NCDD Blog

Posted on February 24, 2019 in Field Sobriety Tests

I have an appeal pending that addresses, in part, the State's ability to comment upon the Defendant's right to refuse a warrantless search. Georgia has well-established case law that precludes the State from commenting upon a Defendant's refusal to submit to a warrantless in "traditional" criminal cases, and I thought, perhaps naively that this rule should be extended to DUI suspects who are asked to submit to field sobriety tests. I was rather taken aback that it was suggested that field sobriety tests may not be a search. (The Justices of the Georgia Supreme Court did not appear to be so sure that field sobriety tests are a search.) If you are confronted with this issue, some case law that may help you is below. The overwhelming majority of states that have considered this issue held that field sobriety tests are a search:

Posted on February 24, 2018 in Field Sobriety Tests

http://duinewsblog.org/2013/10/02/aging-process-field-sobriety-tests/

It is not surprising that every year 1.4 million Americans are diagnosed with cancer1, the second leading cause of death next to heart disease. It should be surprising that there are also approximately 1.4 million DWI/DUI arrests (1 of every 139 license drivers) in the country a year with 16,685 alcohol related fatalities in 2005.2 "Alcohol related" fatalities defined as at least one driver or nonoccupant involved in the crash having a blood alcohol concentration of .01 grams per deciliter or higher. These figures include fatalities that were NOT caused by the presence of alcohol.3 Boiled down, NHTSA has led a colossal campaign against DWI/DUI, arresting a disproportionate amount of people compared to the real threat of fatalities on the road (alcohol related fatalities representing 1% of the drivers being arrested). One does not need to be a mathematical genius to understand that this country has a problem, and it's not what MADD is concerned about. The field sobriety tests are a mechanism to convict people not test whether or not they are sober. The standardized field sobriety tests are a witch-hunt being perpetuated by law enforcement on our own people. Even a recent 2006 NHTSA publication admits, "Road tests have long been considered the gold standard for measuring driving ability. They have widely-recognized limitations." 4 One would not know this visiting the courtrooms across America. This paper addresses one of the most common sense problems contributing to false convictions, the condition and age of the subject.

Posted on February 16, 2018 in Field Sobriety Tests

http://duinewsblog.org/2013/09/16/the-science-of-fear-field-sobriety-tests/

Read the Article here!

The Science of Fear & field sobriety tests:

Fear is not just mental. It is physical. It is involuntary. It causes one to lose normal mental and physical faculties. The field sobriety tests were developed in a vacuum. The greatest travesty NHTSA perpetuates on our citizenry is the application of these nonscientific tests without any proper scientific consideration to fear. Here is the article I wrote, very relevant for anyone arrested for DWI/DUI. (link above, on tcdla's archived website of Voice articles )