Alabama DUI Lawyer Blog

It’s no surprise that being charged with, or worse, convicted of drunk driving in Alabama will impact your life going forward. As a Birmingham-based DUI defense lawyer, I have seen the statistics for people arrested for driving while intoxicated arrests, as well as charged with fatal DUI-related crashes. Everyone makes mistakes, but for most people these errors in judgment don’t result in death or serious injury. Whether you live in Montgomery, Tuscaloosa or Mobile, the latest traffic safety data out of the U.S. government illustrates the number of people affected by drunk driving and the trend.

According to news articles, more than 11,000 people across the nation dies in alcohol-related traffic accidents in 2008. While any deaths from drunk driving are unacceptable, the better news is that the percentage of fatal DUI crashes was down by nearly 10 percent from the previous year -- more than 13,000 in 2007.

Then we swing back to the bad news, which is that 32 percent of all fatal auto accidents are a result of drinking and driving. In fact, 2008 reportedly was the third year in a row where alcohol-related deaths exceeded 30 percent of all fatal traffic accidents.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1.5 million motorists were arrested by law enforcement officers in 2008 for driving under the influence of alcohol or drug DUI. At that time, the suspect could have been given a field sobriety test followed by a breathalyzer test to determine blood-alcohol content (BAC).

To make things worse, an alarming trend may be in the offing. According to various reports, drunk driving among female drivers apparently rose between 2007 and 2008. Based on information from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), as the overall number of drunk driving arrests fell across the country, the amount of women involved in fatal DUI-related crashes increased in 10 states and remained steady on five others.

Finally, the NHTSA’s drunk driving statistics showed that the number of people aged 16 to 20 years old who were killed in crashes involving a drunk automobile operator or motorcycle rider rose nearly four percent in 2006 compared with 2005 (the latest data available). In the 21- to 34-year-old age group, total drunk driving fatalities rose 0.7 percent for the same period. Fatalities for all other age groups dropped during the 2005-2006 time period.

Inside Insurance: Drunk drivers on land, in the air and on the water, TimesFreePress.com, November 13, 2009

There’s never a good excuse for a law enforcement officer, much less a chief of police, to be arrested for drunk driving. As an Alabama DUI defense attorney in the Birmingham area, I have very little tolerance for persons of authority who fail to observe the laws they are entrusted to enforce. The recent news of a Tuscumbia police official charged with driving while intoxicated is a sad statement, but one that has occurred from time to time followed by the public’s outrage.

According to news reports, Tony Logan, the police chief for the Tuscumbia Police Department, is on the wrong end of a DUI charge after a recent arrest. Apparently, the chief’s white SUV ended up in a neighbor’s yard in Florence, AL. When officers arrived, the vehicle was still in the man’s yard -- across the street from the chief's house -- with the keys still inside and Logan nowhere to be seen.

When Florence police officers arrived on the scene at about 3:30pm on Saturday, December 5, Chief Logan's mailbox was missing and a second vehicle, which was parked on the street, was damaged. Based on the police report, the neighbor removed the keys from the SUV and handed them to the officers, after which he gave them a complete statement about what he had seen.

Logan, who has been chief of police in Tuscumbia since July 2008, was subsequently arrested at his Florence residence on Castleton Road. According to the police report, Logan refused to take a sobriety test, as well as refused a breathalyzer test. Florence police took blood and urine samples after Logan was taken into custody. He was charged with DUI and booked into the Florence County Detention Center, where he was later released.

Based on a press release that came out of the Tuscumbia city attorney’s office, Logan has requested administrative leave. The release also stated that the city would review the incident and that Logan had agreed to cooperate with Tuscumbia officials in the matter.

Prior to taking over in Tuscumbia, Logan had served as the deputy chief for the Florence Police Department. He reportedly resigned in February of 2008 while the Alabama Bureau of Investigation looked into allegations of misconduct on Logan’s part.

Questions remain about DUI arrest of Tuscumbia police chief, WAFF.com, December 7, 2009

Christmas and the New Year are times of great celebration even in these difficult economic times. Still, people are always surprised by the number of Alabama motorists pulled over for driving while intoxicated during the season. As a Birmingham DUI defense lawyer and resident of these parts, I too see the results of alcohol use and motor vehicle operation on our roads. Understanding the consequences of driving under the influence, I can say without hesitation that DUI arrests can lead to convictions, which can adversely affect an individual’s life and livelyhood.

If the Thanksgiving holidays were any example, it looks like this Christmas and New Year’s Eve will present yet another opportunity for drunk driving enforcement patrols to catch those revelers who don’t know when to quit. According to reports from Alabama’s police agencies, there were 146 DUI arrests during the four days surrounding Thanksgiving last month. Additional figures included 28 alcohol-related wrecks resulting in six deaths on our state’s highways.

From the beginning of the holiday enforcement period -- Wednesday at 6pm -- until midnight Sunday, November 29, police investigated 418 crashes; cited 3,532 motorists for speeding; gave out 943 tickets for seatbelt violations and 76 for child restraint violations.

With the usually high number of parties and festive gatherings going on during the upcoming holidays, it’s important to remember that Alabama has one of the highest death rates due to drunk driving in the U.S. Based on a 2007 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) study, alcohol-related fatalities on the highways around the country tend to increase significantly during the holidays.

Nationwide, it’s said that accidents due to alcohol consumption claim an average of about 45 lives each day during the days on either side of Christmas; while up to 54 deaths every day occur during the New Year’s holiday. On average, that’s more than a one-third increase in traffic deaths compared to the balance of the year.

Over indulgence during this joyous season can easily turn a festive occasion into a sad memory for the rest of one’s life. My suggestion to all drivers is to use good judgment and have a safe and cheerful holiday.

Six people died in highway crashes in Alabama over holiday, AL.com, November 30, 2009

Drunken driving, driving under the influence (DUI) and intoxicated driving. Whether you live in Montgomery, Birmingham, Huntsville or anywhere else in Alabama, these simple words cannot cover the range of possible scenarios too numerous to list here. As a Birmingham drunk driving defense lawyer, I have represented many individuals in dozens of drunk driving cases. Some are minor, some others are terribly grave.

One recent news article shows what can happen when a driver mixes a little bit of alcohol with a motor vehicle and a public road. Whatever your experience in this area, even under the best circumstances the personal price of drunk driving can prove truly devastating. But when a fatality is involved, that is when you need to consult with a legal expert in the field of DUI defense.

According to news reports, a Roanoke woman was recent arrested and charged with driving under the influence and negligent homicide when her actions allegedly resulted in a fatal wreck in Auburn, AL, earlier this year. Reports indicate that two Alabama women lost their lives as a result of the accident, which occurred along Interstate 85 on May 17.

Dana McFarland, 33, and Kenneka Houston, 25, were passengers in the back seat of a vehicle driven by the suspect, 29-year-old Sabrina Renee Sutton. The vehicle was apparently stalled on the highway when a pickup truck rear-ended the car, killing the two rear-seat passengers. The driver of the pickup apparently was not charged in the accident, having told police that the truck couldn’t be stopped in time to avoid the collision.

Following the crash, Sutton and a front-seat passenger, Ayonna Sutton, then 26, were both taken to East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika for treatment of their injuries. The driver of the pickup truck was reportedly unhurt in the accident.

Now, nearly five months later, it would seem that the authorities feel Sutton’s actions resulted in the deaths of those two back-seat passengers. According to reports, police arrested the woman on October 4 and charged her with driving under the influence (DUI) as well as criminally negligent homicide.

Roanoke woman charged in fatal wreck, TheRandolphLeader.com, October 28, 2009

U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts was apparently unhappy with the denial of a recent appeal brought before the top court. According to news reports, the Supreme Court declined to review a case of driving under the influence of alcohol, which was under appeal due to a reversed conviction of an impaired driver. The reversal was based on the fact that the police did not actually see the drunk driver do anything wrong. Instead, they stopped the driver based on an anonymous tip of a car being driven by someone allegedly intoxicated.

As a Birmingham DUI defense lawyer, I was pleased to see that the Supreme Court refused to review this appeal. Not because I believe the top court shouldn’t be handling DUI cases, but because this goes to the core of what the police need to be doing, which is observing traffic violations and acting on those observations. In the original drunk driving case, which occurred in Virginia, the police answered an anonymous call advising them that a person may have been driving under the influence of alcohol.

The original outcome was a conviction for DUI and affirmed by the Virginia Court of Appeals, which upheld the legality of the stop. However, on further appeal to the Virginia State Supreme Court, justices voted 4-to-3 to reverse the conviction and also to adopt a rule that commands police officers following a driver reported to be drunk to do nothing until they see the driver actually do something unsafe on the road.

The case was then brought before the U.S. Supreme, which has declined to review it. This apparently has upset Justice Roberts who wrote in his dissenting remarks, “Ordinary citizens are well aware of the dangers posed by drunk driving, and they frequently report such conduct to the police. A number of States have adopted programs specifically designed to encourage such tips….”

Roberts argues that the US Supreme Court should hear the case because he is not convinced that the law requires independent confirmation of an anonymous tip. “I am not sure that the Fourth Amendment requires such independent corroboration before the police can act, at least in the special context of anonymous tips reporting drunk driving. This is an important question that is not answered by our past decisions, and that has deeply divided federal and state courts. The Court should grant the petition for certiorari to answer the question and resolve the conflict.”

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