Illinois DUI Lawyer Blawg

In Illinois, the county coroner’s office works with various police agencies within the coroner’s county. This recent article in the Chicago Sun-Times online concerns the deputy coroner of Will County Illinois (suburban Chicago) who was arrested on suspicion of DUI. If the police report is accurate, she seemed to imply that her position of authority justified special treatment (“Don’t you know who I am?”)

Here are some tips to keep in mind if the police stop you and you are concerned about being charged with DUI.

First, statements that imply guilt (“give me a break”, “I can’t get another DUI”, “I am only 2 blocks from home, can’t you cut me some slack”) put you in a position of having to provide the judge and jury with an innocent explanation for your statements, and there is an old saying in the law, if you are explaining, you are losing. And these pleas for mercy never work.

Likewise, being belligerent (“I will have your badge”, “I will sue you”, “I am getting railroaded”, “you guys are all on the take”) does not help. Moreover, if the arrest is taped, and most of them are, your actions will leave the judge and jury who view the video with a negative impression of you.

Furthermore, most law enforcement officers encounter so many people on the job that by the time your case gets to trial, the typical officer in the typical arrest will not remember anything about your case other than what is in his notes. But if you have gone out of your way to be rude, that officer is likely to remember you better than the other people who are polite and cooperative. (the nail that sticks out is most likely to get hammered).

In addition, police are human. If you have treated the officer fairly, he is less likely to register a protest if the state officers you a good “deal”. While the prosecuting attorney has final say in those matters, many of them take the arresting officer’s input into account.

Continue reading →

You can be charged in Illinois with Driving Under the Influence (DUI) even though the police may not actually observe you driving. This Chicago Sun-Times article describes a man who was charged with DUI despite the fact that at the time of the arrest, his car was pulled over and notwithstanding the fact he was rear-ended.

Blake, perhaps concerned that he was too impaired to be driving, parked his car on the shoulder. Although he failed to pull completely over, the fact remains that his vehicle was struck from behind and he was not driving at the time. However, Illinois DUI law provides that you are considered to be driving under the influence if you are in “actual physical control” of your vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.

Many DUI arrests begin when authorities find a driver asleep behind the wheel, or asleep in the back seat of the car, or even outside of the car. As long as the state can prove to a jury that the driver either had been driving or was capable of driving before he sobered up, that is enough.

Since 1984, federal law has required all 50 states to implement a drinking age of 21. Failure to do so results in a loss of federal highway funds. A recent newspaper article discusses proposed actions in the state of Virginia regarding alcohol possession by those under the age of 21. These laws, like those of many other states, go far beyond what the 1984 law requires.

Because laws in this regard vary from state to state, you should consult an Illinois DUI lawyer if you or anyone you know who is under the age of 21 receives any type of drinking ticket. In addition, even if you do not receive a ticket but have a driver’s license or ID confiscated from you, your driving privileges are in jeopardy.

This state has a Zero Tolerance Law Under that law, if you are under the age of 21 and are stopped for a traffic violation and the officer has reason to believe you have been drinking, the officer may demand that you take a breath or blood test.

If that test shows an alcohol level above zero, your driver’s license will be suspended for 3 months if this is your first zero tolerance offense. If you refuse to take the test and this is your first zero tolerance offense, the Secretary of State will suspend your license for 12 months. If you are a repeat zero tolerance offender, your license will be suspended for 6 months if you fail the test and 2 years if you refuse to take the test.

Illegal transportation of alcohol (open container in the vehicle) is a violation of the law regardless of the driver’s age. However, if you are under 21 and are convicted of illegal transportation, your license will be suspended for 12 months for a first conviction, and it will be revoked upon a second conviction.

Continue reading →

A much-anticipated Illinois Supreme Court opinion held that the HGN, one of three standardized field sobriety tests in Illinois DUI cases, was a valid indicator of alcohol impaired driving. What this means in practical terms that the state will not have to provide expert testimony that the HGN is some evidence of alcohol impairment every time it wishes to use the HGN in an Illinois DUI prosecution.

While this decision is helpful to the state, the Supreme Court placed limits on its use. First of all, the state cannot present the test as proof of intoxication. It will be treated like the other standardized field sobriety tests, or like an open beer can in your car, or an odor of alcohol on your breath, or your admission that you had been drinking. None of these things, standing alone, proves that you are drunk. They just tend to make it more likely that you had consumed alcohol.

The Court also held that any police officer who administers the HGN must be trained according to the student manual of the National Traffic Safety Highway Administration (NHTSA).

Continue reading →

The San Diego Union Tribune newspaper recently reported on a California DUI arrest with a Cook County, Illinois connection. A man in San Diego, California faces prison time of 15 years to life for a DUI arrest that led to the death of another person.

The article notes that California law, like that of many other states, including Illinois, provides for enhanced penalties when you have had previous DUI or reckless homicide convictions. It turns out that this driver had a reckless homicide conviction in Cook County, Illinois in 1952 and an Alaska DUI conviction in 1988. The California authorities are aware of these convictions, despite their age and distance from California.

There was a time that a driver could run from state to state in order to avoid the consequences of DUI convictions. A couple of things have since converged to make that more difficult. For one thing, technology had made it much easier and cost effective for agencies in the 50 states to communicate with one another.

However, while the technology constitutes a staring point, the National Driver Registry (NDR), also known as the Problem Driver Pointer System (PDPS), makes it possible for the 50 states to share information among themselves. The NDR is defined as “a central repository of information on individuals whose privilege to drive has been revoked, suspended, canceled or denied or who have been convicted of serious traffic-related offenses”.

Continue reading →

An emergency room nurse in Chicago recently refused to draw blood from a patient at the request of police. The police suspected alcohol caused the accident for which the accused sought medical care.

The nurse insisted on first consulting her supervisor, and the article focused on the her lawsuit against the City for arresting her, an arrest she believed was unjustified. But the article also provides an opportunity for a discussion of DUI, hospitals, blood draws and the police.

According to government statistics, the chances of a DUI accident are pretty high. In 2007, over 250,000 crashes with injuries involved alcohol and another 13,000 were killed in such crashes. Those involved in such crashes often end up in the emergency room due to their injuries.

Continue reading →

Recently in the news is that former Chicago Blackhawks star Chris Chelios was arrested in Illinois for DUI. As I viewed this online report from the Daily Herald, the following statement from reporter Jim Davis, who had viewed the DUI arrest video caught my eye:

I had heard that the field-sobriety tests are tough to ace, even to someone who might be stone-cold sober. So as Chelios struggled a bit with keeping his arms at his side, balancing on one foot and counting “one one-thousand, two one-thousand …” I was compelled to stand up and try this myself. I didn’t fall, but I wobbled and had to stretch out my arms for balance. And, for the record, I was stone-cold sober at the time.

Most of us have heard of the police asking you to “walk a straight line”. The United States Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has a name for this: Standardized Field Sobriety Test (SFST).

NHTSA defines the SFST as “a battery of three tests administered and evaluated in a standardized manner to obtain validated indicators of impairment and establish probable cause for arrest”. In other words, the officer will ask you to perform three tests, and your performance on those tests will be one of the factors he will use in deciding whether to arrest you for DUI.

The officer will usually capture your performance on the SFST with a video camera situated in his squad car. The three tests are the:

· Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN)
· Walk-and-Turn (WAT)
· One-Leg Stand (OLS)

Continue reading →