DUI

Win Your DUI Breath Test

Jason Cerbone · April 6, 2012 ·

I had grown tired of standing in the lean and lonely front line facing the greatest enemy that ever confronted man — public opinion. But, I went in, to do what I could for sanity and humanity against the wave of hatred and malice that, as ever, was masquerading under its usual nom de plume: Justice. Clarence Darrow

I’ve been working hard in Savannah, Georgia. Last week I was in New Orleans, Louisiana for the top level DUI seminar: Mastering Scientific Evidence in DUI Cases. I learned very much. I learned from the best DUI attorneys in the field. I do this, all to give you the best fighting chance. My favorite thing came from Mimi Coffey, the Texas DUI Defense lawyer. She moves me — majorly. Her website says: “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” – Mark Twain. This post and the ideas for it came from me watching and listening to Miss Coffey’s presentation, “How to Win a Breath Test.” Check out Mimi Coffey’s website for The Coffey Firm.

A breath test can ruin the best of cases. Breath test cases are hard. The odds are against you. The State’s breath device expert is coming to your DUI trial in Chatham County to tell the jury that the breath slip is right. Cold day in hell before the State’s chemist testifies you are not guilty. For most folks, a breath test slip is enough.

Two things to win

To win your DUI case in Savannah, Georgia, you need two things: the jury must WANT to let you go, and they need a REASON that they should let you go. To make the jury want to let you go, they must like you. Sticking with Clarence Darrow again, “The main work of a trial attorney is to make a jury like his client.” We’ll need your family and your friends to come to your trial and be there for you. Because if no one else cares about you, then why should the jury?

Spin the little alcohol dial and let the truth prevail

Spin the little alcohol dial and see how much alcohol it would take for you to blow .08. Also see what it would take for you to blow the number that’s on your test slip. Bring in your fact witnesses where the two don’t add up: what you drank that night and what the breath test says you drank. Let the truth prevail. If the Savannah jury wants to convict you despite knowing the truth, let it weigh on their shoulders and not my lack of trying.

About the 19th Annual Mastering Scientific Evidence in DUI/DWI Cases

There were lectures on DUI forensic science, DUI trial techniques, breakout sessions on training on the major breath test machines, and a mock trial with an audio and video feed of jury deliberations shown to us inside the main seminar ball room. It was wonderful. William C. “Bubba” Head, Lawrence Taylor, Don Nichols, and the late Joyce Reese started the seminar. Their mission was to educate DUI Defense lawyers on forensic science, including the many flaws in breath and chemical testing, and alcohol measurement devices. After 11 years, Head handed over the seminar to the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association and the National College for DUI Defense (NCDD). Texas lawyer and NCDD regent “Troy McKinney is the General who made it so successful,” says Gary Trichter, his Texas colleague and NCDD Fellow. Gary Trichter says the seminar is “the key to the bank and attorneys should embrace the science involved in DUI defense and not fear it.”

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Tips to Avoid DUI on Saint Patrick’s Day

Jason Cerbone · March 17, 2012 ·

Don’t drink and drive if you are impaired. Don’t drive anything, even golf carts.
NEVER admit that you drank any alcohol.
Never perform field sobriety tests.
Never blow into a portable breath test device.
Be quiet. Don’t blurt out anything to the cop to try and explain yourself because it will be used against you in court.
Have your license and other documents in hand and offer these to the cop.
Never sit behind the wheel if you are drunk. Don’t even sit in the front seat of a car if you are intoxicated.
Blend in with traffic because this makes it harder for the police to detect you than if you are the lone driver.
Don’t be a good Samaritan on the way home because random acts of kindness bring the police around a lot.
Stay in your car unless told to get out by the cop.
Sleep in the back seat if you must. Turn off the ignition and put the keys in your pocket. Make sure the car is off the highway.
Breath tests can be wrong when you have recently been around volatile fumes, like lacquer, paint, gasoline, or dry cleaning fluids. Always get a second independent test.
Use the driver’s rights cards because it speaks for you to the Savannah Police.
Eat well.
Don’t argue with the officer. Give him your documents and say nothing except to respond to his questions.
If you are in an accident, after having drank, don’t talk to anyone at the scene about anything. Never take any field sobriety tests. If anyone was hurt or killed, refuse all tests.
Try to record the conversations between you and the cops because the officer’s missing or defective warnings can cause test results to be excluded from evidence.
Find a skilled DUI attorney who knows the ropes. You want a DUI trial specialist because he can beat the DUI or he can probably work you a better plea deal.

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Preliminary Breath Test

Jason Cerbone · March 15, 2012 ·

One Million people may be on the way. Savannah’s 2012 Saint Patrick’s Day Parade could be the largest in the world.

The Preliminary Breath Test (PBT) is used incorrectly by many police officers in Savannah, Georgia. On Saint Patrick’s Day it gets used worse. The PBT used by the police in Savannah, Georgia is the Alco-Sensor.

The Preliminary Breath Test (PBT) is a roadside initial alcohol screening device. It’s used to confirm the chemical basis of your impairment. The PBT can help to confirm all other evidence and to confirm the officer’s judgment as to whether you are impaired. It’s used to show the presence of alcohol in your system. The PBT does not show how much alcohol you have in your body, but rather if you show any alcohol in your body. Positive Alco-Sensor result is not enough. The PBT should never be the sole basis for a DUI arrest. They are never checked for calibration. Police departments lack the equipment and training. Most importantly, they are not right. For more information on Georgia’s Preliminary Breath Test, see Allen Trapp’s blog post: More on PBT’s. Also, check out Justin McShane’s blog post: DUI Myth Busters: Breath Test Accuracy.

First: the police officer is trained to give you three (3) field sobriety tests (Eye test, Walk and Turn, One Leg Stand). Second: based on these tests, he must decide if there is probable cause to arrest you for DUI. Third and Last: he may give you a PBT.

A good deal of police officers do give you the PBT first or some where in between the three field sobriety tests. This is wrong.

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How High is Drunk?

Jason Cerbone · March 7, 2012 ·

What’s the legal limit for DUI?

How much can you have before you are under the influence and DUI less safe in Savannah? It depends. It depends on how much time you drink. Are you a man or woman? How big are you? Did you drink on an empty stomach?

It is not against the law to have a drink and drive. Rather, you break the law if you have too many drinks and drive. That’s the law in Chatham County. If you are an adult you may drive after you drank as long as you are not “under the influence of alcohol.” What does that mean? Lawrence Taylor, the Dean of DUI Defense attorneys says that two glasses of wine will not put you under the influence of alcohol or over the legal limit of .08. See his blog post, The DUI Exception to the Constitution. But then Mr. Taylor has another better blog post with a chart, How many drinks can I have? A Florida DUI lawyer says the two drink rule is no good. See his blog post, Florida DUI Attorneys Discuss Why The Two Drink Rule Is Not Correct. But, then why have you heard of people who got a DUI and they had only two drinks? Because DUI is an opinion. If you don’t take the breath test or a blood test, then your liberty depends on the police officer’s opinion of your sobriety. Is this fair, accurate, and reliable?

Prepare for Jury Trial

I pledge allegiance to prepare every one of my DUI cases in Savannah, Georgia like it’s headed straight to a jury trial. I am open to a good plea-bargain, if the deal means no DUI for you. If you walk in to plead out, you’ll never get a good deal because the district attorney knows you aren’t going to do anything about it anyway.

The DUI Police Report

But, the police report looks bad, you say. Until trial the police report is irrelevant. It doesn’t matter what it says, the way is to not get scared and put them to the test — go to trial no matter how bad the report seems. This is the only way. There is no bulletproof police report. All reports can be overcome. All cop’s opinions can be defeated. Now, I make no guarantees. But, there are no foolproof reports. And most of the time, the police report is good for making the officer look like a moron at trial. The Police report is useless to everyone until we have the officer on the stand and can embarrass him. I’m always working on this. So I do it well. I do it to slam your DUI. I know this sounds like bragging, but you have to have confidence to be a champion and that is the only thing I ever wished to be.

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Attacking Field Sobriety Tests

Jason Cerbone · February 17, 2012 ·

You’re scared. You’re nervous. You have trouble understanding the cop’s directions. He barks them to you one time. The ground is sloped and there is gravel. You’re alone. Strobe lights from the police car bounce, and there is a man in front of you with a gun. You are doing the “Field Sobriety Tests” (FSTS), but which are better called Roadside Agility Tryouts (“RATS”). What’s the weather like? What time is it? How’s the lighting? Is there traffic? Do you feel safe on the side of the road late in the night as the 18-wheel trucks fly by? Vibrations and wind waves from those eighteen wheelers hit you while you tried to stand on one leg. That doesn’t make things easier. You’ve never done this before. You are being graded. If you lose, you go to jail. Oh, and the cop expects you to lose because why else would he have asked you to do the damned things? What’s worse is that he or she doesn’t know what he or she is doing anyway. Check out “The Cops Themselves Can’t Perform the Field Sobriety Tests,” by Justin McShane, the DUI lawyer in Pennsylvania.

The key to winning your DUI case in Savannah, Georgia begins on the road. Ever seen a road that was level? Ever seen a smooth road? The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) requires a dry level location for the DUI police to do the field sobriety tests. So, the first thing we’ll need to do is go to the scene and take a look at that uneven road. The road is a dirty mess. Your only way out is to beat the RAT’s in court. If I find a short-cut then we’ll take it. The RAT’s depend on the officer properly performing them on you. I like to highlight the cop’s failure to do the tests according to procedures. I’ll show he’s shaky on the details of how to instruct, demonstrate, give and score these RAT’s. I’m trying to discredit him and weaken the State’s case. I challenge the accuracy of the principles behind the RAT’s, the credibility of the cop, and all the details of you taking them and the cop’s grading them. The devil is in the details. I could go on and on and on. But will save something for the ring. Hope this doesn’t sound over-confident. You have to have confidence to be a champion and that is the only thing I ever wished to be.

Don’t do the Field Sobriety Tests

In Savannah, Georgia, if you’re pulled over at night and the police officer asks you to get out of the car, he’s probably checking you out for DUI. The rest is downhill. These field sobriety tests are very difficult to pass. And the guy who decides if you pass or fail them is the same man who has put you in this position. Do you trust him? If you attempt these exercises, you will fail. And you are going to jail for DUI. You’ll fail because the field sobriety tests are unfair. You’ll fail because everything is in that cop’s subjective opinion. If the cop decides to arrest you, then you’re going to fail. Oh, and he decided to arrest you through the window before you got out of your car.

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