Arizona is one of a few states that has created something referred to as "Super Extreme DUI." A DUI is "Super Extreme" if a person's blood alcohol concentration is .200 or above. While this crime is still a misdemeanor, it carries a minimum jail term that is greater than most first time felonies. There are several characteristics of this crime that make it unique. Here are the five most important:
1. An extended period of an Ignition Interlock Device. All Arizona DUI convictions require a person to install and maintain an ignition interlock device. For a first time regular DUI, the minimum period is one year. A conviction of Super Extreme DUI requires a minimum period of 18 months (or one and one-half years.)
2. Extended jail period. For a regular DUI conviction, there is a minimum jail term of 1 day. For an extreme DUI (BAC result of .150 and below a .200) conviction, there is a minimum jail term of 30 days. For an Arizona Super Extreme DUI, the minimum jail term is 45 days.
3. A better chance of getting your name in lights. The Maricopa County Attorneys' Office has a website that posts booking photos of DUI offenders. While they do not provide explicit details of how they choose who they post pictures of, we do know that they focus on people alleged to have higher blood alcohol test results (i.e. "Super Extreme DUI" and "Extreme DUI.")
4. Out of state offenders will probably go to trial. If you live in another state and get a "Super Extreme DUI", you will have an inherent difficulty with taking a plea offer. Many prosecuting offices offer long periods of jail for these cases. It is not uncommon for them to offer the same amount of jail the person may get if they went to trial and lost. For the person that lives in Arizona, they may be be able to maintain their employment during their jail term if granted work release and / or home detention. However, out of state offenders may not have these options. While most Arizona courts will permit them to do their jail out of state, there are very few out of state jails that will accommodate them. Finding a jail in someone's home state for a few days can usually be accomplished. When it comes to jail terms of 30 to 45 days, it is nearly impossible. Most out of state jails will not accommodate these requests. Consequently, an out of state offender may need to go to trial and fight the Super Extreme allegation. If successful, on that count alone, the minimum jail can be significantly reduced. Thus, trial is often times the best option in these cases.
5. Simply being charged with "Super Extreme DUI" does not mean you will be convicted of "Super Extreme DUI." While prosecutors tend to offer extended periods of jail on these cases, that does not mean a reduction (or even dismissal) is not possible. There are several factors that need to be examined: (1) How far above a .200 is the test result? (2) Were there any problems with the blood testing process? (3) How bad was the driving prior to the traffic stop? (4) Is there a disconnect between how the person was acting and the test result? and (5) Are there any procedural or constitutional violations? Moreover, there are many other factors that may affect the outcome of the case. The general concept is that if the government believes they might lose the case, the better the chance of a reduced plea offer.
In sum, Arizona Super Extreme DUI convictions are truly unique, in that the increased penalties for this misdemeanor can be more onerous than many felonies.
Hot Topic Arizona criminal defense lawyers ( Under List )
Showing posts with label EXTREME. Show all posts
Showing posts with label EXTREME. Show all posts
I was reading DUI Attorney Mark Steven's blog and he touched upon a subject that concerns many DUI attorneys. Why don't more police officers videotape DUI arrests? Clearly, this would be the best evidence of a person's degree of impairment. So, why not use videotape in a DUI investigation?
Mark addresses this issue in his post Why Aren't Most New Hampshire DWI Arrests Video Recorded? He writes:
Just about everywhere you go today in public you are being videotaped. You are videotaped at your bank, supermarket, shopping mall, drive through lines for fast food, donut shops, even little convenience stores. Just about every place is equipped with a video camera these days. If someone holds up a little store or commits just about any crime in public there is a video of the event on the evening news, copied from a surveillance camera. It has become very inexpensive to capture a high quality audio and video recording for safety and security purposes of just about every aspect of our everyday lives.
Mark addresses this issue in his post Why Aren't Most New Hampshire DWI Arrests Video Recorded? He writes:
Just about everywhere you go today in public you are being videotaped. You are videotaped at your bank, supermarket, shopping mall, drive through lines for fast food, donut shops, even little convenience stores. Just about every place is equipped with a video camera these days. If someone holds up a little store or commits just about any crime in public there is a video of the event on the evening news, copied from a surveillance camera. It has become very inexpensive to capture a high quality audio and video recording for safety and security purposes of just about every aspect of our everyday lives.
Arizona DUI cases almost always involve a chemical test. There is a movement in Arizona towards the exclusive use of blood testing. It is well settled that blood testing is more accurate than breath testing. But how accurate is blood testing? Can it truly determine a person's blood alcohol concentration? I believe that these are reasonable questions to be asked by a person accused of DUI and facing 30 to 45 days in jail.
Under our system of justice we should demand better answers from the government than "because we said so" or "because our lab has the highest standards." Simple conclusions are not good enough in science and they should not be good enough in justice.
So who checks the government's test results in Arizona? The simple answer is the government. They merely claim to check themselves. I have yet to see one Arizona crime lab that conducts blind testing by an independent party.
Here is how the actual process works. In Arizona DUI cases, The government expert will tell juries that they do double check their work. That is, they have a quality assurance program to make sure the blood alcohol test results are accurate. But the government's oversight of their work is not what you my think. Instead retesting every sample, or randomly retesting a portion of the samples, the lab merely does a technical review.
A "technical review" is not retesting. The Government toxicologist usually puts between 30 to 40 blood samples into a blood tester. Then they turn the blood tester on and leave. The blood tester commonly runs overnight and the printed results are reviewed by the government lab person.
This review of the printed documents is what is known as a technical review. The actual documents are called chromatograms. They are simply pieces of paper with graphs and data on them (retention times, area counts, etc...) If the run has the usual 30 to 40 samples there could be well over 100 pages of data.
In court, the government will tell the jury that they "double check" all the tests. What they actually do is take those 80 to 100 pieces of paper and give it to another employee of the same lab. That person then reviews the data. As long as the data appears to be consistent, they conclude it is an accurate test. In Court, they tell the jury they got a second opinon from another analyst to ensure the accuaracy of the tests.
A nationally recognized expert, Dr. A.W. Jones, has opined that in forensic testing of blood samples retesting should be done, not a mere a "technical review." It is his opinion, that a mere technical review is inadequate to ensure the accuracy of the test results.
This standard makes perfect sense in DUI cases because the level of punishment is often dependent upon the test result. If a person's blood alcohol concentration result is .165 the person is facing a minimum of 30 days in jail. If he was under a .150 then he is merely facing 1 day in jail. Is it too much to ask the government to check their work when 29 days of jail is at stake? I guess the answer depends on how important the result is to you.
If you were at the doctor and she said "the blood tests were back," "we need to operate," let's "prep for the mastectomy." Most people would seek a second opinion. Why...because the issue is too important to merely rely on the first test. When it matter to you - you retest.
P.S. I will address the Defendant's ability to do their own retesting in my next entry.
Under our system of justice we should demand better answers from the government than "because we said so" or "because our lab has the highest standards." Simple conclusions are not good enough in science and they should not be good enough in justice.
So who checks the government's test results in Arizona? The simple answer is the government. They merely claim to check themselves. I have yet to see one Arizona crime lab that conducts blind testing by an independent party.
Here is how the actual process works. In Arizona DUI cases, The government expert will tell juries that they do double check their work. That is, they have a quality assurance program to make sure the blood alcohol test results are accurate. But the government's oversight of their work is not what you my think. Instead retesting every sample, or randomly retesting a portion of the samples, the lab merely does a technical review.
A "technical review" is not retesting. The Government toxicologist usually puts between 30 to 40 blood samples into a blood tester. Then they turn the blood tester on and leave. The blood tester commonly runs overnight and the printed results are reviewed by the government lab person.
This review of the printed documents is what is known as a technical review. The actual documents are called chromatograms. They are simply pieces of paper with graphs and data on them (retention times, area counts, etc...) If the run has the usual 30 to 40 samples there could be well over 100 pages of data.
In court, the government will tell the jury that they "double check" all the tests. What they actually do is take those 80 to 100 pieces of paper and give it to another employee of the same lab. That person then reviews the data. As long as the data appears to be consistent, they conclude it is an accurate test. In Court, they tell the jury they got a second opinon from another analyst to ensure the accuaracy of the tests.
A nationally recognized expert, Dr. A.W. Jones, has opined that in forensic testing of blood samples retesting should be done, not a mere a "technical review." It is his opinion, that a mere technical review is inadequate to ensure the accuracy of the test results.
This standard makes perfect sense in DUI cases because the level of punishment is often dependent upon the test result. If a person's blood alcohol concentration result is .165 the person is facing a minimum of 30 days in jail. If he was under a .150 then he is merely facing 1 day in jail. Is it too much to ask the government to check their work when 29 days of jail is at stake? I guess the answer depends on how important the result is to you.
If you were at the doctor and she said "the blood tests were back," "we need to operate," let's "prep for the mastectomy." Most people would seek a second opinion. Why...because the issue is too important to merely rely on the first test. When it matter to you - you retest.
P.S. I will address the Defendant's ability to do their own retesting in my next entry.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)