Clients charged with drug or alcohol offenses frequently ask why we recommend they submit to an evaluation and take an education and/or treatment class if they are presumed to be innocent. Doesn’t that make it look like they are guilty? The answer is no. It makes it look like they…
Once a driver has been arrested for a DUI or DWI in Maryland by state, not federal, police, the arresting officer is required to read a form to the driver, called the DR-15 Form. This form explains the penalties for failing or refusing a breath or blood test. Of course…
This week is the National College for DUI Defense‘s summer session in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We stay at the Charles Hotel and have three days of lectures and break out sessions at Harvard Law School. (We are not affiliated with Harvard Law School but we rent some of their classrooms which…
20 years ago it was not uncommon to for a person convicted of automobile manslaughter to avoid going to jail entirely. Sentences in cases we have handled have ranged from zero to 18 months. This week the Washington Post reported that a woman was sentenced to serve 20 years for…
This week a jury found Casey Anthony not guilty of murder of her daughter Caylee. It was the right verdict. The prosecution failed to prove the cause of death, when Caylee died, how she died. The jury could not say whether Caylee died accidentally or was murdered. The jury could…
Defending drivers with a CDL (commercial driver’s license) who are charged with drunk driving is tricky. Each step of the process involves a risk that the CDL will either be disqualified pursuant to state and federal law, or suspended pursuant to regulations of the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA). Under…
What I have tried to do in the following blog is touch on the basics of preparing to represent a person charged with a DUI. It is not possible in this space to give more than a basic outline of what is required. What follows therefore, should be understood to…
This is my first blog on DUI defense and related matters. So if you are reading this, welcome! I will try to blog every week. In the coming weeks and months I will be discussing issues of importance to DUI defendants and defense lawyers since a major part of what…