In criminal and traffic defense, a common complaint from an accused individual or their family is that the arrest affidavit, arrest report, accident report or citation contains one or more errors. For example, if there is a DUI accusation with a child in the car but the officer marks on the DUI citation that there were no passengers under the age of 18 or marking "no injury" on a traffic ticket in a case involving a near fatality. (actual examples). The ugly truth is that the police, deputies and troopers filling out these documents are people too, and they make mistakes. Unfotunately, typographical or similar errors will usually not lead to a case being dismissed.
Criminal & Traffic - Mistakes on Citations or Reports
DUI Refusals
Arrested for DUI? Refusal to submit a sample of breath, blood or urine is a criminal offense in Florida if the person's license has been suspended in the past for refusing to submit to testing. An officer can request a driver to blow into the breath machine if a person is lawfully arrested. Unfortunately, officers will put people down as having 'refused' a breath test even when a person tries to blow. In the context of urine, stage fright will still be marked as a refusal.
Driving While Under the Influence - Impaired Definition Coming Soon, Maybe
A frustrating issue defending those accused of Driving Under the Influence or DUI, has been the lack of a definition of the word "impaired" in the standard jury instructions. Without a breath, blood or urine result or sample the State of Florida must prove that the person is "impaired" in order to convict a person of DUI. This is especially true if the accused is DUI by drugs or prescriptions. However, the Florida Supreme Court in issuing jury instructions has sought fit to leave the word "impaired" undefined.
Criminal Cases Involving an Auto accident
Auto accidents frequently give rise to criminal cases in addition to civil lawsuits and traffic tickets. For example law enforcement may charge a driver in a car crash with Reckless Driving with Property Damage, Vehicular Manslaughter, DUI Manslaughter, DUI with Serious Bodily Injury, DUI with Property Damage, Leaving the Scene of an Accident, Failure to Render Aid, etc. Vehicular Manslaughter is essentially Reckless Driving with a Death. If law enforcement does not believe a crime was committed, then the driver will be charged with careless driving. (More on the difference between Careless Driving and Reckless Driving)
