Taimoor Rana is seasoned criminal defense attorney specializing in DUI related cases. He shares his expert legal opinion here The Basics of Expungement »
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- Expungement which is also known as "expunction" is a process that is executed after obtaining “Pardon”. This process helps the criminal to get rid of the criminal record permanently and is also known "setting aside a criminal conviction."
The accessibility of expungement, may not be allowed in some states or might differ from country to country.
Legal Effect of an Expungement
An expungement is generally a channel through which an arrest or conviction is sealed, or eliminated permanently from a person’s criminal record. Once, the expungement process is finished and the person is legally free from all the obligations, its not necessary for that person to disclose his crime before applying for any job or membership.
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DUI and Driving With a Suspended License Charges Should Be Taken as Different. »
It common for a driver to be caught while driving under the influence (DUI) of drugs or alcohol (generally described as DWI, DUI or drunk driving) and at the same time driving while having suspended license or recently reissued license, or DWLS, in Florida. In such cases the lawyer will have to file two charges in the information, one for driving with suspended license (DWLS) and one for DUI. Both of these charges are served in separate while defendant take these to court for trial. It also mean that the jury that take trial for DUI case will not hear the case or judge the case related to the driving with a suspended license (DWLS). For each case jury will be different for hearing.
It is because of the reason that charges of one case are different with the other. As the evidence related to driver suspended license, such as his driving history, have not concern with evidence related to DUI.
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How the Prosecution Prove the BAC Level? »
By the drunk driving laws to drive a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol (DUI) or while having a blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08% or higher has been made a criminal offense. However, to be under the influence or to have a BAC of .08% while taking a breath test in a police station an hour or two AFTER driving is not a criminal offense. So how it is proved by the prosecution that what was the BAC when the defendant was driving? Now that’s a problem.
In a DUI case by projecting backwards, using average alcohol absorption and elimination rates you can try to guess what the BAC was, but that is only a very inaccurate guess. This process of guessing is called “retrograde extrapolation” which is a fancy name for trying to guess backwards. Now here the problem is that everyone has a different metabolism, and even in a given person alcohol will metabolize at different rates that depends on many variables.
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The DUI Officer and “Selective Memory” »
How does every detail of a DUI investigation is recalled by a police officer testifying in a drunk driving trial recall months earlier?
When a motorist is stopped by an officer and the officer suspects that he may be under the influence of alcohol, he from the moment when he stops the motorist begins to mentally record various observations. He may notify many things such as he may notice that was the driving erratic, and in what way? How did the suspect reacted to the red overhead lights? How did the suspect pull over and park? Was an odor of alcohol there on the driver’s breath, and how strong it was? Could it have come from the passenger? Was the face of driver flushed, eyes bloodshot, speech thick and slurred? What was his response to the questions and directions? What were his answers to questions asked by the cop such as "Where he is going? What time is it? Have he been drinking? What? When? Where? How much?" Did the suspect have a current license and registration? Did the suspect fumble with his wallet pulling out his license? Was the suspect stagger when stepping from the car? What did the passenger say? How did she appear? And so on.
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“The Death Penalty for DUI” Is it Justified? »
Yes, here I am talking about the death penalty. In a drunk driving case. Here in United States. For murder…… No, that is not for an involuntary manslaughter. Not for vehicular homicide. Murder. And that is a first-degree murder. Likewise someone has pointed a gun at someone and pulled the trigger. MADD has achieved so much success in their political pressure campaigns that they’ve actually gotten some courts and legislatures to create a new type of crime which is referred to as “DUI murder”.
Just hold on for a minute, you say. I thought if you want to kill a person then you had to intend to kill him or her. You have to "premeditate" and such kinds of other things, right? Well, yes and no. Of course, each state is a little different, but most od the states follow similar laws. And by those laws generally a homicide ("the killing of another human being") has been broken into different categories. The first one is excusable homicide that is such a homicide where, due to the self-defense or other justification, the death is not considered as a crime. Next one is "manslaughter" — basically, which is considered as a killing but that is not murder. Usually there are two kinds of manslaughter: voluntary and involuntary.
Voluntary manslaughter is sometimes referred to as a killing in the "heat of passion"; means that you lacked the time or ability to reflect on the act.
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Habitual DUI Conviction Leads to Year in Jail »
On Thursday, a Kahului man was sentenced to a one-year jail term and ordered not to drive for five years for his fourth drunken-driving conviction in 10 years.
Neal Suda, 48,has also been placed on five years’ probation and he was ordered to pay $1,419 in fines and fees by the court.
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What Happened to the Presumption of Innocence? »
This happens in most countries of the world, an illegal charges by the State forces the accused to prove himself innocent. However, in America, the presumption of innocence has always been a fundamental part of our rights as a free people.
This basic protection that has been given against the power of the government has been recognized as flowing from the 5th, 6th and 14th Amendments to our Constitution. As said by the United States Supreme Court, “The principle that there is a presumption of innocence in favor of the accused is the undoubted law, axiomatic and elementary, and its enforcement lies at the foundation of the administration of our criminal law.” Coffin v. U.S., 156 U.S. 432 (1895).
So what has happened to this presumption of innocence in a case of drunk driving? Can we consider this as another example of “the DUI exception to the Constitution”? So let us take a look at how this fundamental right has been slowly eroded by our DUI laws….
So now Let us assume that you have been arrested for drunk driving, and a reading of .09% blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) is shown by breathalyzers. By the breathalyzer you will be charged probably with two crimes:
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“Strong Odor of Alcohol on Suspect’s Breath” Is it possible? »
I am sure about the fact that you would have never seen a DUI case where the officer does not report an odor of alcohol on the suspect’s breath. Never ever.It is expected by the officer that the person who has been stopped by him must have drunk and so there must be an odor of alcohol on his breath, and it is a psychological fact that we see, hear and smell the same thing that we expect to see, hear and smell.
But here I really want to tell you that it is a fact that most police DUI reports are formatted for the usual symptoms. There is given a box for "odor of alcohol", which the officer is required to check off. Usually there are three boxes, that has labels "strong", "moderate" and "weak"; but there is no box for "none", so this means that there is no other option for the officer other than to check off one of the three boxes. Mostly the "strong" box is checked by the officers. It is presumed that the stronger the odor of alcohol, the more intoxicated would have been the person who has been arrested.
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Truth, Justice…and DUI Politics »
It is known by any experienced criminal attorney that when dealing with a drunk driving offense truth, justice and fairness can be rare commodities in our courts. This thing has has become such a common phenomena that now a label has been acquired by it and that is: "The DUI exception to the Constitution". When it comes to cases that involves driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, it looks like there is a distinct bias in favor of "streamlining" procedures and facilitating convictions.
It might be suggested by the cynics that this may have something to do with political considerations with the desire of some judges to get reelected. We will discuss that about that in a moment….. Right now, let’s take a look at an example of what kind of thinking goes on in a DUI case in the judicial mind. In fact, let us take example from the highest court of the most populated state in the country: the Supreme Court of California.
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Kane Co. prosecutor considers ending DUI stings »
Kane County State’s Attorney John Barsanti has said that due to lack of cooperation from police he might abandon an aggressive DUI campaign.
On Tuesday, Barsanti said that recently two municipal police departments have turned him down, who have previously expressed interest in conducting "No Refusal" crackdowns in their jurisdictions. The objection that has been raised by the agencies, which Barsanti would not name, was that they thought it was a controversial subject.
It has been said by Barsanti that it’s a kind of surprising to him. He thought that they would have more support from the law enforcement communities.
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