Maryland DUI Lawyer Blog

Last Wednesday I was fortunate to attend a U2 concert at Raven's Stadium in Baltimore. It was a cool show but it was the third time that I had seen them so it lost some of its allure. Prior to the show however I was at Lexington Market in Baltimore City where I met a number of people. Interestingly the beer that we were all consuming was sold in pitcher sized plastic glasses that I had not seen before, no wonder people get drunk and get DUIs; heck there should be law against selling pitcher size glasses of beer that you could practically jump into and swim around.

Anyway, we struck up a conversation with a pleasant gentleman from Tennessee and his friend; he was enjoying a “grande cerveza” with us when the topic came up of the billboards all over Baltimore City regarding drunk driving and being a "loser" and the cost of a DUI of approximately $15,000.00. Wow, I wish the cost was anywhere near $15,000.00, it might make all the pressure, struggle, turmoil, public and judicial bias that we suffer as counsel defending these matters a little easier.

Be that as it may, the billboards in addition to indicating a $15,000.00 mistake also indicate that there were “24,000 losers” last year. Hmmm. That got me thinking, several years ago when I looked into how many DUIs there were in Maryland, the same figure was revealed, 24,000 people who were alleged to have made a mistake. Roughly 5 years later and where experiencing the same number of DUI infractions. That got me thinking about how many arrests there were for DUI 20 or 25 years ago before drunk driving became the "in thing" for the government to arrest people for. Back in the day when the legal BAC limit was .15 and the police didn't care if you had an open beverage in the car. I suspect the number of arrests was less and I suspect the number of fatalities was also less then what we have today.

Then I remembered what an officer told me last week in Montgomery County, Maryland; he said he was in court on his day off, that he had 9 cases that day, one of them was mine (which got postponed which means he has to come back again) and that he was getting over time for being there on his day off so he didn't mind being there.

Continue reading "Are we making any difference at all? " »

Funny thing happened to me while I was in DUI Court today. My client was facing a pending jail sentence so we went to Court to try to change that; we were successful and kept him out of jail. Another satisfied client; but, that is not the reason for this post. The reason for the post is one of Howard County's men in blue was present in the Court room and he asked where my blog articles were, the officer said "you have not posted anything in a while". I asked him, do you actually read what I post regarding DUI and drunk driving. He said "we do".

Wow! The police actually read what we have to say, that's great. Maybe it helps on all sides, maybe it helps get better behavior on both sides of the DUI equation. Maybe not, maybe it only helps them be tougher on the DWI Defendants. Either way, our goal here is to seek fairness on both sides of the DUI equation so Defendants can be treated fairly in Court. Unfortunately, there are many Courts in Maryland where a Defendant is guilty merely because s/he walked into the Courtroom.

That means, citizens should know their legal rights and utilize them as they see fit. That means, knowing that one does not have to do a field sobriety test at a DUI stop and knowing that anything they do can and will be used against them in Court. Knowing that right, and then electing to perform roadside gymnastics is totally up to the person. However, not being coerced into incriminating oneself is an important Constitutional Right that we all share.

Then comes that pesky breath machine. Do I blow? Do I not blow? I get asked that question everywhere I go. It's an important question which does not have a simple answer to fit all people. The answer changes based upon individual circumstances. However, it is refreshing that the police are required to advise you of your legal rights before asking a Defendant to make that important decision. You also have the right to communicate with an attorney prior to making that decision. Refreshingly, most police officers will let you exercise that right. Those that do not will suffer the consequences of that decision in Court.

Continue reading "Why should I retain your firm to defend me? " »

Howard County is but one of 24 counties in Maryland in which one can be charged with DUI. For those that are interested, Howard County was founded in 1838 and today has many redeeming qualities. In 2006 it was ranked the third wealthiest county by median household income by the U.S. Census Bureau and Howard County’s own Columbia and Ellicott City were recognized as the fourth “best places to live” by Money Magazine. The public school system in Howard County is continually recognized to be among the best in the Country. Consequently, Howard County is in fact a very pleasant place to live and raise a family, but what about if you are charged with DUI/DWI in Howard County?

After practicing DUI law for 17 years throughout all Maryland counties, including Howard County, Baltimore County, Baltimore City, Anne Arundel County, Prince Georges, Montgomery, Carroll County, Harford, Queen Anne’s etc., I can safely say that Howard County is definitely at the top of the short list of better places to be charged with a DUI (assuming that you’re going to be charged at all). But why you ask?

Continue reading "A DUI in Howard County Maryland" »

Many states require lawyers to take continuing legal education after graduating from law school and passing the bar, Maryland is not one of them. In Maryland, once you pass the bar you are authorized to say goodbye to school and books forever. As a Maryland lawyer, I feel differently. I have been admitted to practice law in this state since 1992. I have been a DUI lawyer in Maryland since my early years with an ever increasing focus on that area of the law.

What's interesting is that when the average person hears the words DUI or DWI they might think this area of the law is not as complicated as others or that this is an easy field, they might not understand that this area is a sub-specialty unto itself. The truth of the matter is, the more one gets involved with seriously defending persons charged with DUI and DWI, the more one appreciates that this truly is a specialty of criminal law. That is, there is so much information to stay abreast of regarding the constitutionality of vehicle stops, the reasonableness of pre-arrest investigations, including field sobriety tests, and the legality of post arrest testing, including breath testing and blood testing. Interestingly, both breath testing and blood testing in DUI and alcohol related cases are very expansive in that they spill over into a variety of other sciences.

The breath test machine, as has been discussed in earlier entries, is effected by such things as the suspect's partition ratio, which the machine takes for granted at 2100:1 and many times is simply wrong, the suspect's hematocrit level, which the machine does not even take into consideration, the suspect's breathing pattern which the police are all to happy to help you with, the machine's built in error rate and on and on. You will recall that the machine essentially operates by taking a breath sample and shining a light through the sample and evaluating how much light comes out the other end of the magic box.

Conversely, with blood draws there are a number of issues including hematocrit, pre-absorption versus post-absorption, venous draws versus arterial draws, hospital draws versus police draws, vials used, preservatives in the vial, storing conditions, custody, etc. They involve many issues involving an understanding of science.

If a DUI lawyer is to provide the best defense possible to a DUI/DWI suspect, that lawyer needs to have a firm grasp not only on the constitutional issues which he learned in law school, but on the scientific issues which are learned outside of law school at continuing legal education seminars and various text books on the subject like Larry Taylor's Drunk Driving Defense, presently in its 6th edition. For me personally, I believe it's important to continually stay fresh on the latest scientific articles and research in the fields that effect DUI suspects. I have just now returned from the National College for Drunk Driving Defense Lawyer's annual continuing legal education seminar at Harvard Law School where I am reminded that the police and the court system are very happy to accept evidence as presented by the government and draw the expected conclusion; however, if that is not consistent with what a client needs, then the lawyer must be prepared to and capable of pulling back the black curtain in order to expose the scientific truth. Knowledge of the science is the truth, the truth leads to fair and equitable results in the defense of DUI cases.