New Hampshire DWI lawyer Mark Stevens 603-893-0074.

CASE EXAMPLE-WEEK OF DECEMBER 22, 2008

New Hampshire Boating While Intoxicated (“BWI”) Case

A driver was stopped because a passenger was “gunwale riding”, which constitutes a violation of an obscure New Hampshire boating statute (RSA 270-D:7, “Riding on Gunwales, Bow and Transom”.  Marine officers activated their blue lights and proceeded toward the “gunwale rider”.  When they arrived at the boat, the passenger told the officers that the man operating his boat had told him to pull his leg in.  Nonetheless, the marine officers ordered the boat’s operator through a gauntlet of equipment checks known as a “safety inspection”.

After the safety inspection, the officers noticed an odor of alcohol coming from the operator, noticed his eyes were “red and watery”, and saw a crushed beer can underneath the operator’s seat.  They also noticed one of the passengers was under the age of 16.  The officers ran the boat operator through a 6 part series of “a-float field sobriety tests”, which the operator predictably “failed”.    

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.  One of these “tests” is much like the childhood game of “one, potato, two potato”. 

          (For a series of articles on the 6 most common “floating field sobriety tests”, feel free to review my blogs):

http://www.squidoo.com/boatingwhileintoxicated

and

http://www.ByeByeDWI.blogspot.com

After performing the six events in the pond Olympics the operator was arrested and charged with aggravated boating while intoxicated because he had a minor passenger onboard the boat.  He was transported to a police station and asked whether he would take a chemical test.  He agreed to take a blood test.  The results for the blood test came back as a .17 BAC.

http://www.ByeByeDWI.com

Please note-this is an example of the disposition of a recent New Hampshire Boating While Intoxicated (BWI)”implied consent suspension” case. It is by no means a guarantee of any particular result in any other case. It DOES further illustrate though, that the real “minimums” on a boating while intoxicated charge, like a driving while intoxicated charge, is “zero”.

http://www.ByeByeDWI.blogspot.com

Now on to what happened….

          The operator of the boat hired Attorney Mark Stevens to fight the case for him. The case proceeded to trial on charges of aggravated boating while intoxicated.  At the conclusion of the trial, the operator was found not guilty.

RESULT:  Not Guilty Verdict!!!

Attorney Stevens thanks God for this successful defense!!!

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE:

“But you, Bethlehem Ephratah, you are little to be among the clans of Judah; yet out of you shall One come forth for Me Who is to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth have been from old, from ancient days.”

Micah 5:2.

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