www.charlesjeromeware.com " Here to make a Difference."
Charles Jerome Ware, LLC is a premier Howard County, Maryland-based, nationally-respected DUI and DWI defense law firm. Defense attorney has been recognized as one of Maryland's " BEST 10 DUI/DWI ATTORNEYS" [AIDUIA]. For an initial courtesy consultation, contact the firm at (410) 720-6129 or (410) 730-5016. We can help you.
There are several defenses and tips that can be helpful depending upon the facts of an individual's DUI or DWI case. Two are as follow:
(1) Simple alcohol on a driver's breath does not, by itself, mean that she or he is " under the influence" of alcohol.
In explaining why the DUI officer believes the driver was drunk, he or she virtually always mentions " smelling a strong odor of alcohol on the suspect's breath." But, that's not possible because alcohol (ethanol) has no odor. Instead, the "smell" is actually the mixing agent or flavoring that produces the odor which is commonly associated with alcohol. This mixing agent or flavoring can be added to even plain water and cause the liquid to "smell" like alcohol. Need an example? Go to your local supermarket and buy a six-pack of, for instance, O'Doul's. It tastes and smells very similar to beer --- but it contains no alcohol.
Consequently, the simple "smell " test, alone, is just not enough for a decision or judgment of DUI or DWI.
(2) There are a number of reasons why drivers fail field sobriety tests besides simple inebriation, including various illnesses, mobility disabilities or handicaps, effects of medicines, allergies, hindering weather conditions (including wind, etc.), understandable anxiety of the driver, uneven road surfaces, police subjectivity, etc., etc., etc.
For instance, the non-standardized field sobriety tests include (among others) : the finger-to-nose test the finger-count test, the hand-pat test the coin-pickup test, the alphabet test, the reverse-counting test and the Rhomberg test ( the driver tilting his or her head bact and estimating 30 seconds). The National Highway traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has set no standards for how to administer score or interpret these tests, absolutely no studies have shown them o be reliable indicators of DUI impairment.
Even when standardized field sobriety tests are administered perfectly (very rare events), they still provide very inaccurate measures of whether Dui and DWI suspects are impaired. According to Federal agency NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), for example, the one-leg stand test has a 65% accuracy rate and the walk-and-turn test has a 68% accuracy rate.
What this means is , if people were convicted based upon these roadside field sobriety tests, 1/3 of them would be innocent and wrongly convicted of DUI or DWI. And viewed another way, when officers arrest DUI and DWI suspects based upon alleged "failure" of these tests, one in 3 suspects is wrongly or wrongfully arrested.
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