Legal Question in DUI Law in Florida

Re: dui/refusal illegal stop?

There are many issues to discuss such as which officer pulled you over and what his dui arrest record is, video etc.

You should at least have a DMV hearing on your license, in which county were you? The partner at my office just published a DUI treatise (300 pages) they may addresses some of these issues

Re: dui/refusal illegal stop?

Hello: I just read your question. I see you had one answer, but I wanted to supplement that and provide a source for you in Duval County should you need that.

You need to know what the law and punishment is and what the court procedures are. As such, you mention you refused tests. This can suspend your license for one year if this is your first refusal. You can challenge the refusal, but you must file for this within 10 days. This matter is separate from the actual DUI case.

For a DUI conviction, the State must prove ALL three of these: You were in actual physical possession of a motor vehicle, you were under the influence of some substance, you were under the influence to the extent your normal faculties were impaired. If you didn't give the State much evidence, the have a problem proving DUI. We often try to persuade the State to let our clients plead to reckless driving. This is much less serious than DUI.

If you are challenging the officer's right to stop you, you would have to file a Motion To Suppress the Evidence. You would have a hearing on this motion in front of the judge. If the court finds it was an illegal stop, the evidence that resulted from that stop would not be admissible at trial. Thus, the State would have a real problem and, in that scenario, would probably drop the case. I do not want to get your hopes up too much as judges do not often grant these motions.

I always advise clients/friends never just plead to a first DUI just to get it over with. ALWAYS file for Discovery and obtain ALL of the records the officer wrote. I recently won a DUI trial just because of the inconsistencies/lies that were in the officer's reports.

As for the procedures, you first plead not guilty and ask the court for a pass date. Judges pass cases for differeent periods of time. It is common up here for cases to be passed for two weeks for pre-trials. We come in on the pre-trials (client doesn't have to go), tell the judge what we have been doing and ask for a pass date. Sometimes, if it is a bad case for us, we'll plead at a pre-trial and the case is over. After a while, if the State and us have not worked out a plea agreement, the Court will set the case for a jury trial. This holds everybody's feet to the fire...kind of forces a move one way or the other. Sometimes on the morning we are in court to pick a jury, one side gives in. We usually try to get this resolved the Fri. before the Mon. of jury selection so no one wastes time preparing for nothing.

'Hope this helps. If we can be of any assistance in North Fla. please give my office a call. Tom Rosenblum