DUI News Blog The Latest DUI News and Information From DUI Defense Attorneys Across the Country

Image source: National Eye Institute https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Checking_Blood_Sample_(9955279835).jpg Can a patient seeking care at a hospital give a blood sample for the purposes of acquiring medical treatment while retaining their Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure of that sample of blood by the police? According to a recent Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals decision[1], the official answer is still unclear. On February 16, 2013, an Alabama driver struck and severely injured a pedestrian. The police arrived on the scene, and ... Read More »

Source: kcra.com Suspected DUI arrests for this year’s Thanksgiving weekend increased by 17% as compared to last year’s, according to the California Highway Patrol. During the Thanksgiving Maximum Enforcement Period, CHP said 1,019 arrests were made for impaired driving. The period ran from 6 p.m. on Wednesday and ran through midnight Sunday. Fifty-seven people were also killed on the roadway during this period, reflecting a 14% increase from the previous year.   Read More »

The Alabama legislature, in a 2021 legislative session, passed into law an act that will allow many criminal convictions to be expunged. When criminal arrests and now convictions are “expunged” the result is supposed to remove these sensitive records from public access. This new law which went into effect August 1, 2021, even includes many felony convictions. This means that felony convictions that did not include a violent crime can be removed from access by most everyone. The expungement law, ... Read More »

In March I, with the other members of the public, began hearing of a possible virus coming around. Covid 19 or Corona virus, both meaning the virus that presumably “escaped” from Wuhan, China was invading our country. Flights started getting banned, people started getting quarantined, and then suddenly, every-day items like bathroom tissue, paper towels and bottled water flew off the store shelves and became scarce.  Bars and restaurants were ordered by the government to shut down. Well, the obvious ... Read More »

The Alabama legislature in the 2018  session is proposing a bill that will affect DUI expungement for youthful offenders. The bill as originally proposed was going to allow expungement for youthful offenders who had admitted to being a youthful offender, even in DUI cases. The amended bill makes a DUI exception and specifically excludes DUI from this portion of the bill. Under the proposed bill, if a youthful offender (individual between 18 and 21 at the time of the offense ... Read More »

What does it mean for something to be robust? Some of the synonyms of the word “robust” are strong, sturdy or powerful. In 2007 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) undertook a study to see just how “robust” or “powerful” the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus Test was in the prediction of blood alcohol levels in humans. The study was titled “The Robustness of the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus Test”, Southern California Research Institute, in conjunction with the U. S. Department of ... Read More »

Yesterday afternoon Alabama Governor Robert Bentley signed into law Alabama Act 2016-152 (Senate Bill 259), which alters the affect a DUI acquittal, dismissal or nolle prose has on commercial driver license holders.  The vast majority if DUI criminal prosecutions in Alabama have a companion, civil driver license suspension case, in which the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency attempts to administratively suspend the accused’s driver license for blowing over the legal limit or refusing to take a breath alcohol test.    People ... Read More »

The 2016 regular session of the Alabama Legislature has come to a close. Every year one or more bills seek to change Alabama’s DUI law.  This year was no different.  It’s time to take a look at 2016’s legislative hits and misses as it relates to Alabama DUI defense. The bill I will address in this post did not ultimately pass, but I address it first for two reasons.  One, it would have made more sweeping changes to Alabama DUI ... Read More »

There has been quite a bit of buzz lately about a video illustrating a Florida attorney’s creative advice on handling DUI roadblocks / checkpoints. The video suggests you hang your ID and other documentation outside of your rolled up car window in a zip-lock bag along with a note stating “I remain silent. No searches. I want my lawyer….”  In the video, this approach works like a charm, but that does not mean it is good advice for drivers to ... Read More »

I have heard from a source close to the matter that the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences is about to approve another ignition interlock device for persons convicted of DUI in Alabama.  Since September 2012, Alabama’s DUI law began requiring ignition interlock installation for all multiple DUI offenders and even on some first time offenders.  The Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences was given responsibility for drafting regulations for ignition interlock installers and for maintaining a list of approved ignition interlock ... Read More »