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Arrests across South Carolina for driving under the influence are way up, road fatalities are way down and there’s disagreement as to why.

Spartanburg Solicitor Trey Gowdy told The GreenvilleNewshe believes the drop in highway deaths shows the latest reforms to the state’s DUI laws are working.

“I would say it’s a suc­cess,” he said. Others point to in­creased DUI arrests as well as an increase in seat-belt use by South Carolina driv­ers as the cause of the re­duced deaths. Joe McCulloch, a Colum­bia defense lawyer who has handled DUI cases for 30 years, said the new law has simply been a fundraising tool for state governmentat the expense of the rights of thosewhomight have been drinking but are innocent of DUI.

McCulloch said the in­creased DUI arrests are the result of more troopers being hired and a policy now being used nationwide of saturation arrests.

“Essentially, throw that net out, catch as many fish as you can,” he said officers and troopers are told.

“Even if you catch some who are innocent, it will all get sorted out at the jury. Officers are being told they need to err on the side of caution and not on the side of the presumption of inno­cence and that’s problem­atic.”

Mark Keel, director of the state Department of Public Safety, which over­sees the Highway Patrol, said every trooper must meet probable cause be­fore an arrest. However, he said it is true that law enfor­cement agencies are work­ing with local law enforce­ment officers using satura­tion arrests.

“It is part of the deterrent strategy,” he said.

DUI arrests by troopers are up by almost 20 percent since the new law went into effect in February 2009. DUI arrests since 2008 have increased by more than 4,000, or 32 percent, according to Public Safety records.

Keel said local law enfor­cement agencies also re­port significant increases. In fact, he said, the law en­forcement network that works with the Highway Patrol has already reached the DUI arrest numbers for all of last year.

That comes as road fatal­ities have dropped sharply. As of last week, there were 89 fewer crashes and 99 fewer people killed in road accidents year to date com­pared with the same period last year.

Deaths are also down significantly during the “100 deadly days of sum­mer,” a time period during which law enforcement of­ficials say a large number of people die in road acci­dents.
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Drinking just became much more high-tech. Funtoxication, an iPhone and iPod Touch application that measures users’ blood alcohol content, has been garnering attention recently for its fun, easy-to-use format and unique design.

Michael Tankenoff, owner of North Loop Media, LLC and creator of Funtoxication, came up with the idea last year as a graduate student at the University of Minnesota. He didn’t see any apps that combined a Blood Alcohol Calculator with entertainment and decided to create his own.

Tankenoff partnered with TryCatch Games of St. Paul, Minn., to develop Funtoxication. It launched in the iTunes App Store recently for 99 cents, but Tankenoff has recently been promoting it as his schedule allows.

“There’s definitely been a good response. When it first came out, it was an interesting app because it was one of the few out there,” Tankenoff said. “… The BAC calculator and the taxi pop-up reminder and the games – those three elements have definitely set it apart from other apps.”

Funtoxication’s BAC calculator asks for a user’s gender, weight and age, as well as the type and amount of drinks consumed to estimate his or her blood alcohol content. It tracks the amount of time someone has been drinking in real time based on the initial starting point he or she indicates using a slider function.

When users hit the legal limit of 0.08, the program even offers them the option of calling a cab every time they open the app. If one chooses to call a cab, it locates a nearby taxi service using Google maps.

Have you already been accused of DUI? If so, you would be well advised to contact a Polk County DUI lawyer at our firm for a free and confidential consultation. You may be surprised at the results our Florida DUI lawyers can achieve for you.

Read further about the new app here.

A Seattle attorney is battling to keep the news media from seeing a deputy’s report from her June arrest on suspicion of drunken driving took a novel twist this week, baffling officials with the King County Sheriff’s Office.

Her attorney, Tyler Firkins, filed a motion Monday in King County District Court in Shoreline, seeking to use a rule that governs which records the court can release to bar the Sheriff’s Office from releasing the report. A Superior Court judge already has ruled the report can be released under the state Public Disclosure Act, a decision that she is appealing.

At issue in the new motion is a rule known as Administrative Rule for Courts of Limited Jurisdiction No. 9, or ARLJ 9, which exempts district-court officials from releasing police reports unless they have been admitted into evidence, incorporated into a court pleading or have been placed into public record. In district court, a police report isn’t considered evidence unless it is submitted as an exhibit during trial or a plea hearing, something that hasn’t happened in the the attorney’s case.

According to Firkins’ filing, she is seeking to have that rule extended to the Sheriff’s Office to prevent it from releasing the report.

“We release 17,000 case reports a year under the [state] public-disclosure statute and we’ve never heard this argument in the past,” said sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. John Urquhart.

The Sheriff’s Office and other law-enforcement agencies routinely release redacted police reports to members of the news media — often even before a suspect is charged with a crime — under the state’s Public Disclosure Act. However, under state law, law-enforcement agencies can withhold reports if releasing them would jeopardize an ongoing investigation — an exemption that doesn’t apply in a case that the Sheriff’s Office considers a straightforward DUI.

They did not immediately return phone calls Tuesday.

John Cobb, the King County deputy prosecutor who has been representing the Sheriff’s Office in the matter, has been out of town so he hasn’t seen Firkins’ latest filing.

But on Friday, the two attorneys “had a polite difference of opinion regarding the application of Rule 9 to state statute that requires the release of public records and police reports,” Cobb said by phone from Missoula, Mont.

Though he hasn’t formed an official opinion yet, Cobb said he can’t see how a District Court rule could trump the state’s Public Disclosure Act.
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The problem of impaired-driving is a serious one. While America witnessed a decline in the number of impaired-driving fatalities from 2007-2008, the numbers are still too high. That’s why the Northern Delaware County DUI Taskforce today announced it will join other law enforcement agencies throughout the country in support of an intensive crackdown on impaired driving now until Sept. 6, known by its tagline, “Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest.”

The Taskforce will conduct sobriety checkpoints during the weekends of Aug. 27 within Radnor Township and Sept. 3 in Upper Darby Township. In 2008 alone, nearly 12,000 people died in crashes in which a driver or motorcycle rider was at or above the legal limit, according to the latest statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The age group with the highest percentage of alcohol impaired drivers in fatal crashes is young people age 21-24. read more…

The law which prompted the dismissal of drunken-driving charges against an I-M-P-D officer was amended this year — but not enough to salvage the case.

Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi dropped four alcohol-related counts against an Indiana man on Thursday, explaining that the test which showed him with a blood-alcohol level of .19% would be inadmissible because it was taken by a lab technician, and at an occupational health center, not a hospital.

The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled a year ago the law doesn’t let a lab technician do your blood-alcohol test — the law says “certified phlebotomist,” and Indiana has no such certification.

In March, legislators eliminated that language, and said anyone with the proper training, including a lab tech, can take blood — but they still have to follow established protocols, or be under the supervision of a doctor.

Former Indiana University law professor Henry Karlson says that’s where the test conducted on the man appears to have gone off the rails: the lab technician who drew his blood didn’t meet either of those criteria.

“I’ve been told that if a physician had walked by the door while the man was doing the blood sample, they would have fought it,” Karlson says. “But there wasn’t a physician supervising this man in any way, and evidently, there were no established protocols.”

There’s more disagreement over why hospitals have been added to the law.

House Courts and Criminal Code Chairman Matt Pierce (D-Bloomington) says the goal was to ensure that tests performed by a lab tech at a hospital were considered admissible. But other legal experts say a properly trained lab tech should be able to perform a test at any location under proper supervision.

And Karlson says the section of the law which excludes lab techs — allowing only doctors, nurses, paramedics or E-M-T’s to administer the test — appears to apply only to a standing contract to perform those tests, such as the prosecutor in Pierce’s Monroe County has.

The man still faces a reckless homicide charge and two counts of recklessness in the crash which killed motorcyclist Eric Wells.

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri law enforcement officials will start cracking down on those who get behind the wheel under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

It’s part of a new law that sets tougher regulations on DWI offenders. The new law is being coordinated with a statewide campaign whose slogan is “You drink, you drive, you lose.” The campaign will run from Aug. 20 to Sept. 6.

During the campaign, multiple law enforcement agencies will hit the streets setting up DUI checkpoints and searching out drunk drivers. Last year, 280 people were killed, more than 1,100 were seriously injured and nearly 4,000 people received minor injuries because of impaired drivers in Missouri, law enforcement officials said.

Those who are caught under the new law can expect more jail time for repeat offenders. and people with higher blood alcohol levels. Officials said more cases will go straight to state courts rather than being tried in municipal courts. The result will be stiffer penalties for violators. Officials said record keeping will be tightened making it easier to track past offenders.

Some offenders will be offered the opportunity to take part in a court program that will closely monitor them and make treatment available, rather than go to jail.

Last year, nearly 200 law enforcement agencies took part in the campaign. They issued nearly 1,000 DWI citations.

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The NFL will fine Cincinnati Bengals LB Rey Maualuga two game checks but will not suspend him for his DUI conviction last winter, ESPN and PFT reported.

Maualuga pleaded guilty to a DUI charge in February and then entered rehab. He will be eligible for the Bengals’ season opener in New England on Sept. 12 but will not be paid for two weeks this season.

The second-year defender said in May his time in rehab was a “life changer.” His guilty plea came just days after his arrest for DUI in late January. He apologized at the time for “for bringing such great humiliation and embarrassment to the team.”

Maualuga is the second member of the Bengals to escape a suspension in recent weeks. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell opted not to discipline RB Cedric Benson after his arrest for an alleged assault this summer.

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A new law in New York that took effect on Sunday could keep repeated drunken drivers off the roads.

A small device is expected to make a big impression on convicted drunken drivers under a provision of Leandra’s Law, which requires any driver convicted of DUI to have an ignition interlock device installed on any car they drive.

“There’s an additional impact upon them should they drink and drive and be convicted of that,” said Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie.

What’s more, Wylie said the devices cost nearly $1,000 each.

“The operator — the defendant who is charged with and convicted of the driving while intoxicated charge — is paying for it,” he said.

The device is similar to a Breathalyzer device. The driver has to blow into it, and if there’s a reading of .025 or higher, the car will not start.

Big Apple Audio in Plattsburgh is one of several businesses contracted to install the ignition interlock devices, and the owner, Bill Ferris, said the devices will also require a random hourly “breath sample” while the vehicle is being operated.

“The random sample keeps everybody honest,” Ferris said. “You never know when you’re going to have to provide a sample.”

The Clinton County Department of Probation said it intends to closely monitor the results.

“We will get notified either via e-mail or through the Internet of violations and how they are doing on the system,” said David Marcoux, with the department.

The devices must be installed for at least six months; although, those convicted of a felony drunken driving charge may be required to have the devices in their cars for up to five years.

Have you been arrested for DUI, DWI or a related criminal offense in New York? If so, you would be well advised contact a NY drunk driving attorney ASAP.

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If you have recently been accused of DUI in Pasco County you’re going to need an attorney to protect your rights and fight for your freedom. This has become essential now that a Florida DUI conviction warrants much more then a slap on the wrist, contrary to the past. If you expect to avoid ‘mandatory jail time’, extreme monetary fines, a criminal record that will electronically follow you for the rest of your life and many other unwelcomed penalties you need an attorney who knows the laws and knows how to recognize when they’ve been unfairly bent by police.

Contact a Pasco County DUI lawyer at Musca Law today for a free consultation today before it’s too late. Call 727-480-9675 now.

The attorneys at Musca Law can help you avoid license suspension AND help you avoid being convicted of drunk driving in criminal court if anyone can. Their team of experienced DUI attorneys thoroughly investigate every case they take on and regularly achieve optimal results for their clients. They do ask you contact them within a timely manor so they don’t miss the already small window of time they have to build your case and weaken the prosecution’s case against you.

Whether your arrest occurred in New Port Richey, Port Richey, Dade City, Land O’ Lakes, Zephyrhills or elsewhere in Pasco County, Florida you are welcome to contact a criminal defense attorney at Musca Law for a free and confidential consultation, either in person or by phone.