On July 26, 2010, the Defendant was driving home and crashed into a vehicle that was parked behind another vehicle that was being loaded onto a flatbed truck. The Defendant exited his vehicle and ran off to his home that was only a short distance away. Witnesses were brought from the scene to the Defendant’s home and identified the Defendant as the driver who was involved in and caused the crash. Other persons at the scene of the crash, were severely injured. Based on the firm’s investigation of the case, the state dropped all charges.
The defendant was traveling at a high rate of speed. He pulled behind a marked Broward Sheriff’s Office vehicle that had its emergency lights activated. He exited his vehicle, but forgot to put it into park. His car rolled forward striking the police car and causing damage. The police officer made contact with the defendant and noticed that he had trouble maintaining his balance and had the odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath. The defendant admitted to having 2 or 3 beers, and his blood alcohol content was over the legal limit. This was the defendant’s second arrest for DUI. The Firm developed defenses and prepared for trial. Less than a week before trial, the State dropped all charges relating to the DUI.
The Defendant was charged with Petit Theft and Resisting an Officer Without Violence while on probation for DUI. In addition, the Defendant was alleged to have not completed her community service hours and not paying certain fees in a timely fashion. A warrant was issued for the defendant's arrest with a “no bond hold”. After lengthy negotiations with the State Attorney's Office, the Firm surrendered the Defendant in open court and she was released without having to turn herself into jail pending the outcome of the violation. The Firm had lengthy discussions with the State Attorney regarding medical defenses to the charged crimes of Petit Theft and Resisting Arrest Without Violence. After resetting the court dates for the new charges and the violation of probation, the State Attorney agreed to dismiss the affidavit for violation of probation and drop all the pending criminal charges against the Defendant.
The defendant was driving his vehicle North on North County Road when he passed a deputy and looked at him with a dazed and confused look. The vehicle was slowing down and speeding up and he was drifting out of his lane. When he got to the next light, he turned without signaling and was stopped by the officer. The officer noticed that the defendant had red, glassy eyes, had an odor of an unknown alcoholic beverage coming from his breath and his speech was slurred. He was unsteady of his feet when he got out of the vehicle and had a difficult time opening the glove compartment and getting his documents out of his wallet. He told the officer that he had 2 or 3 drinks. During the walk and turn, the defendant lost his balance. During the instructional phase, used his arms for balance, took ten steps instead of the instructed nine, made an improper turn, stepped off the line, took 12 steps back instead of 9. During the one leg stand, the defendant immediately lost his balance, put his foot down several times, used his arms for balance, and swayed while standing. During the finger to nose, the defendant did not keep his eyes closed as instructed, failed to return his arms to his side and did not touch his finger to his nose. The defendant was arrested for a DUI and was taken to the Breath Alcohol Testing facility where he gave 3 samples of his breath. The first sample was a volume not met sample, the second was a .169 and the third was a .193. The firm filed a motion to suppress the evidence in the case based upon the stop being unlawful and in violation of the clients 4th Amendment Right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. Result: State dropped the DUI charge.
The Defendant’s wife worked for a company for a period of 2 years. The Defendant owned his own landscaping maintenance service. During that period of time the Defendant’s wife worked for the victim, she directly wired over $450,00.00 worth of money from the company she worked for to creditors of the Defendant’s and the Defendant’s wife and family members. These monies were used to pay credit card bills, mortgage payments, car payments, tuition for the Defendant’s daughter and numerous other family bills. Through discovery, the Firm discovered that none of the monies were moved into either the personal account of the Defendant or the Defendant’s business bank operating account. Additionally, the Firm took the Deposition of the Officer as well as the accountant who discovered the wrongdoing on the part of the wife. After listing the Defendant’s wife as a witness, the State of Florida set her down for a sworn statement. On the day of the Calendar Call (a week before the trial), the State of Florida announced that they would be dropping the charges against the Defendant because they were not able to prove the allegations against him. All charges were dropped against the Defendant.
The Defendant was driving with his father on Florida’s Turnpike when he fell ill with food poisoning. The Defendant's father, who did not have a valid driver’s license due to immigration complications, decided to drive so he could get his son safely home. A Trooper with the Florida Highway Patrol pulled the father over for speeding. The trooper not only wrote a criminal citation to the father for No Valid Driver’s License, but the trooper also wrote the son a criminal citation for Allowing an Unauthorized Person to Drive, even though he was laying in the back ill. The Firm’s Treasure Coast Attorney immediately discussed the case with the prosecutor and explained the surrounding circumstances. The prosecutor dropped all charges.
The defendant was charged with Driving on a license that was not valid. The officer cited as the reason for the traffic stop that there was a necklace obstructing the view of the client in his vehicle. The Firm filed a motion to suppress the stop and the State Attorney agreed with the grounds for said motion and dismissed all charges.
The defendant was charged with violating a business purposes only license. The officer at the scene assumed that because client was leaving a bar that he was not there for a business purpose and was therefore violating his license restrictions and charged him with a criminal offense. The Firm set the case for trial and all charges were dismissed.
The defendat was stopped for failure to maintain single lane. The defendant took the breath test and blew .009 and .010. DUI charge dropped.
The defendant was stopped by police shortly after leaving a City Walk restaurant and charged with DUI. Through motions, certain evidence was excluded from his trial. We went to trial on 3/3/11 and the jury took five minutes to find the defendant not guilty.
The Defendant was seen by a Delray Beach Police Officer revving her engine and traveling at a high rate of speed. As she passed the Officer, she tailgated another vehicle and then jerked her wheel to the left when there was heavy pedestrian traffic in Downtown Delray. The Defendant was stopped and the Officer noticed an odor of alcohol, slurred speech and bloodshot/glassy eyes. She also had slow dexterity, a flushed face and mumbled speech as well. She appeared to be searching around her car as if she was looking for something. She first stated to the Officer that she had 2 vodka drinks and then after Miranda was read she said she had the two drinks and lunch and nothing after. She was asked to perform roadside exercises which she started performing but then refused and said “just take me to jail.” She was not performing well on the walk and turn when she made that statement. The Officer cited her for Following too Closely and for Careless Driving. While at the jail, she refused to give a sample of her breath when asked and then stated that “she got out of a ticket in Broward and I know I’ll get out of this DUI because my friend is an Air Marshall.” She also stated that she can feel the effects of the alcohol on video as well. The Firm filed a motion to suppress arguing that the Officer stopped the Defendant without probable cause that a traffic infraction occurred and without reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. The driving pattern was all captured on the Officer’s dash cam in his car. The Firm called the driver of the “alleged tailgated vehicle” who testified she never followed her too closely. The video showed that the Officer could not possibly have seen how close the Defendant’s vehicle was to the car she allegedly tailgated. Additionally, the firm argued that she was behind this car for mere seconds and therefore was also not technically “following” the vehicle. Additionally, after cross examination, the Office of the State Attorney conceded that there was no careless driving. Result: The Judge granted the motion and the State dismissed all the charges against the Defendant.
This case was a DUI that involved the defendant being stopped for an extensively bad driving pattern: following too closely, improper lane change, crossing the stop bar, and weaving across lanes of traffic. Once stopped the defendant admitted to having two beers over the course of six hours and to taking prescription muscle relaxers. After an extensive review of the case it was discovered that there were numerous problems with the State’s case, mainly that a drug test was never requested by the officer involved in the case and that the defendant’s performance on the roadside exercises were not bad enough to be indicative of impairment. The State Attorney’s Office amended the DUI charge to reckless driving.
