Criminal Law

Taping a Cop Making an Arrest is a Felony

Posted on August 30, 2010
I think the following news story speaks for itself: ACLU Challenges Illinois Eavesdropping Act Lawsuit cites cases of people charged with breaking the law for making audio recordings of police in action Chicago, IL.  Aug. 18 – It’s not unusual or illegal for police officers to flip on a camera as they get out of their squad car to [...

Judges Influenced by Revenues from DUI Convictions?

Posted on August 23, 2010
As I’ve said in previous posts, drunk driving has become a cash cow for local governments starving for revenue.  See DUI: Government’s Cash Cow, How to Make a Million in the DUI Business and What if the Cash Cow Goes Dry?...

Another Case of Cop Immunity

Posted on August 20, 2010
 The drunk driving double standard continues… Outcry Swift After DUI Charges Against Officer Dropped   Indianapolis, IN.  Aug. 20 – Questions about how Indianapolis police have handled a fatal drunken-driving investigation of one of their own officers became that much more pointed Thursday...

The Education of a Prosecutor

Posted on August 14, 2010
Q. I wish I could get this drunk driver for murder, not just vehicular manslaughter. A. You’re the prosecutor: You can charge him with anything you want. [...]

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Driving Under the Influence of?Bread

Posted on August 09, 2010
  Phil Price, a friend and nationally known DUI attorney in Montgomery, Alabama, conducted an interesting series of tests a few years ago on one of the most commonly used breath testing machines.  Without consuming any alcoholic beverages, he submitted himself to repeated breath testing — after eating various types of food...

High Breathalyzer Results: Drinking?or Dieting?

Posted on August 04, 2010
I’ve written in the past about how most so-called "breathalyzers" do not measure alcohol: they actually measure the presence of a molecular group in chemical compounds. Ethyl alcohol (aka ethanol) contains the group, and so when the machine detects its presence (or, more accurately, infrared energy is absorbed by it), it simply assumes that the detected compound [...

MADD?s New Focus: Prohibition

Posted on July 31, 2010
 Ok, I guess I’m on another MADD rampage, but the following editorial in the San Francisco Examiner seems to indicate that the tide is turning: MADD’s New Focus: Prohibition San Francisco, CA.  July 27 — Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)  is suffering from mission creep...

Charity Watchdog Gives MADD Low Score

Posted on July 27, 2010
 In the "no comment necessary" department: Mothers Against Drunk Driving Receives "D" Score   Goose Creek, SC.  July 26 – Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is in the hot seat after a dismal score from the American Institute of Philanthropy (AIP)...

The Blindness of Zealotry

Posted on July 24, 2010
In today’s news, a perfect example of the idiocy of MADD’s holy crusade:   Schumer: Steering Wheels Could Stop Drunk Driving Elmira, NY.  July 23 — In the future, cars may be able to detect — through a driver’s skin — whether he or she is drunk, and prevent the [...

Losing Sight of the Goal

Posted on July 21, 2010
For the past two decades, Mothers Against Drunk Driving has — very successfully — engaged in a holy war against drunk driving and underage drinking.  Through MADD’s political pressures on legislators and judges, the offense has been redirected from impairment to blood-alcohol levels, penalties have been radically increased, and constitutional rights have been repeatedly ignored...

Alcohol on Breath + No Driving = DUI

Posted on July 16, 2010
In the current climate of political correctness, drunk driving is approaching the status of child molesting — and legislators, police, prosecutors and judges seem hell-bent on expanding the offense far beyond any reasonable interpretation. A recent example: Appeals Court Nullifies Drunk "But Not Yet Driving" Offense Pewaukee, WI...

Pre-Written DUI Arrest Reports: A Smoking Gun

Posted on July 09, 2010
 Earlier this week I posted about the increasing practice of police officers in DUI investigations to write arrest reports before the arrest — in fact, before the suspect is even seen driving.  This has gotten to the point that computer templates are increasingly used: the officer simply inputs the suspect’s name, address, etc...

Police Writing DUI Arrest Reports?Before the Arrest

Posted on July 04, 2010
In recent years, there has been a growing trend among law enforcement to use pre-written arrest reports in drunk driving cases. In other words, they are writing out a batch of phony reports — including "observed" driving symptoms, slurred speech, failed field sobriety tests, admissions of drinking — and then just filling in the names, [...

An Interview?.

Posted on June 28, 2010
Last week I granted an interview which touched on a broad range of interesting subjects.  Videotapes on YouTube of the 50-minute interview may be of interest to readers of this blog, both attorneys and laymen….       DUI: The nature of the crime  (5:29)      What is wrong with the present system of drunk driving laws and law enforcement?  (3:48)    [...

No Probable Cause Necessary for DUI?

Posted on June 27, 2010
Police agencies across the country continue to deny that they employ DUI quotas — which force officers to make unjustified stops and/or arrests.  See, for example, DUI Quotas, Yes We Have No DUI Quotas and "Inside Edition" Documents DUI Quotas Across the U...

State Supreme Court: Treat Misdemeanor DUI as Felony

Posted on June 26, 2010
About 20 years ago, I coined the phrase "The DUI Exception to the Constitution" to describe a disturbing but growing treatment of DUI as a "politically incorrect" offense.  Created and fostered by the demonization of the crime  by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the pressures on legislators and judges — most of whom face MADD’s wrath [...

The ?Selective Memory? Filter in DUI Trials

Posted on June 24, 2010
How does a police officer testifying in a drunk driving trial recall every detail of a DUI investigation months earlier? When an officer stops a motorist and suspects that he may be under the influence of alcohol, he begins to mentally record various observations…...

Double Jeopardy and Double Punishment in DUI Cases

Posted on June 20, 2010
When a person is arrested for DUI, his driver’s license is confiscated by the arresting officer and he is given a notice of "administrative suspension". He is also given a citation to appear in court to face criminal drunk driving charges...

?Yes, We Have No DUI Quotas?

Posted on June 13, 2010
As every experienced DUI attorney (and patrol cop) knows, DUI quotas commonly exist — despite the repeated denials of police bureaucrats.  See my past posts DUI Quotas, "Inside Edition" Documents DUI Quotas Across U.S. and "What DUI Quotas?"...

400 Wrongly Convicted in Washington: Faulty Breathalyzers

Posted on June 10, 2010
I’ve posted well over 100 times during the past six years on this blog about the multitude of reasons why breath alcohol machines are both inaccurate and unreliable.  See, for example, How Breathalyzers Work (and Why They Don’t), Breath Alcohol Testing: "State of the Art"?, Breathalyzer Inaccuracy: Testing During the Absorptive Stage, "Close Enough for [...

Scientific Truth vs Legal Expediency: Presuming Guilt in DUI Cases

Posted on June 09, 2010
The drunk driving laws make it a criminal offense to drive a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol (DUI) or while having a blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08% or higher. It is not, however, a criminal offense to be under the influence or to have a BAC of ...

Another DUI ?Right Without a Remedy?

Posted on June 05, 2010
When the police administer a breathalyzer, the suspect’s breath sample is analyzed — and then destroyed by purging it into the air. Although it is easy and inexpensive to save the sample so that it could later be independently analyzed by the defense, the U...

?How Can You Defend Them??

Posted on May 30, 2010
It always surprises me how many people are outraged that I would defend someone accused by the police of a crime – and particularly of drunk driving. Arrest increasingly means guilt, and there is a public perception of criminal defense attorneys as being obstructionist, nefarious and somehow unethical...

The Future of DUI Revisited

Posted on May 23, 2010
Over five years ago, I gave a lecture to a national organization of attorneys during which I was asked, among other things, to anticipate the future course of DUI laws in the United States.  B earing in mind the words of Adlai Stevenson ("We can chart our future clearly and wisely only when we know the [...

Law and Politics vs Science

Posted on May 18, 2010
It is an unfortunate fact that law and politics repeatedly trump science when it comes to prosecuting citizens accused of drunk driving… In People v. Bransford, to cite one notable example, the California Supreme Court was confronted with a defendant who was challenging his conviction for driving with over ...

State Supreme Court: DUI Doesn?t Require Driving

Posted on May 10, 2010
 From today’s Alice-in-Wonderland department, this mind-boggling ruling from the Supreme Court of West Virginia: West Virginia Supreme Court: DUI Does Not Require Proof Of Driving Drunk driving fines may be imposed without proof that the accused ever drove, the West Virginia Supreme Court ruled...

What Does a DUI Cost?

Posted on May 05, 2010
Did you ever wonder how much it could cost you today if you’re arrested for drunk driving?  Not necessarily guilty of drunk driving, just accused of it?  Maybe $500?  Or $1000?…   Drunk Driving Could Cost $20,000 CNBC News...

The Blue Wall Continues

Posted on April 28, 2010
 Following up Monday’s "Who-will-guard-the-guardians?" story from New Jersey, this one from Chicago: Judge Tosses Out Officer’s DUI Arrest   Chicago, IL.  April 27 – For more than two years, the families of two young men killed in a Thanksgiving Day collision with an off-duty Chicago police officer have fought to prove the officer was drunk and responsible for the deaths...

The Thin Blue Line

Posted on April 25, 2010
 The latest from the "Who guards the guardians?" department: N.J. Police Looks the Other Way After Fellow Trooper Drinks and Drives Trenton, NJ.  April 25 — It had all the makings of a routine motor vehicle stop. Police officer Ronald Gorneau spotted a silver Toyota swerving and pulled it over...

The MADDness Continues?.

Posted on April 20, 2010
In today’s I-don’t-know-whether-to-laugh-or-cry department: Drunk Driving in Barbie Car Costs Man Licence London, England.  April 20  –  A Briton caught drunk while driving a toy Barbie car, whose top speed is barely four miles per hour, has been banned from driving...

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