving while intoxicated and transporting alcohol.

Police have declined to discuss details of the arrest because the case is pending.

Two days after his arrest, Daley told Stratham selectmen that he plans to retire Jun`e 1. Lt. Richard Gendron, the department's senior ranking officer, has been in charge of the department since Daley was placed on administrative leave.

With Daley's retirement only a few weeks away, selectmen are expected to begin searching for a replacement soon. The process could take several months.

PA man pulled over twice in 3 hours for DUI, second time at station

noreply@blogger.com (iLitigate) — Fri, 15 May 2009 10:22:00 +0000

Pittsburgh, PA

Further proof that alcohol consumption may impair one's judgment. Oops!

A 26-year-old man from Pittsburgh has been arrested twice in three hours for driving under the influence. The first time, the man failed a sobriety test and various pills were found in his car. He was dropped off at his mother's home.

Later that night, the man returned to the police station, seeking medication that had been seized in his initial arrest. He told officers that he had been given a lift, but they were able to pull him over when he tried to leave on his own.

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Pa. woman gets 2 1/2 years in prison for 11th DUI

noreply@blogger.com (iLitigate) — Fri, 15 May 2009 10:17:00 +0000

Greenburg, PA

It's good to hear she now is serious about alcohol rehabilitation

A western Pennsylvania woman will spend 2 1/2 to 5 years in prison for her 10th and 11th drunken driving offenses since 1993, but a prosecutor and Mothers Against Drunk Driving say the sentence is too lenient.

Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck and MADD wanted 41-year-old Jessica Snyder to be sentenced to 7 to 14 years on Wednesday.

Court records show Snyder has spent seven of the last 10 years incarcerated for drunken driving-related offenses.

While still on parole she was arrested in June and again in August, both times with a blood-alcohol content nearly three times the state's legal limit.

Snyder's license is suspended until 2030. Her attorney says she's now serious about alcohol rehabilitation.

Woman charged with DUI after driving into lake, saved by man in boxers

noreply@blogger.com (iLitigate) — Tue, 12 May 2009 12:47:00 +0000

Orlando, FL

It all starts with the name. Ms. Cainong must have thought for a second her name was Ms. Canoeing. I wonder if the pedestrian she was trying to avoid also was stripped don to his boxers.

Authorities say a Good Samaritan stripped down to his boxers and jumped into an Orlando lake after an intoxicated woman drove into the water.

Police say 30-year-old Romelli Bernadeze Cainong drove into Lake Eola early Saturday morning. She told officers she was trying to avoid a pedestrian. Police say Cainong smelled of alcohol and failed all sobriety tests. She later told officer she had two vodka cranberry drinks at a downtown club.

Charles Dalton, who was still at the scene when police arrived, told officers that he was in a taxi when he saw Cainong's car go into the lake. He jumped in and pulled the woman from her car.

Cainong was arrested on a DUI charge and posted bail over the weekend.

Man attending victims’ impact panel charged with felony DWI

noreply@blogger.com (iLitigate) — Sat, 09 May 2009 21:25:00 +0000

Poughkeepsie, NY

I've heard that the standardized field sobriety testing in Poughkeepsie includes the suspect being asked to spell "Poughkeepsie" backwards.

When a man attending a victims’ impact panel meeting in the Town of Poughkeepsie was determined to be intoxicated, he was arrested on a number of charges.

Dutchess County Sheriff’s deputy at the session on Thursday spoke with Kashik Metha, 61, of Wappinger, and determined he was under the influence of alcohol. He was attending the session as per a court order on a recent DWI conviction.

Police said he had driven himself to the meeting under that condition.

Metha was charged with felony DWI, felony operating a motor vehicle with BAC .08 percent, and violations of a conditional license.

SC cop resigns after being charged with DUI

noreply@blogger.com (iLitigate) — Thu, 07 May 2009 05:58:00 +0000

Walhala, S.C.

A South Carolina police officer has resigned after being arrested on charges of drunken driving and child endangerment.

Thirty-nine-year-old Walhalla Police Lt. Scott Richard Stanley resigned Monday after being charged by the Highway Patrol last weekend.

Police Chief Tim Chastain told the Anderson Independent-Mail that Stanley was an eight-year veteran who was a good officer who made a mistake. Stanley could not be reached for comment.

The Highway Patrol says Stanley had picked up his 10-year-old daughter from Walhalla Elementary School on Friday and was headed to pick up a second child when he ran off the road and hit a culvert. No one was hurt.

Stanley had a blood-alcohol level of .01 percent. Under state law, a level of .008 is the standard for being legally drunk.

Limo driver arrested for DUI, turned in by promgoers

noreply@blogger.com (iLitigate) — Wed, 06 May 2009 11:13:00 +0000

Lowell, MA

Prom night teens spew righteous indignation at an allegedly drunken adult. That's a switch.

Several Lowell high school students spoke out on Sunday, reflecting on a prom night that was disrupted when their limo driver was arrested on suspicion of being drunk behind the wheel.

"It's supposed to be the best night for seniors to remember and he definitely ruined a lot of it," said Bianca Crowley, a senior at Lowell Catholic High School.

On Friday night, Crowley and prom date John Harris shared a white Cadillac Escalade limo with seven other couples. The group had no problems getting to the prom. It was on the way home that the students knew something was wrong.

"Everyone just got this huge whiff of alcohol through the divider," said Crowley. "And then we saw this huge cup."

According to Harris, the limo driver - 45-year-old Brian Harrison of Tewksbury - was "flying off the highway, speeding, and hitting curbs."

It was then that the group demanded Harrison to pull over at a nearby Showcase Cinemas. Crowley immediately called her mother, Maureen Tierney.

"He put his hands up and said, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I made a mistake," over and over again" said Crowley.

When Tierney recieved the phone call from her daughter, she immediately notified police. According to reports, Harrison initially left the teens, drove away, and returned several minutes later. It was then that he said he was sorry and tried to persuade them to return to the vehicle.

"Oh, I immedately started shaking when I recieved the phone call," said Tierney.

Harrison was arrested and charged with driving under the influence. Now out on bail, attempts to contact him at his Tewksbury home were unsuccessful. According to the general manager of Lynette's Limousine Service, Harrison had been a good employee during his three years with the company.

"I'm devastated by this," said the general manager, who fired Harrison immediately after hearing the news. "I take a lot of pride in this company because this was a driver I hired personally myself."

According to published reports, this is the fourth time in ten years that a Lynette driver has been arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence. And while Crowley and Harris are happy that no one was hurt, the incident put a damper on what was supposed to be a memorable evening.

"We get talked to all the time at school and by our parents about drinking and driving," said Crowley. "Then someone we trust and pay for our safety completely lets us down."

Harrison is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday in Lowell District Court.

Minnesota Supreme Court rules DWI defendants have right to Intoxilyzer breath test machine source code

noreply@blogger.com (iLitigate) — Wed, 06 May 2009 10:34:00 +0000

Minneapolis, MN

"...an analysis of the source code may reveal deficiencies that could challenge the reliability of the Intoxilyzer" - MN S.Ct.

The breath alcohol test manufacturer says, "Just trust us." They also said, "The check is in the mail," "I'll respect you in the morning," and "It's not about the money, it's a matter of principle."

Note: The company's other product is pictured above.

Minnesota may be forced to drop thousands of driving-while-impaired cases and change the way it prosecutes others in the wake of a state Supreme Court ruling Thursday, prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed.

The state's highest court ruled that defendants in drunken-driving cases have the right to make prosecutors turn over the computer "source code" that runs the Intoxilyzer breath-testing device to determine whether the device's results are reliable.

But there's a problem: Prosecutors can't turn over the code because they don't have it.

The Kentucky company that makes the Intoxilyzer says the code is a trade secret and has refused to release it, thus complicating DWI prosecutions.

"There's going to be significant difficulty to prosecutors across the state to getting convictions when we can't utilize evidence to show the levels of the defendant's intoxication," said Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom.

"In the short term, it's going to cause significant problems with holding offenders accountable because of this problem of not being able to obtain this source code."

Law enforcement officers can still have a motorist's blood-alcohol level determined through blood tests or urinalysis, but that option comes with a pricey, time-consuming caveat: Most of those tests are done only in the lab run by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in St. Paul.

"The BCA labs are overwhelmed now with their current workload, and I'm not sure they
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can handle doing blood and urinalysis tests in all DWI cases in Minnesota," said Backstrom. "It's going to be a big problem."

"I think there's going to be a lot more blood and urine tests asked for," said Derek Patrin, an attorney involved in the cases decided by the Supreme Court. "And that will back up the BCA. They're short-staffed already, and with the budget crisis we've got already, well, that's one of the reasons they wanted to use the Intoxilyzer in the first place. It was inexpensive to use."

Andy Skoogman, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, the BCA's parent agency, said officials there felt it was "premature" to stop using the Intoxilyzer. But he said the lab would be able to handle the workload if police agencies switched to blood tests and urinalyses.

"The BCA will make adjustments," he said. "We'll look at retraining staff and perhaps look at purchasing more test kits until this situation is resolved."

The Intoxilyzer 5000EN is the standard device used by Minnesota police to determine if a driver is impaired. The state bought 260 of the machines from the manufacturer, CMI of Kentucky, in 1997, and state law presumes the devices' results to be reliable.

The device is used with nearly eight of every 10 suspected drunken drivers who are tested in Minnesota.

But defense attorneys have argued that if they can't examine the source code, the computer program that runs the machine, they have no way to tell if the Intoxilyzer is reliable. District judges across Minnesota have handled defense requests for the source code with a patchwork of rulings: Some say a defendant has a right to examine it; others say it isn't relevant.

The Supreme Court's ruling came in two driving-while-impaired cases that Backstrom's office prosecuted. In each, district judges ordered that the source code be turned over to the defendants, but when Backstrom appealed to the Minnesota Court of Appeals, the rulings were overturned.

The appeals court said the defendants hadn't shown why getting the source code was relevant to their guilt or innocence.

But the Supreme Court said that at least one of those defendants showed that the code was relevant. The court noted in its 18-page ruling a list of evidence that defense attorneys may now use as a blueprint to request the source code.

Police had stopped the defendant, Timothy Arlen Brunner, 38, of Farmington, in July 2007 and the Intoxilyzer showed his blood-alcohol content was 0.18. Minnesota law presumes that a driver with a concentration greater than 0.08 is impaired.

Patrin, his attorney, asked a district judge to order prosecutors to turn over the source code. He accompanied his request with a memorandum and nine exhibits. Among them: a computer science professor's testimony that defects had been found in the code used in voting machines, as well as a report saying problems had been found in the code used in the breath-testing machine used by police in New Jersey.

The Supreme Court said Brunner's submissions "show that an analysis of the source code may reveal deficiencies that could challenge the reliability of the Intoxilyzer and, in turn, would relate to Brunner's guilt or innocence."

Skoogman, the Department of Public Safety spokesman, said the agency was disappointed in the ruling.

"We feel it is premature at this stage of the game for our law enforcement partners to test for only blood and urine," Skoogman said. "We continue to stand by the Intoxilyzer and the accuracy of the test results. Our message to law enforcement is to stay the course at this point as we examine our options."

The state's access to the source code is the subject of a separate lawsuit in U.S. District Court. Hearings are scheduled in the case May 22 and June 4.

Backstrom said the source code issue would haunt prosecutors until it is resolved, and the Supreme Court decision makes things worse.

"I believe that this decision is a significant setback to law enforcement's ability to protect our communities from drunk driving, at least in the short term," he said. "We're not going to be able to use the Intoxilyzer machine until we get the source code."