DUI Charges Dropped

The defendant hired the Umansky Law Firm to represent him against a DUI case he was arrested on in Brevard County. The defendant adamantly denied that he was under the influence of alcohol or drugs to the arresting officer, however the officer arrested him anyways. The arresting officer is a certified Drug Recognition Expert, and certified as an instructor to teach courses to certify other Drug Recognition Experts. That officer claimed that he “smelled an odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from the defendant.” The officer also claimed that our client admitted to taking morphine. The officer requested that our client perform a field sobriety exercise, which our client readily agreed to. The officer wrote in his report that our client exhibited all 6 indicators of impairment during the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus exercise. As a certified Drug Recognition Expert the officer is deemed by the State of Florida to be an “expert” in determining impairment through administering the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus exercise. The officer further claimed that our client exhibited 6 of 8 possible indicators of impairment during the walk and turn exercise, and all four of the possible indicators of impairment during the one leg stand exercise. Based on his expert opinion as a Drug Recognition Expert Instructor, the officer arrested our client for driving under the influence. He agreed to give a sample of his breath to determine the alcoholic content of his blood and the results came back negative for the presence of any alcohol in his system.

The attorneys at The Umansky Law Firm prepared a Motion to Compel the evidence in the case as the prosecutors failed to turn over the evidence in a timely manner. In response the assigned prosecutor stated that she would not file charges on the case due to the Defendant’s urine sample coming back negative for the presence of any controlled substances.

Verification Number:  05-2014-CT-049024-A