Feature Story - November 10, 2003 - Lawyers Weekly USA
Errors In Blood-Alcohol Testing Provide Opportunities For DUI-Defense Lawyers
There are a host of errors that periodically occur in the blood-alcohol testing process that can help DUI attorneys discredit evidence that their client was intoxicated. Eventually, the lab determined that a computer malfunction caused the machine - ...

News Story - April 28, 2003 - Lawyers Weekly USA
Cases Give New Life To Defense That DUI Test Unfair To Women
The defense lawyers in both cases argued that a common breath-analysis machine used to measure the driver's blood-alcohol level, the Intox 5000, discriminates against women. The defense expert testified that Intox 5000 machines routinely score women ...

Feature Story - February 03, 2003 - Lawyers Weekly USA
Choosing A Jury In DUI Cases
Alcoholism, social drinking, and drunk driving may be very different animals but in the public mind, the lines between them are blurred, experts tell Lawyers Weekly USA. Prosecutors counter with the argument that "juror schadenfreude" - guilty pleas ...

News Story - September 17, 2001 - Lawyers Weekly USA
Drunk Driving Attorneys Use Police Videotapes to Win Cases
As video cameras quickly become common in police cars, drunk driving defense lawyers are using them to win cases, experts tell Lawyers Weekly USA. Get cases dismissed (or get evidence suppressed or a favorable jury instruction) where an officer fail ...

News Story - April 30, 2001 - Lawyers Weekly USA
Drunk Drivers Helped by New Errors in Breath Test Machines
At least six drunk driving defendants have succeeded in suppressing breath test results based on newly discovered flaws in the thermometers that regulate breath-testing machines. Defense lawyers across the country say they're considering similar moti ...

National Law - April 03, 2000 - Lawyers Weekly USA
Drunk Driving Can Be 'Crime of Violence' for Federal Sentencing
A drunk driving conviction is a "crime of violence" for purposes of federal sentencing enhancement, says the Fifth Circuit in affirming a U.S. District Court. But the court said that "the very nature of the crime of DWI presents a 'serious risk of ph ...

News Story - October 18, 1999 - Lawyers Weekly USA
Alien Can Be Deported for Drunk Driving
Criminal Defense Lawyers Face Malpractice 'Trap'
Get 3 free issues of Lawyers Weekly USA, the only national newspaper for small-firm lawyers! Both decisions hold that drunk driving constitutes an "aggravated felony" for which deportation is mandatory under strict new federal immigration laws. In ...

Front Page Story - March 22, 1999 - Lawyers Weekly USA
Eye Test for Drunk Drivers Requires Expert Testimony
The "horizontal gaze nystagmus" test for drunk drivers is inadmissible unless the state provides expert testimony about it, says the New Mexico Supreme Court in reversing a trial court and joining a growing trend. The officer administered the HGN tes ...

Front Page Story - February 22, 1999 - Lawyers Weekly USA
Laser Gun Requires Expert Testimony
Applies to Drunk Driving, Drug Cases
Experts say this argument can be made any time a laser gun is used to stop a driver for speeding -- including cases where a drunk driving or drug charge results from a speeding stop. Defense lawyers "would be committing malpractice not to bring a mot ...

Front Page Story - September 21, 1998 - Lawyers Weekly USA
Drunk Drivers Are Being Deported
Malpractice Trap for Defense Lawyers in Every State
A non-citizen who commits a drunk driving felony and is sentenced to a year or more in prison now faces mandatory deportation and permanent banishment from the U.S., as the result of a decision by the Immigration Board of Appeals. This is a dramatic ...

Washington Report - March 23, 1998 - Lawyers Weekly USA
Drunk Driving Limit Of .08% Passes Senate
08% under a bill that has passed the Senate as part of a larger highway funding measure. A similar bill has been introduced in the House, but there has been no indication that it will be added to the House version of the highway funding measure. "Att ...

Front Page Story - November 17, 1997 - Lawyers Weekly USA
Drunk Driving 'Eye Test' Can't Be Introduced Without Expert
The "horizontal gaze nystagmus" test for drunk drivers is inadmissible unless the state provides expert testimony about it, says another state supreme court in joining a growing trend. In the latest case, the Tennessee Supreme Court held that the tes ...

Front Page Story - April 07, 1997 - Lawyers Weekly USA
Drunk Driver Can Turn Around To Avoid Stopping at Roadblock
Conviction Reversed Using U.S. Policy Manual
The reason: The police stipulated at trial that the roadblock was "in total compliance" with U.S. Department of Transportation and local police department policies -- and the defendant then produced a "Sobriety Checkpoints Briefing Guide" published b ...

Section B Stories - March 25, 1996 - Lawyers Weekly USA
Drunken-Driving Lawyers For Referral Network
Experienced Attorneys Join to Market Themselves
Attorneys who specialize in representing clients accused of drunken driving are banding together to market their services and make it easier for the public to find top-notch DUI defense lawyers. The "Drinking Drivers Defense Network" serves a "practi ...

Front Page Stories - February 26, 1996 - Lawyers Weekly USA
Drunk Driver Is Held 10 1/2 Hours Before Release; Case Dismissed
Where a drunk driver was in jail for 10 1/2 hours after he refused to take a breath test, he couldn't be prosecuted for drunk driving because this would be "Double Jeopardy," says the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals. This is the first time any ap ...

Front Page Stories - February 12, 1996 - Lawyers Weekly USA
Drunk Driving Defendants Are Avoiding `License Suspensions'
Driver's license suspension hearings can be won by drunk driving defendants as much as 60% of the time in some states, experts tell Lawyers Weekly USA. Winning the hearing may weaken the argument that a subsequent criminal trial is "Double Jeopardy." ...

Front Page Stories - December 18, 1995 - Lawyers Weekly USA
Ruling Could Help `Drunk Driving' Defense
The interlocutory appeal that was allowed by the Fifth Circuit could help "Double Jeopardy" drunk driving defendants, experts say. This ruling could be cited in arguing that a defendant should be allowed to appeal the double jeopardy issue before tri ...

Front Page Stories - December 04, 1995 - Lawyers Weekly USA
Will Drunk Driving Defense Be Rejected?
Experts Say: Wait for Federal Courts
Will Drunk Driving Defense Be Rejected? The drunk driving defense based on "Double Jeopardy" has been rejected by appeals courts in Idaho, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Vermont and Wisconsin. Although the state appeals courts have overwhelmingly reje ...

Front Page Stories - July 03, 1995 - Lawyers Weekly USA
New Drunk Driving Defense Rejected by Eight Appeals Courts
The "Double Jeopardy" drunk driving defense has been rejected by eight state appellate courts, while one state appellate court has accepted it. The defense has been turned down by the Supreme Courts of Hawaii, Maine and New Mexico, and by intermediat ...

Front Page Stories - February 13, 1995 - Lawyers Weekly USA
Drunk Driving Defense Works Another Time
Prosecutors Across USA 'Bombarded' With Motions to Dismiss
Where a drunk driver had her license suspended, she could avoid a criminal trial because this would be "Double Jeopardy" under the U.S. Constitution, says another state court. This time it was a judge in Flagstaff, Arizona who accepted this argument ...