RECENT COURT VICTORIES

Our client was stopped by Law Enforcement due to having an expired vehicle registration. Officers alleged that “immediately” upon making contact with our client, they smelled the odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from the vehicle – which was occupied by more than one person. Officers asked our client to step out of the vehicle, for nothing more than an alleged odor of alcohol, and proceeding to question him about how much he had drank while at the beach. Our client, submitting to the authority of the police, admitted to drinking 3 White Claws over the course of the day. Based upon this admission, officers asked our client to participate in Field Sobriety Exercises. After his performance on the exercises, our client was arrested and charged with DUI. Our client refused to provide a breath or urine sample to police. Immediately upon receipt of the case, our Firm began investigating the facts alleged by law enforcement and protecting our client’s Constitutional Rights. Based on potential issues in the investigation, as well as our client’s lack of criminal history, our attorney’s were able to negotiate our client an outcome to a reduced charge of Reckless Driving. Our client avoided a criminal conviction on his record, and avoided further penalties against his license. Once he is done with his conditions, he could even apply to have his record sealed to potentially avoid it being used against him for future employment purposes.  

On or about September 19, 2024, our client was accused of shoplifting from Publix in Orlando. After stopping our client for the alleged Theft, law enforcement officers noticed a cloud of smoke that smelled like burnt cannabis coming from inside the vehicle. Based upon the observations made of our client, he was asked to participate in Field Sobriety Exercises, which our client agreed to do. After the completion of the exercises, Law Enforcement arrested our client and charged him with Driving Under the Influence. After his arrest, our client was taken outside of the jurisdiction of the arresting agency, and asked to provide a breath and urine sample, to which our client agreed. The urine sample came back positive for THC. The breath sample was .000, indicating that no alcohol had been consumed. Upon reviewing the case, our Firm immediately got to work investigating the facts of the case, and protecting our client’s rights. Based upon the facts alleged by police, our Firm filed a Motion to Suppress Evidence, alleging numerous violations of our client’s Constitutionally protected rights. Prior to any hearing on the Motion to Suppress Evidence, the State dismissed the case in it’s entirety against our client.

Our client was arrested and charged with 1 count of felony child neglect, 2 counts of DUI Enhanced, and 1 count of DUI. Officers say they observed our client driving on the wrong side of the road going northbound in the southbound lane towards oncoming traffic. Officers also stated our client failed to stop immediately and was observed swerving. Officers say once they made contact with our client, they noticed 2 minors in his vehicle, the odor of an unknown alcoholic beverage coming from his person, red bloodshot glassy eyes, slurred speech, and droopy eyelids. In their report, officers say our client admitted to consuming 2 alcoholic beverages. The Officers further stated they saw a 24 ounce can of Corona beer on the ground near our client's vehicle that was cold to the touch. Our client denied that this can belonged to him. Officers asked our client to perform field sobriety exercises, and he agreed. Despite his agreement, officers arrested him. After his arrest he agreed to provide a breath sample. We immediately began working on the case. We got the discovery and spoke with the prosecutor and presented them with legal and factual arguments regarding the felony charge as well as the multiple DUI charges. Over the course of time, and after many discussions, the prosecutor agreed their case had problems. The State dismissed the felony charge and the DUI Enhanced charges.

Our Client was arrested for DUi after allegedly running a red light.  We successfully moved the suppress the refusal to submit to breath testing due to law enforcement's failure to follow the breath testing laws. We then moved to suppress all of our Client's statements because the Officer patted our Client down for weapons, without justification for the pat down and transforming a routine traffic stop into something else.  We also moved to prevent the Officer from testifying about the HGN test, as there was no measured alcohol level in the case.  The day our last two motions were set to be heard by the Court, the State dropped the DUI outright.  We were fully prepared to try the case, as our Client did not look impaired on the roadside video.