When a driver in Florida is accused of a DUI they are facing serious penalties. Due to the severity of DUI sanctions in Florida the case law and defense strategies are constantly evolving. Florida has some of the broadest public records laws in the country. These laws make every breath test available to the public on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s website. This website can also be used to find the breath test results of previous arrests by the arresting officer in a DUI case. Daytona Beach DUI lawyer Kevin J. Pitts has been using this information to assist in defending his clients for years. When the arresting officer’s history is investigated they almost always have prior arrests of drivers with no alcohol in their breath. The fact that the officer had someone that had not been drinking submit to a test that only checks for alcohol shows that the officer might be susceptible to poor judgment or might be overly aggressive with DUI arrests. The prior breath test is damaging by itself but it becomes more damaging with a little additional effort by the DUI attorney.

Once a prior arrest by the officer with a breath test of .00 is found the next step is to demand the police report. The officer almost always says that they smelled an odor of alcohol coming from the driver’s breath. That is the reason they had the driver submit to a breath test. This benefits the client because it shows not only that the officer arrested someone with a breath test of .00 but also that they stated in a sworn affidavit that they smelled alcohol on that driver’s breath. That shows either a lack of judgment or lack of honesty which are both beneficial to the client being accused of a DUI. This cross examination method is most effective in DUI refusal cases because the primary evidence is the officer’s testimony. In DUI cases without a video the officer’s testimony is usually the only evidence. Most of the Daytona Beach DUI cases do not have videos and this is also true for many of the surrounding municipalities.

So the question is how effective is this strategy. Not all officers have skeletons in their closet but many of the officers that focus on DUI cases do. Many officers are fair with drivers and only arrest the people that are truly impaired. This is not the case with all officers. They have awards banquets and other incentives for the officer with the most DUI arrests. The problem with that is the awards are based on arrests and not convictions. Generally the aggressive agencies and officers have the highest numbers of arrests under the legal limit. Some of the worst offending officers have nearly half of their arrests under .08% and a nearly 1 out of 4 arrests with a breath alcohol content of .00%. This is not surprising based on the lack of accuracy of the field sobriety exercises. When the “legal limit” was decreased to .08% the officer’s job becomes more difficult. For lower breath test levels the clues of impairment are subtle and the conditions on the side of the road are not ideal. Some officers have a tendency to arrest drivers with lower breath alcohol readings. When this occurs a public record is made and it can be effectively used to damage that officer’s credibility. For additional information about DUI cases in Volusia County and Seminole County contact Daytona Beach DUI attorney Kevin J. Pitts.