OOT lawyers:drinking and driving question

MuresanForMVP · #1 07-31-2007, 03:23 AM

Here's the situation:

Tonight, my girlfriend and a couple of friends head out to the bar for a couple hours. We reach the bar at around 10:30, and closing time is at 1:30. My girlfriend in that span has 4 beers, and by 1:30 we leave the bar, and me and her get dropped off at my house by about 1:45. She has to go home, so she leaves my house about 10 minutes later. Well it turns out that on the way home she gets pulled over, after she (according to her), slightly sped up to pass through a yellow light.

The officer comes up to the window and tells her that she sped up to pass through the light,etc. She explains that she didn't think she would be able to safely break and time and didn't want to slam on the brakes. The officer then asks if she had been drinking, to which she responded that she had "one beer at 11pm" (stupid to admit drinking at all I know...she just said she was nervous and didnt know what would happen if the officer said he smelled it). He then tells her to get out of the car because he has to talk to her about something (questionable?). They do a field sobriety test (sans breathalyzer) which she passes, and the officer issues her a traffic violation for $140-150, most likely for "running a red light".

My question: she is going to appeal the ticket, does she only have to articulate why she sped through the yellow light, or will the officer bring up the mere fact that she admitted to drinking one beer about 4 hours before (and no more)? Also, if it were to be brought up, what would be the best course of action for her to take?

Cliff notes:girlfriend gets pulled over for running a yellow/red light, admits to drinking 1 beer 4 hours previous, passes field sob. test (no breathalyzer),gets a ticket for running the red light. Will her admitting having drank one beer be brought up by the officer in court?

EYEWHITES · #2 07-31-2007, 03:43 AM

just pay the ticket instead of dealing with the pain in the ass of it all.

pergesu · #3 07-31-2007, 03:45 AM

[ QUOTE ]
just pay the ticket instead of dealing with the pain in the ass of it all.

[/ QUOTE ]
If she shows up in court it'll end up being at most $60

NT! · #4 07-31-2007, 03:46 AM

they can't charge her after the fact with DUI. if you're going to fight it you should just send a lawyer anyway, and he can handle that question no problem. most of the time when they fight a ticket like this, the lawyer just sends a bunch of motions and it gets dismissed without going to arguments, if i understand it correctly.

MuresanForMVP · #5 07-31-2007, 03:48 AM

[ QUOTE ]
just pay the ticket instead of dealing with the pain in the ass of it all.

[/ QUOTE ]

pain in the ass? checking a box then going to traffic court for an hour or two (which can be VERY entertaining), and at least getting the fine reduced or even thrown out?

MuresanForMVP · #6 07-31-2007, 03:52 AM

[ QUOTE ]
they can't charge her after the fact with DUI. if you're going to fight it you should just send a lawyer anyway, and he can handle that question no problem. most of the time when they fight a ticket like this, the lawyer just sends a bunch of motions and it gets dismissed without going to arguments, if i understand it correctly.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yea my dad's a lawyer at the state's attorneys office but 1).this didn't seem appropriate to ask his professional opinion as it's fairly small and 2).OOT is just as good as a real lawyer amirite?

I wasn't concerned with them charging her after the fact with DUI, as she passed the sob. test and didn't even receive a breathalyzer. I was just curious if her appealing the traffic violation would be impacted by the fact that she admitted to drinking a beer 4 hours earlier.

edit:I'm an idiot, I left out that there were 2 unopened natty light cans on the ground in the back seat from when we went to the beach a week ago, which probably change the story a tad bit. The cop saw them and understandably became suspicious

AceLuby · #7 07-31-2007, 09:17 AM

Doesn't matter about the drinking. The cop obviously thought nothing of it and more than likely won't even remember that she said she was drinking. Is there anything on the ticket?

I mean if you were a cop, handing out say 10 tickets a day, would you remember the one girl who passed the field sobriety test but you gave her a ticket anyway? Probably not. Also, chances are the cop doesn't even show up to court, esp for something like this. She should definitely fight it.

XXXNoahXXX · #8 07-31-2007, 09:33 AM

Why do people continue to take breathalyzer tests?

Sure it worked out fine this time, but unless you've literally had nothing to drink, why risk it?

I get the whole automatic license suspension thing, but it just seems like the second dumbest thing. The dumbest being the people that have drugs/guns in their car and tell the cop they don't mind if he searches.

TripSearching · #9 07-31-2007, 09:41 AM

pics of girlfriend so we may decide what her chances are of getting out of future speeding tickets?

coyote · #10 07-31-2007, 10:02 AM

[ QUOTE ]
they can't charge her after the fact with DUI. if you're going to fight it you should just send a lawyer anyway, and he can handle that question no problem. most of the time when they fight a ticket like this, the lawyer just sends a bunch of motions and it gets dismissed without going to arguments, if i understand it correctly.

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL at the suggestion of retaining a lawyer to fight a $160 traffic ticket!

She'll have paid more for the lawyer by the time he parks his car at the courthouse than she would have paid for the ticket, including the stamp to mail it.

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