dui charge, officer got date wrong

[paperclipchevy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Pa dui

Here's my brief question section, please feel free to read the whole story if anyone has any additional advice or wants to hear a good dicked by the cops story.

On the police report he marked down the wrong date as a Wednesday and not the Friday night it occurred. I have evidence and witnesses to confirm. Leads me to believe my blood sample might be some drunk guy's from a wednesday night pullover. Will this help me? Also I didn't recieve any summons untill 7 months later after it happened. Fairly common these days maybe. Alot of time for someone with a supposed drinking and driving problem to cruise around wasted, kinda defeats the real purpose behind the law.

Whole story...

Typical scenario, bogus pullover for alleged speeding after a few beers at bar over an hour and half period. Cop approached car and told me to continue up hill to gas station lot and NOT! park. Told to wait for an additional officer to arrive, roughly 20 minutes. Then did the monkey dance for them, stand on one foot count to 21. I held my arms out and didn't realize that was a failure on my part. He never instructed me to hold them down to my sides. Then sat in the car for awhile while they worked out their plan. 40 minutes later I'm still sitting in car having a smoke waiting, and all the sudden a breathalizer is popped through my window and I'm told to blow. He shows me a reading 0.13 and tells me to get out and turn around then cuffs me and takes me to local hospital. Hour and 20 after pullover I get blood taken. Hospital has no record of this.

His police report said first ,the wrong date, then that I admitted to speeding "lie" over 45 in a 25 zone. I took pictures of the speed trap showing the accutrack lines having 40 mile speed limits associated with them. Going down hill you see 40 curve road sign then 25 sign after accutrack lines. Going up hill there's a 40 sharp turn sign inbetween the accutrack lines. His report also said he first detected alcohol and gave breath test which I failed, and then gave me field sobriety test which I supposedly failed. Charge had high alcohol level 0.16. 5 separate charges were made for dui and speeding related.

Pretty much his report makes me look like the alcoholic son of satan.
I have a public defender which I gloriously get to console with for a half hour before the case preliminary. I'm hoping for Tom Cruise. Any advise people? I do qualify for ARD but would like to plea not guilty and have it reduced to reckless driving or something similar. Or thrown out!

Worst part was he drove me home and I warned him to slow down around a dangerous deer crossing turn near my house. Sure enough a deer, right in our path which he would have nailed at 40 miles per hour. Thanks for returning the favor jerk.

P.S. I hate copsWhat is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[FlyingRon]

Police report means little. It's what he says in front of the judge that matters.

The PD is not there to console you.

The fact you raised your arms in order to complete a simple task is ONE of the signs of impairment. They're not required to tell you not to do that. Sober people don't. That's the rub.

You seem to have plenty of probable cause for the stop and plenty of post stop evidence of your impairment. ARD is your best bet. Don't blow it.

 

[BigMistakeFl]

Afraid I must agree with Ron's assessment. I don't see anything unusual about the arrest; you got caught. You can hire an attorney and try the escalating BAC argument that your content was less at the time you were driving, but that's a roll of the dice. I'd aim for ARD and brace for what that entails.

 

[41tellthetruth]

You got caught

Stop making excuses, man up and deal with it!!!!!!!!

 

[paperclipchevy]

Yes I was caught

Yeah it's hopeless I suppose. My opinion is the speed trap is unlawful, I was driving safely and at the speed limit through the same trap I pass through every day and am fully aware of. I feel that I shouldn't have been honest with the officer about just leaving the bar because I feel he used that knowledge to purposefully stall the sobriety test and breath test to 40 minutes later after the last beer had entered my system and my body became more dehydrated. I feel that the sobriety test was completed successfully but unfortunately I have no proof to show a judge that I was not stumbling, swaying, or slurring speech. You try standing on one foot and counting to 21 at 3:00 in the morning on a windy night without showing any signs of trying to balance yourself. It's my opinion that the breathalizer test was not done to pa code with any calibration or comparison of multiple tests to confirm its accuracy. Preachin to the choir I know. All in all If he didnt pull me over I would have been at the wawa getting my chicken parm and nantucket nectar and probably had seen him there like I normally do on weekend nights talking with his buddies, and would have been home safely in 15 minutes.

All this does serve its purpose I guess in the fact that I will very soon have no job, no social life, no money and I will have no intent on drinking anything and driving at all, ever again.

 

[BigMistakeFl]

Your lawyer can get the calibration records on the machine used on you. If it is "out of date", you could have a defense there. Most likely, however, it has been calibrated according to manufacturer's specifications and municipality requirements. They've encountered that defense before and as such, usually make sure to prevent it by keeping the machines current.

 

[FlyingRon]

Yeah it's hopeless I suppose. My opinion is the speed trap is unlawful,

How so? Speed traps are legal pretty much everywhere except California. What jurisdiction stopped you? What device were they using to mesure your speed.

I was driving safely and at the speed limit through the same trap I pass through every day and am fully aware of.

When you are sober perhaps you are more aware.

I feel that I shouldn't have been honest with the officer about just leaving the bar because I feel he used that knowledge to purposefully stall the sobriety test and breath test to 40 minutes later after the last beer had entered my system and my body became more dehydrated.

Increasing the time to 40 minutes is not going to be in his favor. You're guessing there. Dehydration has no bearing on the breath test.

I feel that the sobriety test was completed successfully but unfortunately I have no proof to show a judge that I was not stumbling, swaying, or slurring speech.

Every drunk thinks they did OK on the test. Yes you have no proof, but you would be a lousy witness anyhow seeing you were intoxicated at the time.
This is neither here nor there. THEY ONLY NEED THE PRIMA FACIE BAC LEVEL. The FST is there for backup in case there is some issue with the BAC evidence.

All in all If he didnt pull me over I would have been at the wawa getting my chicken parm and nantucket nectar and probably had seen him there like I normally do on weekend nights talking with his buddies, and would have been home safely in 15 minutes.

Completely spurious and fallacious argument. The fact that you managed to drive home successfully intoxicated before means nothing. You only need to screw up once to kill a sober and innocent bystander. I spent years as a paramedic. I've seen the results of drunk driving.

 

[paperclipchevy]

more arguments

Well the speed trap is an accutrack "two white lines where the police officer clicks a stopwatch twice" which I have pics showing a 40 mile per hour speed limit sign between the lines.
Me driving safely is my opinion, I was going the speed limit and knew of the trap and saw the cop sitting there that night.
Having me wait a long period of time would allow the alcohol to enter my system, I've read studies on human absobtion of alcohol, the peak time is roughly an hour after consumption and is directly related to the weight of water in a persons body/organs as well as food in stomach and many other factors. Question here is " Is it legal for a person to have a drink knowing they will head straight home before the alchohol is absorbed?" For instance a man drives to a bar a minute away from his house, pounds a couple drinks and leaves right away. Then he is pulled over when he is sober but held for a long enough period to allow the absorbtion of the alcohol.
I don't appreciate being called a drunk. I'm here for real advice not insults please. The final bit was to try and illustrate I would have been home in 15 minutes with food in my stomach and still sober had I not been pulled over on false pretenses.
Sorry if I seem like a jerk tying to get out of something but this has brought up alot of questions in my mind. My best friend Brandon Mason died in a drunk driving car accident so I do care very much about the subject. I will never drink anything and drive again, it's just very frustrating when your treated like scum and you've always been very careful and responsible about your drinking habits.

 

[paguy88]

Well the speed trap is an accutrack "two white lines where the police officer clicks a stopwatch twice" which I have pics showing a 40 mile per hour speed limit sign between the lines.
Me driving safely is my opinion, I was going the speed limit and knew of the trap and saw the cop sitting there that night.
Having me wait a long period of time would allow the alcohol to enter my system, I've read studies on human absobtion of alcohol, the peak time is roughly an hour after consumption and is directly related to the weight of water in a persons body/organs as well as food in stomach and many other factors. Question here is " Is it legal for a person to have a drink knowing they will head straight home before the alchohol is absorbed?" For instance a man drives to a bar a minute away from his house, pounds a couple drinks and leaves right away. Then he is pulled over when he is sober but held for a long enough period to allow the absorbtion of the alcohol.
I don't appreciate being called a drunk. I'm here for real advice not insults please. The final bit was to try and illustrate I would have been home in 15 minutes with food in my stomach and still sober had I not been pulled over on false pretenses.
Sorry if I seem like a jerk tying to get out of something but this has brought up alot of questions in my mind. My best friend Brandon Mason died in a drunk driving car accident so I do care very much about the subject. I will never drink anything and drive again, it's just very frustrating when your treated like scum and you've always been very careful and responsible about your drinking habits.

I will give you some quick advice. and this is sound advice.

All the beer commercials, ads in magazines ect... promote drinking in reality.

that said most assiciate having a "good time:" going out and drinking.

few think about how will I get home.

My advice. if you drink.. don't drive. it's that simple. No way unless drugs are scripts are involved you can get a DUI... they can sk you to blow in to a machine.. take a blood test ect... you can do it all with no worries.

other wise.. you will be playing the dance of the DUI... you are caught in the trap now..

my question is have you used ARD or been convited of a crime in the past 10 years?

what county in PA did this happen?

 

[paperclipchevy]

Thx much pa guy. I live in Berks county in eastern Pa near Limerick and Pottstown. I've never been convicted of any other crimes. I qualify for ARD and will apply at my preliminary. I wanted to try and drop the charges of the speed ticket because I have proof that it's a 40 zone but everything else I'm unsure. Most people will say just plead guilty and hope for a break. Others say plead not guilty and delay everything as much as possible which will eventually lead to lower penalties due to cases starting to back up. I assume the not guilty route involves alot of formal requests for evidence, such as a blood sample to test privately. I would not be suprised if alot of the evidence is non existent but it only takes a police officer's testimony in the end. Any other tips? Could I talk to the officer before the hearing and ask him to drop some of the charges? Maybe he would do me a favor for saving him from a deer collision?

 

[paguy88]

Thx much pa guy. I live in Berks county in eastern Pa near Limerick and Pottstown. I've never been convicted of any other crimes. I qualify for ARD and will apply at my preliminary. I wanted to try and drop the charges of the speed ticket because I have proof that it's a 40 zone but everything else I'm unsure. Most people will say just plead guilty and hope for a break. Others say plead not guilty and delay everything as much as possible which will eventually lead to lower penalties due to cases starting to back up. I assume the not guilty route involves alot of formal requests for evidence, such as a blood sample to test privately. I would not be suprised if alot of the evidence is non existent but it only takes a police officer's testimony in the end. Any other tips? Could I talk to the officer before the hearing and ask him to drop some of the charges? Maybe he would do me a favor for saving him from a deer collision?

ARD involves no plea. you will not have to plea guilty

at the primlinary hearing.. you will go to court and wave it.. takes like 5 minutes.

expect arringment to be 2 months later.. then you plea not guilty in lue of ARD and getting accepted to program. they will give you a date for arrignment at prilim.

ard interview day of arrignment.

 

[paperclipchevy]

Ahh ok so its pretty much a plea of guilty meaning you take the ARD with no further hearings? But will I get charged with speeding or anything else or is the whole charge waived?

 

[FlyingRon]

No, you're not listening closely to PAGUY.

ARD isn't a plea. It's a pretrial opportunity to get the charges dismissed if you successfully complete the probation. If you screw it up, they just go back and try you.

As PAGUY says you go to wherever it says on your charging documents and waive the prelim. You can start on the ARD application there. They'll schedule you for the arraignment and you'll toodle up to Reading and they will arraign you and if the DA accepts the ARD idea then they'll send you upstairs to the probation department.

You'll also get a bill (which you can pay this over time) for every nickle and dime charge they can think to send your way.

DON'T SCREW THIS UP.

I'll break a little protocol here. If you need a good lawyer in Berks, drop me a PM, I know one there.