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Law Office of Mark Stevens
5 Manor Parkway Salem, NH 03079 Telephone: (603) 893-0074 Fax: (603) 893-5022 info@attorneymarkstevens.com |
Admitted in all state and federal courts in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Representing clients in criminal defense matters, including narcotics charges, drunk driving charges, Driving While Intoxicated (DWI), Operating Under the Influence (OUI), and Driving Under the Influence (DUI). Representation of clients at Department of Motor Vehicles (NH) and Registry of Motor Vehicles (MA) hearings and appeals. |
ALS
CASE VICTORY JULY 14, 2008
DWI CASE EXAMPLE: 180 DAY SUSPENSION OF RIGHT TO DRIVE BASED ON AN ALLEGED REFUSAL
TO BLOW INTO THE BREATH TEST HOSE AT THE POLICE STATION-DISMISSED AFTER
ADMINISTRATIVE LICENSE SUSPENSION HEARING
http://www.byebyedwi.blogspot.com
Please note-this is an example
of the disposition of a recent
BASIC FACTS: A driver was stopped for crossing the yellow line that
divided two lanes of travel. The
driver’s car came to a stop in her driveway.
The police officer approached her window. After the usual series of questions, the
officer observations of red bloodshot eyes, an odor of alcohol and slurred
speech, the officer asked the driver to perform the series of sidewalk
gymnastics known as “field sobriety tests”.
Like most drivers, she couldn’t do them to the officer’s satisfaction
and she was arrested. (CAUTIONARY NOTE: you might be arrested even
if you “pass” these subjective tests, as some of the case examples on this
website highlight over the past few months.
You cannot be forced to do these tests at the roadside).
At the police station, the arresting
officer read a form quickly to the driver and asked her to sign it. The driver refused to sign the form, and
explained that she wanted to call someone and ask questions because she didn’t
know what to do. The officer “deemed her
to be a refusal” when she did not immediately decide to blow into the breath
test hose. The officer took her license
and gave the driver a notice of suspension action for refusing to blow into the
breath test hose when he demanded it.
The
driver then received a letter from the department of safety advising her that
his license would be suspended for 180 days for allegedly refusing the breath
test. The driver hired DWI defense
lawyer Mark Stevens to challenge the administrative license suspension at a
hearing at the Department of Safety.
HEARING
PROCEDURE: Attorney Stevens requested a hearing on the driver’s
behalf at the Department of Safety.
Attorney Stevens challenged everything that the law and the rules allow
regarding refusing to blow into the breath testing hose at the police station. After the state presented its case and DWI
defense lawyer Mark Stevens cross examined the officers involved, the
administrative license suspension was DISMISSED. The driver’s administrative license
suspension was dismissed after the hearing.
She got her right to drive back!
RESULT: ADMINISTRATIVE
LICENSE SUSPENSION DISMISSED!!! The driver’s
right to drive pending trial was restored.
She did not suffer the 180 day administrative suspension that the state
sought to impose on her.
Attorney Stevens thanks God for this successful
defense!!!
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE:
“that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord,
and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the
mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM SHALL NOT BE
DISAPPOINTED.”
ROMANS 10:9-11.
Contact Information:
If you leave a voice message or send an email,
please include ONLY the following information:
I will call you back at the earliest opportunity.
Do NOT include any specifics about your case in a recorded voice
message or email. We will discuss
that on the phone, and in greater detail in person.
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Information in this column should not be construed as legal advice
and does not constitute an
engagement of the Mark Stevens Law Office, nor any attorney associated
with the Mark Stevens
Law Office. The information contained herein is of a general
nature and may not apply to any
particular set of facts and circumstances. Please bear in mind that
laws change frequently. We will
make an effort to update the information on a regular basis, but
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www.1-800-dial-dui.com
Copyright 2008, Attorney Mark Stevens, All rights reserved.
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