Taimoor Rana is seasoned criminal defense attorney specializing in DUI related cases. He shares his expert legal opinion here DWI Enforcement during Christmas and New year Holidays »
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- In order to enhance the enforcement of DWI laws, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office will join forces with other law enforcement agencies from around the state and nation.
Death Toll from DWI rises during Christmas and New Year
According to traffic safety experts, during the Christmas and New Year’s holiday period the daily death toll from drunk driving crashes is significantly more than during the rest of the year.
2,400 alcohol-related traffic crashes in Texas
In Texas during December, on average, more that 2,400 alcohol-related traffic crashes occurred. These accidents result in 80 fatalities on Texas roads and highways. (These estimates are based on an analysis of Texas CRIS data since 2003).
More Patrols During Christmas and New Year Holidays
This year, in cooperation with TxDOT, Sheriff Tommy Gage has delivered an important message for Texas drivers – he asked them not to drive if you’re tipsy or buzzed; they should call a cab or get a sober ride home instead.
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DUI Arrests: Surge in DUI Arrest Among Women »
It is a happening of a recent Friday night in Lowell, Mass., just outside Boston, the state police were out there to look out any drunken drivers.
Officers regularly stop drivers and ask them that have they drunk tonight. They also ask some drivers to take sobriety tests; they have also arrested some of those drivers for Driving Under the Influence of alcohol.
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DUI and the Disappearing Right to a Jury Trial »
Ok, so it has been said by the cop that I looked bad on the field sobriety tests, but I know myself that I’m not guilty: I only had two drinks and I have got the witnesses. It doesn’t matter what the arresting police officer is saying, I can tell my side of the story to my fellow citizens and then let them decide. Right?
Well that is not necessary. This right to jury trial, had been handed down centuries ago from England’s Magna Carta, it was considered so fundamental to the framers of our Constitution that it had been included by them in the Bill of Rights? This is what we call Sixth Amendment. So it makes no exceptions to this sacred right to trial by a jury of peers.
So why is this happening that some states today are denying jury trial to a person who is accused of drunk driving? Why is that, for instance, an American citizen who has been arrested in New Jersey is forced to accept the decision of a politically-appointed judge? After all, on that subject the Sixth Amendment is pretty clear:
“In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed…”
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“Xeroxed” DUI Symptoms »
As it is known by any experienced DUI attorney that many police officers in their written DUI reports and in their testimony are considerably less than honest. One of the practices where this is most readily apparent is the use of what I have referred to as "Xeroxed Symptoms". This is the tendency to "observe" exactly the same "symptoms" in every person that are arrested by the officer for driving under the influence of alcohol.
For instance, with Officer Jones, the suspect when getting his driver’s license fumbles with his wallet, leans against the car for getting support, and word "R" is missed by him in the alphabet recitation, in every case. On the other hand, officer Smith,it looks like that he has to only encounter those citizens who are weaving on the highway, admit to having three martinis, and lose their balance on the third step back, in the walk-and-turn test. If this has been done by the criminal defendant, we would call it "signature" evidence. But when it is done by a DUI officer, we call it "coincidence".
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Drunk Driving and Double Jeopardy »
Whenever a police officer arrest a person for DUI, he takes away his driver’s license and he give him a notice of "administrative suspension". He also gives him a citation to appear in court in order to face criminal drunk driving charges.
Usually these are two very different procedures:
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the administrative suspension that is held for driving with blood-alcohol of .08%, in most states this is administered by its department of motor vehicles, and
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the criminal prosecution for the two separate offenses of driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) and driving with .08%, and this takes place in the courts.
Explaining this in other words, even though the person who is convicted drove only once, but he is being prosecuted for two different crimes: DUI and driving with a .08% BAC. The possibility is that he can even be convicted of both offenses (although he can only be punished for one). How is that possible?
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