In any prosecution for any criminal driving charge – i.e., DUI, fleeing and eluding – the State must prove that the accused drove the vehicle. If the State does not have this witness, the case is often dismissed. If an officer conducts a traffic stop for a violation that officer becomes the wheel witness. There […]
In Florida, anyone involved in a traffic crash can be compelled to make a statement to the police about the crash. Because such statements are not considered voluntary – again the police can compel the statement — traffic crash reports are not admissible as evidence in any trial, civil or criminal nor are any statements
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Veterans Courts (Fla. Stat. §§ 948.16 and 948.21) Veterans courts assist defendants with the complex treatment needs associated with substance abuse, mental health, and other issues unique to the traumatic experience of war. Some veterans returning home from war find it difficult to integrate back into the community due to untreated substance abuse or mental health issues,
Florida’s “Implied Consent” law governs the procedures the police must follow when asking an accused to submit to a breath, blood or urine test during a DUI investigation. The law, Fla. Stat. § 316.1932, states that anyone who accepts the privilege of driving within the State of Florida is deemed, through their operation of a vehicle,
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Law enforcement uses a set of standardized tests developed by the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to determine a DUI suspect’s level of impairment. They are called “Field Sobriety Exercises” or “FSEs”. Most officers use three tests standardized NHTSA: Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN), Walk-and-Turn, and the One-Leg Stand. STANDARDIZED FSEs Horizontal
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If you have been arrested for DUI in Florida, your license was immediately suspended upon your arrest. You still, however, can drive for 10 days using your DUI-ticket/citation as a “business purposes only” driving permit, which is sometimes referred to as a “hardship license”. A business purposes only permit “means a driving privilege that is
Palm Beach County – Deferred Prosecution/Pretrial Intervention The Office of the State Attorney for the 15th Judicial Circuit in Florida (Broward County) offers some defendants accused of committing a misdemeanor a deferred prosecution agreement. This enables an accused to complete certain conditions, such as community service and one’s related to the underlying charge (i.e., drug testing in a
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If a suspect is arrested for DUI in Florida, the arresting officer almost always asks the suspect to submit to a breath test. If the suspect refuses, the officer must read the suspect Florida’s Implied Consent warning before asking the suspect again. If the suspect refuses a second time, the suspect’s license will be automatically suspended for one-year if
Many misdemeanor DUI cases, particularly those that involve crashes, involve the attempt, and sometimes actual, collection of a suspect’s blood (Fla. Stat. 316.1932(1)(c)). The State can obtain the results of a blood draw in one of two ways, and this hinges on whether the suspect consents. In a misdemeanor DUI, if the suspect consents to the blood
In many possession of drug or controlled substance cases, the suspect is often alleged to be in “constructive”, not “actual”, possession. Actual possession, unsurprisingly, occurs when a suspect is found with contraband on his or her person – that is, in their hand, in a pocket, etc. Constructive Possession occurs when one may infer possession
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After several years as a prosecutor and General Counsel for the Broward County Police Benevolence Association (PBA), Michael White started his own practice focused on protecting individuals accused of crimes.
We serve clients throughout the State of Florida, including, but not limited to, all cities in
the following counties: Broward, Indian River, Martin, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, and St.Lucie.