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Editor: Will Hanlon & Charlie Lambert
Profession: Tampa Defense Attorneys

Category: DUI

State v. L; Judge: Lawrence Lefler; Date: March 20, 2007

FACTS: After spending the night in Ybor City, the client drove some friends home. She was pulled over after one of the passenger's in her car threw garbage out of the back window. Her car was pulled over at about 4 a.m., at the off ramp of I-75 and Bruce B. Downs Boulevard. As the officer spoke to the client he smelled an odor of alcohol on her breath and her eyes appeared to be glassy. The client was also wearing nightclub arm bands on both arms. After she admitted to drinking the officer asked her to perform some field sobriety tests. The officer felt she failed the field sobriety tests and arrested her for DUI. When she arrived at the Orient Road Jail in Hillsborough County she refused to blow into the breathalyzer. The defendant was also an under age drinker.

DEFENSE: The defendant's performance on the video was much better than the description given by the Tampa Police Officer in his report. Again, a video can create a real doubt as to the defendant's guilt in a DUI case.

RESULT: The DUI was dropped.