The Defendant’s wife worked for a company for a period of 2 years. The Defendant owned his own landscaping maintenance service. During that period of time the Defendant’s wife worked for the victim, she directly wired over $450,00.00 worth of money from the company she worked for to creditors of the Defendant’s and the Defendant’s wife and family members. These monies were used to pay credit card bills, mortgage payments, car payments, tuition for the Defendant’s daughter and numerous other family bills. Through discovery, the Firm discovered that none of the monies were moved into either the personal account of the Defendant or the Defendant’s business bank operating account. Additionally, the Firm took the Deposition of the Officer as well as the accountant who discovered the wrongdoing on the part of the wife. After listing the Defendant’s wife as a witness, the State of Florida set her down for a sworn statement. On the day of the Calendar Call (a week before the trial), the State of Florida announced that they would be dropping the charges against the Defendant because they were not able to prove the allegations against him. All charges were dropped against the Defendant.
The Defendant was driving with his father on Florida’s Turnpike when he fell ill with food poisoning. The Defendant's father, who did not have a valid driver’s license due to immigration complications, decided to drive so he could get his son safely home. A Trooper with the Florida Highway Patrol pulled the father over for speeding. The trooper not only wrote a criminal citation to the father for No Valid Driver’s License, but the trooper also wrote the son a criminal citation for Allowing an Unauthorized Person to Drive, even though he was laying in the back ill. The Firm’s Treasure Coast Attorney immediately discussed the case with the prosecutor and explained the surrounding circumstances. The prosecutor dropped all charges.
The defendant was charged with Driving on a license that was not valid. The officer cited as the reason for the traffic stop that there was a necklace obstructing the view of the client in his vehicle. The Firm filed a motion to suppress the stop and the State Attorney agreed with the grounds for said motion and dismissed all charges.
The defendant was charged with violating a business purposes only license. The officer at the scene assumed that because client was leaving a bar that he was not there for a business purpose and was therefore violating his license restrictions and charged him with a criminal offense. The Firm set the case for trial and all charges were dismissed.
The defendat was stopped for failure to maintain single lane. The defendant took the breath test and blew .009 and .010. DUI charge dropped.
The defendant was stopped by police shortly after leaving a City Walk restaurant and charged with DUI. Through motions, certain evidence was excluded from his trial. We went to trial on 3/3/11 and the jury took five minutes to find the defendant not guilty.
The Defendant was seen by a Delray Beach Police Officer revving her engine and traveling at a high rate of speed. As she passed the Officer, she tailgated another vehicle and then jerked her wheel to the left when there was heavy pedestrian traffic in Downtown Delray. The Defendant was stopped and the Officer noticed an odor of alcohol, slurred speech and bloodshot/glassy eyes. She also had slow dexterity, a flushed face and mumbled speech as well. She appeared to be searching around her car as if she was looking for something. She first stated to the Officer that she had 2 vodka drinks and then after Miranda was read she said she had the two drinks and lunch and nothing after. She was asked to perform roadside exercises which she started performing but then refused and said “just take me to jail.” She was not performing well on the walk and turn when she made that statement. The Officer cited her for Following too Closely and for Careless Driving. While at the jail, she refused to give a sample of her breath when asked and then stated that “she got out of a ticket in Broward and I know I’ll get out of this DUI because my friend is an Air Marshall.” She also stated that she can feel the effects of the alcohol on video as well. The Firm filed a motion to suppress arguing that the Officer stopped the Defendant without probable cause that a traffic infraction occurred and without reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. The driving pattern was all captured on the Officer’s dash cam in his car. The Firm called the driver of the “alleged tailgated vehicle” who testified she never followed her too closely. The video showed that the Officer could not possibly have seen how close the Defendant’s vehicle was to the car she allegedly tailgated. Additionally, the firm argued that she was behind this car for mere seconds and therefore was also not technically “following” the vehicle. Additionally, after cross examination, the Office of the State Attorney conceded that there was no careless driving. Result: The Judge granted the motion and the State dismissed all the charges against the Defendant.
This case was a DUI that involved the defendant being stopped for an extensively bad driving pattern: following too closely, improper lane change, crossing the stop bar, and weaving across lanes of traffic. Once stopped the defendant admitted to having two beers over the course of six hours and to taking prescription muscle relaxers. After an extensive review of the case it was discovered that there were numerous problems with the State’s case, mainly that a drug test was never requested by the officer involved in the case and that the defendant’s performance on the roadside exercises were not bad enough to be indicative of impairment. The State Attorney’s Office amended the DUI charge to reckless driving.
The defendant was involved in an accident. He informed the officer at the scene that he had consumed four 20 ounce Colt 45’s. The defendant then told the officer that he started drinking at 8pm and then stopped drinking at 8pm. He then went on to do the field sobriety exercises which resulted in him being arrested for DUI. At the breath testing center he blew a .237 and a .246. Due to the firm\'s efforts and arguments, the State agreed to reduce the DUI charge to reckless driving.
Defendant was stopped for not maintaining their lane of travel. After performing poorly on roadside exercises the defendant was arrested. Defendant blew ..100, ..097. DUI charge was dropped.
A Trooper from the Florida Highway Patrol saw the Defendant slumped over toward the passenger seat in his vehicle while at a green light. The Trooper pulled behind the Defendant’s vehicle with his emergency lights on. The Defendant’s vehicle then began to travel forward and pulled over on a side street. The officer noticed the Defendant to have the odor of an alcoholic beverage, bloodshot and watery eyes, slurred speech. The Defendant also admitted to “having a few beers at my girlfriends’ place”. The defendant was asked to perform roadside sobriety exercises. He stepped off of the line and had large gaps between his feet on most steps and failed to turn properly. The Defendant was extremely unsteady and could not keep his foot off the ground during the one leg stand test. The defendant also could not even say the alphabet. Thereafter the Defendant was arrested for DUI and registered a .171/.165 g/210L on the breath test, over two times the legal limit in Florida. The Firm Filed a Motion to Exclude the Breath Test based upon a FDLE agent falsifying and manipulating calibration of the Defendant’s breathylizer. The Motion was granted by the Judge and all DUI charges were dismissed.
The Defendant was seen driving on a closed golf course late at night. His car could be seen jumping up and down over the hills on the course. As he pulled out, he was stopped by an officer where he told the officer “you caught me.” That officer noticed that the defendant’s eyes were bloodshot and glassy, his speech was slurred and he had an odor of alcohol coming from his breath. A DUI officer was ordered to respond. That officer noticed that the Defendant’s face was flushed, he was sweating and his mouth was dry with white residue on the corners of his mouth. He admitted that he had a whisky drink earlier. After asking him to step out of the car, roadside tasks were requested from the Defendant. The Defendant’s eyes were checked by the first officer before the start of the roadsides. During the roadsides, the Defendant asked “Am I going for DUI?” The Defendant was cooperative at first but then became angry and uncooperative with mood swings. According to the arresting officer, the Defendant performed poorly on the roadsides. These were all recorded and on video. After roadsides were completed, the arresting officer and 2 other officers conversed on the video. They could be seen talking but the audio was muted (which the arresting officer admitted to doing in a sworn deposition). Two separate officers then checked the Defendant’s eyes again. One of the officers on scene testified in a sworn deposition that he was ordered by his Sergeant to take notes and follow this arresting officer during his DUI investigations. He said he turned those notes over to the Seargant. After the Firm filed a motion to compel those notes, the State of Florida indicated that they did not exist. None of the officers would divulge what conversation took place during the muted portion of the video. The Defendant was then taken into custody and taken to the Breath Alcohol Testing Facility where he refused to give a sample of his breath. The Firm filed a Motion to Dismiss based upon Procedural Due Process Grounds arguing that the State of Florida purposely destroyed and concealed exculpatory evidence due to the Officer’s actions. After reviewing all of the depositions and the entire case, the State of Florida agreed and dismissed the charges for Driving Under the Influence.
