On September 20, 2015 at approximately 3:43, Tampa Police Corporal conducted a traffic stop at 32nd St N. and 8th Ave E in Tampa for operating the vehicle on the roadway with no headlights. The Corporal noticed several signs of impairment after making contact with the driver. A DUI investigator was called to the scene to conduct field sobriety exercises, which the Defendant agreed to perform. During the exercises, the Defendant showed multiple signs of impairment and was subsequently arrested for DUI. The Defendant provided a breath sample of .157 and /.169.
Results: The firm presented evidence to the prosecutors and the State dropped the DUI charge.
Our client was arrested for allegations of driving a motorcycle at a high rate of speed and cutting in and out of traffic with a second motorcycle. According to law enforcement our client was running stop signs, splitting lanes in between vehicles, and was observed by a law enforcement helicopter. Law enforcement made contact with our client just as he was driving off from his driveway. After bonding out of jail our client contacted our office to begin working on his case. We thoroughly reviewed all of the State's evidence and Law Enforcement's reports. Our office then prepared a defense strategy. Finally, we reviewed each detail of the case with the State pointing out the several flaws in the reports. Soon after the State dropped all charges.
According to the police, the Defendant was observed driving 82 mph in a 45 mph zone. When the pulled him over, they noticed a strong odor of alcohol on his breath, his speech was slurred and his eyes were bloodshot and glassy. The Defendant stumbled as he walked away from his car. The officer asked him to perform roadside exercises. They completed one exercise (horizontal gaze nystagmus) and the Defendant’s performance was very poor. The Defendant refused to continue with roadside exercises. The police arrested him and asked for a breath test. The Defendant refused. The attorney investigated the case and prepared for trial. The State dropped all DUI related charges.
After picking up a friend from a medical office, our client unknowingly backed into an occupied car and left the scene. The friend passed away a few weeks later from unrelated medical reasons, but not before the Firm’s attorney was able to speak with him at the hospital and document his testimony. The deceased friend verified that neither he nor our client were aware that their vehicle made contact with another car. The Firm’s attorney set the case for trial and was prepared to request the Court to accept the deceased’s testimony under a hearsay exception, despite the prosecutor’s objection. On the day of trial, the prosecutor dropped all charges.
In March of 2016, our client was pulled over by a member of the Orange County Sheriff's Office after a run of his license plate showed his license was suspended for a DUI charge. We represented this client on his DUI charge and knew that it has previously been dropped by the State. We worked with our client and DMV to fix the error that was showing his license was suspended, and were able to get him a new license within a week. At our client's first court date, we showed proof of all of this to the State Attorney and they dismissed the case completely.
On January 2, 2016, the Defendant was traveling on a 3 lane road in the far left lane. The Defendant attempted to changed lanes into the middle lane and lost control of his vehicle. The vehicle slid across the middle and far right lane before striking the curb. The vehicle then collided with a bus stop striking a pedestrian waiting for the bus. The pedestrian was taken to the hospital and passed away 13 days after the accident. A FHP crash investigator charged the Defendant with careless driving, but after the death of the pedestrian, the charge was upgraded to careless driving involving fatality. The firm set the case for hearing and at trial, the Defendant was found not guilty.
On March 9, 2015 our client was stopped after a check of his license plate revealed the registered owner of the vehicle was suspended for failing to pay a speeding ticket from 2015. Our client was charged with a criminal offense of Driving While License Suspended With Knowledge. Our client's old speeding ticket was entering collections court at the time he contacted our office. Our attorneys were able to work with the Court to remove our client from collections to save him a significant amount of money and reinstate his driver's license. Based on producing a valid driver's license at his first court date, the State dismissed the charge.
On May 15, 2016 our client was stopped by the Orange County Sheriff's Office for making an illegal lane change. During the traffic stop the Deputy discovered our client was on his way home from purchasing the car at auction and did not have it properly registered yet. The Deputy wrote our client a criminal citation for No Motor Vehicle Registration. Upon hiring our firm, we worked on registering the vehicle immediately and providing proof to the State Attorney. Prior to our first court date, the State was willing to drop the criminal charge.
In 2012, our client was convicted of a criminal offense of Driving While License Suspended with Knowledge in Orange County. In 2014 and again in 2016 he receive civil traffic tickets for Driving While License Suspended Without Knowledge. Unaware of Florida's Habitual Traffic Offender law, our client just paid the two tickets from 2014 and 2016. The client contacted our office when he received a letter from DHSMV stating that due to these 3 offenses, they were declaring him a Habitual Traffic Offender by having these 3 offenses in a 5 year period and were suspending his driver's license for 5 years. We filed two motions for our client requesting the court overturn his convictions for the 2014 and 2016 tickets. The Court granted both of our motions, taking 6 points off of our client's driving record, reversing the Habitual Traffic Offender designation, and letting our client keep his driver's license.
On January 3, 2016 at approximately 2:09 am, a Hillsborough county Deputy responded to the vicinity of Golf and Sea Boulevard and Signet Drive, where she observed the Defendant's black 2015 Chevrolet parked oriented northbound in the southbound lane of travel. The Deputy attempted to make contact with the Defendant, but he began to drive away northbound on Golf and Sea Boulevard. The Deputy then initiated a traffic stop on the Defendant's vehicle. The Defendant exhibited multiple clues of impairment during the traffic stop. The Defendant refused to perform field sobriety exercises and breath test. The Defendant was arrested for DUI.
Results: The firm filed a motion to suppress the stop of the vehicle and on the day of the motion hearing, the State dropped the DUI charge.
While conducting selective enforcement and pursusant to a saturation patrol, the Defendant was stopped for traveling 17 miles above the posted speed limit. The Defendant had a strong odor of alcohol coming from his mouth, his speech was thick and slurred, and his eyes were bloodshot and glassy. He admitted that he was coming from a concert and was lethargic while locating them. The officer could not understand the Defendant because of his low and slurred speech. He was slow to exit his vehicle and had to use both of his hands to assist himself in getting out. When out of the car, he was swaying side to side. When asked to walk around the vehicle, the officer observed the Defendant lose his balance. He denied consuming any alcohol and refused to perform roadsides. After being arrested, he refused to give a sample of his breath. After reviewing the case, the State declined to file any charges against the Defendant.
On Sunday, December 20, 2015 at 12:28, a Tampa Police officer was advised that a red Honda Civic and a black care racing east on west Waters Ave towards Florida Ave. The black car had already been stopped by another officer.
The officer headed west on Waters Ave and observed a red Civic to be in the turn lane to go north of Florida Ave. The officer caught up to the vehicle and initiated a traffic stop. The Defendant explained to the officer that he had been at the light on Rome Ave when he and a black car accelerated to a high speed. The Defendant claimed he was not racing and the black car was always behind him.
Result: the case was set for trial and before the trial began, the State dropped the Racing charge.
