Breath-test machines are used in Georgia and elsewhere to check the blood-alcohol levels of motor vehicle operators, but all too often there can be inaccuracies that can lead to wrongful convictions. The most recent lawsuit alleging inaccurate DUI convictions argued that the machines were inaccurately calibrated, leading to test results much higher than the actual blood alcohol content of the drivers.
]]> The four plaintiffs receiving financial restitution are among nearly 400 individuals who have been convicted of drunk driving in the District of Columbia due to testing inaccuracies.As a result, District law enforcement agencies and prosecutors have elected to forego electronic breath testing until the test results can be relied upon. Older methods of using eyewitnesses, field tests and other sobriety tests will be utilized.
In the cases of the four men who had received financial compensation for their flawed DUI convictions, at least one of them had his conviction overturned even though he was clearly over the legal intoxication limit.
Even in jurisdictions where breath-test machines are used, drivers should be aware of the potential for error and remember that they have options. A good lawyer experienced in handling DUI cases can help you explore all those options and make a good-faith argument in many instances that certain variables, including blood-alcohol tests, may be flawed and invalid as evidence.
Source: Claims Journal, "District of Columbia to pay 4 motorists in breath-test lawsuit," Eric Tucker, May 10, 2012
]]>Lab Services Director Dave Butcher said it appears that the employee failed to measure the precise one-half milliliter of blood into the testing vials that is required for accurate results. The private lab results returned with a lower blood-alcohol level than was measured by the state. The results are now raising questions concerning the other 1,700 cases in the court system and whether they can be prosecuted. About 250 samples have been retested, and officials say that about 10 of those samples are showing lower results when tested by private labs.
]]> Many states, including Georgia, require blood samples from drivers suspected of drunk driving and who are involved in accidents. Many labs are part of local police departments, sheriff's departments or state highway patrol offices. Many DUI defense lawyers are opting for private lab testing on behalf of the client in order to determine if the state testing is correct.Although state officials in Colorado argue that the fired employee was trained properly, his technique was in error and therefore put the integrity of the test in jeopardy. One Colorado defense attorney logically argued that, if the state-mandated tests are not reliable, they should not be used as evidence to convict anyone.
Source: The Denver Channel, "State fires lab analyst, retests 1,700 DUI blood samples," Lance Hernandez and Thomas Hendrick, April 20, 2012
]]>One of those considerations not often contemplated is the appearance of a person's mug shot, taken following an arrest, appearing online for, literally, the whole world to see.
]]> That has now become something additional to potentially factor in, as a number of participants are now elbowing in to make a buck in what is suddenly emerging as a burgeoning new industry.An experienced defense attorney can often do much to minimize certain repercussions associated with a person's DUI conviction, but putting an invisibility cloak over a mug shot is not one of those things. Mug shots as they appear on law enforcement websites are considered public records and, as such, are freely available for downloading.
And for reposting for eventual profit, as some business-minded people have discovered. There is nothing illegal in the practice, and, indeed, some persons perceive it as a public service.
"There is a tension between stigmatizing and the humiliation aspect to these laws and what others might conceive to [have] a public benefit," says one law professor and Internet expert.
Profit for some resides in the identified person contacting them to remove the picture from the Internet. They will readily do so -- for a fee.
That cost can range from about $50 to have a single picture taken down to several hundred dollars to have it removed from multiple sites.
Source: ABC News, "Businesses charge hundreds to remove mug shots online," Susanna Kim, April 23, 2012
]]>It also shows, clearly, that a DUI arrest can sometimes involve far more than initially seems the case. Further, it underscores the importance of the role a diligent defense attorney plays in the criminal process and the rationale for a constitutional requirement to presume a person innocent of a charged crime until he or she is proven guilty.
]]> Bannister was stopped in Liburn following a tip that he was drinking and driving a county car.Evidence collected by a Gwinnett County sheriff's deputy showed that to be far from true. Bannister was administered two breath tests. Neither of them detected any alcohol in his system. Following his booking into the county jail, Bannister was brought, shackled, to Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville, where he was given a blood test. That result, too, showed no traces of alcohol.
Bannister -- who resigned his position following the incident, saying it "placed an undeserved strain on my family and has threatened my own health" -- is now suing the county sheriff and two deputies in connection with the charge.
Bannister specifically claims that Sheriff Butch Conway falsely arrested him for political reasons, most notably his refusal to advocate some of Conway's favored positions.
"If the Constitution doesn't provide a remedy for this, then we don't have a Constitution anymore," stated a spokesperson for Bannister.
Conway publicly apologized to Bannister after the charged against him were cleared.
Source: WSB TV Atlanta, "Former Gwinnett comm. chair suing sheriff over DUI arrest," April 30, 2012
]]>One tactic that parents can use is to offer a "consequence free" or "no questions asked" ride home if the teen finds himself or herself in a compromising situation. While some parents might feel that letting their teen off scot free when they know their child has been drinking is too permissive, this type of pact with your teen could save his or her life.
Another tactic that parents can use to keep their teen out of an underage situation is to establish a written contract that states that the teen will lose his or her license immediately if caught drinking and driving.
Parents should also know the friends who their teen is hanging out with and contact their parents before allowing their child to attend social gatherings or parties. By taking a few proactive steps, parents can help ensure the safety of their teens and other drivers on the road.
Source: MSNBC, "8 critical tips on teen drinking and driving," Dr. Michele Borba, April 22, 2012
]]>That is, they are highly democratic in that they reach out to ensnare people from all walks of life.
]]> And thus there is a need for an experienced traffic violations attorney to defend not just the celebrity megastar who occasionally crops up in the tabloids on a sensational DUI charge, but also all types of people from every demographic.That would include -- as many of our previous posts have chronicled -- professional athletes, pageant beauty queens, judges and police officers, teachers, firefighters, business people and many others.
A recent local case involving DUI and reckless driving charges against a Clayton County commissioner drives home the point that criminal charges in a traffic matter are always confronting somebody in need of strong legal advocacy and a just resolution.
Commissioner Wole Ralph was stopped by police early last year in Atlanta and charged on a number of criminal counts. Police say that Ralph also refused to perform a sobriety test or submit to a breath test.
Ralph's case has undergone a significant amount of negotiation. Authorities confirmed late last year that the DUI charge was potentially off the table, but it was subsequently reinstated owing to a desire to avoid any appearance of impropriety owing to Ralph's political connections.
The case was then transferred from an Atlanta court to a Fulton County court. Prior to that change in venue, the Atlanta assistant city solicitor confirmed an offer to drop all charges against Ralph in return for a guilty plea on the reckless driving charge, but noted that Ralph had rejected it.
Fulton County prosecutors are not bound by any prior offers or agreements.
Contact a proven Gwinnett County DUI and traffic violations attorney for diligent representation in any matter concerning a driving offense.
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Clayton County commissioner pleads not guilty to DUI," Fran Jeffries, April 11, 2012
]]>And every year, the event is preceded by admonitions, pleas and public service announcements coming in from every direction, with one common theme reiterated: Stay away from alcohol if you're under 21, because authorities will be on the lookout for underage drinking and prosecuting violators.
Often associated with that message is a strong reminder regarding the close association with drunk driving and car accidents, especially when teens are involved.
]]> An Augusta mother of an 18-year-old girl found out the hard way earlier this month how serious the consequences can be when a prom-after party inside the home involves underage drinkers.The woman's daughter had 23 kids over, who, without the mother's knowledge, had brought their own alcohol to her house. Once she discovered that there was drinking at the party, she confined it to the basement of her home rather than putting a stop to it.
Augusta deputies arrested her for that, with one officer calling the situation "criminal and very serious."
Added another: "No one was hurt, no one died and we're all thankful for that, but it could have been much, much worse."
The woman faces criminal charges that include contributing to the delinquency of a minor. She could receive up to a $1,000 fine and a year in jail.
As for the minors who were drinking, they are expected to also receive fines, along with a likely probationary period and community service.
Georgia criminal penalties for minors involved in drinking, underage DUI or other traffic offenses can be strict and exacting, as noted by the above. An experienced defense attorney can help a young person facing criminal charges understand the legal process, as well as serve as a strong advocate in safeguarding that person's legal interests.
Source: WJBF-TV, "Daughter speaks out after mom's arrest in prom after party," Jillian Benfield, April 16, 2012
]]>Krioukov works at the University of California in San Diego After being issued the ticket recently for failure to completely stop at a stop sign, he decided to contest the charge based on the laws of angular and linear motion, which he says proved his innocence.
Although what that precisely means in likelihood escapes most people, it was enough to influence the judge to rule in his favor.
]]> "The judge was convinced, and the officer was convinced as well," Krioukov says.Krioukov employed an argument that, facially, looks like a bunch of lines, numbers, symbols and equations. He says that his argument proved that what the officer thought he saw, well, he didn't see.
"What he saw did not properly reflect reality, which was completely different," says Krioukov, who adds that, given the perfect combination of events that existed at the time of the alleged infraction, the ticket defied the laws of physics.
For anyone lacking a Ph.D. in physics and not as well versed as Krioukov in mathematical laws and reasoning, there is another option for defending against a traffic charge such as speeding, reckless driving or another offense.
That would be securing the help of an experienced traffic violation attorney, who can answer questions, explain charges, explore possible defenses and provide diligent representation that fully promotes a client's best interests.
Source: NBC San Diego, "Man uses physics to fight $400 traffic ticket," Monica Garske, April 16, 2012
]]>Hopefully, this will be the year that casts aside -- or at least grants a reprieve from -- an unwanted statistical proof regarding car accidents, namely this: They occur at an appreciably higher rate on Tax Day than on all the other days that immediately precede and follow it.
A great many people who put things off are understandably stressed on that day. Some of them are, as described by one tax adviser, "frantic." It is not uncommon for some of them to engage in speeding, distracted or reckless driving, and to be generally preoccupied with things other than driving as they hurry to the post office or a tax preparation firm.
]]> The author of a study recently appearing in the Journal of the Medical Association calls Tax Day "one source of stress that's onerous, synchronized, repeated and that applies to a huge community."The number crunching in the report relied upon statistics provided by the federal government over a 30-year period from 1980 - 2009. The conclusion is stark: Over that time, people out on the road -- motorists, passengers and pedestrians, as well -- have a six percent higher risk of dying in a motor vehicle accident on Tax Day than on any other day in the weeks immediately before or following it.
That is far from trivial when extrapolated nationally. It means that about 13 more people die on Tax Day in vehicle accidents than on any of those other days.
In addition to the obvious tragedy that owes to those deaths alone, Dr. Donald A. Redelmeier, the study's chief researcher, refers to another cost.
The six percent increase in risk, he says, amounts "to about $40 million in societal costs due solely to the surge of crashes on Tax Day."
Source: MSNBC, "Deadly car crashes spike 6 percent on tax day, study finds," JoNel Aleccia, April 10, 2012
]]>Just last month, a Gwinnett County jury awarded $2 million in a wrongful death lawsuit to the widow of a man killed near Snellville in late 2006 after being struck by a police car.. In that incident, the officer -- who was responding to a call as a backup car -- slammed into the side of the victim's vehicle while traveling approximately 34 miles per hour over the speed limit. Neither the lights nor sirens on the police car were activated at the time of the collision
]]> Another high-profile case occurred much more recently in downtown Atlanta, when a woman was killed this past New Year's Eve after a state trooper slammed into her sports utility vehicle. Investigators of that accident determined that the trooper -- again, responding as a backup -- did not pause at a red light as he sought to join a vehicle chase. That trooper was found culpable in four prior crashes and was fired from his job. He faces possible criminal charges in the woman's death.The latter incident led to every trooper in the state being required to complete "due care" training on Georgia roads.
Statistics compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicate that speeding police officers responding to calls were involved in 84 fatal crashes nationally in 2010, with only half of those instances being deemed emergency situations.
Ten police officers died while on duty in Georgia last year. Six of those fatalities resulted from car accidents.
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "High-speed police crashes' heavy toll," Andria Simmons, April 8, 2012
]]>The judge -- Chief Judge Rucker Smith of the Southwestern Judicial Circuit --was asked to take field sobriety tests, which he refused. He was arrested for drunk driving and speeding, with the open-container charge also tacked on. He ultimately pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of reckless driving.
]]> Smith subsequently took the initiative to quickly report his arrest to the state's judicial watchdog agency, the Judicial Qualifications Commission. That proactive move, coupled with the Commission's view that he "was contrite and accepted responsibility for his actions" and appeared personally before the body to discuss the incident and related concerns, impressed a commission panel with oversight of his case.After deliberations, the commission announced that Smith was given a private reprimand, which was a resolution it deemed "fair and just for all concerned."
In reaching its decision, the panel acknowledged its duty to the public to ensure trust concerning public officials and the judiciary and a dual responsibility to act fairly "with a judge who complied with all requests ... and accepted responsibility for his actions."
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Panel reprimands judge for driving incident," Bill Rankin, March 29, 2012
]]>That point was heavily underscored by the U.S. Supreme Court in its ruling last week regarding the case of a New Jersey man charged with speeding several years ago. The Court's decision is receiving close media scrutiny, and the dimensions of its holding and what it could mean for millions of arrested persons in the future are being sharply debated by legal scholars.
]]> In a nutshell, the Court ruled this in a narrow 5-4 majority opinion: Although the Constitution's Fourth Amendment bars authorities' unreasonable searches of citizens, a strip search of every new arrestee going into a general prison population is not unreasonable.That applies to even a person facing only a speeding ticket charge.
Furthermore, the Court held that detaining the New Jersey man in two separate jails for a week and subjecting him to strip searches in each did not violate his legal rights even though the outstanding warrant for his arrest was in error; he had in fact paid his fine and was, moreover, carrying a letter that he showed to authorities proving it.
The Court majority stated that ruling otherwise would unfairly burden correctional officials with differentiating in every case among prisoners.
The Court's dissenters argued that that ruling misapplied the Constitution and that strip searches are not permissible on arrests for minor offenses not involving drugs or violence.
The ruling stands in opposition to statutory law in at least 10 states, as well as federal guidelines. The American Bar Association states that it violates international human rights treaties. Notwithstanding, some appeals courts -- including in Atlanta -- have upheld universal strip search policies.
At a minimum, the ruling certainly serves as a reminder that the repercussions of a traffic offense can be severe.
Contact an experienced defense attorney for further information or diligent representation in any traffic violation matter.
Source: New York Times, "Supreme Court ruling allows strip-searches for any arrest," April 2, 2012
]]>As we noted in that post, Georgia is not among the growing minority of states that mandates that, with the state requiring, instead, that such devices be installed following a second DUI conviction.
]]> In the future, debate over variances among the states concerning how and whether interlocks will be installed might well become moot, given the technological advances on the near horizon. The Senate version of the ambitious and wide-sweeping federal transportation bill calls for a quite impressive $34 million over the next several years to research alcohol-sensing technologies and devices that are far more sophisticated and less obvious that current interlock devices.Groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving laud the developments in things like tissue spectrometry -- which uses touch and lasers to detect alcohol -- and distant spectrometry, in which sensors in a car can detect through "sniffing" a driver's breath. It is contemplated that, in both instances, fully developed technology will simply not allow a vehicle to start if alcohol use is detected at a certain level.
Not everyone finds that potentiality comforting. Aside from "Big Brother" issues, groups such as the American Beverage Institute point out that errors will result, with serious consequences. Advocates of the technologies, they note, are firmly on record as favoring that the devices will be set to detect alcohol at levels beneath the legal threshold for drunk driving. The likely result, they say, is that millions of people who have simply had a drink or two at a bar or restaurant and are nowhere near legally drunk will not be able to start their cars.
Additionally, and notwithstanding an expected reliability rate of 99.99966 percent -- which sounds remarkably impressive at first glance -- approximately 4,000 drivers every day who have not consumed any alcohol at all would likely still encounter a car that simply will not start.
At the moment, the debate is academic, of course, but forthcoming developments in technology are resolute and progressively making it ever more real.
Source: Los Angeles Times, "Should future cars curb drunk drivers?" Dan Turner, March 28, 2012
]]>According to a 2007 study conducted through a partnership between two university medical systems, researchers found that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, is a cognitive condition that affects more teenage drivers than any other mental condition.
]]> The research found that teenage drivers with ADHD are two to four times more likely to have an accident than teenage drivers who do not struggle with the condition. Statistically speaking, a teenage driver with ADHD is more likely to become involved in a car accident than an adult driver who is legally drunk.The good news for teenage drivers is that, with time and practice, ADHD can be better managed while driving to reduce the risk of an accident. But this can be a difficult process, and for some teenage drivers, it may be safer just to wait until they are older.
The reason teenage drivers with ADHD struggle is because of chronic inattention that is a frequent symptom of that disorder. Inattention isn't exclusive to drivers with ADHD -- experts say it is the leading cause of accidents among all drivers -- but people with ADHD have a tougher time overcoming inattentiveness.
Another inherent trait of ADHD that increases the risk of accidents is impulsiveness, which has a high correlation with risk-taking behavior that can further increase the risk of an accident.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle, "Study: ADHD teens drivers run higher crash risk," March 27, 2012
]]>Some of the instances of speeding have led to car accidents producing horrific results. In 2008, a police officer lost control of his police cruiser and slammed into the back of a stopped vehicle, propelling it forward 250 feet. The driver, a 23-year-old male, was left paralyzed and brain dead.
The police officer who struck the vehicle was not responding to an emergency call, and neither his car's lights nor siren were on. Moreover, he had a prior record of on-the-job accidents -- at least one involved speeding while operating a police cruiser, according to the newspaper's report.
The policeman's penalty was to pay court costs and to lose his driver's license for 90 days.
In a six-year period, there were 230 accidents in the state resulting from officers speeding in their police cruisers. Twenty-one people were killed or maimed in those accidents, seven of them being police officers.
According to the Department of Transportation, car crashes are the most common cause of police fatalities, including in Georgia. Police crash deaths have increased 44 percent since 2000.
Source: CBS News, "Extreme police speeding investigated in Florida," Mark Strassmann, March 20, 2012
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