The Defendant was facing east on Okeechobee Blvd when an officer who was on the other side of the street heard the vehicle’s stereo blasting. The officer could hear it from approximately 75 feet away. The officer activated his overhead emergency lights and the defendant slammed on his brakes and then continued slowly eastbound. The officer had to hit the siren to stop the car. The vehicle pulled over and the officer noticed the Defendant had bloodshot, glassy eyes, slurred speech and an odor of alcohol coming from his person. When he got out of the car, he was unsteady on his feet. When asked where he was coming from, he said from his friends house where they had a “celebration”. He told the officer that he had 2 beers while in the car, and once out of the car he said he had 5 beers. During the walk and turn he could not keep his balance, stepped off the line numerous times and paused forgetting what the instructions were. During the one leg stand task he started too soon and did not count as he was told. He was told to count one one thousand all the way to 30 and instead he got to 8 and started saying 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 and got to 100. He then was asked if he could do the task and he said: “No.” He performed poorly on the finger to nose task and alphabet task and was arrested for Driving Under the Influence. When at the breath facility, he gave a breath sample of .077 and .074. The firm sent a letter to the State Attorney’s Office citing new case law which deemed the Stereo Statute unconstitutional and therefore the stop would have been a violation of the Defendant’s Fourth Amendment Constitutional Rights. The State Attorney agreed and declined to file the charges in addition to their agreement that they could not prove the case Beyond a Reasonable Doubt due to the low breath samples.
DUI & Criminal Division
