On the previous post I wrote about the basics of the new Alabama interlock device. Below is a real world example.
So envision this scenario: a traveling sales rep has an after work meeting with clients. He/she consumes a couple of drinks and gets pulled over on the way home. The police officer administers the purely subjective field sobriety tests (which almost every time they are given the driver “fails”). He/she is arrested (remember an arrest must be made before a breath test is given) and the driver refuses to take the breath test.
In court, the only thing needed for a conviction is the officer’s opinion that the driver was “intoxicated to the point where he/she cannot operate a motor vehicle safely.” So the defendant goes to court without a lawyer. The Municipal prosecutor says you can just plead guilty and have the case over without jail time. The defendant signs a “waiver of counsel.” Well, the driver now has to have an interlock device installed for two years.
If not represented properly, new Alabama DUI laws could put more people in handcuffs
Or a defendant hires a lawyer who doesn’t regularly practice DUI defense. That lawyer advises them to “simply plead guilty” because “you will just have to go to some classes and pay a fine.”
So a law abiding citizen who has never been in trouble his/her life has the embarrassment, burden, and loss of a job because of this new law.
And do the police have more incentive to make DUI arrests with a citizen facing stiffer penalties? Does it generate more money for the local government? How does that effect the officer when administering the supposedly subjective filed sobriety test? Common sense answers all of these questions.
If you are arrested for DUI, contact Greg Yaghmai at (205) 969-2868 or toll free at 1-866-969-1850