DUI and I was sober??? wth??

[CdwJava]

You would not believe how this guy is known for antagonizing young women drivers and harassing them just because he CAN. Since my bogus DUI citation I don't know how many people have told me stories about this cat dating as far back to when he first became an officer and pulled over and harassed every female who ever turned him down in high school. He has even pulled over my lawyers wife before they were married, numerous times, for silly stuff.

And have any of these people reported this behavior to the agency or anyone else?

Even if he is a notorious hound dog, it does nothing to change the facts of the DUI for good or ill.

If he is a doofus then the DA likely won't file because he or she will know that this officer is incapable of articulating a sentence on the stand. On the other hand, if the stories are bogus and/or he is an articulate and/or well trained officer, then they just might stand.

As I have said, it all depends on the officers observations and the results of the test. No observations of impairment = weak or nonexistent case.

My script says I can take 2 every 4-6 hrs...I had had 2 the whole day...and my last one was 6 hrs prior to being pulled over.

Which does not mean you were not impaired.

Of course if you ask the officer his side of story it will be different, he has to justify his actions. I have been told he would give his own mother a DUI and that this guy has had a chip on his shoulder for years.

If my mother were impaired and driving, I'd call someone else to do the evaluation so I wouldn't arrest her for DUI.

If being aggressive on DUI means having a "chip" on one's shoulder, call me guilty, too.

One part of our job is to protect the public, and that means pursuing impaired drivers. Does that mean YOU were impaired in this instance? I have no idea. But, the police are not in the business of giving people a pass on DUI just to be nice. It's not quite the same as a minor traffic infraction, after all.

Do I think I have a better case than most sorry saps who give every excuse in the book as to why they were driving under the influence and really did deserve a DUI...YOU BET

Maybe you do. Particularly if there are no FSTs and the observations are limited. But, if you were stumbling or staggering about, exhibited slurred speech, or assorted other objective symptoms of impairment on some controlled substance, then the state has a decent chance of a conviction. But, the defense has a decent shot at casting reasonable doubt as well.

Ultimately, your attorney can evaluate the state's case and if he or she has any experience in DUI they can tell you the chances of prevailing at trial.

 

[GoIllini]

Well, seems like the OP is getting advice from her lawyer. And if the PO really was a screwball, hopefully you've got a reasonably intelligent DA who will toss the charges or maybe at least offer some sort of settlement where you quietly surrender your DL until you're off the meds without any sort of criminal record. (Probably a wise choice)

Which does not mean you were not impaired.

There's a lot of things I don't know about how that medication affects the body, but by modus tollens, we know that the recommended dose must at least have less of an impact on the body than the per-se limit for blood alcohol. Otherwise, the FDA would need to have a warning label advising ALL medicants to avoid driving.

And if the urine test comes back and a pharmacist can say the impact of the medication based on the urine test would be 1/2 or 1/4 the normal dose, you're talking about a BAC of .02.

OP- if you are worried about the urine test, you might want to have a conversation with your pharmacist. In particular, tell her exactly what you took and when, and find out what the half life on that medication is, how much of it would have been in your blood when you were pulled over, and how far back a urine test is going to look.

The fact that you took a lower dose is obviously good news. How good news it is depends on how the medication works and whether its impact is linear with blood alcohol or if it's some other function. Obviously linear or something that's more concave up than linear would be best.

 

[CdwJava]

It's not how far back the test looks, it is a measure of the concentration of the substance in the bloodstream at the time of the test. Depending on the substance, these generally purge pretty fast. And if taking the prescribed dosage of most medications (unless extremely high dosage levels) then th etst will tend to come back negative.

If the state cannot articulate impairment then they have no case. If they can articulate impairment and show that drugs or alcohol were on board, then the state will likely prevail either at trial or through a plea deal.

 

[Lovingmom1]

IL

I broke my left foot and have been prescribed lyrica, norco, and percocets for pain. I have never abused these meds but got a DUI when I got pulled over at 3 in the morning and the cop discovered the scripts when I was looking for my id in my purse. He also said I had dilated pupils. I take 2 lyrica daily (for nerve damage in my foot) and maybe one or 2 norco 5's a day as needed for pain. My script says I can take 1to 2 every 4 to 6 hrs as needed for pain. I had taken 2 the whole day. The cop gave me a urine test. My question is, can this DUI stick if I wasn't abusing the medication?

WooooWeeeee! I would take 1 Norco every 8 hrs for pain when I had surgery last December, and would immediately fall asleep. I can't imagine driving with that in my system, let alone 4-5 a day! Yowza!

 

[justalayman]

WooooWeeeee! I would take 1 Norco every 8 hrs for pain when I had surgery last December, and would immediately fall asleep. I can't imagine driving with that in my system, let alone 4-5 a day! Yowza!

nothing better than first hand experience to shoot down your theories GoIllini.

 

[Zigner]

Have to chime in on this too...a close family member has this prescribed. She takes one and feels the effect of it for at least 12 hours...it's strong stuff.

 

[gurl33]

I didn't say I took 5 a day (is said they are 5mg)...I said sometimes take 1 or 2 a day...or sometimes not any at all...HUGE difference. I am not worried about it...I have a good feeling my case will be dropped, especially since the fact that I was not intoxicated (impaired YES, due to foot and sleep deprivation) and the cop is a JERK. I also used my turn signal and had my seat belt on so maybe I can get the disobeyed stop sign dismissed as well.

There has been numerous complaints on him already and he has already been ran out of the neighboring town.

I will keep you all posted and my attorney and I are ready to take this to trial if we HAVE to. I don't think it will go that far but it may.

Thank you everyone for your input and please keep it coming.

 

[GoIllini]

I didn't say I took 5 a day (is said they are 5mg)...I said sometimes take 1 or 2 a day...or sometimes not any at all...HUGE difference. I am not worried about it...I have a good feeling my case will be dropped, especially since the fact that I was not intoxicated (impaired YES, due to foot and sleep deprivation) and the cop is a JERK. I also used my turn signal and had my seat belt on so maybe I can get the disobeyed stop sign dismissed as well.

There has been numerous complaints on him already and he has already been ran out of the neighboring town.

I will keep you all posted and my attorney and I are ready to take this to trial if we HAVE to. I don't think it will go that far but it may.

Thank you everyone for your input and please keep it coming.

Seems like your lawyer is buying your story- he's not steering you towards a plea. Hopefully justalayman will come around at some point.

Please come back and let us know how it goes.

 

[justalayman]

Seems like your lawyer is buying your story- he's not steering you towards a plea. Hopefully justalayman will come around at some point.
.

come around to what? We do not have the officers report. If the officer found reason to support the charge, then OP can deal with that. So far, she has no idea what the officer is claiming was his justification for considering her unable to safely drive a vehicle. You can make all the claims and assertions you want but with only the defendants claims represented, it is a one sided story.

If the charge is not valid, I would hope it does get dropped. It is what is righteous.

Time will tell.

 

[DUI Attorneys]

DUI / DWI / Drunk Driving applies to both legal and illegal drugs

You may be guilty of this crime if you are under the influence of drugs which were prescribed to you by a doctor, or even over-the-counter drugs if it can be proven they affected your ability to drive such that it made your driving while under the influence of a drug. The punishment for driving under the influence of drugs mirror those for driving while intoxicated.

Proving a person violated this law is not necessarily easy. The key for the Prosecution in proving drug cases is often whether the drug actually causes a significant or sufficient level of mental or physical impairment at the time of driving. The prosecutor must show that the drug actually impaired your driving. It is often impossible for the prosecutor to prove driving impairment based upon drugs. This is especially true where the charge is based ONLY on drug use and not the combination of alcohol with a drug. Interestingly, there are a number of drugs which may enhance your ability to drive; in some cases, the forensic or scientific evidence will be in the driver's favor. The DUI Prosecutor will try to prove the drive was under the influence of drug(s) by introducing evidence related to driving patterns, (often ambiguous) physical signs and symptoms, field sobriety testing performance and chemical tests.

It can be a defense if the drug causes one to drive with the same caution characteristic of a sober person or ordinary prudence under the same or similar circumstance. It is a defense if the driving pattern, (often ambiguous) physical signs and symptoms, field sobriety testing performance and chemical tests are just as consistent with non-impairment as they are with impairment. If charged with driving under the influence of prescription medication, sleep driving may possibly be a DUI defense. But the involuntary intoxication should be based on an unanticipated reaction to medication taken as lawfully prescribed.

 

[gurl33]

nice post, thanks for your input. There was NO alcohol involved. I've lost enough sleep over this, just gonna let my lawyer handle it.

 

[gurl33]

nice post, thanks for your input. There was NO alcohol involved. I've lost enough sleep over this, just gonna let my lawyer handle it.

 

[GoIllini]

If the charge is not valid, I would hope it does get dropped. It is what is righteous.

Time will tell.

Just outta curiosity, do you consider yourself righteous?

 

[justalayman]

Just outta curiosity, do you consider yourself righteous?

Me and my brothers, we all try to be. You might have heard of us; The Righteous Brothers

 

[!CuriousGeorge!]

An expert is likely needed to testify to the expected amt of drugs in system v. driving function of a person with such amt of drugs.