CASE EXAMPLE-WEEK OF MAY 30, 2008

BOATING WHILE INTOXICATED (“BWI”) VICTORY

DRIVER STOPPED FOR DRIVING WITHOUT LIGHTS ON HIS BOAT: ENDS UP CHARGED WITH “BWI”-BOATING WHILE INTOXICATED

http://www.ByeByeDWI.com

Please note-this is an example of the disposition of a recent New Hampshire Boating While Intoxicated (BWI) case. It is by no means a guarantee of any particular result in any other case. This is another case example that highlights the futility of a driver performing “marine field sobriety tests”, the seated sleight of hand exercises that lead to a “boating while intoxicated” arrest.  For an on-going series of articles on my blog about these 6 “floating field sobriety tests”, please refer to my blog at:

http://www.ByeByeDWI.blogspot.com

Now on to the facts of this case….

BASIC FACTS: The driver of a boat was stopped for driving without his lights on.  He had three passengers on the boat at the time.  An officer activated the blue light on his patrol boat and stopped the driver.  Once stopped, the patrolman marched the driver through a jamboree of “safety inspection” questions and exercises, demanding to see lifejackets, flotation devices, and even asking the driver to honk the horn of the boat and make sure that everyone on the boat had the right size life jacket.  During this time the patrolman saw two empty beer bottles and a partially consumed bottle of liquor near the passengers.  One of the passengers appeared intoxicated. 

          Even though the boat driver performed these tasks flawlessly, and even though the patrolman could not smell alcohol on the driver, the patrolman interrogated him about drinking any way.  The driver chose to answer the questions about drinking and eventually said that he had had a couple of beers earlier.  The officer reported that the driver’s eyes were “bloodshot and glassy”, a rote observation that appears in nearly every DWI or BWI report.

            The officer then invited the driver to board the patrol boat for some “marine field sobriety testing”.  (NOTE FOR THE UNWARY: THIS IS THE POINT AT WHICH THE ARREST DECISION HAS PROBABLY ALREADY BEEN MADE.  CHOOSE WHETHER TO PERFORM THESE “TESTS” CAREFULLY.  THERE IS NO SCORING SYSTEM FOR THESE EXERCISES, AND THE DECISION TO ARREST IS ENTIRELY BASED UPON THE OFFICER’S WHIM).  Marine field sobriety tests are an unusual battery of seated dexterity exercises designed to trick the driver.  These are the seafaring version of the sidewalk acrobatics known as “standardized field sobriety testing” done during DWI cases at the roadside.  The most basic difference is that there is NO OBJECTIVE SCORING CRITERIA FOR MARINE FIELD SOBRIETY TESTING. 

          (Note: for a series of articles on the 6 most common “floating field sobriety tests”, feel free to review my blog at:

          http://www.byebyedwi.blogspot.com

          This driver supposedly “failed” 3 out of the 4 parlor tricks he was directed to perform.  He got no credit for the test he “passed”.

(NOTE-THIS IS A GREAT EXAMPLE OF WHY COOPERATION OFTEN DOES NOT BENEFIT THE DRIVER; YOU SHOULD CHOOSE WHETHER TO DO FIELD SOBRIETY TESTS CAREFULLY.  THE FACT THAT YOU DO THEM AND PASS ALL OF THEM OR SOME OF THEM DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU WILL NOT BE ARRESTED FOR “BOATING WHILE INTOXICATED”)

          Back at the station the driver chose not to blow into the black rubber breath testing hose when asked to do so by the officer.  The boat driver hired Attorney Stevens to fight the Boating While Intoxicated (“BWI”) charge.

DEFENSE:          Attorney Stevens filed a motion to suppress all the evidence in this case.  A motion to suppress evidence is where a driver, through his DWI defense lawyer, makes a motion to the Court to throw out some type of evidence based on a violation of the driver’s rights.  In this case, Attorney Stevens filed a motion to suppress all the evidence because there was no reasonable suspicion that the driver was intoxicated.  After filing the motion, and after two separate hearings on the motion, the Court granted Attorney Stevens’ motion and all the evidence was kept out!!!  The “boating while intoxicated” case was then DISMISSED!!!!!

RESULT:  BOATING WHILE INTOXICATED CASE DISMISSED!!!

Attorney Stevens thanks God for this successful defense!!!

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE:

“But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 

So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will take care of itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Matthew 6:33-34.

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