A review of 3 KEY topics You MUST Know by ➪ Boca Raton ➪
Drugged Driving
in West Palm Beach
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Like most people, you’ve probably never been drugged by another person, except perhaps by a doctor or nurse in anticipation of surgery.
But also, like most people, you’ve probably drugged yourself with over-the-counter medications (such as cough syrup, pain relievers, and anti-allergens), or with pills legally prescribed by your doctor (such as anti-anxiety, antidepressant, or pain-killing medication).
Of course, some people drug themselves with “controlled substances” such as marijuana and cocaine.
But whatever one’s drug of choice, whether household aspirin, medical cannabis, or illegal crack, if ingestion of the drug impairs your normal faculties, especially your reflexes and judgment, then getting behind the wheel of a car or truck, or even a boat, can result in your arrest and prosecution for driving under the influence.
In other words, the offense of “driving under the influence” includes, not just the consumption of alcoholic drinks, but also, any chemical substance that can adversely affect one’s conscious mind and one’s ability to operate a motor vehicle safely.
Hiring a Drug DUI Attorney for Driving Under the Influence of Drugs
In order to determine whether a person has been driving under the influence of alcohol, police commonly use a machine that analyzes the content of a person’s breath. In contrast, to determine whether a person has been driving under the influence of drugs, police commonly use a machine that analyzes the content of a person’s urine.
While many people, naturally, may object to the invasiveness of being required to provide a urine sample to the police, the Florida Legislature adopted a kind of legal fiction to compel people to do just that.
Consequently, according to Florida law, every person who drives in Florida is regarded as having given consent to providing a urine sample to police if suspected of operating the vehicle under the influence of drugs.
Under the same Florida law, if a driver refuses to provide a urine sample when lawfully requested to do so by police, the driver’s license is automatically suspended for at least one year, and the term of this administrative suspension could be longer if the driver had, on a prior traffic stop, previously refused.
Can the suspension of one’s driver’s license for refusing to provide a urine sample be reversed? Yes, it can. But the window providing that opportunity is very narrow, and most drivers arrested for driving under the influence have not hired a lawyer before that window has closed.
The penalties for driving under the influence in Florida vary and include mandatory jail time and substantial fines, so I urge you to review my resource on DUI penalties.
Legal Defenses To The Charge of Driving Under The Influence of Drugs
Often, the strongest way to defend a case in which a person has been charged with driving under the influence of drugs is by demonstrating that the way police stopped the driver was illegal itself.
In other words, when stopping a driver, police must comply with specific laws designed to prevent them, in a free country, from stopping people without just cause.
A good criminal defense lawyer is highly sensitive to the facts and circumstances under which police conduct a traffic stop. In fact, illegal stops by police, leading to the dismissal of cases, occur more often than most people think.
Assuming that the way in which police stopped the driver was legal, the next approach to defeating a charge of driving under the influence of drugs is by showing that the prosecution cannot prove any one of the three elements required to win a conviction.
In a charge of driving under the influence of drugs, the prosecutor must prove “beyond a reasonable doubt” :
- (1) that the driver was, at the time of the stop, in physical control of the vehicle, whether by actual driving or even by merely sitting behind the wheel of a parked car;
- (2) that the driver was “under the influence”
- (3) of any of the drugs, whether over-the-counter, prescribed, or unprescribed, identified under Florida law (Statute 877.111 or Chapter 893);
Proving these allegations generally requires hard work by the prosecutor; it is easier said than done.
It is the job of your defense lawyer to investigate the relevant facts carefully, and thoroughly research the corresponding law to identify weaknesses in the government’s case.
For example, police must follow strict requirements when compelling a driver to provide a urine sample. If the police fail to comply with these laws, the judge must exclude any incriminating evidence the urine sample might provide. As a result, the prosecution will be unable to win its case and will be forced to drop the charges.
In addition, the presence of a drug in a driver’s system does not necessarily mean the drug impaired the driver’s normal faculties. It could be that other factors, such as the lateness of the hour, and the natural fatigue of the driver after a long day at work could have contributed to the impairment of his judgment.
In other words, it is not enough for the prosecutor to merely show a person was driving with the presence of drugs in his or her system; the prosecutor must prove specifically that the amount of drugs in the person’s system impaired the person’s ability to drive.
Of course, the ways in which a prosecutor’s case may be attacked vary according to the specific fact and circumstances under which police stopped and questioned the driver.
If You Need a Drug DUI Attorney Call Josh LeRoy. Experience Matters.
With almost twenty years of experience in Florida successfully defending people accused of driving under the influence, I invite you to call me to discuss your case at length.
-Josh LeRoy
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