FACTS: Defendant was sitting at a stoplight in his truck without his headlights on. The light turned green and accelerated towards a major accident scene in a manner that the officer at trial testified to be “reckless”. The officer waived him down because he was driving at 10:00 p.m. without his lights on. She stopped the defendant and noticed that he had an open beer in his lap and a cooler of beers with an empty beer and 3 closed beers in the cooler next to him on the seat. There was a passenger drinking beer in the car as well. When the officer asked him why his headlights were out, he said, “they are on.” The officer had to show him that they were in fact not on. The officer testified at trial that the defendant was in a “stupor” and looked like he just woke up. When asked for license, registration and insurance, the defendant passed over his licesne 2 times in his wallet which was in plain view. He then just stared straight ahead when the officer said, “didn’t I ask you for other documents?” The officer smelled alcohol coming from the defendant’s breath, he had red, glossy eyes and slurred speech when he spoke. She then had the defendant pull over and ordered him out of the car. The defendant had to hold onto the car for support when getting out and was swaying while he was standing. When asked to tilt his head back and close his eyes for 30 seconds, he did it for 50 seconds. When asked to touch the tip of his nose with the appropriate hands, he raised his hands straight up in the air and pointed to the sky. This occurred after 3 instructions to do the same thing. The defendant was arrested for DUI and taken to the police department for a breath test. The defendant refused a breath test and the officer read implied consent. The defendant then refused to blow and pretended not to understand the implied consent over and over again. The defendant then told the officer questioning him that he had been drinking, didn’t know with whom and didn’t know where but did know that he could feel the effects of alcohol and was under the influence. Verdict: Not guilty.
DUI & Criminal Division
