Single Mother Admits to Drinking and Failing Field Sobriety Tests

Our client, a single mother, abruptly changed lanes and nearly collided with a police officer on patrol in his cruiser. When the officer made a traffic stop, he smelled alcohol on the client’s breath and noticed many other physical indicators of intoxication. Further, the client told the officer that she had been drinking and that it was her friend’s fault. When performing field sobriety exercises, the client showed all six possible indicators of impairment on a visual test, stumbled through the walking test, and gave up before taking the third test. She told the officer that she knew she failed and instructed the officer to take her to jail. During transport to the jail, and during the breath test, she cried hysterically, was belligerent, and the smell of alcohol engulfed the cruiser. Breath results were inconclusive due to machine error, but indicated results above .15. RESULT: Through records and video, our attorney built a strong defense to show that the client was not impaired. A review of video showed the client walking, sitting, and standing normally in the jail’s booking area and holding cell. Assuming the client’s medication may have affected her performance on field sobriety tests, the attorney researched Florida law and concluded her medications WERE NOT among the list of controlled substances upon which a DUI Conviction could be based. Finally, the attorney attempted multiple times to obtain the video of the field sobriety exercises. Eventually, this forced the Sheriff’s Office to reluctantly admit the video had been “accidentally purged.” When our attorney presented all this evidence and information to the prosecutor, he agreed to dismiss the DUI case. This resulted in a COMPLETE DISMISSAL OF THE DUI!