Orlando DUI Defense Lawyer Blog

Readers in Orlando may assume that a driver suspected of drinking and driving must blow a 0.08 or above on a breath test to be arrested. In fact, under Florida law, evidence of a BAL below 0.08 is not protection from arrest. That a 0.08 breath test simply creates a legal presumption that the suspect was drinking and driving. An adult driver can be arrested on suspicion of DUI with a breath test reading at any level, even below 0.05, though legally the presumption at the level is that the driver is not impaired.

For example, a minor league baseball player was recently arrested on suspicion of DUI despite having allegedly blown a 0.06 during the traffic stop. The suspect, who plays for the Tampa Yankees, a minor league affiliate of the New York Yankees, was pulled over shortly after 3 a.m. after being observed speeding and driving erratically, police claim.

Saying that to do otherwise would "erode the integrity of the judicial system," a Palm Beach County judge ordered a new trial for the polo magnate convicted last year of DUI manslaughter in connection with a fatal 2010 car accident. The judge found that one of the jurors in the trial denied the defendant a fair trial by lying during jury selection.

We last discussed this DUI manslaughter case on May 1. As we said then, the defendant and his attorneys accused the juror of improper conduct prior to and during trial, which ended in March 2012 with a conviction and a 16-year prison sentence for the defendant. They based some of their accusations on a short book published by the juror in which he admitted conducting an experiment by consuming alcohol to see if he could simulate the level of intoxication alleged by prosecutors.

It may sound strange to readers, but people in Orlando can be arrested on suspicion of drinking and driving even if their vehicle was not in motion. That is apparently what happened to a member of the Arena Football League's Orlando Predators who was arrested on April 22. The player says that the DUI arrest was partially based on a misunderstanding.

The arresting officers approached an SUV that morning that was stopped near the entrance to an apartment complex in southwest Orlando. One of the officers claimed that the football player and his female passenger appeared to be asleep but the suspect responded when the officer knocked on the driver's side window. The vehicle was reportedly running, though in park.

Back on Jan. 14, we discussed a case before the U.S. Supreme Court over whether authorities in Florida and elsewhere can forcibly draw blood from those they suspect of drunk driving without obtaining a search warrant first. We can now report that the Court has ruled decisively that police officers do not get to use the excuse that alcohol leaves the bloodstream over time to avoid the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement.

To recap, the defendant in the case was pulled over on suspicion of DUI in another state. After ordering the man to perform field sobriety tests, the arresting officer attempted to administer a breath test but the driver declined. The officer arrested the defendant and brought him to the hospital, where he ordered staff to draw blood despite not having a warrant to search the defendant's body. The man objected and the officer handcuffed him to the table so that medical staff could draw the blood against his will.