False DUI Arrest in Florida

DUI is a serious charge in Florida. A DUI conviction can affect you and your family for the rest of your life. There are many occasions, however, when you can be wrongly arrested for DUI or suffer from misconduct at the hands of arresting officers. If this happens to you, you should talk to a criminal defense lawyer who can help you sue a police officer for false arrest or misconduct.

False Arrest

A reasonable grounds should be established when a DUI arrest is made by a police officer. This means that there should be something wrong about the way you drive or some other reason that would lead the officer to believe that you are driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. If a police officer stops you without reasonable grounds, then this constitutes misconduct. It is in your best interest to cooperate politely with the officer because aggressive or uncooperative behavior can be reasons for an arrest.

After the police officer stopped and questioned you, you may be asked to go through sobriety tests and maybe asked to blow into a breath analyzer test. It is in your best interest to cooperate with these tests. If you fail either your sobriety test or the breath analyzer test, the arresting officer will take you to a police station for a chemical test. If you believe you do not fail the test and show no evidence of alcohol on the breath analyzer test but the police officer still brings you to the police station, this could constitute a false arrest.

Misconduct

There many cases when police officers act in a manner which is not lawful. This happens especially when you are already in custody for DUI. Your criminal defense lawyer can cite malicious prosecution when a police officer charged you with DUI even if there was no probable cause in the first place to make an arrest.

The use of excessive force in a DUI arrest is also unlawful. Police officers have the right to use reasonable force against you if you resist arrest. However, there are many cases when reasonable force becomes unreasonable force. This may be difficult to prove, but your lawyer can pursue it depending on the evidence you have.

If you believe you were falsely arrested for DUI or there was some evidence of police misconduct while the arrest was made or you have been charged with DUI, you should hire an experienced DUI lawyer who can protect and fight your rights.

How to Prevent DUI with a Safe Party

Summer is just around the corner. Summertime is the time when most of us take advantage of the warm weather and throw a backyard party. And more often than not, a party during summer includes alcohol. Here are important tips on how you can help prevent drinking and driving on Florida highways.

There are about over a million DUI arrests made annually in the United States. There are about 55,000 arrests in 2011 alone in Florida. In the event that you are charged with a DUI, you must talk to a DUI defense lawyer as soon as you can.

Impaired driving and drunk driving may coincide, but they are not necessarily the same thing. A person is considered to be under the influence in Florida, or driving under the influence, when his blood alcohol content (BAC) is at or above the legal limit of 0.08. It should be noted, however, that even with a BAC lower than the legal limit, a person’s coordination, judgment, and reflexes can be impaired and Florida police patrol officers have the right to issue a DUI to a driver whose driving appears to be impaired, regardless of blood alcohol content.

As the host of the backyard party, make sure that your guests do not drink and drive by designating early on who among them will remain sober and function as designated drivers. For sure, there are guests who wish or may not be able to drink and might entertain the idea of volunteering for sober driver duty. Gather car keys at the start of the party and hang on to them if the owners are not sober.

As the host, make sure that the volunteer drivers and other guests have plenty of non-alcoholic beverage options. This way you can at least limit the consumption of alcohol. If you hire a bartender or assign a friend to do the duties of handling drinks to your guest, then make sure that you explain that guests should not be over-served.

The best way to prevent DUI is moderation in drinking. In addition, allow at least one hour of breathing room for all of your guests to unwind. Serve them additional bites to eat or non-alcoholic beverages before they leave your party. The hotness of summer is dehydrating, and this will worsen the condition of intoxicated drivers. Make sure to prevent a DUI arrest for a friend who comes to a party by following these simple tips.

If a friend is arrested for DUI, advise him or her to seek legal advice and guidance from a DUI lawyer.

How to Deal with Holiday DUI

Law enforcement officers are busy during holidays like the Fourth of July. While most people in Florida are happy celebrating holidays, police and Florida Highway Patrol are out patrolling highways and streets setting up DUI checkpoints in a heightened enthusiasm to arrest people for drunk driving.

Holidays like the Fourth of July results in more intoxicated motorists throughout roads and highways across the nation. Unfortunately, according to a data released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, more than half of deadly crashes on the Fourth of July are caused by drunk drivers in the last 25 years of the last century.

A DUI arrest is costly. A recent study shows that an average DUI arrest where there is no injury or damaged property may cost anywhere between $10,000 to $15,000. If someone is injured or property is damaged, then the cost may be higher.

Given the dangers and cost of drunk driving, what should you do to avoid it? Of course, the simple answer to that is not drinking and driving. However, if you happen to be pulled over on a holiday for drunk driving, there are important things that can help you avoid a DUI conviction.

The first thing you need to do is not panic. Remain cool and understand that nothing you do or say will save you from a possible arrest just yet.

Always be polite to the patrol officer. You will never benefit from having an argument with law enforcement. In fact, arguing will only put you in a bad limelight even worse. Take note that argumentative behavior is often linked to intoxication, which can only strengthen the drunk driving case against you.

It is better to not answer any question about how much you have had to drink. Just give the information like driver’s license and registration to the arresting officer. Do not say anything about how much alcohol you have consumed. Politely say to the police that you need to talk to a lawyer before answering any question.

Say as little as possible to the arresting officer. Do not make any unnecessary statement as anything you say will be used against you.

If you have been arrested for DUI on a holiday in Florida, it is important that you talk to a criminal defense lawyer as soon as you can. The defense lawyer will help determine whether the stop of your vehicle is done legally, the validity of the field sobriety tests conducted on you, or if the entire DUI arrest was made legal.

How to Choose the Right DUI Lawyer in Florida

If you have been arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) of drugs or alcohol in Florida you may need an experienced DUI lawyer. There are things you need to know about the hiring process.

Penalties for drunk driving in Florida include a fine between $500 and $4,000, mandatory community service, probation, prison time, mandatory residential substance abuse program, revocation of driver’s license, and completion of DUI school.

This criminal charge is serious. Therefore, you should not try to represent yourself before the court or choose just any lawyer either. It is very important to choose the right drunk driving defense lawyer for your case.

One way to get the names of prospective lawyers is asking your friends, family members, and work colleagues whether they have a lawyer to recommend. In case they have, you’ll want to know what they know of the attorneys. Ask their strengths and weaknesses. Did they achieve the results they wanted? Would they retain the services of the lawyer again if needed?

In case you do not want to discuss your arrest with people you know, then it is recommended that you look for one online and read reviews of the clients that your prospective lawyer has worked with.

It is recommended that you find a lawyer who has worked with clients who face similar criminal charges of driving under the influence. It is also advantageous to get a lawyer who knows personnel at the court where your case will be heard. It is an advantage if the lawyer knows the prosecutor in your case. It is important to find out at the first meeting how frequent the attorney has appeared in the same courthouse to which your criminal case is assigned.

A DUI in Florida can lead you to three possible options: plead guilty to the charges, try to negotiate a plea agreement in which your guilty plea can be exchanged with a lesser charge, or plead not guilty and go to trial. Ask your lawyer for the consequences of each option.

Strategy for handling drunk driving charge will be unique to each case. For instance,  a Delray Beach DUI lawyer may have some DUI defense in case the police based their arrest on field sobriety tests like alcohol breath analyzer or witness testimony. After knowing the evidence against you, your lawyer will likely come up with a legal defense.

In so far as legal fees, ask your lawyer upfront about the billing methods. Usually it is either an hourly fee or a flat fee. Ask the lawyer about the other expenses you need to pay.

Probation Violation in Florida

One of the most challenging and hardest charges to deal in Florida is violation of probation (VOP) or violation of community control. When an individual pleads to a criminal charge and is put on a period of probation or community control, a Florida judge orders that individual to meet all the requirements and comply with various conditions.

If one of these requirements or conditions is not met, then that individual has violated and can face up to the maximum jail time for which he or she is on probation. For example, if an individual is placed on probation for a third degree felony and has failed to meet the conditions of the probation, a subsequent violation charge can result in five years jail term in Florida State Prison.

Violation of probation charges are difficult to handle for several reasons. First, the conditions and requirements set by the court are usually numerous and most of the time difficult to comply with. For instance, the court may impose unreasonable time limits to complete different conditions like community service, which makes the completion of the service unlikely.

Anything can also be used against the individual to violate the probation or community control. If that individual fails to meet one of the conditions or he or she gets arrested for another charge, this will be used as a bass to violate the probation. Probation violation is treated differently as a new charge.

Florida court does not need to find an individual guilty beyond reasonable doubt. The standard is that at a violation of probation is the act that shocks the conscious of the court. Because of this change in the standard, an individual can have a full defense to a new charge or arrest. In addition to that, those charges can be dismissed but the violation may still be prosecuted.

Violation of probation charges are difficult to deal with because the judge is the trier of fact in such cases. There is no jury to hear the facts and decide on the case. On this note, when an individual faces probation violation charges, then he or she should seek an experienced defense lawyer who has a high degree of legal skill and knowledge. Hiring an experienced criminal defense lawyer is very important because only such a lawyer knows how to attack the charge and how to deal with the intricacies of the case.