BASIC FACTS:  Driver stopped for speeding on a state highway by local police officers.  The officers clocked the driver at 60 mph in a 40 mph zone using their radar.  The officers immediately noticed a half-empty bottle of scotch in the passenger area of the car and interrogated the defendant about drinking.  The driver admitted to drinking three or four beers and asked the defendant to take “field sobriety tests”.  The cooperative driver agreed to take the field sobriety tests.  The officer testified that the driver was “unsteady on his feet” as he walked to the rear of the vehicle.  The driver performed a typical battery of roadside gymnastics:  a Romberg balance test, the “heel to toe test” and the “one-leg-stand test”.  The driver predictably “failed” all the tests.  The officer arrested the driver and charged him with DWI.  This was a second offense, which exposed the driver to mandatory jail time and a 3 year loss of his right to drive if he lost at trial.

At the police station, the officer asks the driver if he would take a breath test.  The driver agreed, because he did not feel drunk.  The driver blew a .20 on two occasions.  The driver was charged with DWI-second offense, aggravated DWI because he blew over a .16, and open container for the bottle of scotch. 

TRIAL OUTCOME:  The state would not agree to reduce the charge.  Attorney Stevens challenged the breath test readings due to defects in the breath test records.  The Trial Court excluded the test results because of those defects.  The defendant was found “NOT GUILTY” of “DWI second offense” and “NOT GUILTY” OF “Aggravated DWI”.  The only guilty verdict was for the open container of scotch.  The driver paid a small fine; he did not go to jail and he did not lose his license.  RESULT:      NOT GUILTY VERDICT!!!

Attorney Stevens thanks God for this successful defense!!!