On March 18, 2021 at approximately 4:14am, a Deputy arrived just east of the intersection between Dale Mabry Highway and County Line Road. Upon his arrival he observed a gray Honda Civic parked on the grass shoulder to the right of the eastbound lane of County Line Road. The Defendant was observed in the driver seat with the driver door open. As the Deputy parked his car, the Defendant exited the vehicle. The Deputy made contact with the Defendant who appeared to be heavily intoxicated. His speech was slurred and he had the smell of an alcoholic beverage coming from his breath. The Deputy asked the Defendant where the keys to the vehicle were located and he responded they were on the ground by his foot. The Deputy located the keys next to the Defendant’s foot while he was standing next to his vehicle’s rear passenger side tire. The Deputy then took the Defendant into custody for a DUI investigation. The Defendant did refused to perform the field sobriety exercises as he claimed he was not driving. The Defendant was arrested for DUI. The Defendant refused to submit to a breath test. A prior conviction for DUI was found on the Defendant’s record from 2010.
Result: The firm set the case for trial and prior to the trial date, the State dropped the DUI charge.