DWI / DUI
Where to Check Speedometer Calibration
Here are some Northern Virginia businesses that have been reported to me as providing speedometer calibration checks. I tend to recommend such checks for clients accused of jailable reckless driving based on excessive speed. This list is a few years old at the time of...
The risks of refusing a test that should be fully refusable
Bill of Rights (From public domain.) Field sobriety tests are junk science administered by cops who have no expertise to administer them, because junk science precludes having expertise. See how poorly is the performance when asking even a fully sober and awake person to follow unfamiliar instructions...
Blood Alcohol Content Test Results can be Higher than the BAC at the Time of Driving
When it comes to drunk driving prosecutions, blood alcohol content test results are subject to attack from all sides, including attacks on the accuracy of the test results in the first place. Moreover, judges and juries need to be educated that it is not a...
If humans input data into a machine, the Confrontation Clause is implicated
This month, a two-judge majority of the Fourth Circuit decided that an expert witness may testify in criminal court about the machine-generated results of raw data about drugs in a defendant’s blood, without necessitating the presence of the technician who operated the machine. The case...
Converting a drunk driving charge to a speeding conviction
Here is a recent example of the necessity for fully preparing well in advance for trial, for being fearless about proceeding to trial, and for using time as a commodity in negotiations. This approach is needed for all trials, both large and smaller; the following example...
Field Sobriety Tests – Junk Science
Field sobrity tests (FST’s) for drunk driving stops are junk science. Administration of the FST’s are often preceded by the following alleged circumstances, as often parroted back in police report LawEnforcement-ese: “Upon approaching the subject, I immediately detected a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on the subject’s...