Holiday Warnings - the next installment, by Charles L. Sifers
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009The next installment concerning those roadblocks or “sobriety checkpoints” (as the cops are preferring to call them):I was interviewed today by The Daily Oklahoman about this topic. A news story is being prepared and will run in the near future. The reporter was referred to me by a OHP lieutenant who said that I thought these were unconstitutional. So, let me CLARIFY this issue first.
In my last post, I did not state that these were per se unconstitutional (see below). However, the WAY that these are conducted in the majority of cases by law enforcement, the results are, in fact, almost always unconstitutional. Certainly, the Courts have approved these IF conducted in a SPECIFIC manner. When these do NOT comport with these cases’ directives, then the arrests ARE unconstitutional!! And, that is our office’s job to hold law enforcement’s feet to that fire to REQUIRE that these are done in compliance with the law. When they don’t, we will “walk” those defendants out of that court room with NO apologies.
REMEMBER: The law can NOT be enforced UNLESS the law is followed while enforcing it.
Now that that is cleared up, on to the next bit of advice:
While you should NEVER agree to submit to a “field sobriety test” (refuse to do these POLITELY), our office advises our clients to submit to a breath test. You might very well pass it OR be BELOW the magic .08% level which would result in the filing of lesser charges than DUI.
Further, if you submit to THEIR test, you can THEN demand a BLOOD test thereafter. And, ALWAYS ask for a blood test after you have taken their breath test. You want a TRUE and ACCURATE result of how much - if any - alcohol might be in your system. Their breath test ain’t gonna give you that. The blood test will. BUT: you can’t have the blood test UNLESS you first submit to their breath test.
More to come . . . . .
Charles
Oklahoma’s First Attorney Board Certified
in DUI Defense by National College for DUI Defense
(NCDD) under American Bar Association (ABA) Guidelines AND
Best Lawyers in America in DUI/DWI Defense Specialty, 2010 ed.
AND
Oklahoma‘s First & ONLY
Regent (retired) for the National College for DUI Defense Sifers & Sifers, Attorneys at Law
Court Plaza Building, Suite 950
228 Robert S. Kerr
Oklahoma City, OK 73102
office - 405-232-3388
fax - 405-232-5144
email - charles@siferslaw.com
web(s) - www.oklahomaduilaw.com
www.okla-dui.com
www.dui-help-oklahoma.com
www.oklahoma-dui.com“The People should NOT be afraid of the Government. The Government should be afraid of the People”.