Florida Criminal Defense Blog

A strange story about an Ocala Florida arrest where a woman’s car is stopped on train tracks, forcing a train to stop. She was subsequently arrested for drunk driving.

One of the interesting parts of the story is that registered as under the legal limit on a breath test machine. According to the news report, she recorded a .077% on two different tests, which is just shy of the legal limit for intoxication of .08% BAC under Florida law.

A drunk driving prosecution can, and presumably will still be pursued despite this fact. According to Florida DUI laws, a breath test or blood alcohol level at .08 or higher is no the only legal standard of guilt for drunk driving. You can be arrested, charged, and convicted of drunk driving with any BAC level if there is sufficient proof that you are under the influence and/or impaired to a degree that your faculties are reduced.

However, the fact that she is technically under the legal limit is certainly evidence that she may well have not been impaired. The case will likely hinge on other behaviors, and evidence gathered at the scene.

The police say that she failed field sobriety tests, among other subjective assessments at the time of the arrest. Field sobriety tests can often be successfully challenged in court by a knowledgeable defense attorney. There are many reasons a person can fail a field test, and not be impaired. And police often administer them incorrectly, again their very training, which can cause the results to be completely invalid.

Other police statements in the news report are that she was unsteady on her feet, and her eyes were glassy and bloodshot. Again, there can be reasonable explanations for any of these conditions, and the question is also valid to ask – “Compared to what”? What are the normal conditions of her balance and eyes? Presumably the police have never met her before.

Again, this is all wild speculation based on a flimsy news report. But most any Florida DUI defense attorney would love to fight a case with a breathalyzer result under the legal limit. The result will be admissible in court, and may flip the balance and burden of proof. The prosecutors will have to establish legal intoxication despite evidence that she was under the legal limit.

After a thorough review of the actual evidence in the case, such as the police report, a smart DUI defense attorney will know what to expect in court, what the police officer will say, and how to challenge those claims with plausible explanations.

If the prosecutors and police witnesses can’t establish, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the individual was impaired and guilty of a crime, then she should be found not guilty.

—

If you have been arrested on a Drunk driving / DUI / DWI charge in Florida, please contact our statewide attorneys for a free consultation. You will get an opportunity to have a legal case evaluation with an experienced attorney in DUI defense, who knows your court, and knows the law. And there is no obligation for our advice. Talk to us, and talk to other attorneys if you need to. Whatever it takes to make sure you get the best attorney you can find.

But don’t delay, contact us today.

New questions are being raised after a Florida woman with mental health problems purchased a gun, and used that gun to kill herself and a friend three days later. The woman had a history of drug abuse, and had been held for mental evaluation on several previous occasions.

Florida’s gun laws are not considered very strict when it comes to preventing people from purchasing guns who may have a history of mental health issues.

The standard for refusing to sell someone a gun includes mental health conditions where a person is determined to be “mentally defective”, or a person who has been institutionalized involuntarily.  However, the term “mentally defective” is open to interpretation, and is not necessarily clear in the law.

Florida firearms dealers are required to submit a request to the FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to perform a background check on a person before selling them the gun.  The background check, which takes three days, includes searches for disqualifying events such as felony convictions or misdemeanors if they are domestic violence related, open restraining orders, as well as the known mental health issues.

However, private sales and gun shows are not required to perform the same background checks.

In this case, the check would not have made a difference, since the woman was not disqualified for gun ownership under the existing mental health condition restrictions.

This tragic case will likely bring new calls for tighter restrictions on red flags for mental health conditions that should restrict firearms ownership in Florida.

—

If you have been charged with a criminal gun possession or related weapons charges on Florida, please contact our defense lawyers for a consultaiton and free case evaluation.

The St. Petersburg Times has a story of a disturbing trend involving Florida DUI arrests with children in the car. Officers seem to be seeing this circumstance more frequently, and can result in additional criminal charges of child neglect being brought against the driver.

A child neglect charge is now encourages in these circumstances, which has not always been the case in the past. In addition, such a charge puts into motion an investigation of the child’s home life, and can help identify children who might have dangerous home situations that may not have been noticed.

Neglect charges are not just happening in cases of DUI stops. Any criminal activity by parents with children present may result in the additional criminal offense in an arrest, including illegal drug purchases and transactions, and many other possible situations.

In any case, while this trend is unsettling, at least law enforcement and Florida social services and the Department of Children and Families are taking the right approach to helping kids who may be in need.

—

For a free consultation on any arrest or criminal charge in Florida, please contact out attorneys today.