DUI Category Archives — Page 3 of 4 — Florida Criminal Attorney Blog Published by FL Crime Lawyer Whittel & Melton — State - Federal Criminal Investigation Lawyers Robert Whittel and Jason Melton

Published on: December 13, 2012

South Florida Vehicular Manslaughter Defense Attorney :: Boca Woman Arrested and Charged with Crash that Killed Mother, Daughter

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

Boca Raton, FL – A 20-year-old Boca woman was arrested and charged with two counts of DUI manslaughter and two counts of vehicular homicide on Wednesday in connection with a March crash that left a mother and daughter dead.

On March 9, an 85-year-old woman and her 54-year-old daughter were killed in a two-vehicle accident just west of Boca Raton.

The 19-year-old driver apparently failed to stop at a red light and collided with a Toyota driven by an 84-year-old man.

The woman and her passenger suffered minor injuries. However, the passengers in the Toyota, including the victims’ husband and father were seriously hurt.

An arrest for a driving offense is a charge that should be taken seriously, but when an accident occurs and someone dies as a result, the matter become even more severe. Vehicular manslaughter charges are not taken lightly in the state of Florida, especially if alcohol is believed to have been a factor. Vehicular manslaughter is a second-degree felony in the state of Florida punishable by a maximum sentence of fifteen years in prison and a $10,000 fine. This offense can be escalated to a first-degree felony punishable by thirty years in prison if the driver left the scene of an accident.

While car accidents can result in devastating losses, not every fatality on the roadway should result in an arrest for vehicular manslaughter. Florida law enforcement officers will investigate the accident site for evidence that supports vehicular manslaughter charges. However, a Florida Vehicular Manslaughter Attorney at Whittel & Melton can perform an independent evaluation of the accident and work with accident reconstruction experts in order to establish viable defenses against the charges.

Published on: October 19, 2009

Driver faces criminal DUI charges in Weeki Wachee bus crash

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

TampaBay.com is reporting that last Tuesday’s Weeki Wachee crash that involved a head-on collision between a car and a school bus may result in a DUI charge.

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Michelle R. Sutton of Spring Hill was allegedly driving a Toyota coupe at a high rate of speed– weaving in and out of the westbound lane of County Road 550 — before ultimately colliding head first into the school bus. The bus was carrying about 30 students from Spring Hill’s Westside Elementary at the time of the crash. Sutton was seriously injured in the DUI crash and was taken to Oak Hill Hospital where an ER nurse allegedly found a plastic bag containing about 18 grams of marijuana in Ms. Sutton’s shorts pocket.

Because she was being admitted to the hospital, the deputy gave Ms. Sutton a citation and notice to appear in court next month for possession of marijuana instead of arresting her–but the Hernando County State Attorney’s Office has 90 days to file a misdemeanor DUI or 180 days to file a felony DUI with Serious Bodily Injury case, if they choose.

This presents an interesting issue from a constitutional law perspective. Since a nurse–and not law enforcement–found the marijuana on Ms. Sutton, she does not have the same constitutional protections from unlawful searches and seizures as she would if the police had found it at the scene of the accident. Generally under Florida law, the trigger for a constitutional law violation that can result in evidence being suppressed is that some government entity was involved in the seizure. In this case, Ms. Sutton told the nurse she was wearing her boyfriend’s shorts and didn’t know about the drugs in the pocket. Regardless, to sustain a conviction, the burden will still be on the State to prove that Ms. Sutton was under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol to the extent that her normal faculties were impaired.

Published on: January 14, 2009

Man charged with Marion County DUI manslaughter; girlfriend dead

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

The Ocala Star Banner is reporting that an Ocala man was taken into custody and charged with DUI manslaughter and two counts of DUI with property damage after being involved in a car crash that has left his girlfriend dead. He was arrested after being treated or minor injuries Munroe Regional Medical Center.
According Florida Highway Patrol reports, the accident occurred Tuesday night on U.S. 27. Witnesses told troopers that they saw the driver speeding in the left lane while going around a right-hand curve when he tried to pass a slower-moving vehicle in front of him when and lost control and the car, striking a utility pole. The passenger had to be extracted from the vehicle and was rushed to Munroe Regional, where she was pronounced dead.

Published on: January 8, 2009

Gainesville man arrested for Alachua County DUI…Again.

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

Karen Voyles from the Gainesville Sun is reporting that a Gainesville driver whose license was permanently revoked in November for drunk driving was arrested again for DUI early Wednesday morning. His blood alcohol level was calculated at three times the legal limit.

According to the article, allegedly this is at the very least, the man’s fourth DUI. An Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputy noticed a Chevrolet truck veer into the westbound lane of NE 39th Avenue and pulled him over. The driver eventually submitted to a breath test which police records indicate blood alcohol levels of .246 and .254. Under Florida law, a driver is presumed drunk when their blood alcohol level reaches .08.

These are very serious and complicated cases. Under Florida law, a fourth and subsequent DUI charge is a felony punishable up to 5 years in state prison as well as a litany of statutorily-mandatory requirements such as fines, probation, DUI school and the instillation of an ignition interlock device.

Published on: December 30, 2008

New Years Eve DUI Checkpoint expected in Columbia County

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

The Florida Highway Patrol will be checking out drivers on New Year’s Eve at a checkpoint along Highway 90 in Columbia County. In what the FHP calls a “Comprehensive Roadside Sobriety Checkpoint,” troopers will be stationed along the highway checking for impaired drivers, people with no license and vehicles that aren’t safe.

Firstcoastnews.com says nearly 23,000 alcohol-related crashes happened statewide in 2007. In Columbia County alone, 11 fatal crashes were attributed to alcohol.

Sobriety checkpoints have different constitutional requirements than a traditional stop– like for example, when a person gets pulled over for speeding. Police are requred to follow strict procedures when implementing a checkpoint and failure to abide by those policies can render a checkpoint stop illegal.

Published on: December 16, 2008

No DUI charges expected in Hernando overpass truck crash

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

The dump truck driver who smashed his rig into an overpass at Interstate 75 and State Road 50 last week will likely not be charged in the incident, the Florida Highway Patrol said Wednesday.

Tampabay.com is reporting that FHP has nearly wrapped up its investigation of the crash involving a Brooksville man who said that the bed of his truck inexplicably started to rise as he passed under the overpass causing him to hit the first and second outside concrete beams that support the I-75 overpass. FHP is still waiting for a report from the state Motor Carrier Compliance Office on the truck’s most recent inspection but they have already determined that the driver was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs when he was driving the truck. No one was injured in the the accident.

The Florida Department of Transportation worked quickly to repair the damage to the bridge as more than 40,000 drivers use I-75 at that site each day, while another 19,000 travel along SR 50.

Published on: December 5, 2008

Man charged with DUI after rear-ending Marion County deputy

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

Ocala.com reported today on a Marion County Sheriff’s deputy’s vehicle that was rear-ended in Silver Shores late Wednesday night. The 62-year old man was charged with driving under the influence.

Officials say Deputy Pam Race had stopped at the intersection of Dogwood Road and Baseline Road when Robert Dalton failed to stop and struck Race’s vehicle in the back. The deputy was not injured but the damage to her vehicle was estimated at $2,000. Florida Highway Patrol officials said the driver refused to submit to a draw blood or a breath test. Officials detected alcohol on Dalton’s breath and believe he may have been under the influence.

Refusing to submit to a breath test can cause your driver’s license to be administratively suspended, as can a DUI arrest. However, in some situations, these suspensions can be set aside. If you have been arrested for DUI, it is imperative that you contact a lawyer promptly, as challenges to driver’s license suspensions must be made within 10 days of arrest.

Published on: November 8, 2008

New Port Richey Cop Resigns After Allegedly Driving Drunk

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

The St. Petersburg Times is reporting that Officer Christopher Sutherlin, accused last week of fleeing an accident in which he was driving drunk, resigned from the police force this week.

According to Florida Highway Patrol reports, last week Sutherlin rear-ended a pickup on U.S. 19 north of Main Street and sped away. The pickup driver followed Sutherlin until he was forced to pull over because of front-end damage to Sutherlin’s car. Early the next morning, Troopers arrested Sutherlin on charges of leaving the scene of an accident and later gave him a Breathalyzer test, which registered blood alcohol levels of 0.148 and 0.151 blood-alcohol level. (Florida law presumes a driver impaired at 0.08.)

Sutherlin is charged with DUI, DUI with personal injury and DUI with Property Damage as well as Leaving the Scene of an Accident. The Times reports that the police department began an internal investigation of the incident, which also involved Officer Joseph Pascalli, who was riding with Sutherlin. Pascalli, who had been part of the department’s DUI unit, is now working the midnight shift on patrol.

In a strange twist to the story, Joshua Vitori–who was driving the pickup Sutherlin struck– is a former Pasco County paramedic who resigned from his job last week as a result of accusations he stole $300 from a patient in his ambulance.

Published on: October 16, 2008

Hundreds of DUIs may be dismissed as a result of DUI Tester not following protocol

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

DUI arrests in South Florida are under suspicion as a result of allegations that an Inspector at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), the government agency that oversees the maintenance of Breathalyzer machines, failed to follow protocol when testing faulty machines.
Defense attorneys say it is a scandal that raises questions about thousands of DUI cases in Monroe, Broward and Miami Dade counties, and they are right. According to CBS 4 in Miami, the Breath Test operator, Suzanne Veiga, encouraged police agencies to abort tests on Intoxilyzer 8000 machines that were giving questionable results, would unplug the machine if the inspection was failing, and then plug the machine back in to prevent the machines from reporting the malfunctions to Tallahassee.
The Intoxilyzer 8000 is the only breath test machine approved for use in Florida and there are more than 300 in use statewide.

The whole purpose of the breath testing protocol is to insure that the Intoxilyzers are working correctly and rendering accurate Breath Alcohol Content (BAC) levels. By keeping malfunctioning machines in police stations, this FDLE inspector has jeopardized the prosecution of thousands of DUI defendants, not to mention potentially causing the arrest of innocent people for drunk driving. My guess is that many of these DUI cases will be broken down to Reckless Driving charges or dismissed outright- it will be too hard for State Attorneys to overcome the presumption that the “faulty” Instruments involved in those arrests rendered invalid results, since they were never properly tested by Veiga.

Published on: October 9, 2008

DUI dismissed as a result of Sheriff’s Office Forgery

by Whittel & Melton, LLC

Josh Poltilove reports on Tampa Bay Online that a Hillsborough County Deputy Sheriff allegedly forged supervisors’ signatures on important DUI paperwork on two separate occasions. At least one DUI was dropped by the State Attorney’s Office as a result of the forgery.

The Internal Affairs investigation found that the Deputy Sheriff, Justin Speaks, committed six felonies–three counts of forgery and three counts of uttering a forged instrument– and conduct unbecoming to a member of the Sheriff’s Office. The IA report alleges that Speaks forged Sgt. William Porter’s name and initials on a DUI report this year and that Speaks previously forged Sgt. Ron Harrison’s initials on a different DUI report and Sgt. Richard Figueredo’s initials to an HCSO supplement.