DUI Trials

Barone Defense Firm Obtains Not Guilty on Troy Michigan Drunk Driving Jury Trial

Published on: September 17, 2018 | by Patrick Barone

The Barone Defense Firm is proud to announce a recent not guilty verdict on a Troy Michigan drunk driving case. The Barone Defense Firm Trial Attorney who handled the case was rising super-star Ryan Ramsayer. Here is Mr. Ramsayer’s synopsis of the case, including a summary of the not guilty trial:

Our client’s case arose out of Clawson, Michigan. The Troy District Court, a/k/a, the 52-4 Judicial District Court, is the court having jurisdiction over Clawson Michigan. There are two judges in Troy, the honorable Kirsten Nielsen Hartig and the honorable Maureen M. McGinnis, and Judge McGinnis presided over this jury trial.

As with all cases and clients at the Barone Defense Firm, while simultaneously preparing the case for trial, we attempted to avoid trial by engaging in plea negotiations with the prosecuting attorney. Despite Mr. Ramsayer’s best efforts to avoid trial, the arresting officer and prosecution would not offer less than an impaired. Our Client (hereafter BH, client’s initials used only so as to protect client confidentiality), had to then make the decision of whether to plead guilty take his case to trial. BH looked at the difference in penalties and decided that the trial was his best option. BH works in the auto industry setting up factories for production. For the last year he had been away most of the month in Spring Hill, TN or Buffalo, NY. His biggest fear, outside of driving, was that he had to go through Canada to get to Buffalo. Also, they have a factory in Canada that he could eventually be required to work at. To add extra intrigue, BH just found out that his wife is pregnant while this case was going. This complicated his decision because he knew that an OWI conviction would make it difficult to impossible to get into Canada, and so he knew if he was convicted he would probably lose his job. This meant there was a lot riding on the outcome of this trial.

Am I Eligible for Sobriety Court?

Published on: August 2, 2018 | by Patrick Barone

Am I Eligible for Sobriety Court?

Many courts throughout Michigan employ an alternative form of sentencing for drunk drivers that emphasize treatment over punishment. Collectively, this approach to sentencing is called sobriety court. Such courts utilize a 2011 Michigan statute codified in Michigan Compiled Laws § 257.304. This law established new procedures and sobriety court participation provides advantages not available with traditional sentencing. Eligibility to participate in a sobriety court program varies depending on the location of your arrest and the court where your case is presiding. Sobriety courts are only available to repeat offenders arrested after 2011. Some courts also impose residency requirements, meaning the offender must live within the jurisdiction of the court.

Sobriety courts are not available in all jurisdictions. The admission into sobriety court is at the discretion of the Judge presiding over the sobriety court. You will only be admitted into sobriety court if you are able to demonstrate a strong commitment to sobriety. If you are considering sobriety court it is best to discuss the specific requirements of your court with your lawyer.

In the sobriety court environment, the judge unofficially acts as a recovery group facilitator. In addition to the judge, who presides over the official sobriety court sessions, you will also be involved with someone from the prosecutor’s office, a defense advisor, one or more probation officers, including the probation supervisor, and a variety of treatment providers. All of this takes place in a non-adversarial context and is far less formal than typical court proceedings. Most of the courts that use this model require a minimum of 18 months of supervision. The intensity of the probation, including the amount of alcohol and drug testing, support meetings, etc., is greatest at the beginning of the probation period and is gradually reduced as you demonstrate your ability to stay in compliance with the terms of your probation and have demonstrated the ability to maintain your ongoing sobriety.

Misdemeanor and Felony Procedures in a Michigan DUI/OWI Case

Published on: August 1, 2018 | by Patrick Barone

After you’ve been arrested for DUI/OWI in Michigan the next step will be for the arresting officer(s) to prepare a narrative written police report, including any supplemental discovery materials. Depending on the nature of the office, this report and investigation will include a description of the basis for the initial police contact, usually a traffic stop, a description of the entire roadside investigation, including your performance on any field sobriety tasks, the results of any chemical tests, copies of any search warrants, one or more video recordings, and copies of any witness statements. If there was an accident, and injury or death occurred, then the police reports may include an accident reconstruction, medical records, and the coroner’s report relative to cause of death.

Once these reports and materials have been signed off on by the senior officer in charge, they will be forwarded to the prosecuting attorney. At this time the prosecutor will review your prior record, and the facts of the case, to determine what charges should be issued. If you were issued an appearance ticket, these final charges may or may not be the same. The prosecutor will then prepare an arrest warrant which will be issued by the court, and this, or the appearance ticket, will start the court-related steps.

The first court-related step will be the arraignment. The purpose of the arraignment is for you to appear before the court and learn of the charges you are facing. The court will also set your bond, including any conditions to your bond. Provided you can make bond, you will leave the courthouse with a new date to appear. At this point the steps will depend on if you are charged with a misdemeanor or felony.

How Much Will a DUI Lawyer Cost?

Published on: June 26, 2018 | by Patrick Barone

How Much Will a DUI Lawyer Cost?

There is at least a ten-fold difference in the amounts Michigan lawyers charge to handle a first offense drunk driving case. Fees usually start at around $1,500.00 for a newer less experienced lawyer. From there, fees increase to as much as $15,000 – $25,000.00, including trial, for a top DUI lawyer. Where death or serious injury is involved, fees can be even higher.

With such a wide range of fees you may wonder if it is worth spending more to hire a great lawyer? For some people the answer is clearly yes while for others the answer is more elusive. Either way, it’s a personal decision that depends on many factors. Before making the investment in a top DUI lawyer, you may wish to consider the following questions:

Is the Lawyer Available to Answer my Questions? If you’re spending a lot of money for a lawyer then you should expect plenty of communication. Facing a criminal charge can make you feel like you are standing on the edge of an abyss staring into the great chasm of the great unknown. Your attorney will be your guide helping to bring order into the chaos you are facing. Consequently, when needed, you should have an easy ability to contact your lawyer without delay or hassle. No lawyer is going to be forever available, and consideration should be given for time spent in court and handling other client’s cases. Nevertheless, you should expect to be in contact within a reasonable amount of time under most circumstances. A good way to determine if the lawyer you’re considering will be good with communication after you’ve paid them is to start paying attention from the first time you contact the Firm. You will begin to get a feel of how important communication is to the lawyers and staff involved. Consider such things as whether a person answers the phone, or it goes to voicemail; does your attorney provide a cell phone number to call or text; how much time does it takes for someone to get back to you for an initial consultation; how much time does the attorney give you in the initial consultation, before you’ve even paid them. If communication seems labored or difficult, then this is a warning sign that will lead to an increase in stress as your case moves through the system.

How to Win a Drunk Driving Case Without Trying

Published on: December 12, 2017 | by Patrick Barone

Can You Really Win a Drunk Driving Trial Without Even Trying?

Sometimes, winning a trial or a contested hearing comes down to knowing what not to do! In drunk driving cases, nowhere is this truer than with administrative hearings held on appeal from an alleged implied consent violation. To understand why this is true, it’s helpful to know a little bit about the Michigan Implied Consent Law and about administrative hearings.

If you have been charged with drunk driving in Michigan and refused to take a breath or blood test at the request of the police officer, then you will be charged with a violation of Michigan’s Implied Consent Law, pursuant to MCL § 257.625f. A violation of the implied consent law will result in the suspension of your driver’s license for up to 2 years.

The Misleading Concept of Alcohol Tolerance in Michigan DUI Cases

Published on: May 25, 2017 | by Patrick Barone

The Misleading Concept of Alcohol Tolerance in Michigan DUI Cases

Many judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys have mistaken beliefs about alcohol tolerance. In a drunk driving trial, these mistaken beliefs can lead to misleading arguments which might further lead to wrongful convictions. A recent article from the peer-reviewed science journal article Psychopharmacology[i] helps support a defense lawyer’s attempt to preclude a wrongful conviction based on these misleading arguments.

Generally speaking, most drunk driving trials include observations of the police leading up to the arrest and a subsequent breath or blood test, generically called a “chemical test.” Therefore, winning a drunk driving trial requires reasonable doubt as to both.

Issue With Alcohol Tolerance

There are many ways to approach the defense of a drunk driving crime, and a defense should always be matched to the facts and science of a particular case. However, one way to explain to jurors that there is a reason to doubt the chemical test is to show that there is a disparity between the breath or blood test result and the physical and mental condition of the driver. This might occur in cases where the driver performs well on the field tasks, such as the one-leg stand or walk and turn. This evidence, usually collected at the roadside, is often referred to as the “observational evidence.”

I Was Arrested for Drunk Driving, Should I go to AA?

Published on: February 20, 2017 | by Patrick Barone

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If you were arrested for drunk driving in Michigan, then you should talk to your lawyer about whether starting with a structured 12-step program such Alcoholics Anonymous, or AA, may help your case. While clearly the best known, AA is not the only 12-step program, and it may not be the best option for you.

Understanding 12-Step Programs:

A 12-step program is a structured support system designed to aid individuals in overcoming addiction, fostering personal development, and maintaining sobriety. Core principles include acknowledging powerlessness over the substance, seeking guidance from a higher power (interpreted personally), making amends, and supporting others in their recovery journey.

What it Means to “Operate” a Vehicle In the Context of a Michigan DUI Charge

Published on: February 16, 2017 | by Patrick Barone

What it Means to “Operate” a Vehicle In the Context of a Michigan DUI Charge

In some situations, the police can charge you with drunk driving in Michigan even if the police never saw you driving your car. However, the legal analysis in these cases is very fact specific, and the law is quite complex. In some situations, courts have upheld convictions when the police never saw anyone operating the car. But in other cases, courts have held there was no operation. To understand why this difference exists, and why a court might allow such a non-witnessed drunk driving case to stand, you need know a few things about the drunk driving laws of Michigan.

To begin with, the crime of drunk driving is called OWI or “operating while intoxicated.” Michigan does not use the word “drive” so Michigan’s drunk driving law is not called driving under the influence (DUI), or driving while intoxicated (DWI). The word operate is much broader than the word drive. The Michigan Motor Vehicle Code defines “operate” or “operating” as “being in actual physical control of a vehicle” whether licensed or not. MCL 257.35a. Thus, the plain language of the statute requires that driver’s actions must establish “actual physical control” of the vehicle.[i] But the analysis doesn’t end there. What happens for example if a person is asleep or unconscious?

A question sometimes raised in this context is whether a sleeping or unconscious driver can be found to be in “actual physical control.” In these cases, which often have unique facts, the Michigan Supreme Court has expanded the term “operation” such that ‘operating’ is defined in terms of the danger the OUIL statute seeks to prevent: the collision of a vehicle being operated by a person under the influence of intoxicating liquor with other persons or property. Accordingly, “[o]nce a person using a motor vehicle as a motor vehicle has put the vehicle in motion, or in a position posing a significant risk of causing a collision, such a person continues to operate it until the vehicle is returned to a position posing no such risk.”[ii]

Michigan Saliva Drug Test Program Delayed Until Spring

Published on: December 20, 2016 | by Patrick Barone

Michigan Saliva Drug Test Program Delayed Until Spring

Michigan passed a law such that beginning in September 2016 police were going to start testing a salvia drug swab. Apparently, however, the technology has not caught up with the law, and so, according to Mlive, the program is being delayed. An MSP spokesperson said the program isn’t likely to get started now until spring 2017. To read more about this new law, see:

Michigan Police to Begin Testing Intoxicated Drivers Saliva for Drugs

The reasoning behind this new law is simple: drunk driving arrests are declining, year after year, in nearly every state in the union. This presents a funding problem for many police departments and courts. This is because the police receive money directly from each drunk driving arrest they make in the state of Michigan. This money comes in the form of “costs of prosecution,” which vary from about $250.00 per arrest to sometimes 2 or three times that much. This accounting for police overtime can include an hourly accounting of the police time necessary to process the person they arrested. These costs of prosecution are added to all the other fines and court costs a convicted drunk driver is forced to pay. Courts get their money from each drunk driving arrest in the form of these fines and costs.

There are many ways to make up for this loss in revenue attributable to the declining numbers. One would be to try and increase the number back up by lowering the legal limit, thereby bringing even the most responsible drinkers into the law enforcement web. More than likely the legal limit will be reduced to .05 in Michigan, it’s just a matter of time. However, there are no bills pending in Michigan to reduce the legal limit.

What is Statute of Limitations for Drunk Driving Cases in Michigan?

Published on: December 6, 2016 | by Patrick Barone

According to Michigan Compiled Laws 767.24, the Statute of Limitations for a drunk driving case in Michigan is 6 years. However, under certain circumstances this time period can be extended. Also, although the limitations period is 6 years, according to Michigan case law, prejudice is presumed after only 18 months. This means if your drunk driving case is brought just 18 months after you are arrested, then it might sometimes be dismissed. This speedy trial issue is discussed in more detail below.

Relative to the statute of limitations, the most important date is the date of the arrest because this is the date used to start calculating the applicable time period. In other words, the “clock” runs from the date of the arrest to the time the charges are brought, either by the issuing of the ticket or the complaint. This is true even though the statute of limitations uses the word “indictment.” You do not necessarily have to know about the indictment, the prosecutor need only file it within the limitations period.

Also, if you are from out of state, or move out of state during the running of the limitations period, then the limitations might be “tolled” meaning paused. This means if you are arrested on January 1, 2017, then leave the state to take a new job on January 2, 2017, the statute of limitations won’t start to run again until you return to the state. Consequently, if you came back to the state of Michigan to retire on January 1, 2030, the prosecutor would have until December 31, 2037 to file the indictment/information with the court. This is because section 8 of the Statute reads as follows: