Florida DUI Lawyer Blog

Broward DUI attorney William Moore believes firmly that his clients should only be searched or frisked when the law clearly permits it. In certain situations, police may not search you without your agreement. A frisk, which is a patdown over your clothing, is allowed in certain situations when your car has been stopped. Broward County DUI lawyer William Moore educates his clients about their rights in these tough situations.

A police officer may frisk you even if you are not under arrest if he believes that you are armed or dangerous and are involved in a crime in some way. He may not frisk you without a clear reason for his belief.

If you are pulled over for driving under the influence, the police officer may frisk you if he believes it is warranted and can provide a reasonable explanation for his belief that you may be armed or dangerous and have committed a crime (DUI, in this case). During the frisk, he should only be looking for a concealed weapon. The police officer can check for weapons in order to protect himself. According to a recent Supreme Court decision, the officer can also frisk a passenger in your car if he believes that person is armed or dangerous.

Following an arrest, the police may search you more fully in what is known as a search incident to arrest. In that case, you have fewer protections and the police may look for items beyond just concealed weapons, such as drugs or other evidence of illegal activity.

During the traffic stop, the Fort Lauderdale police may ask you to submit to a field sobriety test. Although these tests are not terribly accurate, they may allow the officer to get a sense of whether or not you are intoxicated. For instance, the police may have you walk across a straight line to test your balance during a sobriety test. Of course, you have to get there first. This is not a good way to begin a field sobriety test:

In addition to walking heel-to-toe across a straight line, the police may ask you to stand on one foot or to do other activities. During the test, they will expect you to comprehend and follow directions well. They are also likely to administer a breathalyzer or to take a blood sample in order to get a more precise reading of your blood alcohol content. If you have been arrested for DUI, contact a Broward DUI defense lawyer as soon as possible. Attorney William Moore will represent you during the entire process, including your driver’s license hearing.

Continue reading " Palm Beach DUI Lawyer: Stop & Frisk and Field Sobriety Tests " »

Broward DUI lawyer William Moore knows that the reason DUI offenses are enhanceable – meaning that the more times you are convicted of DUI, the more severe the punishment – is to discourage repeat DUI offenses and maintain safe roads. The Florida mechanism for dealing with repeat driving offenses is, to a large degree, the points system. The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles requires that, in most cases, a traffic offense will result in points on your driver’s license. If you accumulate enough points in a specified period of time, the DHSMV will suspend your license. Broward DUI attorney William Moore regularly represents DUI clients at administrative driver’s license revocation hearings at the DHSMV.

A Miami-Dade man, however, has managed to thwart the system. In a county in which “withholding of adjudication” is common, where by the person accused of a traffic offense is allowed to pay fines and attend traffic school without receiving points, subpar drivers may stay on the road longer. The various driving misadventures of Gabriel Delrisco, who is 40, have come to public attention recently after the man apparently ran a red light, causing an accident that killed three children in another vehicle. The crash is still under investigation, pending law enforcement officials’ conclusions as to whether Delrisco was under the influence of alcohol and if the brakes on his sport utility vehicle were operable at the time of the accident.

Many observers are questioning why Delrisco even had a driver’s license at this point in time. Since 2001, Delrisco has received 26 separate traffic citations – several of them criminal, including DUI. All of the citations occurred in Miami-Dade County. In the past eight years or so, Delrisco has been cited for a wide variety of offenses, including driving under the influence , failing to stop at a stop sign, driving without a license plate on his vehicle, driving the wrong way on a one way street, leaving the scene of an accident, and other citations. Most of the tickets were for moving violations, such as speeding.

At the time of the accident, Delrisco continued to have a valid commercial driver’s license for his business. Besides withholding of adjudication in some of his cases, he also avoided points in other ways. The citation for leaving the scene of an accident was subsequently dropped and the police officers did not always show up in court for some of the others. In some cases, officers referenced the incorrect traffic law on the citation and in other cases, the evidence was insufficient to maintain the charges against him.

Now, Delrisco is recovering from surgery following the collision. His attorney reports that he has been deeply affected by the children’s deaths and has been trying to make contact with the family to extend his condolences. Delrisco has two children of his own.

Continue reading " Miami-Dade DUI Attorney –- Awful Driver Retains License " »

Broward DUI attorney William Moore has found that some of his clients believe that the police can pull them over for no reason, as though it is just a part of being a licensed driver on Florida roads. While the law does incorporate required breathalyzer submission and obeying the traffic laws into the privilege of driving, the police cannot stop your car without any reason and then arrest you if they find a reason. Of course, Broward DUI defense lawyer William Moore knows that many DUI arrests are made because the police see or are alerted by a local citizen to a driver who is weaving, crossing the center line, moving at an oddly sluggish rate, or demonstrating other tip-off characteristics of an intoxicated driver.

An example of driving behavior that will always get you pulled over in Broward County:

In that case, the police officer clearly had a reason to stop the vehicle. But what if you are in a situation in which the Fort Lauderdale police pull you over for no reason at all, then see the beer cans littering the floorboard, and ultimately administer a breath test that you fail? Fort Lauderdale DUI attorney William Moore educates his clients about illegal traffic stops – when police make a traffic stop for no reason at all or for an invalid reason.

Generally, the police must have a reasonable suspicion that a crime is being committed, was committed, or is about to happen. For example, if they spot your car weaving, they can pull you over because they suspect that you are driving under the influence. They may not, however, pull you over without reasonable suspicion or for any invalid reasons, such as your race or ethnic background. If you are pulled over without reasonable suspicion and the police discover that you are intoxicated, but they would not have known but for the stop, then a skilled Fort Lauderdale DUI lawyer should be able to keep the evidence from ever coming into the courtroom. The police officer in that case violated your constitutional right to be free from unwarranted searches and seizures. In legalese, all evidence obtained from the unconstitutional traffic stop is “fruit of the poisonous tree,” meaning that all the evidence the police obtained from the traffic stop is tainted because they never should have pulled you over in the first place.

If you have been arrested for DUI in the south Florida Miami-Dade/Broward/Palm Beach metropolitan area, contact the office of experienced DUI defense lawyer William Moore immediately. Swift action is important in order to preserve your driving privileges and begin your defense.

By the way, this is a funny video (which was not made or endorsed by Broward DUI defense attorney William Moore) about how you are supposed to act during a routine traffic stop, like speeding:

Continue reading " Broward DUI Attorney: Traffic Stops and Fruit of the Poisonous Tree " »

Broward DUI lawyer William Moore defends a lot of DUI cases, from first-time DUI to DUI Manslaughter. Despite the variety of DUI cases an experienced Broward DUI defense attorney handles, there are always new and interesting stories. Read on for a few in the news this week.

A 27-year-old Miami man, Paul Bravo, was arrested in Islamadora in the Keys at 3:00 in the morning on Sunday. Law enforcement officials discovered Bravo driving his 2006 Infiniti on a bike path in a park, rather than on the main road. Bravo indicated that he was driving to his parents’ home. H e also explained his rationale to police: he thought it was better to drive on the bike path because he thought one of his tires might be flat. The police officers who pulled over Bravo administered field sobriety tests, which Bravo failed. He was arrested for DUI and also charged with carrying a concealed firearm, possession of drug paraphernalia, and possession of cocaine.

Likewise, Bravo’s passenger, Adriana Velasquez, 20, was searched. She was charged with illegal possession of the prescription drug Xanax, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, and having a false driver’s license.

Broward DUI attorney William Moore also recently came across an interesting story out of Georgia, our northerly neighbors. An unidentified female University of Georgia student was discovered passed out in her vehicle in Athens, Georgia. The incident occurred at 2:00 a.m on Sunday morning. Police officers found the young woman, who is 20, unconscious or asleep in the driver’s seat of the vehicle. The keys were still in the ignition and the car was idling at a stop light – and still in drive. A police officer climbed into the vehicle and put the car in park and turned it off. Eventually, the student awoke and told police that she had been consuming alcohol at a party earlier in the evening. She was charged with DUI as well as underage drinking.

Broward DUI defense attorney William Moore advises his clients to drink responsibly. A DUI arrest and subsequent conviction has long-term consequences, such as driver’s license revocation, probation, even jail time. Driving under the influence includes any kind of intoxication such that you are too impaired to drive, even if it is from prescription or over the counter medication. For example, taking too much of the anti-anxiety medicine Xanax, even if obtained with a prescription, prior to getting behind the will could result in a DUI if you were too impaired to operate your car safely.

Continue reading " Broward DUI Attorney – Wacky DUI Stories from the Southeast This Week " »

Broward DUI lawyer William Moore encourages all of his clients to obey the law, especially in cases where a person’s drivers license has been suspended. Lake Worth had at least two alcohol-related traffic deaths last weekend. Phyllis Henzel, who was 72, was killed outside her home on Saturday.

Her son Carl Henzel told Palm Beach investigators that his mother had just left the house to play bingo with her friends. Carl heard a tremendous crash shortly after she walked out the door and, with difficulty, left the house in his wheelchair to investigate. Carl found his mother’s remains inside her smashed car. She had been sitting in the driver’s seat preparing to leave. "It was the most miserable thing I've ever seen in my life,” Carl said. Broward DUI lawyer William Moore extends his condolences to Carl and the rest of the Henzel family.

Lake Worth law enforcement authorities apprehended and arrest a suspect shortly after the collision. The suspect, 19-year-old Jose Arnoldo Benites, has been charged with DUI manslaughter in Palm Beach County. He has also been charged with leaving the scene of an accident causing a death and felony driving without a license causing a death. At the time of this report, it was not known whether Arnoldo Benites is represented by a criminal defense lawyer.

Following the accident, Henzel’s family gathered at the scene in front of the home. They brought a priest to administer last rites to Phyllis after the hours of investigation came to an end. Five hours after the accident, the family and priest were allowed to pray over her body, which was covered with a blanket. Her son Carl told reporters that he had made a promise to his mother that she would receive her last rites.

The family of Phyllis Henzel described her as a kind woman, widowed and willing to take in people who had no where else to go. The Henzel family also recounted another hit-and-run tragedy they faced in 1976: Leif Henzel, another of Phyllis’s sons, was fatally wounded by a hit-and-run driver as a pedestrian in Lake Worth.

Henzel’s family said that this hit-and-run accident is the latest in a series on that street and the fifth involving Henzel’s car. Her car was unoccupied when hit on four other occasions; Lake Worth police located only one of those drivers. Additionally, a vehicle belonging to Henzel’s daughter was struck when parked on the street outside the house on another occasion.

Continue reading " Broward DUI Attorney: DUI hit-and-run kills elderly grandmother " »

The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office has disclosed that an unfortunate single vehicle accident in south Lake Worth last night killed the passenger in the car. Broward DUI lawyer William Moore notes that Palm Beach County had 62 traffic fatalities related to alcohol consumption during 2006, up to 73 in 2007. State and county officials have expressed concern about the rising number of alcohol-related driving deaths and DUI manslaughter in south Florida, since the numbers have increased not only in Palm Beach County but Miami-Dade and Broward, as well. No charges have been filed against the driver at this time and, although the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson indicated that the accident was alcohol-related, it is not clear at this time if the accident was in fact DUI.

Palm Beach County authorities said that the accident happened a few minutes before 9:00 p.m. on the evening of Sunday, January 11. A 2000 Chrysler PT Cruiser went through the light at the intersection of H Street and 10th Avenue in Lake Worth. The vehicle drove into a field on the other side of the intersection, continuing until impact with a cement pipe left in the field. Neither the driver nor the passenger was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident.

The driver of the PT Cruiser suffered serious injury and was airlifted to Delray Medical Center, were he remains in stable condition. He had apparently been drinking prior to the accident, but he has not been cited with DUI or DUI manslaughter by Lake Worth authorities as of this report. The passenger in the vehicle was pronounced dead at the accident scene. Palm Beach law enforcement authorities have not released the identities of either.

The recent single-car Lake Worth accident follows a string of similar accidents in Florida. A 17-year-old male was killed in Okaloosa County, Florida on December 27; his passenger survived. The passenger was thrown out of the vehicle upon impact. The car drove into a ditch when the speeding driver failed to turn with the road. Investigators have not made a public determination about the cause of the accident or whether it was DUI-related.

Likewise, blood alcohol testing is pending in the case of a one vehicle accident in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, which left 24-year-old Donald Moran in critical condition. Moran is the son of Chief Judge Donald Moran Jr. The younger Moran lost control of his vehicle, causing an accident on J. Turner Blvd., in which Moran hit a utility pole and was thrown out of the truck before it landed upside down. Moran has a previous DUI conviction and served one year of probation.

Continue reading " Palm Beach DUI Attorney: Lake Worth Alcohol-Related Accident Kills Passenger, Injures Driver " »

Fort Lauderdale DUI attorney William Moore wants his clients to be aware of the potential criminal penalties that can follow a Broward DUI arrest as well as the devastating administrative penalties. Administrative penalties, like the Florida drivers license suspension for a DUI arrest, can occur immediately after the arrest – and months before the case goes to trial. If you have been arrested for DUI in the Broward/Palm Beach/Miami-Dade area, protect yourself by hiring a Broward DUI lawyer immediately. The window of opportunity for challenging administrative penalties is extremely narrow. As an experienced Fort Lauderdale DUI lawyer, William Moore knows that his clients can reap benefits from challenging their drivers license suspension. If the challenge is successful and your driving privileges are reinstated, you will be able to continue driving for all of your regular needs, such as employment. If you have been arrested for DUI, remember that drivers license suspension in Florida occurs immediately following your arrest – not after trial or when you have been convicted. Also, you have only 10 days to challenge the suspension of your Florida drivers license, so it is imperative to act quickly. How long the suspension lasts will depend on whether or not you are convicted (or plead guilty) and if you have a prior DUI record. Drivers licenses are regulated by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

The periods of Florida DUI drivers license suspension are as follows:
First conviction: between 180 days and one year
Second conviction, but first was more than five years ago: between 180 days and one year
Second conviction within the preceding five years: No less than five years; hardship license available after one year
Third conviction, both more than ten years ago: between 180 days and one year: No less than five years; hardship license available after one year
Third conviction, one within the last five years and one between five and ten years ago:
Third conviction within the preceding decade: No less than ten years, hardship possible after two years
Fourth DUI conviction, regardless of time frame: Permanent license revocation
DUI Manslaughter and Murder with Motor Vehicle conviction: Permanent license revocation
DUI with Serious Bodily Injury or Vehicular Homicide: Revoked for at least three years, longer if prior DUI record

Losing the privilege of driving in south Florida can have far-reaching consequences for you and your family. Driving is critical to the everyday life of most people. In addition to driving to and from work, you may be required to drive as part of your job description. Picking up groceries can be extremely inconvenient without access to a car. You will no longer be able to run your child’s carpool. Explaining the loss of your license can be embarrassing at your job and in your social life. In short, the suspension of your drivers license for a DUI can derail your life in more ways than one. If you have been arrested for DUI in south Florida, Fort Lauderdale DUI attorney William Moore will fight to get your life back on track.

Continue reading " Florida DUI Lawyer on DUI Administrative Penalties " »

Fort Lauderdale DUI Attorney William Moore has represented a wide variety of clients in south Florida DUI cases, including immigrants to the United States. Because criminal history can affect immigration status – even leading to removal (often known as deportation) – it is important that any immigrant who has not become a U.S. citizen understand the consequences. Many immigrants are surprised to learn that criminal convictions that they perceived to be relatively minor, like DUI under Florida law, have far-reaching ramifications.

In criminal cases generally, and DUI specifically, there are three categories of crime that can result in your removal from the United States. The first are aggravated felonies. In American criminal law, this term has a different meaning than its immigration usage. Generally, the criminal code lists aggravating factors, such as DUI with a BAC exceeding 0.20 or DUI with a minor child in the car. In immigration law, the term aggravated felony has an expanded definition. For instance, the aggravated felony label include any crime of violence that is a felony, human trafficking, theft, burglary felonies, fraud or deceitful crimes that result in a loss of more than $10,000, murder, rape, and child sex offenses. The definitions have tended to be interpreted broadly, especially for crimes of violence. For instance, suppose you are a legal immigrant. You are apprehended by Fort Lauderdale police and arrested for felony DUI or DUI manslaughter. Your Broward DUI lawyer should, whenever possible, work to avoid having you sentenced to one year or more in prison. If you are sentenced to a year or more, even if the sentence is suspended, you may be subject to removal. Alcohol-related driving offenses that result in a sentence of a year or more are considered crimes of violence under the aggravated felonies section of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Also, aggravated felons are subject to expedited removal proceedings

A second type of criminal history that will make you removable is any crime involving moral turpitude. Even certain DUI and alcohol-related infractions can qualify as crimes involving moral turpitude. The term crime involving moral turpitude encompasses a broad set of behaviors deemed to violate basic standards of decency within a society. It can include everything from prostitution to mail fraud to theft – and even driving on a suspended license, if your license was suspended due to a previous DUI, DUI manslaughter, or other DUI-related offense. Driving on a suspended license after a single DUI may not seem outside the realm of societal decency, but Congress and the federal immigration courts use broad language. Immigrants should closely evaluate the immigration ramifications when contemplating DUI plea deals.

Additionally, you can also be removed for any conviction relating to a controlled substance, such as trafficking cocaine. Always consult a Fort Lauderdale DUI lawyer or an immigration attorney if you have questions about your DUI and immigration consequences.

Continue reading " Broward DUI Lawyer: DUI & Immigration Status " »