No Probable Cause for DUI Arrest | Standardized Field Sobriety Tests Conducted & Evaluated Incorrectly

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Jurisdiction: County Court, Broward County, Florida
Location of Incident: Tamarac, Florida
Submitted by: Fort Lauderdale DUI Attorney Michael Dye

Issues:

  1. Was Defendant’s admission to drinking taken in violation of Florida Statute 316.066(4) commonly known as the accident report privilege?
  2. In the event Defendant’s admission to drinking was not taken in violation of the accident report privilege, was Defendant in custody for purposes of the Fifth Amendment?
  3. Was Defendant’s detention, in excess of one (1) hour, an unreasonable in length thereby constituting a de facto arrest without probable cause?
  4. Was there probable cause to arrest Defendant for DUI?

Major Cases:

  1. State v. Marshall, 695 So.2d 719(Fla. 3rd DCA 1996);
  2. McNeil v. State, 656 So.2d 1320(Fla. 5th DCA 1996); 
  3. State v. Arevalo, 112 So.3d 529(Fla. 4th DCA 2013);  
  4. State v. Goddard, 202 So.3d 144(Fla. 2nd DCA 2016).

Result: Motion to Suppress granted.  Defendant accepted a plea to the reduced charge of reckless driving in order to avoid the expense and uncertainty of an appeal by the State.

Download ( Motion-to-Suppress-NHTSA-Standardized-Field-Sobriety-Tests.pdf, PDF, 156KB)