Articles Posted in DUI/DUI Manslaughter

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More than three years after a Wellington polo mogul was convicted for a second time of DUI manslaughter in a 2010 crash that killed a 23-year-old UCF graduate, the Florida Supreme Court rejected his final pending appeal.

In a one-sentence order, the state’s high court said it wasn’t going to consider the man’s claims that the West Palm Beach-based 4th District Court of Appeal erred in October when it upheld his conviction and 16-year prison sentence.

The high court’s decision came weeks after it rejected the man’s claims that his conviction should be thrown out because of the way his blood was drawn after the alcohol-fueled crash in Wellington that claimed the engineering graduate’s life.

The founder of the International Polo Club claimed the use of a small-diameter needle to draw his blood and lax procedures at a lab falsely elevated his blood-alcohol level to 0.177 percent — more than twice the level at which Florida drivers are by law considered impaired. Justices ruled that the procedures established by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement are sufficient to protect against false readings.

The man’s first conviction was overturned due to jury misconduct. In a self-published book, one of the jurors described conducting his own drinking experiment to determine if the man had been intoxicated on the night of the crash. The second trial produced the same verdict and prison sentence.

The man is being held in the Wakulla Correctional Institution south of Tallahassee. His expected release date is June 7, 2029, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.

Blood draws in DUI cases are surrounded by much controversy. A positive blood test may seem like a nail in the coffin, but it is not. Just because the test comes back with a reading of .08 or greater does not mean you are automatically guilty. There are innumerable ways your South Florida DUI/DUI Manslaughter Defense Attorneys at Whittel & Melton can challenge this test result. We will call into question every step of the process to raise doubt about your guilt.

Blood draws must be conducted by trained professionals and the whereabouts of the blood sample must be meticulously recorded. This is a multi-step process that has much room for imperfections and human error.

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A personal injury lawyer from Hialeah was arrested Tuesday and charged with killing a woman at a Miami Lakes crosswalk last year with his Mercedes-Benz and driving away while impaired.

The 65-year-old-owner of a law firm in Miami Lakes was charged with DUI manslaughter/failure to render aid, vehicular homicide/failure to stop, leaving the scene of a crash involving a death and tampering with physical evidence in connection with the Dec. 7, 2017 death of the 26-year-old woman.

Investigators allege that the woman was using the Fairway Drive crosswalk around 2:30 a.m. when a car hit her, launching her into the air to land on a curb on the west side of Fairway Drive. Police believe that car was the man’s silver C-Class Benz and he was the driver.

He remained in Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center Wednesday morning, with bond set at $150,000.

A civil lawsuit was filed Tuesday on behalf of the woman’s parents that says the woman was found face down near a gutter at the intersection of Miami Lakes Drive and Fairway Drive, and that the man was driving recklessly and should have yielded at the crosswalk. The suit, filed in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court, asks for more than $15,000 to compensate the woman’s parents for their grief and to pay off medical and funeral costs.

It is important to point out that leaving the scene of an accident is not just a traffic ticket. It is a criminal offense. If the accident involves injuries to others, whether it be the other driver, a passenger, or a pedestrian, this would be considered a felony hit-and-run in Florida. It is a felony in every state when someone leaves the scene of an accident that results in the death of a person.

Our South Florida Criminal Defense Lawyers at Whittel & Melton would like to point out that there are very few scenarios where you are free to leave the scene of an accident without suffering any consequences.If you were behind the wheel and caused a fatal accident and want to flee the scene, we urge you to think twice. If you do leave the scene, police will likely issue a warrant out for your arrest, and it is very likely that they will immediately proceed to locate you.

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Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has asked the state Supreme Court to reject Wellington polo club founder John Goodman’s request that the court invalidate Florida’s administrative rules for the drawing and collection of blood in drunken driving cases.

In 2016, the 4th District Court of Appeal had rejected John Goodman appeals of his DUI manslaughter conviction based on questions raised about how blood is drawn and records are kept, but agreed to refer those questions to the Supreme Court.

In November, the Florida Supreme Court agreed to to consider Goodman’s appeal of his 16-year prison sentence by finding the answers to the following questions:

  1. Do Florida Department of Law Enforcement rules ensure proper blood draws?
  2. Should current rules include further regulations on how blood samples are screened and documented by analysts?

Goodman’s appeal argued the blood test result should have been thrown out because the results may have been skewed due to a smaller needle used at the time. Hours after Goodman crashed and killed Scott Patrick Wilson in February 2010, investigators say Goodman’s blood alcohol level was 0.177 percent. In Florida, the legal limit is 0.08 percent. Goodman was convicted twice in the fatal crash.

In her brief, filed on Friday, Bondi said the current rules are adequate and that “no other state appears to regulate needle gauge or tourniquet usage during blood draws.” She also sided with the 4th DCA’s explanation that if the FDLE tried to regulate screenings and documentation as Goodman’s attorney suggested it “would run the risk of locking in today’s current scientific methodology preventing the evolution and improvement of the system.”

“The Court should reject Goodman’s attempt to impose a hypertechnical requirement on the Department to included step-by-step regulation of what occurs in a laboratory,” Bondi wrote.

At this time it is unknown when the court will rule on the case.

DUI blood draws can be skewed by many different factors, including whether your arm was sterilized with alcohol or if your blood was extracted and stored properly, just to name a few. It will be interesting to see how the Florida Supreme Court rules on this issue.  

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A Wellington woman has been arrested for DUI and leaving the scene of an accident by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.

News reports say that last Thursday, Sherriff’s Deputies were called to Summit Blvd and Congress Ave about a possible DUI driver.

Investigators say that they found the suspect sitting in a Dodge Durango in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven with the engine still running. The truck had extensive front-end damage and a blown out tire, indicating to police that it had been in an accident. Earlier that day, PBSO Deputies were on the look out for Dodge Durango that was suspected of being involved in a hit and run accident in Lake Worth, where a pedestrian was injured.

An investigator for the Monroe County State Attorney’s Office has been placed on leave following his arrest on a drunk-driving charge in Key West.

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News reports claim that a Monroe County State Attorney’s Office investigator was arrested Wednesday night for DUI after he backed a state-owned vehicle into another car earlier that evening. According to police reports, when Key West police arrived at the scene, they allegedly found the man– who later was identified as a State Attorney investigator– exhibiting “droopy eyelids” and “bloodshot and watery” eyes.

The investigator allegedly refused to submit to a breath test, and according to the spokesperson for State Attorney Catherine Vogel’s office, the man has since been suspended from his position, pending further investigation.

As is customary when public employees are arrested in the jurisdiction where they work, Vogel’s office has requested that the governor reassign the case to another jurisdiction to avoid the appearance of, or an actual, conflict of interest.

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