11.30.09

Sometimes even Georgia has reasonable laws protecting the accused

Posted in Uncategorized at 4:25 pm by Kimbrell & Burgar, LLC

With recent news in Florida about police seeking a search warrant to get Tiger Woods’ medical records, we were reminded of a recent article detailing Florida police efforts to get around a driver’s refusal to submit to a breath test.

Apparantly, local police believe Florida law allows them to get by search warrant what they could not get by the driver’s consent. The article details their efforts to get search warrants to force Florida drivers to submit to chemical testing. Georgia law gives greater protection to drivers and respects their decision to refuse chemical testing. In Georgia, while you may have your license suspended for refusing, the police can’t get a search warrant to force you to submit to chemical testing. If you excercise your right to refuse, the discussion ends there.

Vero Beach police use search warrant to draw blood in suspected DUI case, may continue practice
By Elliott Jones
Posted November 25, 2009 at 1 a.m. , updated November 25, 2009 at 7:22 p.m.
VERO BEACH — In an change in policy, city police on Nov. 19 used a court-ordered search warrant to draw a blood sample from a woman who refused to take a Breathalyzer test in a suspected DUI case, police officials said Wednesday.

“We’re looking into feasibility of continuing the practice,” said Capt. Keith Touchberry of the Vero Beach Police Department. “Legally, it can be done.”

Vero Beach is the first law enforcement agency to take that step on the Treasure Coast, according to the State Attorney’s Office.

But defense attorney Bobby Guttridge of Vero Beach said Indian River County’s Criminal Defense Lawyers Association is gearing up to challenge the new practice.

“We understand having safe roads, but holding someone down and taking blood by sticking a needle” in them is unreasonable, Guttridge said.

This year in Vero Beach, 27 percent of the people stopped for DUI refused to take a state-required Breathalyzer. Statewide, more than 30 percent refused, state officials say.

In 2005, Florida had the highest Breathalyzer refusal rate in the nation: 37.1 percent versus 25 percent nationally, according to federal figures. For a first-time refusal, Florida can take away a driver’s regular permit for a year. But drivers can appeal.

Earlier this year Indian River County Administrator Joe Baird didn’t take a Breathalyzer when Vero Beach police arrested him on DUI charges. A jury later found him not guilty and the jury forewoman said jury members felt they didn’t have enough evidence to convict Baird.

“(Requiring blood samples) is all about crime prevention and preventing people from drinking and driving,” Touchberry said.

The officer said police agencies in Brevard County and in the Jacksonville area are already using search warrants to get blood samples.

Having blood tests “would be to our advantage” in prosecuting cases, said Assistant State Attorney Chris Taylor, who is in charge of the Indian River County office. He said what Vero Beach is doing will help set a standard for possibly expanding the practice to other local law enforcement agencies.

On Nov. 19, the blood sample was drawn from Tamara Iannuzzi, 31, of Vero Beach, who was stopped on suspicion of DUI around 9:30 p.m. on Indian River Boulevard. After the stop, police went to a county judge and got a search warrant.

Indian River Shores Public Safety drew the blood. Now Indian River Shores is reviewing whether it will continue the practice because of manpower shortages and the time it takes to handle the cases, a spokesman said.

Iannuzzi is charged with misdemeanor DUI. Results of her blood alcohol test are pending, Touchberry said.

Indian River County DUI defense attorney Andy Metcalf said the forcible taking of blood in such DUI cases “is an outrageous assault on our privacy rights.”

Metcalf said he doesn’t object to drawing blood in DUI cases where there is serious bodily injury or death.

But, he said, drawing blood “just because officer has hunch someone is impaired” is wrong. “That is not the American justice system I believe in.”

This shouldn’t even be possible!

Posted in Uncategorized at 4:12 pm by Kimbrell & Burgar, LLC

In our profession, we see quite a few BAC readings on the extreme end. This case from Cincinnati is about as high as we’ve seen. Frankly, we have some doubts as to the precision of a test at this extreme given the machine used and her apparant ability to function to some degree, but we’ll leave that issue for another post. When a blood alcohol content actually exceeds .40, there’s a good chance that it is going to be lethal.

Grandma didn’t get run over, but she did blow a .415
By Jennifer Baker and Kimball Perry • jbaker@enquirer.com | kperry@enquirer.com • November 25, 2009

A grandmother who police said was driving at more than five times the legal limit for alcohol was ordered jailed on a $32,000 bond Wednesday.

“I think she’s where she needs to be (in jail) at this time of year, so we don’t get her back on an aggravated vehicular homicide charge,” Charlie Rubenstein, a Cincinnati prosecutor, said.

Maria Krull, 46, of West Price Hill was charged Tuesday with driving drunk, registering a blood-alcohol content of .415 percent, more than five times Ohio’s legal limit to drive of .08 percent.

“I’ve never seen one that high before,” Hamilton County Municipal Court Magistrate Melissa West noted in ordering Krull jailed on the $32,000 bond.

Rubenstein said Krull was arrested for drunk driving while her 5-year-old granddaughter was in the vehicle.

Krull was pulled over by Cincinnati police for speeding just after 4 p.m. Tuesday in the 100 block of West Third Street downtown.

“That’s crazy high,” said Blue Ash Police Officer Mark Ziegler, who oversees the Hamilton County OVI Task Force. “That’s probably one of the top five tests that I’ve seen in my 23-year career.”

According to blood alcohol statistics, someone at her weight – 180 pounds, according to her ticket – would have to consume at least a dozen drinks to register that high. There is a possibility of coma and death due to respiratory arrest.

“When you see someone who’s in the mid .2s, they are unable to perform any remedial task,’’ Ziegler said. “For her to be a .415, she’s definitely got some kind of alcohol problem.”

It wasn’t Krull’s first drunk driving arrest. She was charged Sept. 27 by Cincinnati police in a case that remains pending. When she was pulled over again this week, she was driving her 2000 Ford Windstar minivan on a suspended license, records show.

In addition to a second OVI offense in two months, Krull also faces charges of child endangering and driving with a high blood alcohol level. Her vehicle also did not have proper license plates.

Children’s case workers plan to launch an investigation into the incident, said Brian Gregg, spokesman for the Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services.

11.01.09

Halloween Crackdown

Posted in Uncategorized at 10:32 am by Kimbrell & Burgar, LLC

Nightmare on DUI-Street
By Ernie Suggs

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Drunk drivers beware.

To get ready for the upcoming Halloween holiday celebrations, Atlanta Traffic Enforcement Officers are planning a DUI crackdown tonight for the Atlanta Metro Area. Their objective is to raise public highway safety awareness prior to Halloween and, more importantly, arrest drunk drivers.

The APD will hold an 8 p.m. press conference tonight at 180 Southside Industrial Boulevard, before launching Halloween HEAT. The initiative is dedicated to the memory of Sgt. Darrell Johnson, an 18-year APD veteran who was killed by a drunk driver on the morning of last year’s Halloween HEAT news conference.

k&b, llc