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.
The defendant was involved in an accident. He informed the officer at the scene that he had consumed four 20 ounce Colt 45’s. The defendant then told the officer that he started drinking at 8pm and then stopped drinking at 8pm. He then went on to do the field sobriety exercises which resulted in him being arrested for DUI. At the breath testing center he blew a .237 and a .246. Due to the firm\'s efforts and arguments, the State agreed to reduce the DUI charge to reckless driving.
Defendant was stopped for not maintaining their lane of travel. After performing poorly on roadside exercises the defendant was arrested. Defendant blew ..100, ..097. DUI charge was dropped.
The Defendant was seen driving on a closed golf course late at night. His car could be seen jumping up and down over the hills on the course. As he pulled out, he was stopped by an officer where he told the officer “you caught me.” That officer noticed that the defendant’s eyes were bloodshot and glassy, his speech was slurred and he had an odor of alcohol coming from his breath. A DUI officer was ordered to respond. That officer noticed that the Defendant’s face was flushed, he was sweating and his mouth was dry with white residue on the corners of his mouth. He admitted that he had a whisky drink earlier. After asking him to step out of the car, roadside tasks were requested from the Defendant. The Defendant’s eyes were checked by the first officer before the start of the roadsides. During the roadsides, the Defendant asked “Am I going for DUI?” The Defendant was cooperative at first but then became angry and uncooperative with mood swings. According to the arresting officer, the Defendant performed poorly on the roadsides. These were all recorded and on video. After roadsides were completed, the arresting officer and 2 other officers conversed on the video. They could be seen talking but the audio was muted (which the arresting officer admitted to doing in a sworn deposition). Two separate officers then checked the Defendant’s eyes again. One of the officers on scene testified in a sworn deposition that he was ordered by his Sergeant to take notes and follow this arresting officer during his DUI investigations. He said he turned those notes over to the Seargant. After the Firm filed a motion to compel those notes, the State of Florida indicated that they did not exist. None of the officers would divulge what conversation took place during the muted portion of the video. The Defendant was then taken into custody and taken to the Breath Alcohol Testing Facility where he refused to give a sample of his breath. The Firm filed a Motion to Dismiss based upon Procedural Due Process Grounds arguing that the State of Florida purposely destroyed and concealed exculpatory evidence due to the Officer’s actions. After reviewing all of the depositions and the entire case, the State of Florida agreed and dismissed the charges for Driving Under the Influence.
A Trooper from the Florida Highway Patrol saw the Defendant slumped over toward the passenger seat in his vehicle while at a green light. The Trooper pulled behind the Defendant’s vehicle with his emergency lights on. The Defendant’s vehicle then began to travel forward and pulled over on a side street. The officer noticed the Defendant to have the odor of an alcoholic beverage, bloodshot and watery eyes, slurred speech. The Defendant also admitted to “having a few beers at my girlfriends’ place”. The defendant was asked to perform roadside sobriety exercises. He stepped off of the line and had large gaps between his feet on most steps and failed to turn properly. The Defendant was extremely unsteady and could not keep his foot off the ground during the one leg stand test. The defendant also could not even say the alphabet. Thereafter the Defendant was arrested for DUI and registered a .171/.165 g/210L on the breath test, over two times the legal limit in Florida. The Firm Filed a Motion to Exclude the Breath Test based upon a FDLE agent falsifying and manipulating calibration of the Defendant’s breathylizer. The Motion was granted by the Judge and all DUI charges were dismissed.
A Martin County resident was involved in a serious crash when she drove her car underneath a tractor trailer. She received a serious head injury and had to be excavated from her car. A Florida Highway Patrol Trooper alleged that the defendant showed signs of impairment including a strong odor of alcohol and bloodshot eyes. At the hospital, the trooper requested the driver to provide a sample of her blood so that it could be analyzed for alcohol. The driver refused. The trooper eventually filed a warrant for her arrest charging her with DUI. Once hiring The Ticket Clinic, the Firm’s Treasure Coast Attorney, Stephen Smith, immediately demanded a speedy trial. In response, the Prosecutor scrambled to subpoena the client’s medical records from the hospital to gain evidence of her blood alcohol content. In response, counsel filed legal documents that sought to prevent the prosecutor from obtaining the medical records under the client’s right of privacy. The prosecutor was unable to obtain any evidence of the client’s blood alcohol content and therefore offered to amend the charge to reckless driving if the client agreed to resolve the case. The client refused the offer upon the advice of counsel. As predicted by counsel, on the day of the trial, the prosecutor Dismissed the DUI which completely Exonerated our client.
Client was stopped for a traffic infraction. When the officer approached, he was overwhelmed by the smell of marijuana coming from the inside of the vehicle. The officer asked our client to step out of the vehicle. When he did, the officer claims he dropped a clear baggie on the street containing marijuana . A search of the vehicle revealed more marijuana in rolling papers. He was charged with possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia. Our firm was able to negotiate a dismissal of all charges.
Defendant was stopped for speeding. Arrested for DUI, submitted to breath test and provided a urine sample. Motion to suppress urine test granted, case was dismissed.
The Defendant was seen driving on Congress Avenue and was clocked going 53 in a 40 mph zone. The defendant was seen by the officer collide with a curb and then weave in and out of his lane. When the officer stopped the defendant he smelled an odor of alcohol on his breath, his eyes were bloodshot and glassy and his speech was slow and slurred. He fumbled through his documents to get his license and handed the officer a registration to a motorcycle instead of the GMC truck he was driving. After being requested out of his vehicle, he was asked to perform roadside exercises. During the walk and turn exercise, the officer testified that the defendant could not maintain his balance in the starting position and paused “several” times (2 or 3) to regain his balance. He testified that the defendant never walked heel to toe and took 10 steps up on the first set and never counted out loud. The Firm pointed out that the video showed the defendant stand perfectly still for the entire starting position, took 9 steps up and 9 steps back as instructed, never paused for even a second to maintain his balance and was actually NEVER even instructed to count out loud. The officer testified that during the one leg stand, the defendant never even got to 30 and did not count out loud. The Firm pointed out that the defendant, on the video, counted all the way to thirty seconds with his foot up and was NEVER even instructed to count out loud. After these two exercises, the defendant was asked to sit back in the driver seat of his truck where the officer then shut off the audio portion of the roadsides. After 2 minutes, the defendant was arrested for Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol and taken to the Breath Alcohol Testing Facility. The officer requested a breath sample and the defendant refused. He told the officer that he had been drinking with his neighbor and he had a couple beers earlier in the evening. The Jury returned a verdict in 5 minutes of not guilty.
A Port St. Lucie client was charged with two criminal counts, count 1: Felony DUI and count 2: Refusing to Submit to the Breathalyzer. Florida Law makes it a crime for a person to refuse to submit to a breath test twice or more in their lifetime. The prosecutor had the simple task of proving our client refused the breath test twice, which the client’s driving record and evidence would clearly show. The Firm’s Treasure Coast Attorney first took the Felony DUI charge to trial and won with a NOT GUILTY verdict. The Firm’s Attorney declined a plea offer on count two and demanded a jury trial. The prosecutor refused to face the Firm’s attorney in trial again and dismissed count 2. Therefore, the client was Exoerated of all charges.
The defendant was arrested by the Port St. Lucie Police Department for his 3rd DUI, a felony charge. The defendant, a non-citizen of the United States, was facing 5 years in prison, a felony conviction and certain deportation back to Haiti. The Firm worked tirelessly to protect our client. According to police reports, the defendant was first noticed by police when he drove up behind a sergeant’s vehicle at a high rate of speed. The Sergeant pulled over and allowed the defendant to pass. The sergeant began to follow the defendant and observed the defendant “driving all over the road.” After pulling the defendant over, the sergeant smelled a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage and believed the defendant was “wasted.” The sergeant called for a DUI officer to investigate. The DUI officer noted that the defendant not only had a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from his breath, but also had slurred and mumbled speech, and watery eyes. The officer requested the defendant to perform field sobriety exercises and noted that they performed poorly and had an “extremely difficult time following instructions” on the first four exercises. The officer also noted that the defendant refused to complete the fifth exercise as well as refusing to submit to a breath test. The defendant's poorly performed exercises and difficulty in following instructions were captured on the officer’s dashboard camera. The Firm’s Treasure Coast Attorney immediately began formulating a defense. First, the attorney recognized the client’s primary language was Creole. However, the video revealed the officer never attempted to call for a Creole speaking officer, despite the client’s repeated statements that he did not understand the exercises. Furthermore, through investigation, the Firm’s attorney was able to discover the arresting officer was fluent in French, the language Creole is derived from. Yet the officer chose not to communicate in French. Additionally, the firm’s attorney discovered that prior to the defendant performing the exercises, he had informed the officer of a severe knee injury. The evidence revealed the officer clearly discounted this information in his assessment. Lastly, the firm’s attorney discovered audio conversations between the sergeant and officer that suggested they performed their investigation with bias and prejudice towards our client. The firm’s attorney brought these facts in front of a jury. The client was found Not Guilty of Felony DUI.
