This link is the one stop link for information on discovery issues, new motions, new defense strategies, the latest DUI Defense Seminars, DUI Expert/Consultants Blogs and DUI Attorney Blogs on the latest DUI case law updates and developments. Check back for updates on this link.
"Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants."Louis D. Brandeis United States Supreme Court Justice
Recent Blog Articles:
Kansas Finds DWI Implied Consent Law Unconstitutional
In 2012, there was a then-unremarkable case out of the State of Missouri - a little case captioned
Missouri v. McNeely.
Since then, the McNeely case has gotten a little more press.
Today, America's heartland issued another decision that may have broad reaching consequences in the future. A Kansas Appellate Court just ruled that their DWI Implied Consent law is unconstitutional. Specifically, the case of
State v. DeClerck concluded that the purportedly "implied consent to chemical testing given by drivers on our state's roads" is absolutely not the same thing as "consent under the Fourth Amendment."
The Court repeatedly said, in no uncertain terms, that statutes like the Implied Consent law can not and do not trump constitutional principles, like the right to be free from warrantless searches and seizures. In the end, the State of Kansas concluded that you cannot demand that driver's give up their Constitutional rights just by getting behind the wheel of a vehicle.
Field Sobriety Tests - Clemson Study Field Sobreity Test, are they set up for failure?
California DUI - Lawrence Taylor, Esq. ~ “The DUI Exception to the Constitution”
California DUI - Virginia Landry, Esq. ~ “Error at Orange County Crime Lab Led to False Blood Alcohol Readings”
Florida DUI – Jason Sammis, Esq. & Leslie Sammis, Esq. ~ Illegal DUI Checkpoint in Pasco County, FL, Caught on Videotape
Oklahoma DUI – by Harrisburg, PA Justin McShane, Esq. ~ The Cops are the “Good Guys” Right?
DUI Blood Test - Harrisburg, PA Justin McShane, Esq. ~ Documentation Required for Independent External Scientific Validation for Reported and Alleged Test Results Involving Blood Tests for EtOH not made by Enzymatic Process
Enzymatic Process
Drug Test Results DUI - by Harrisburg, PA Justin McShane, Esq. ~ The Number Doesn't Tell the Whole Story
Drugged DUI - by Harrisburg, PA Justin McShane, Esq. ~ Open letter to all DUI attorneys
Breath Test Machines:
(CMI, Inc.) Intoxilyzer 8000, Lion Intoxilyzer 8000, (National Patent Analytical Systems) DataMaster DMT, (Intoximeters, Inc.) Alco-Sensor FST
Florida Intoxilyzer 8000 – Stephen F. Daniels, DUI Expert ~ The Truth, The ‘Hole’ Truth and Nothing but The Truth, blows a ‘Hole’ in CMI, Inc.’s Credibility
The MADDness of MADD:
Don't kid yourself, MADD money infleunces all types of elections, federal, state and judicial - Wisconsin Judges can meet with MADD
What happens after elections? MADD meets with Judges 'behind closed doors" MADD Seeks Scrunity of DUI Bench Trials
The Attack on Social Drinkers: Back Door to Prohibition - The New War on Social Drinking by Radley Balko
Pre se Laws - How Legislators Have Gone Overboard with Pre se Drunk Driving Laws and How Men Pay the Price
Brady Violations Rampant in DUI:
An Epidemic of Brady Violations - UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
There is an epidemic of Brady violations abroad in the land. Only judges can put a stop to it.
When a prosecutor behaves with such casual disregard for his/her constitutional obligations and the rights of the accused, it erodes the public’s trust in our justice system, and chips away at the foundational premises of the rule of law. When such transgressions are acknowledged yet forgiven by the courts, the judicial system endorse and invite their repetition.
I wish I could say that the prosecutor’s unprofessionalism in this case is the exception, that his/her propensity for shortcuts and indifference to his/her ethical and legal responsibilities are a rare blemish and source of embarrassment to an otherwise diligent and scrupulous corps of attorneys staffing prosecutors’ offices across the country. But it wouldn’t be true. Brady violations have reached epidemic proportions in recent years, and the federal and state reporters bear testament to this unsettling trend. See, e.g., Smith v. Cain, 132 S. Ct. 627 (2012); United States v. Sedaghaty, No. 11-30342 (9th Cir. Aug. 23, 2013); Aguilar v. Woodford, No. 09-55575 (9th Cir. July 29, 2013); United States v. Kohring, 637 F.3d 895 (9th Cir. 2010); Simmons v. Beard, 590 F.3d 223 (3d Cir. 2009); Douglas v. Workman, 560 F.3d 1156 (10th Cir. 2009); Harris v. Lafler, 553 F.3d 1028 (6th Cir. 2009); United States v. Zomber, 299 F. App’x. 130 (3d Cir. 2008); United States v. Triumph Capital Grp., Inc., 544 F.3d 149 (2d Cir. 2008); United States v. Aviles-Colon, 536 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 2008); Horton v. Mayle, 408 F.3d 570 (9th Cir. 2004); United States v. Sipe, 388 F.3d 471 (5th Cir. 2004); Monroe v. Angelone, 323 F.3d 286 (4th Cir. 2003); United States v. Lyons, 352 F. Supp. 2d 1231 (M.D. Fla. 2004); Watkins v. Miller, 92 F. Supp. 2d 824 (S.D. Ind. 2000); United States v. Dollar, 25 F. Supp. 2d 1320 (N.D. Ala. 1998); People v. Uribe, 76 Cal. Rptr. 3d 829 (Cal. Ct. App. 2008); Miller v. United States, 14 A.3d 1094 (D.C. 2011); Deren v. State, 15 So. 3d 723 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2009); Walker v. Johnson, 646 S.E.2d 44 (Ga. 2007); Aguilera v. State, 807 N.W.2d 249 (Iowa 2011); DeSimone v. State, 803 N.W.2d 97 (Iowa 2011); Commonwealth v. Bussell, 226 S.W.3d 96 (Ky. 2007); State ex rel. Engel v. Dormire, 304 S.W.3d 120 (Mo. 2010); Duley v. State, 304 S.W.3d 158 (Mo. Ct. App. 2009); People v. Garrett, 964 N.Y.S.2d 652 (N.Y. App. Div. 2013); Pena v. State, 353 S.W.3d 797 (Tex. Crim. App. 2011); In re Stenson, 276 P.3d 286 (Wash. 2012); State v. Youngblood, 650 S.E.2d 119 (W.Va. 2007).
What can juries do to stop Brady Violations by Prosecutors and unjust DUI laws?
Jury Nullification - Here is an example of Jury Nullification in Texas
A sanctioned doctrine of trial proceedings wherein members of a jury disregard either the evidence presented or the instructions of the judge in order to reach a verdict based upon their own consciences. It espouses the concept that jurors should be the judges of both law and fact.
The traditional approach in U.S. court systems is for jurors to be the "triers of fact," while the judge is considered the interpreter of law and the one who will instruct the jury on the applicable law. Jury nullification occurs when a jury substitutes its own interpretation of the law and/or disregards the law entirely in reaching a verdict. The most widely accepted understanding of jury nullification by the courts is one that acknowledges the power but not the right of a juror or jury to nullify the law. Jury nullification is most often, although rarely, exercised in criminal trials but technically is applicable to civil trials as well, where it is subject to civil procedural remedies such as the
Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict.
In criminal cases, however, the
Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution makes final a jury trial that results in an acquittal, and it guarantees freedom from
Double Jeopardy. This gives juries an inherent power to follow their own consciences in reaching a verdict, notwithstanding jury instructions or charges to the contrary.
DUIstopped.us Blog: Justin Bieber News
This is why we started this company, not only to stop drunk driving but, to STOP innocent people from being wrongfully arrested for DUI and convicted on subjective evidence and evidence that has only a veneer of science because of potential flaws in the procedures and testing. We see scenarios like this happen all too frequently in the courtrooms across the nation when people like Justin, who are not guilty, are invalidly labeled as guilty.
There may be a gigantic hole in the case against Justin Bieber because the singer had next to NO alcohol in his system yet cops at the scene said he reeked of alcohol.
Depending on the time of consumption, and considering someone of Justin's size how could cops say they were overpowered by the smell of alcohol with only a .011 / .014 - and the wind blowing...???
According to the police report the arresting officer was leaning into the car, talking to Justin just after the stop and the cop says, "I immediately smelled an odor of alcohol eminating [sic] from the driver's breath." This is standard DUI arrest language used by officers to 'set-up' the suspicion of 'under the influence' so they can ask you to preform the
FST's.
The police report goes on to say that Justin was then arrested and taken to a holding facility, where another officer said he smelled ~ "the odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath." (According to
State v. Kliphouse, 771 So. 2d 16 - 2000, the odor of alcohol is not enough for an arrest for DUI.)
Justin insisted at the scene he was NOT drunk. Cops also say that he failed his
field sobriety test.
This could well come down to a credibility case, with Justin's people accusing cops of lying. The Miami PD has had a numerous documented credibility issues and problems in the past with law enforcement officers being less than truthful in their DUI arrest reports."
More on the Justin Bieber case: Harrisburg, PA DUI Attorney Justin McShsane breaks down the
state's case against Justin Bieber with 'science'.
Read about the likely defense of the science in the Justin Bieber DUI case. The Justin Bieber DUI defense team has to keep the science in mind.
Stopping DUI's isn't just about stopping 'drunk driving' - it's also about stopping innocent people like Justin Bieber from being wrongfully arrested and convicted of DUI.
