| Oct 25, 2017 | Case: 2017-MM-029088 | Judge Atkin |
| Facts: | Officers responded to a beach parking lot in response to call about an unresponsive male. When they arrived, they noticed the defendant passed out in his car. Upon awakening the defendant, the officer observed him to have bloodshot eyes and dilated pupils. His speech was mumbled and slurred. The defendant was asked to perform field sobriety tests. He performed very poorly and was arrested for DUI. | |
| Defense: | The defendant had been arrested in May of 2017. He did not hire the firm until September. He had been going to court by himself for months with no lawyer. The State had not provided him any discovery or even filed any charges. Parks & Braxton, upon obtaining the police reports called the State. We pointed out that under Florida law, to prove DUI, a defendant must be under the influence of either alcohol and/or a "specific" chemical and/or controlled substance. Here, since there was no odor of alcohol, the State could not prove by which "specific" chemical and/or controlled substance was allegedly impairing the defendant as required by the DUI Statute, 316.193. The firm convinced the State to not even file any charges against the defendant. | |
| Result: | The DUI was dismissed. | |