Georgia man sentenced in Bay County Florida DUI death

Bay County, FL - Mr. Storm Wood of Georgia, was convicted of DUI manslaughter in a Florida court this morning. He will spend the next fourteen years in prison for the motorcycle accident that killed a Panama City woman who was riding on the back of his bike.

The victim, Robin Arnett, was 34 years old.

The Judge heard from both the defendant's and the victim's mothers before sentencing Mr. Wood to 14 years in prison.

At the time of the accident, Mr. Wood was driving without a valid license.

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DEFINING DUI TERMS

APS or Administrative Per Se Drunk Driving Cases

In many states, there are two separate cases that arise from a single drunk driving arrest: the court case, and the Administrative Per Se, or APS case, with the Motor Vehicles Department. In cases where someone is arrested for DUI, DWI, OUI, OWI, or a related drunk driving charge, and gives a breath or blood test with results that are above the legal limit, the Motor Vehicles Department will take an administrative action against the driver. NOTE: Most states limit the time a driver has to request a hearing to contest the APS action. Usually, it is just a few days. That is why it is so important to contact a lawyer right away. Blood Alcohol Content or BAC Blood alcohol content. In most states, alcohol level may be determined by reference to breath alcohol level as well, without having to convert to blood alcohol level. Alchohol Burnoff The ability of the body to metabolize alcohol, and eliminate it from the system through the functioning of the vital organs. The rate of burnoff will vary from person to person, and even be different for the same person depending upon various factors. This is just one of the reasons that retrograde extrapolation is such a difficult task, and why the results are uncertain . Driving Usually, ability to exert control over the vehicle. Officers usually need not observe someone driving in order to arrest them for drunk driving. Circumstantial evidence of driving is typically sufficient to establish this element. NOTE: More terms will be posted soon. keep coming to our page. bookmark our page

DUI LAWS BY STATES

Every state has drunk driving laws. Most states refer to drunk driving as DUI; some states refer to drunk driving as DWI; still others refer to drunk driving as OUI, OWI, DUII, DWAI, OUIL or OMVI. But no matter what you call it, the consequences are potentially severe:jail, fines, loss of driver's license, required ignition interlock devices, attendance at alcohol education programs, lectures given by MADD, SADD, or RADD, community service or freeway cleanup, increased car insurance rates, a criminal conviction, and more.

All 50 states and the District of Columbia have per se laws defining it as a crime to drive with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) at or above a proscribed level, 0.08 percent. Forty-five states permit some offenders to drive only if their vehicles have been equipped with ignition interlocks. These devices analyze a driver's breath and disable the ignition if the driver has been drinking. In 30 states, multiple offenders may forfeit vehicles that are driven while impaired by alcohol.

Forty-three states and Washington D.C. have laws prohibiting the driver, passengers or both from possessing an open container of alcohol in the passenger compartment of a vehicle.

Intoxilyzer results stand after Brevard County DUI decision

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Brevard County, FL - A Brevard County panel of judges ruled on August 10, 2009 that 56 Florida DUI cases will not be thrown out of court based on an argument that the Intoxilyzer 8000 used to test their breath was not approved for use in Florida.

The issue was whether the parts used in the machines were in compliance with Florida regulations. This case may now proceed to the next level of appeal.

The Intoxilyzer 8000 breath test machine, manufactured by CMI in Kentucky is the subject of intense litigation in several states over the reliability and inner workings of the device. Defense lawyers have sued to obtain the machine's source code, which CMI claims in proprietary.

Some state, like Arizona, that adopted the machine statewide, have started to back away from the machine's use, opting to transition to a more reliable blood standard. "Breath test technology is flawed," says Seattle DUIattorney Aaron Wolff. "As long as states continue to use breath testing, there will be litigation about its accuracy and reliability."

Florida DUI lawyer John Musca agreed. "There are too many factors to be able to say that this technology works 100 percent of the time on 100 percent of the people."

Bart Herron, a lawyer who handles Oregon DUI cases in the Portland area and is known for his aggressive defense of his clients said "a lawyer who just sits back and accepts a machine's result as self-evident truth may not be doing his or her job."

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Kansas DUI arrest deemed proper by Appeals Court

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Kansas - On August 7, 2009, the Court of Appeals of Kansas issued a new DUI opinion in the case of City of Salina v. Troy Ragnoni. The case concerns the ability of an officer to legally stop a person for public safety in order to check on that individual's welfare.

In this case, the police received information that the subject, Mr. Ragnoni, was potentially suicidal. Based on information received from his ex-wife, the police had added him to a "hot sheet" that told police officers that he was potentially suicidal. Per police department policy, once a person is labeled as potentially suicidal and put on the hot sheet, their name remains there until they are either located and deemed to be not suicidal, or taken to a hospital for evaluation.

After three days of being on the hot sheet, Officer Chad McCary of the Salina Police Department spotted Ragnoni's vehicle. He followed him to the driveway of a private residence and observed him and his wife and three kids exit the 1989 GMC Jimmy.

It turned out that Mr. Ragnoni exhibited signs of alcohol impairment and was arrested for DUI. He was later convicted of two counts of DUI. He appealed and the district court agreed with him that the stop was not justified. The City of Salina then appealed to the Court of Appeals.

In this opinion, the Court of Appeals reinstated the conviction, reasoning that under the facts of the case a public safety stop, even after three days, was justified. There is a strong public policy reason to check up on people who are potentially suicidal, because they often pose a grave danger to their own life and to the lives of others.

Therefore, in this case, according to the opinion of the Kansas Court of Appeals, the stop was clearly to advance the public interest.

Judge John Weckel wrote the opinion for the Court. Attorney Jennifer L. Wyatt represented the City of Salina, and Andrew Couch of Salina, and Lowell C. Paul of Topeka represented Mr. Ragnoni.

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