Michigan is likely to have a .05 legal limit for drunk driving within the next five years. This is because the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has begun pushing a .05 legal limit at the national level. Once a .05 legal limit is adopted as national policy, the federal…
Beginning in early February 2010, “virtual” work release is available for some offenders. After the new program starts, the traditional work release program will be eliminated. This significant change has the potential to impact criminal law sentence negotiation and overall sentencing practices throughout Oakland County. Virtual work release will consist…
Because an at-home electronic-monitoring program is not incarceration, the Oakland County Michigan work release program is not open to some felony offenders. Where mandatory incarceration is concerned, the tether program is a restriction, not a confinement, and is not ‘jail’ as that term is commonly used and understood. In 2010…
According to articles reported in the NY Daily News, in April 2015, Oliver Wiggins was struck by a police cruiser that had run a red light. Instead of offering Mr. Wiggins an apology, however, Brooklyn Police arrested him for drunk driving! A breath test later revealed that Wiggins had consumed…
In Tennessee, a person convicted of DUI would be ordered to pay a “Blood Alcohol or Drug Determination Test (BADT)” fee as part of their court costs. No BADT fee was charged where a case was dismissed, a not guilty verdict returned, or where a defendant pled to a non-DUI…
Michigan’s intoxicated driving laws cover intoxication by alcohol and all impairing drugs. Reliably detecting intoxication by drugs is more challenging for law enforcement than detecting intoxication caused by alcohol. One reason for this is that there is no roadside drug test that can help officers in the field determine the…
Existing law may be sufficient to convict an intoxicated occupant of an autonomous vehicle of drunk driving. This is because the law in most states contains a sufficiently broad definition of the term “operate.” Public safety is likely to be the paramount concern of the courts as they grapple with…
Yes, a sleeping driving can be convicted of drunk driving in Michigan provided there is enough circumstantial evidence to establish operation. In a recent Michigan case[i] affirming a drunk driving conviction involving a sleeping driving the court inferred that the driver operated his vehicle because did not live on the…
Yes, it may be unlawful to operate a drone while intoxicated at the federal level, and may soon be unlawful at the state level as well. However, the punishment varies depending on the specific law violated. As drones become more common and more popular, some states are looking at…
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has issued a report entitled Getting to Zero Getting to Zero Alcohol-Impaired Driving Fatalities – A Comprehensive Approach to a Persistent Problem (2018). Reading the report, it appears that the “zero” the Academy is really calling for is zero tolerance, as in…