Posted on December 18, 2007 by Glen Neeley

Utah DUI Charges--18 Troopers, 18 Arrest

This past weekend, 18 Utah Highway Patrol Troopers made 18 arrests people for DUI.  100 cars were pulled over according to the article in the Deseret Morning News.  Here we go again, officers look for any reason they can to pull a citizen over to check them for alcohol.  The motive is wrong even though the outcome is legal.  119 vehicles were stopped.  Trooper Cameron Roden justifies the "harassment" patrol by saying that they are trying to interdict where they can. 
DUI crackdown nets 18 arrests
Published: Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2007 12:08 a.m. MST
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A drunken-driving sweep conducted over the weekend by the Utah Highway Patrol resulted in more than 100 cars being stopped and 18 people going to jail on suspicion of DUI.

The UHP said it had 18 troopers on duty as part of a drunken-driving crackdown, resulting in 119 vehicles being stopped. Of those, 18 were arrested for driving under the influence.

"We're trying to interdict where we can," UHP Trooper Cameron Roden said Monday.
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Posted on December 14, 2007 by Glen Neeley

Utah DUI Attorney

The question that was presented to me the other day was, "Why should I hire a Utah DUI Attorney, rather than an attorney that does all sorts of cases?"  I responded, with a question, "If you needed brain surgery, would you go to a general practitioner?"  Defending DUI has become a specialty that takes years of training and experience to properly defend a person properly.  To be a Utah DUI Attorney does not necessarily mean the attorney's practice is exclusively devoted to defending DUIs.  However, it should be pretty close.  A Utah DUI Attorney can be identified because he has certificates on his wall showing you that he has been to national seminars.  The Utah DUI Attorney will have a bookshelf in his office chalk full of how to defend DUIs in Utah.  The Utah DUI Attorney will not talk to you about plea bargain as your first option when you walk through the door.  The Utah DUI Attorney will not be cheap because he will do more work on the DUI case than the general practitioner. 

In shopping for a DUI lawyer, many people shop for the cheapest Utah DUI Attorney they can find.  The problem is that those people almost always regret it.  The biggest complaint I hear from people about their Utah DUI attorney is not that they lost my case.  The biggest complaint is that "my attorney didn't do anything.  He was the cheapest I could afford, but he would not take my case to trial." 

On a side note, when looking for a Utah DUI Attorney, make sure you ask the question to the attorney you are interviewing, "are you going to handle my case, or is there someone else that will handle the case like and associate."

Here are some key points in looking for a Utah DUI Attorney:
  • How many times does the attorney go to trial?
  • What type of seminars has the attorney attended in the last two years?
  • Has the attorney been certified in conducting Field Sobriety Tests?
  • Has the attorney completed any special training on the breath test instruments?
  • What does the attorney's study and what books are on his shelf in his office?
  • What does the attorney charge?
  • What do other attorney's say about the attorney?
  • What percentage of his practice is focused on DUIs?
Again, don't let a general practitioner do brain surgery.  If you need help with a personal injury, look for an attorney that specializes in personal injury.  If you need help with a divorce, look for an attorney that focuses on family law.  If you need help with a DUI, look for a Utah DUI Attorney.  It just makes good sense.
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Posted on August 15, 2007 by Glen Neeley

Intoxilyzer Breath Guesser Manufacturer is in Contempt

On August 12, 2007, I wrote a little bit about the Source Code that the manufacturer is refusing to let anyone see.   A Defendant has a right to see and challenge the evidence against him or her.   This issue is being heavily litigated in Florida.  Apparently, CMI Inc., the manufacturer, said we are not providing the source code and we are going to disobey a court order to produce the source code.  Click this link to see the order.

The highlight of the order is that CMI is being fined $3200 for every day they do not comply with the order.

Makes you wonder what are they hiding.  Is their multi-million dollar company going to be exposed as convicting innocent people?  Again, it sure seems odd that people who swear up and down that they had very little to drink fail the breath test in a big way with really high numbers.
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Posted on August 11, 2007 by Glen Neeley

Utah's Breath Test Guesser

    In Utah, it is illegal to drive when your blood/breath alcohol content is over a .08%. To determine how much alcohol is in your breath, the government uses three methods: a breath machine, a blood sample, or a urine sample. The most common method to test for alcohol in a person’s system is using the breath machine. Utah uses two different machines made by the same company: the Intoxilyzer 5000 and the Intoxilyzer 8000. The technicians that maintain these machines for the government used to argue that the Intoxilyzer 5000 was state of the art machine. Now, they argue that the Intoxilyzer 8000 is more accurate that other machines. Doesn’t that raise a question about the accuracy of the machines? If the 5000 was so accurate, why then is the 8000 even more accurate. Stephen Hamilton in Lubbock Texas writes about how these machines are breath test guessers. The machine is simply guessing what your alcohol content is at the time you take the test.

    Guessing! Why is the government employing a program that guesses your alcohol content and then tells the world that you or your loved one was driving while intoxicated? Everyone knows that if you give two simultaneous breath tests, one will not be the same as the other.  A breath test is an indirect measurement of what is in your blood. Why doesn't the government employ a program that takes a direct measurement of what is in your blood like a blood test in all cases?

    Maybe it is too expensive. Maybe it is too inconvenient. Maybe it would show that officers make mistakes in arresting everyone who smells like alcohol. If the government is accusing you of a crime, try to lock you up, take your license from you, and infringe substantially on your life, shouldn’t they use the most accurate means of proving your innocence or guilt instead of using a breath test guesser.

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