Denver DUI Lawyer Blog

In a very interesting DUI/DWAI story out of Howard County, Maryland -- a suburb of the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. Metro Area -- a judge recently threw out drunk driving charges against a young woman on the grounds that her arrest was made as part of an illegal quota in place by the local police department.

Back in April 2011, 22-year-old Katie Q. was pulled over after being observed going 38 miles-per-hour in a 25 miles-per-hour zone. The Howard County police officer who pulled Katie Q. over soon placed her under arrest for driving under the influence and later measured her blood alcohol content (BAC) to be .17, over twice the legal limit.

The officer had been out as part of a so-called saturation patrol (i.e., increased police patrols in designated areas) made possible by federal funding dedicated to making DUI arrests.

At trial, Katie Q.'s attorney introduced subpoenaed internal police memos that contained exact wording from federal grant documents, which stated that "an average of 2-4 citations must be written per hour on each of these details by each officer or future funding may be withheld."

Federal authorities are officially cracking down on Colorado medical marijuana dispensaries following a similar crackdown in California this past October.

In states such as Colorado and California where medical marijuana is legal, these state laws conflict with federal laws. For example, in Colorado, Amendment 20 permits the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. However, under federal law, the cultivation, possession and sale of marijuana is still illegal.

According to a federal official, the current crackdown is focused more on dispensaries than on individuals.

"We're not interested in an individual who is a patient or a patient's caregiver under the original terms of the state amendment," said Jeff Dorschner, a spokesperson for the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado. "But we are interested in the trafficking of marijuana, and there is a federal interest in those who are providing marijuana to children."

When we think of people who would perhaps benefit from medical marijuana, we tend to think of people suffering from such debilitating illnesses as cancer, migraines or chronic pain. However, our definition may soon expand to include those people suffering from a devastating and now rapidly increasing mental illness.

A group of researchers with the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) -- which works under the oversight of the University of Arizona College of Medicine -- is seeking to launch a groundbreaking study to examine the effect of medical marijuana on those combat veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The complex study, run primarily by Dr. Suzanne Sisley, would call for a group of 50 veterans of the Iraq or Afghanistan war who are currently suffering from PTSD and whose treatments have proven ineffective.

These study participants would be required to avoid marijuana for 30 days prior to the study and would then be required to smoke/vaporize 1.8 grams of marijuana per day over the course of two 60-day trials. They would be provided each week with marijuana of varying THC levels.

"With this research, we can actually figure out which symptoms it might help with, and what an optimal dosing strategy might look like," said Dr. Sisley.

Law enforcement officials in the state of Colorado recently revealed their new weapon in the fight against drunk driving, vehicular homicide and driving under the influence of drugs. However, it's not a new type of sleek police cruiser capable of reaching high speeds, a new device to measure blood alcohol content (BAC) or even a new type of field training. Rather, it's an informational website.

Specifically, law enforcement agencies across the state are currently lauding the website "No DUI Colorado," the most recent creation of the Persistent Drunk Driver (PDD) Committee.

The committee -- comprised of officials from multiple state agencies and created as part of the Persistent Drunk Driver Act of 1998 -- is responsible for "developing and implementing programs that are intended to deter persistent drunk driving, as well as educate the public."

Here, the website provides users with a basic three-step approach to driving under the influence. The first step provides users with information on how to prevent a DUI, the second step provides users with information on the consequences of a DUI arrest, and the third step provides the user with links to various local and national drunk driving resources.

As smart phone or tablet computer owners know, there's an app for just about everything. Now there's one that can help predict if a driver has had enough to be served with a DUI if stopped by police officers.

Insurance Journal recently reported on BreathalEyes, a 99-cent app unveiled in November. Developed by a group of Tennessee residents, the app can be used to measure involuntary eye movements when people are intoxicated. This, of course, is one method that police use when conducting field sobriety tests.

According to the Insurance Journal story, the app uses the camera in an iPhone to scan the person's eyes to uncover "horizontal gaze nystagmus." That, by the way, is the involuntary eye jerking that takes place when a person is intoxicated.

After this, the app will then estimate the person's blood alcohol content (BAC).

Given the prominent presence of alcohol at many New Year's Eve festivities, it's not uncommon for law enforcement officials to make a rather sizeable number of DUI/DWAI arrests during the course of the holiday evening. Typically, these drunk driving arrests take place during routine traffic stops or at sobriety checkpoints. However, these DUI/DWAI arrests sometimes take place at more unconventional or downright strange locations.

This was recently the case in Chicago where a 30-year-old man was arrested for driving under the influence in a McDonald's drive-through.

According to reports, police officers in Chicago's Near North District were summoned to a Rock 'N Roll McDonald's in the River North neighborhood at around 6 a.m. on New Year's Eve Day after receiving a report that two men had fallen asleep inside a black Volvo sport utility vehicle parked in the drive-through lane.

When the responding officers arrived at the scene, they saw the Volvo stopped in the drive-through lane with its engine running and two men sleeping inside. Upon further inspection, the officers saw that the car was in drive and that the driver, Walter D., had his foot engaging the brake pedal.

A seemingly routine arrest for DUI first offense in Mesa County this past summer has sparked a widespread investigation by the District Attorney's Office resulting in the dismissal of eight drunk driving cases and the review of hundreds of DUI cases.

The reason?

According to an internal investigation by the Colorado State Patrol, one Mesa County trooper regularly drafted reports that contained a mixture of information "from prior arrests and the current arrest, resulting in reports which contained wrong or conflicting information."

Authorities were alerted to this deceptive behavior following the DUI arrest of James F. by Trooper Don M. back on the evening of June 25, 2011.

According to reports, James F. and his wife were making their way home from Country Jam USA at around 9 p.m. when they were suddenly pulled over by Trooper Don M. for allegedly doing 41 miles per hour in a 35 mile per hour zone.

At this time, Trooper Don M. stated that he smelled alcohol in the car. However, James F. informed him that he had consumed only one glass of wine roughly three hours prior to being pulled over.

The website Insurance.com has once again released its annual survey ranking the 20 most populous U.S. cities with the largest percentage of drivers with DUI/DWAI citations. The cities that drew that highest ranking were as follows: San Diego (1), Los Angeles (2), and Indianapolis (3).

According to Insurance.com, several factors may be responsible for propelling one city into a higher spot over another, including:

• A larger population that enjoys drinking alcohol and socializing (i.e., younger people, tourists, business people, military personnel, etc.)
• More rigorous enforcement of DUI/DWAI laws and/or more funding to combat drunk driving
• A general lack of public transportation, meaning people are more "car-centric"

How did Denver, or any other city in the state of Colorado fare in the survey?