DUI Charge Dropped in Palm Beach, Florida
Outcome of DUI Case:
David A.’s DUI charges in Palm Beach were dropped by Florida State Prosecutor and reduced to a reckless driving charge instead.
Client Concerns about DUI Charge:
This was David’s first DUI, and he was scared that this criminal charge would ruin his professional reputation.
Facts of DUI Case:
David was driving home in Palm Beach in an area with nicer houses and winding roads. David’s car started to swerve, and he crossed over the central lane divider onto the other side of the road. David was pulled over by a police officer. The officer was rude and nasty to him from the moment they started talking. The cop ordered David out of the car without probable cause and forced him to do field sobriety exercises (in Florida, there is no penalty for refusing to do field sobriety exercises).
David was then taken to the Breath Alcohol Test Facility and was given a breathalyzer test. He blew a 0.24, which is three times the legal blood alcohol limit of 0.08. David was arrested and charged with Driving Under the Influence.
Strategy in DUI Case:
David was referred to Rossen Law Firm to be his DUI attorney by a friend and he hired us immediately after his arrest.
We read through the police report, and found it painted David in an incredibly poor light. It sounded like he was wasted and dangerous. We knew we needed to get the body camera video to prove his story.
Rossen Law Firm tried to request the video footage, but both the prosecutors and police department said that they didn’t have any video.
When Rossen Law Firm sat down with the prosecutors for a deposition, they mentioned that there was video for the case. Since the police department gave the only two copies of the video to the prosecutor, the department didn’t have any video on file for us to review and therefore told us there was no video.
We were able to get a hold of the video and then went back to review the footage before continuing the deposition. We found that the video completely contradicted the police report. The body camera video showed David’s crossing into the other side of the road was extremely minimal.
There are multiple case laws that say police officers cannot stop somebody for something as minimal as David’s driving pattern. We tried getting David into a diversion program, but he was not eligible because his blood alcohol content breath test result was so high and the prosecutors would not budge.
Rossen Law Firm filed a motion to suppress, stating that he was wrongly arrested. As a result, the State dropped the Palm Beach DUI charge and we got it reduced to a reckless driving charge instead.
A first-time DUI conviction can mean $500 to $1,000 in fines, and can also include up to 6 months in jail. A first-time reckless driving conviction includes $25 to $500 in fines, and can also include up to 90 days in jail.
Facing DUI Charges? We Offer Free Consultations.
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