DWI / DUI
Virginia’s Fitzgerald hurdle to DWI defense
All battles have hurdles. For Virginia drunk driving defense, last December the state’s intermediate appellate court threw a King Kong-sized hurdle for challenging the accuracy of the breathalyzer machines, in the form of Fitzgerald v. Com, 61 Va. App. 279, 734 S.E.2d 708 (2012). Fitzgerald does...
Supreme Court: Nonconsensual DWI blood tests ordinarily need a warrant
On April 17, 2013, the Supreme Court issued a splintered opinion in which a 5-4 majority ruled that nonconsensual blood draws ordinarily require a search warrant in driving while intoxicated investigations and arrests. Missouri v. McNeely, ___ U.S. ___ (April 17, 2013). McNeely says that...
Virginia: Mandatory interlock for DWI is now in effect
NOTE: Today’s blog entry only addresses matters in Virginia state courts. A Virginia drunk driving/DWI conviction, at minimum, brings one year of suspended driving with the option to apply for restricted driving privileges, payment to complete alcohol education, and a fine and court costs. Jail...
Virginia will mandate the ignition interlock for all DWI convictions
Another reason to fight DWI cases tooth and nail In The Forty Year Old Virgin, one of the hero’s drunk prospects asks him to blow into a tube into her car, and away they recklessly go. He did not at the time realize that he...
Canada’s border rejection for DWI’s is another reason for being battle-ready in criminal court
Canada/the Great White North has many great places to visit. Beyond its cities is much natural beauty and a much lower average population per square mile than the United States. Quebec and Ontario are pleasant drives from my home. Get a drunk driving/DWI/DUI conviction (and numerous...
Limits on Police Power to Arrest for Misdemeanors not Committed in their Presence
Last year, I blogged about a 6-5 Virginia intermediate appellate court opinion affirming a drunk driving conviction where the DWI was allegedy committed on private property not used as a thoroughfare, and not committed in the presence of a police officer. Today, Virginia’s highest court...
Urging Hearsay Limits on Speed Calculations
Particularly now that Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, 129 S.Ct. 2527 (2009), has become firmly entrenched in the Constitutional landscape, Sixth Amendment challenges to machine-based speed calculations should be more persuasive than ever when the people who calibrated the machine do not testify live at trial. Virginia, for instance, has...
When judges rule 6-5 on a defendant’s offer to take a breathalyzer test
An officer arrested a man for DWI on private property, and was not sure whether he would mention the possibility of taking a breathalyzer test, not knowing whether Virginia’s implied consent law for taking a breathalyzer test applied. After the defendant’s arrest but before the...
Virginia responds to Melendez-Diaz, with a Constitutionally questionable vengeance
Bill of Rights (From public domain.) With a vengeance, Virginia’s legislature and governor have pushed through their Constitutionally questionable response to Melendez-Diaz. The bill, HB 5007, was signed into law last Friday, and provides that it takes immediate effect. A year and a half ago, when...
More on defending drunk driving in Virginia
Image from Virginia Forestry Dept’s website. In Virginia and Washington, D.C., the law says that drivers in those states impliedly consent to have their blood alcohol levels tested if the police have sufficient grounds for seeking such tests. In that regard, here are important relevant Virginia...