Taimoor Rana is seasoned criminal defense attorney specializing in DUI related cases. He shares his expert legal opinion here Are Field Sobriety Tests Accurate? »
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- The accuracy of Field Sobriety Tests (FSTs) cannot be guaranteed as there are many other factors that also affect a person’s behavior.
Whether a person is arrested, gets charged, or gets his license revoked at the DMV hearing is all largely dependant on the police officer’s judgment. The probability of a conviction is also strongly dependent on the police officer’s testimony, as well as the contents of the police report.
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What are Field Sobriety Tests »
Many accidents are reported everyday that happen just because of driving under the influence. However, without conducting some medical tests, it is sometimes hard to determine whether the driver is drunk or not.
Therefore, in order to find out, the police officers use a variety of field sobriety tests. But before conducting the tests, the police must have enough argument to stop your car.
A driver can be stopped only if he or she is driving strangely or violating the rules of the road. After being stopped for that, if the officer smells alcohol, or has a reason to believe that the driver is drunk, he has the right to ask the driver to pass few tests.
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Cal Fire Chief Arrested on DUI Suspicion »
On Friday, the state’s top firefighter has been arrested on suspicion of drunken driving by the police officers in Plumas County .
On Tuesday, Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant has said that California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Chief Del Walters of Redding was arrested by California Highway Patrol officers while he was driving in his personal vehicle and at that time he was off duty. 
The CHP said that Walters was on Highway 70 near Camp Layman when an officer pulled him over for speeding.
It has been reported by the CHP that Walters failed field sobriety tests.
It has been said by CHP Sgt. George Steffenson that Walters’ blood alcohol-test results are still pending.
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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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Collier Wrestling Coach Charged with DUI »
In Collier County the DUI cops have arrested a wrestling coach at Gulf Coast High School on Sunday after a drunken road rage incident.
The deputies of Collier County have arrested Shane Hillis on Sunday night near Goodlette Frank Road and Vanderbilt Drive.
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Breathalyzers: Why Aren’t They Warranted to Measure Alcohol? »
If you are facing drunk driving charges, then you must have taken (unless that you refuse) a chemical test for checking a blood alcohol concentration (BAC). It has been noted that the test will be done with a breath machine in the great majority of cases. When you face the trial in a court then you will come to know that you have been charged with not just one, but with two crimes.
First Charge:
The first crime with which you have been charged is the so-called "per se" offense: driving while having a BAC of .08% or greater. It doesn’t matter and no one actually cares whether you were intoxicated or not. It would be proved by all of the evidence that without question you were sober: your condition is not the crime, instead of that the crime is your chemical composition. And what is the sole source of evidence used by the police officers upon which you will be either convicted or acquitted? Just a machine.
Second Charge:
The second charge that you have to face is "driving under the influence of alcohol" ("DUI"), or in some states, it is referred to as "driving while intoxicated" ("DWI") or "operating under the influence" ("OUI"). All of them are basically the same thing. However in each case, it can be proved by the prosecution that you were under the influence of alcohol by offering the results of the same breath test into evidence and the jury will be instructed that it should be refutably believed that the defendant is guilty unless he can prove otherwise.
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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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GERD, Acid Reflux and False Breathalyzer Results »
Steve is currently facing criminal charges for driving under the influence of alcohol. Although he was not under the influence of alcohol. It is just that he had one drink after work and then he was stopped at a DUI sobriety checkpoint on the way to home. The officer who has stopped him smelled the alcohol on his breath and asked Steve to step out of his car so that he may take some field sobriety tests. He did fairly well on the tests but, to make it more sure that he was not driving under influence, the officer asked him to breathe into the breath machine that had been set up by them at the checkpoint.
The results show .09%. Steve was then immediately arrested for DUI, handcuffed and they had taken him to jail; his license was immediately confiscated by the police officers and they have given him a notice of automatic suspension. When finally he was released after six hours, they gave him a notice to appear in court for arraignment on drunk driving charges.
What had happened?
How could James have only consumed one beer but registered .09% on the machine which is at least four times higher than what it would be expected?
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The National College for DUI Defense »
Until a few years ago, those attorneys who attempt to defend a client who is having against drunk driving charges were general practitioners. These attorneys had little, if any, understanding of the nature of the offense. They were not familiar with such methods of DUI investigation such as as field sobriety tests, and seminars on how to defend these clients were almost completely lacking.
The most important thing was that, defense lawyers doesn’t know anything about the complexities of blood alcohol analysis, whether of blood, breath or urine. They don’t know the answers to the following questions that how does the Breathalyzer work? What does infrared analysis referred to? What is Gas chromatography? How is the metabolism of alcohol takes place in the human body? What is the "Widmark’s formula"? what is Hematocrit? What is "retrograde extrapolation" and how does it work? What are those physiological variables that can occur between individuals? What are those medical conditions that can effect a breath reading and how? What could happen if in case blood samples ferment or coagulate?
There is an involvement of knowledge of such highly technical fields as physiology, organic chemistry, physics, biophysics, electrical engineering in the chemical analysis of blood, breath or urine but these are the subjects that are far beyond the experience and training of lawyers.
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Northern Kentucky Dentist Arrested On Drug & DUI Charges »
A Northern Kentucky dentist has been arrested this morning facing DUI and drug charges.
Doctor George Miller has been arrested by the police on Wednesday afternoon on Kentucky 59 in Lewis County. After that a sheriff’s deputy pulled him over, in Miller’s car he allegedly found hydrocodone and oxycodone pills, as well as meth.
It has been said by the sheriff’s department that Miller failed the field sobriety tests on scene. A blood test was offered to him in order to test his sobriety, but reports said that Miller refused to take the test.
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