field sobriety tests

Fairfax no jail DUI offers are more common under the current chief prosecution / commonwealth's attorney than under his two predecessor administrations. Nonetheless, even though the Fairfax chief prosecutor disfavors mandatory minimum sentencing, he has still not ruled out pursuing active jail time against Virginia...

Insufficient field sobriety test (FST) conditions can make more unreliable the field testing (also known as FSTs and SFSTs) that is already unreliable and is regularly used by Virginia police investigating a possible violation of the DWI law under Virginia Code § 18.2-266 for allegedly driving...

Virginia DUI convictions are risked even when a DWI suspect declines to answer police questions, refuses law enforcement requests for field sobriety testing, and passes on the cop's offer to blow pretrial into a preliminary breath test (PBT) alcohol-testing machine. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer,...

Diluted is the Virginia definition of DUI / driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs. As a Fairfax DUI lawyer, I know that the law of the commonwealth not only criminalizes driving with a 0.08 or higher blood alcohol concentration, but also "while such...

FST (field sobriety testing) often get overly built up by police and prosecutors in Virginia DUI trials. In reality, prosecutions typically have holes to mine, enlarge and exploit in fighting for acquittal. Sometimes that yields acquittal, like with my recent DWI bench trial. In this...

Three keys are at your fingertips to make a potentially huge difference between success and a nightmare in Virginia criminal court. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I have time and time again witnessed the key difference that exercising these three steps can make. These steps...

Virginia DUI victory can arise from a pretrial dismissal, suppression of the arrest, and a finding of lack of proof beyond a reasonable doubt to convict. As a Fairfax DUI lawyer, I know that preparation for such defense requires thorough attention to all the foregoing...

FST refusal is among your most powerful tools in fighting a Virginia DWI prosecution. As a Fairfax DUI lawyer, I have seen this truism in action time and time again. The importance of refusing field sobriety testing (FST) was re-highlighted for me only two days...

Nystagmus testing for alcohol impairment -- also known as horizontal gaze nystagmus (HGN) -- is junk field sobriety testing (SFST) science. As a Fairfax DUI lawyer, I know that no published Virginia appellate opinion approves of such testing, and this year's appellate opinions on HGN...