California Supreme Court – DUI Field Sobriety Tests do not predict impairment
DUI Law Appellate Quote of the day: Coffey v. Shiomoto, No. s213545, California Supreme Court (April 6, 2015);— P.3d —-, 2015 WL 1514610 (Cal.): “National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released the results of a study in 1998 that evaluated the accuracy of the standardized field sobriety test (SFST) battery at BACs below 0.10 percent. (Stuster […]
Read MoreWilliams v State – the Constitution is not a loophole or a technicality
Williams v. State, S14A1625, March 27, 2015. A legal earthquake is shaking things up in Georgia’s DUI law. John Williams was convicted of driving under the influence of drugs. He moved to suppress the state-administered blood test on the basis that Georgia’s Implied Consent Statute does not amount to the required voluntary consent under the […]
Read MoreCan you run from the Cops in Georgia if you have done nothing wrong?
Yes, you can run if you have done nothing criminally wrong. Police must be able to articulate a crime that you are committing or have committed to stop and question. If they then can not, then it is a first tier encounter and you are free to ignore, walk away or run -even if you […]
Read MoreNguyen v State-why even a .078 DUI is not DIY
Nguyen v. State, A14A1806, March 2, 2015. Trung Nguyen was convicted of a DUI after representing himself. He appealed arguing that the Court erred in allowing the introduction of a prior DUI into evidence and allowing the prosecutor to comment about the prior DUI in her opening statement. He also appealed arguing that he did […]
Read MoreThe Newspaper.com reports on Georgia Supreme Court Intoxilyzer Source Code Ruling
TheNewspaper.com reported on February 18, 2015, about the Georgia Supreme Court’s ruling in Parker v. State reversing the Georgia Court of Appeals who had affirmed the Trial Court’s decision to exclude proffered evidence of accuracy problems that an out of state witness from the Intoxilyzer 5000 (Intox 5000) manufacturer, CMI, Inc., might be expected to testify about as […]
Read MoreParker v State- Proffers can be hearsay
Parker v. State, S14G1005, Feb. 16, 2015. The Georgia Supreme Court ruled that Georgia’s new Evidence Code allows hearsay evidence in determining whether an out-of-state person is a material witness to a Georgia criminal proceeding under our State’s Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without the State, OCGA 24-13-90. Under § 24-1-2 […]
Read MoreChernowski v State – what do you do with a problem like Fulton County
Chernowski v. State, A14A2151, February 12, 2015. Dora Chernowski appealed her DUI conviction resulting from a 2004 single-car accident in Fulton County. She claimed that her Due Process rights were violated by a seven-year delay in the transmission of the trial court record to the Georgia Court of Appeals. She was tried and convicted by […]
Read MoreTwo NHTSA Marijuana Studies find there is no real evidence of danger
Feb. 10, 2015. Denver Colorado’s Channel 9 reports on two National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) studies that find that there is no evidence of any impairment that correlates with THC or the active intoxicating ingredient of Marijuana. Another study found that while alcohol DUI drivers are 400% more likely to have an accident than […]
Read MoreMacon Telegraph reports DUI convictions down 26 percent since 2008
February 4th, 2015. The Macon Telegraph reports that DUI convictions are down from 44,017 DUI convictions in 2008 falling to 32,514 in 2013. The causes are debated. Some suggest more people are refusing the test which makes convictions more difficult. Some suggest that is a reporting problem. Others claim that it is because of budget […]
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