Second of two cases in a week dismissed by the Key West State Attorney's Office
October 2019
In this case, our client had been arrested for DUI and was asked for a breath sample. He initially had refused the breath test, because he knew that judges and prosecutors always seem to refuse to blow when they are arrested for DUI.
After being arrested and returned to the Monroe County Jail (Key West), our client was warned about the potential penalties for refusing to give a breath sample. He changed his mind, and said that he WOULD provide a sample. The police told him that they would not allow him to give a breath sample.
This was legally and morally wrong. The officers, merely because they had decided that our client "had his chance," told him that he could not take the breath test. According to their own report, (our client) "pleaded with us to allow him to submit his breath." But they didn't budge, and they called his test a "refusal."
The prosecutor who was charged with prosecuting this case realized that the police who deprived our client of his right to a breath test, had forever prevented a fair trial on the charge against our client. To his credit, he decided to drop all charges against. our client. We still have to fight our client's drivers license suspension. He didn't refuse a breath sample. The police refused to allow him to give it.
Practice area(s): DUI / DWI
Court: Monroe County Court