Cerbone

DUI & Divorce Lawyer in Savannah, Georgia

Field Sobriety Tests

Ten minute DUI not guilty verdict

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She was charged with DUI less safe (alcohol) and Failure to maintain lane. It took the Chatham County jury ten minutes to reach a verdict. Not guilty to DUI less safe. Guilty to Failure to maintain lane. That was the fastest DUI not guilty verdict that I’ve ever had.

Also, this was the first time that I was put in contempt of court and put in a holding cell. So there I was. The judge took me out about ten minutes later and said nothing about it. It was a misunderstanding. But the jury was waiting and a I had a trial to finish. I stayed focused.

She was driving home and using her phone for GPS. She hit a center median and broke her axle, and the air bags exploded hitting her in the face, she lost control of her car and it stopped in the elementary school parking lot across four lanes. A street sweeper saw something. He called the police. The officer did field sobriety on her, but didn’t call for medical assistance. And this is important because the DUI field sobriety expert who testified for my client said that he would have never asked her to do field sobriety and would have called for medical assistance because she was hit in the head by exploding air bags and she crashed. It didn’t matter that she said she was alright. He would have called for help. But the officer did not. Instead, he gave her the field sobriety tests.

DUI police officers are trained that people who are overweight by 50 pounds or more may have difficulty performing the tests. She was over 50 pounds overweight, and this was the key, I think. Not that she was overweight, but that the jury felt awful for her. When I made that point, the room went cold, and dead silent and the witnesses asked about her weight didn’t want to talk about it. So, now this uncomfort lasted longer because I had to make the point. Anyway, she walked out of the court house that evening and said “Thank you.” “Your welcome”, I said.

Judgment: Ten minute DUI not guilty verdict

Ten minute not guilty to DUI less safe refusal jury trial

Preliminary Breath Test

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Girl blows in a Preliminary breath test for DUI at roadside

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 (Preliminary Breath Tests): The Alco-Sensor.  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.

Attacking Field Sobriety Tests

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Attacking Field Sobriety Tests

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.

24 Initial Visual DUI Detection Cues

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24 Initial Visual DUI Detection CuesThe National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) identified 24 cues for police officers to detect nighttime impaired drivers.

24 Initial Visual DUI Detection Cues

  1. Weaving
  2. Weaving Across Lane Lines
  3. Straddling A Lane Line
  4. Swerving
  5. Turning With Wide Radius
  6. Drifting
  7. Almost Striking Object or Vehicle
  8. Stopping Problems (too far, too short, too jerky)
  9. Accelerating Or Decelerating Rapidly
  10. Varying Speed
  11. Slow Speed (10 m.p.h. + Under Limit)
  12. Driving In Opposing Lanes Or Wrong Way On One-Way Street
  13. Slow Response to Traffic Signals
  14. Slow Or Failure To Respond To Officer’s Signal’s
  15. Stopping in Lane for No Apparent Reason
  16. Driving Without Headlights At Night
  17. Failure to Signal or Signal Inconsistent with Action
  18. Following Too Closely
  19. Improper or Unsafe Lane Change
  20. Illegal or Improper Turn (too fast, jerky, sharp, etc.)
  21. Driving on Other Than Designated Roadway
  22. Stopping Inappropriately In Response To Officer
  23. Inappropriate Or Unusual Behavior (throwing objects, arguing, etc.)
  24. Appearing to be Impaired

You might be surprised to learn that 40 out of 100 drivers “appearing to be impaired” to cops are not under the influence?  And, 40 out of 100 drivers who are weaving or who almost strike another vehicle are also sober.  Lastly, 30 out of 100 people doing the above are not DUI.

How important are driving symptoms in a DUI case?

Driving is the most important.  So…I like to get the cop to tell the jury all the things that my client didn’t show from the above list.

 

Field Sobriety Test Limits

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The NHTSA DUI Detection and Standardized Field Sobriety Testing August 2006 Student Manual is the only thing that cops are trained on giving field sobriety tests to DUI suspects.  The manual says: “THE VALIDATION ONLY APPLIES IF STANDARDIZED FIELD SOBRIETY IS GIVEN EXACTLY IN THE STANDARDIZED MANNER IT WAS VALIDATED.” — (Session 8, p. 19)  This means several things.  First, the instructions have to be given.  Second, the DUI cop must use only the standardized clues. He can’t make up his own clues.  Third, the officer must use standardized criterion, like the grading, and factor in limitations.  If the officer deviates from any of those things, then the validation study from which the field sobriety tests are validated is useless.  So, my goal is to show that this Savannah police officer deviated from the field sobriety test limitations, and your field sobriety tests are useless.

Age Requirement

The manual says that if a person is age 65 or older, even if sober, they could have problems with the Walk and Turn test and the One Leg Stand test.

Weight Requirement

If a person is 50 or more pounds over weight, even if sober, they could have problems with the One Leg Stand.

Shoe Requirement

If a person has on shoes with heels two inches or more in length, even if sober, they had problems with the One Leg Stand and Walk and Turn.  A Savannah Cop is supposed to ask the Driver if they want to take their shoes off if it seems that their heels are two inches or more.

Watch a video by the man, Lawrence Taylor answering the question: Should I take the field sobriety tests? Should I take the Field Sobriety Tests?

Field Sobriety Test Limits NHTSA-Validation Pages from NHTSA Aug 2006 DUI:DWI field sobriety student manual

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