Recent Cases
January 15, 2009
Mr. S was pulled over in Park City. The officer claimed that S failed to use his turn signal twice. The video confirmed at least one failure to use the turn signal. The officer claimed S smelled of alcohol, had poor dexterity, slurred speech, failed all field sobriety tests, and refused to take a breath test. S took the stand and testified on his own behalf that he drank no alcohol that night, that he was the designated driver, that was getting directions from five people in the car, and that he would not take the breath test because he did not trust the officers after they told him he failed all field tests. A video was presented in trial of his demeanor and driving pattern. The jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty in less than an hour.
October 31, 2008
Mrs. P was pulled over for failing to maintain her lane of travel and weaving. The officer testified that she was weaving in and out of her travel lane, that she stopped eight car legnths before the traffic light, and did not pull over for 3 blocks once the officer put on his lights and sirens. The officer noticed slurred speech, poor balance, red eyes, and fine motor skill problems. Mrs. P failed all field sobriety tests horribly. Her blood test was positive for rx drugs, pain killers. Mrs. P defense was simply this, reasonable doubt. She didn't hear the sirens because her radio was too loud. She couldn't do the tests because she just had knee surgery. She was weaving because she was reaching for CDs in her car. The jury was out for three hours before rendering a verdict of not guilty.
November 2007
Mr. P was pulled over earlier this year. The officer to Mr. P that he made a wide right turn. Later, Mr. P's citation said he ran a red light. This month, Mr. P had the guts to turn down the city's offers to plead to a lessor charge, and instead, take his case to trial before a jury. The officer described Mr. P has having a strong odor of alcohol on him, swaying with unsteady balance, slurred speech, 6/6 clues on the HGN, 4/8 clues on the 9 Step Walk and Turn, and 3/4 clues on the one legged stand. The officer gave Mr. P a breath test which was introduced at trial to be a .095. Mr. P testified in his own defense and told the jury what happened from his perspective. He told the jury how he was coughing the whole time the officer was supposed to be watching him prior to the breath test, which could have caused the breath test to give a false high reading. In essence, it was shown that the officer did not follow the proper procedures. The jury rendered a verdict of Not Guilty on the DUI in about 20 minutes. The jury found Mr. P guilty on running a red light, which Mr. P admitted while he was testifying.
November 2007
Mr. S was accused of driving with no headlights, weaving, and taking a long time to pull over. The Murray City police described a man that had problems with his obtaining his license and registration, problems putting his car in park, slow and very slurred speech, a strong odor of alcohol, and problems standing up. The cops described Mr. S as being very combative and trying to escape at least three times. As the trial went on, Mr. S testified in his own behalf and told the jury how the police attacked him when he tried to record the officers verbally and physically assaulting him. Despite all the officers efforts to paint Mr. S as a drunken driver, the jury found Mr. S Not Guilty in 1 hour and 30 Minutes.
October 2007
Mr. R was charged with intoxication, assault with serious bodily injury, disorderly conduct, and criminal mischief. Mr. R was accused of breaking the finger of another person while being intoxicated. He was accused of destroying the phone of the other person, and he was accused of engaging in fighting behavior. Mr. R was found Not Guilty of all four charges.
September 2007
Mr. R lost his driving privileges at the driver's license hearing. The case was appealed to the District Court. R was accused of too much rx drugs in his system. He was found asleep in his truck, engine running, and not very responsive. He was asked to do field sobriety tests and failed. He was arrested. At the appeal, the judge gave him his driver's license back based on the fact that the officer failed to show up.
August 2007
Mr. S was accused of DUI and no license plate light. The officer pulled S over for no license plate light. He smelled alcohol and called another officer to investigate for DUI. Second officer did Field Sobriety Tests and ultimately arrested S for DUI. A breath test was taken and S was .09. Several motions were filed to suppress the breath test on the grounds the officer never checked S's mouth prior to the test as required by law and motions were filed to dismiss the case for an illegal arrest. All motions were denied and the case was set for trial. The jury was seated and we were heading for opening statements. The State had four witnesses read to testify that S was drunk. The State offered a non-dui charge (reckless driving) after the State realized they made a serious mistake in prosecuting the case.
June 29, 2007
Ms. D was accused of DUI. This was a trial for her Driver's License. The officer testified that she was all over the road in her driving almost hitting someone, she spoke slow, had red and watery eyes, poor balance, positive for alcohol on the PBT, failed miserably on the nine step walk and turn and the one legged stand. We argued that she was just plain emotional and upset. She took a breath test and received a result of .10. The judge ruled that the officer did not have the probable cause to arrest Ms. D. Therefore, she was able to keep her driver's license.
June 8, 2007
The Trial of Mr. O (actual name omitted) actually began a month before. When the first witness was called, he had reports that he did not turn over to the defense. Rather than the judge declare a mistrial or strike the evidence, which is common in these instances, the judge continued the case for a month. We started right where we left off with the first witness. The officers accused Mr. O of driving erratically, stumbling around, having slurred speech, an extremely strong odor of alcohol, red eyes, and failing all of the field sobriety tests. Fortunately, the jury saw through the exaggerations. Mr. O did not testify according to my advice. After one hour and five minutes, the jury found Mr. O not guilty of DUI.
April 9, 2007
May 22, 2007
Mr. C was accused of possession of drug paraphernalia. The police searched Mr. C's truck and found a syringe. The police then searched Mr. C's home and found a box of syringes in the bathroom. The police testified that Mr. C admitted he was addicted to meth and other drugs. Mr. C did not testify on his own behalf. This case was heard before a judge, not a jury. The judge rendered a verdict of Not Guilty.
March 28, 2007
Mr. B was accused of DUI. Mr. B was traveling in a truck on a mountain road when it rolled. He was accused of slow and slurred speech, poor balance, red and glassy eyes, and failing all field sobriety tests. He took a breath test that rendered a .18 breath test. After the jury was seated, the prosecutor dismissed the DUI and Mr. B plead guilty to intoxication.
March 8, 2007
Mr. S was accused of DUI. His car was stuck in a snow bank. The officer accused him of slow and slurred speech, red and glossy eyes, poor balance, admitting he was highly drunk, and failing all field sobriety tests. Mr. S refused all chemical tests. The jury rendered a verdict of Not Guilty in 2 hours.
March 6, 2007
Mr. P was accused of DUI. The officers accused Mr. P of urinating on himself, slow and slurred speech, red and glassy eyes, poor balance, strong odor of alcohol, unable to stand up straight, and refusing all tests. On the day of trial, the prosecutor dismissed the DUI and Mr. P plead guilty to reckless driving (non-alcohol related).
January 6, 2006
Mr. K. was accused of DUI and rolling through a stop sign. The Trooper testified that Mr. K had slow and slurred speech, was very combative and rude, uncooperative, poor balance, red blood shot and glassy eyes, failed all attempts of field tests, refused to do most of the field tests, wreaked of alcohol, and "totally drunk" in the Trooper's opinion. A second officer supported this testimony with backing up everything the Trooper testified to and emphasizing that Mr. K was talking real loudly. The prosecutor would not offer any sort of plea deal because it was Mr. K's second offense. The jury rendered a verdict of Not Guilty in 1 hour 20 minutes.
