Not Guilty, Complete Acquittal at Jury Trial – DUI and DWI (.107 BAC) – State v. Ms W – (DMC No. 16810) – JUL 29, 2021 – (Surprise City Court No. TR2019-00313).
Ms W was coming home from a restaurant in Surprise by the name of Eagles. She had approximately two glasses of wine with dinner and was traveling 35 miles per hour in a 45-mile zone. The Surprise Police Officer claimed that she ran a light, and then he followed her for almost two miles. He claimed that when she made a turn, she struck a curb, and that’s when he pulled her over. On the citation, the Officer put the time of driving as 10:23 at night (instead of 9:45). When he conducted field sobriety tests, he received only 4 cues out of 6 on the HGN (eye test). He subsequently placed Ms W under arrest and she produced a breath test, which resulted in a .107 blood alcohol concentration.
After Ms W hired our law office, we began our investigation. Ms W was 72 years old at the time she was stopped, and had various medical issues. At Trial, all of these issues were brought up, which nullified most of the field sobriety tests. In addition, we were able to show that traveling at 10 miles below the speed limit did not constitute one of the 24 night-time indicators of DUI impairment as established by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Ultimately, the Jury came back Not Guilty on all charges, and Ms W was greatly relived that she did not have to spend time in jail.