LOS ANGELES DUI ATTORNEY POINTS TO STUDIES

Last Updated on Wednesday, 9 September 2009 09:39 Written by admin Wednesday, 9 September 2009 09:39

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Roadside "field sobriety tests" are
commonly used by police officers in DUI investigations to determine whether a
driver is under the influence of alcohol. Typically, they consist of a battery
of 3-4 tasks, such as walk-and-turn, one-leg-stand, finger-to-nose, or
nystagmus ("follow the pencil with your eyes"). 

Los Angeles DUI lawyer Lawrence Taylor, author of the best-selling legal
treatise Drunk Driving Defense, argues that although these DUI tests have an
aura of scientific credibility to a jury, they have no real basis in science
and are almost useless in determining intoxication.

First, Taylor says, any honest officer will admit that the decision to arrest
for DUI is usually made at the driver's window.  Since the officer has already
made up his mind, his subjective decision as to whether a person passed or
failed the tests is suspect: as with any human, he will "see" what he expects
to see.

Second, the conditions under which field sobriety tests are taken almost
guarantee failure: usually late at night, possibly cold, along a graveled or
sloped roadside, cars passing a few feet away with bright headlights and
buffeting the suspect with wind waves, the officer's moving flashlight and his
patrol car's blinding headlights providing the lighting.  Add the fact that
the DUI suspect is nervous, possibly frightened and completely unfamiliar with
the tests.

Taylor, known nationally as the "Dean of DUI Attorneys", points to a
scientific study to argue that even under ideal conditions the tests are
"designed for failure".  

Dr. Spurgeon Cole of Clemson University conducted a study on the accuracy of
roadside field sobriety tests. His staff videotaped individuals performing six
common field sobriety tests, then showed the tapes to 14 experienced police
officers and asked them to decide whether the suspects had "had too much to
drink and drive". 

Unknown to the officers, the blood-alcohol concentration of each of the 21 DUI
subjects was .00% -- stone sober.  

The results: the officers gave their opinions that 46% of these innocent
people were "too drunk to drive" (Cole and Nowaczyk, "Field Sobriety Tests:
Are they Designed for Failure?", 79 Perceptual and Motor Skills Journal 99).

In other words, the Los Angeles DUI attorney says, the field sobriety tests
were hardly more accurate at detecting intoxication than flipping a coin.

Local Attorney: State DUI Laws Shouldn’t Apply To Pot Use – San Diego News Story – KGTV San Diego

Last Updated on Wednesday, 9 September 2009 09:38 Written by admin Wednesday, 9 September 2009 09:38

Local Attorney: State DUI Laws Shouldn’t Apply To Pot Use – San Diego News Story – KGTV San Diego.

Santee man ID’d as victim in suspected DUI crash

Last Updated on Wednesday, 9 September 2009 09:37 Written by admin Wednesday, 9 September 2009 09:37

Santee man ID’d as victim in suspected DUI crash.