You will gain valuable insights from ten of America's leading DUI/DWI attorneys on how to protect yourself and your family from the perils of the courtroom, and from the paralyzing shame of being convicted.
About The Authors
Hunter Biederman is a trial attorney who focuses his practice on DWI defense. As a former Assistant District Attorney in Collin County, he has handled hundreds of DWI cases from the side of a prosecutor. He also has handled DWI 2nd's, Felony DWIs, Intoxication Assault, and even Intoxication Manslaughter cases which very few attorneys have ever handled. In addition, he was recently named a Super Lawyers Rising Star by Super Lawyers magazine and awarded the prestigious "2012 Litigator of the Year Award" presented by the Collin County Bench Bar Foundation. He has received training in Standardized Field Sobriety Testing, Intoxilyzer 5000, and Gas Chromatography from world-famous scientists at Axion Laboratories in Chicago, IL.
Hunter Biederman, Esq.
Law Offices of Biederman & Burleson, PLLC
Frisco, Texas
Attorney Tracey A. Wood, the owner of Tracey Wood & Associates, is an aggressive criminal defense attorney in Madison, Wisconsin. She is a repeated recipient of the distinguishing Wisconsin Super Lawyers Award and recently was named to the Top 25 Women in Law by Super Lawyers. Attorney Wood is known throughout the legal community as the foremost authority on Wisconsin OWI DUI laws. She frequently serves as a criminal law commentator and legal analyst to local media, a guest speaker at national seminars, and an instructor to DUI or OWI defense attorneys across the United States, most recently for Harvard Law School. She is the first attorney from Wisconsin ever appointed as a Standardized Field Sobriety Test Instructor, and first Wisconsin attorney to be appointed to the Board of Regents to the National College for DUI Defense held at Harvard Law School. She chairs the Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Strike Force for the state's largest association of criminal defense lawyers and has previously served as the President of that organization.
Tracey Wood, Esq.
Tracey Wood & Associates
Madison, Wisconsin
Attorney Brian Sloan has spent his entire career focused on DUI Defense representation, having represented over 1,900 DUI clients in the past 10+ years and done more than 70 felony trials. He has written numerous published articles, created legal guides and charts used by attorneys throughout Arizona, trained 1,000+ attorneys on DUI representation at statewide seminars, and has received numerous awards and accolades from legal associations and publications. He is rated 10 out of 10 on AVvo.com; rated 4.9 out of 5.0 on Martindale-Hubbell, and was awarded the 2013 Southwest Rising Star Award by Super Lawyers. He also received the "Top 100 Trial Lawyer" in the nation by the National Trial Lawyers Association. Mr. Sloan also successfully argued that under the new Daubert Scientific Standard is scientifically unreliable and should result in the Blood Test Results being completely suppressed. This was a significant win for the DUI Defense community. An experienced DUI defense attorney can identify police mistakes, unreliable breath, blood, and urine tests, and other legal issues that often make the difference between successful and unsuccessful results in DUI / Drunk Driving case.
Brian D. Sloan, Esq.
Law Office of Brian Douglas Sloan
Phoenix, Arizona
Joseph Weimortz, Jr. became a Ventura County Deputy District Attorney in 1996 and was Deputy District Attorney for Los Angeles County for 12 years. He left the District Attorney's Office to pursue private practice in October of 2008 with his partner, Anthony Falangetti. Attorney Weimortz, Jr. has been recognized by numerous legal publications and by his peers as one of the top criminal defense attorneys in the state of California. He was recognized as California Super Lawyers® for 2014, an honor given to less than 5% of lawyers throughout the state. In addition, he has been chosen to the list of The National Top 100 Trial Lawyers. Membership is extended only to an exclusive group of trial lawyers who exhibit the highest legal standards of leadership, influence, stature and profile. He regularly lectures on various topics to his peers in the legal profession, and his firm is recognized as being among the top defense law firms in Southern California.
Joseph Weimortz, Jr., Esq.
Falangetti & Weimortz
Long Beach, California
David Sachs is a partner in the law firm of Riebling, Proto and Sachs, whose exceptional legal abilities have earned him praise and accolades from his clients and throughout the legal community. He has represented countless individuals with compassion, understanding and zealous advocacy. He began his legal career as an Assistant District Attorney with the Westchester County District Attorney’s office where he prosecuted countless criminal cases and gained significant trial experience. As a prosecutor David also handled many criminal appeals which were published. After leaving the District Attorney’s Office David took his vast experience into private practice. David is admitted to practice law in all of the courts in the State of New York and in the United States Supreme Court. David regularly practices in the criminal courts, and Supreme courts of Westchester County, Bronx County, Putnam County, Dutchess County, Rockland County and Queens County.
David R. Sachs, Esq.
Riebling, Proto & Sachs, LLP
White Plains, New York
Shane Herzner is a former Hamilton County Assistant Prosecutor. As an Assistant Prosecutor, Mr. Herzner represented the State of Ohio in numerous cases including OVI/DUI/DWI, License Suspensions, Domestic Violence, Theft, and various other Misdemeanor and Felony matters. In 2008, Mr. Herzner left the Prosecutor’s Office to practice Criminal Defense work. As a Defense Attorney, Mr. Herzner has aggressively repre-sented clients in hundreds of cases and was recently named a Rising Star by Super Lawyers Magazine (2013). Mr. Herzner is certified in the training for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), DWI Detention and Standardized Field Sobriety Testing (Student Course). He also regularly attends the most advanced OVI/DUI/DWI seminars to stay up on the latest testing machines and case law.
R. Shane Herzner, Esq.
Herzner Law, LLC
Cincinnati, Ohio
Mark R. Matney is a traffic defense lawyer who regularly represents clients charged with DUI and reckless driving. He is a member of the National College for DUI Defense. He attained a Certificate of Competency in the Basic Science of Evidential Breath Alcohol Testing by completing training with one of the leading breath machine manufacturers. He is a member of the Virginia State Bar, the National College for DUI Defense, and the Newport News Bar Association. Besides graduating from William and Mary’s Marshall Wythe School of Law, he has completed his B.A. in international studies at The American University and his M.Div. degree having graduated summa cum laude from Evangel Theological Seminary. He is also active in his community and has donated over 450 hours of volunteer legal services through the Alliance Defending Freedom. He has served on the boards of a local ministry and a seminary, and instructed for Evangel Theological Seminary.
Mark R. Matney, Esq.
Matney Law, PLLC
Newport News, Virginia
Matthew attended the University of Richmond for his Undergraduate degree and Campbell University School of Law for his Juris Doctor. Matthew has courtroom experience trying DWI cases from both the prosecution side and the defense side. Since starting his own law practice over 3 years ago, Matthew has been recognized by his peers as an aggressive, knowledge-able attorney who fights hard for his clients. Matthew has zealously defended DWI clients in front of both judges and juries in Wake County, NC. The online leading legal service marketer, Avvo, awarded Matthew its Client's Choice awards in 2013 and 2014 for the areas of DWI Defense and Criminal Defense. Matthew enjoys spending his free time with his wife Lauren, and their dog Rex, at their home in Raleigh, NC.
Matthew J. Golden, Esq.
Matthew J. Golden, Attorney at Law, PLLC
Raleigh, North Carolina
James Minick is the North Carolina DWI Guy and President of Minick Law, P.C. James decided DWI Defense would be a focal point of Minick Law’s services and has assembled a team of DWI attorneys that are committed to remaining cutting edge on the constantly shifting landscape of DWI laws. James concentrates his practice in DWI / DUI Defense and has handled hundreds of DWI cases throughout Western North Carolina. The National Trial Lawyers Association has named him one of its Top 100 Trial Lawyers for 2014-2015. He is a General Member of the National College for DUI Defense. James has successfully completed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s course on DUI Detection and Standardized Field Sobriety Testing, a course taught to police officers to train them in DWI investigations.
James Minick, Esq.
Minick Law
Asheville, North Carolina
Philip Wakefield attended Western Washington University, graduating in 1987 with departmental honors in political science and university honors, Cum Laude. He was awarded a scholarship to the University of Puget Sound School of Law in Tacoma, Washington and after graduating began his practice defending people charged with crimes in 1992. After 23 years of defending suspects charged with driving under the influence he was recently asked by one of the founders of the national DUI Defense College to contribute his trial techniques on direct and cross examination of expert witnesses to be used at the national level. Mr. Wakefield is a pioneer in the development of direct examination testimony by defense expert witnesses in Washington specifically with Dr. Joseph Anderson, PhD. Mr. Wakefield's philosophy as a trial attorney is to challenge every aspect of the prosecution's case and lives by the adage that "One need not be disagreeable to disagree".
Philip Wakefield, Esq.
Wakefield & Associates Attorneys at Law
Everett, Washington
Contributing Author
Randy Van Ittersum
Host & Founder
Business Leader Spotlight Show
Spring Lake, MI
Anybody can be charged with driving while impaired. ANYBODY! Whether you regularly enjoy an evening cock-tail before dinner, an attitude adjustment with the gang from the office during 'happy hour,' or are a teetotaler; if you ever sit behind the wheel and propel a two-ton mass of metal down a public highway at any speed, you are at risk for a DWI charge. A DUI charge is likely to have a significant impact on many areas of your life; your income, your freedom, and your ability to get a new job.
What surprises most people is that you need not be drunk to be charged with DWI.
As you will learn from the accounts within the pages of this book, people are stopped, arrested and charged with this very serious crime every day, and for most defendants, this is the first and only time they have been pulled over and asked if they have been drinking. You will also learn from the contents of the chapters, that not all "clues" police officers look for and rely upon in assessing a suspect's condition are at all related to the consumption of alcohol or drugs.
Have you ever:
Driven slower than the speed limit?
Decelerated quickly after seeing a police car in your rear-view mirror?
Worn shoes (like high heels) that make it difficult to walk heel-to-toe for nine steps in a straight line?
Used a breath mint?
These very normal actions taken by people every day are among the common ways in which law officers are trained to spot impaired drivers.
Do you have allergies or an eye condition that causes your eyes to occasionally be blood-shot? Have you ever shed a few tears at a particularly emotional movie then driven home? Don't get stopped by the police, because you may be arrested for a DUI.
When you find yourself being questioned by the boss or another figure in authority, do you become confused and fumble your answers? Do you have a medical condition such as ET, Essential Tremor, which causes your hands to shake? Whatever you do, don't get pulled over by police after dark. As far as the police are concerned, you will not be able to pass a roadside test, and you are likely to be arrested for a DUI.
Do you suffer from Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease - that particularly nasty condition in which your stomach contents occasionally rise into your throat? That very occurrence can send the results of your breathalyzer test soaring so quickly and so dramatically, that you'll be under arrest faster than you can say, "heartburn."
Among the following chapters you will learn that in at least one state, the machinery used to test the amount of alcohol in a suspect's breath and blood, is so old and obsolete that parts for the machines are no longer even available - the machines are not just out of warranty, they are no longer manufactured. Can the "scientific" evidence delivered by these arcane devices be sufficient to put citizens into jail? Yes. It happens every day in Washington State.
In a society rightly concerned with the safety of its members, tough DUI laws are welcome safeguards. What is less welcome is the growing pressure for law enforcement to seek and arrest drunk drivers that has become so intense and so very well-funded that "drunk hunting," in some jurisdictions, consumes the lion's share of law enforcement's attention and resources. One might even go so far as to call the effort a budding Witch Hunt.
With the growing influence of the "anti-alcohol" lobby embodied by well-meaning groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving; money, power, and politics are the fuels for this particular juggernaut. Stricter laws proliferate. Money is made available for MORE dragnets in which to snare the unwary. Games of "who can catch the most drunks" are undertaken in police locker rooms across the country and Joe Public, who was merely trying to set his cruise control when he swerved slightly, finds himself looking for a lawyer.
Unfortunately, it is the liberty of individual citizens that is at stake. The lives and reputations of good citizens crumble under the weight of unfounded accusations and science so fuzzy you could knit a sweater with it.
In A Cup of Coffee With 10 Of The Top DUI Attorneys In The United States, you will find tools to protect yourself and your family from not just the perils of the courtroom - although there is invaluable advice on that front as well - but also how to save yourselves from the paralyzing shame of being convicted. You could be forced to install and use Ignition Interlock Devices in every car you own or might drive, which makes it impossible to start the vehicle until the device has been blown into by the driver and the alcohol content found to be zero. (With his prom-dressed girlfriend in the seat beside him, should Junior really be forced to blow into an IID before he can start the car his mother or father drives? If you're convicted, it may well be part of your punishment. Junior's budding self-esteem, or your wife's suddenly plummeting real estate sales are just collateral damage in the eyes of an overzealous prosecutor.)
Here you'll find answers to questions like these:
How can I afford to pay a lawyer to defend me?
What should I say to the arresting officer when he asks if I've been drinking?
Can I refuse to take a breath test? What happens if I do?
How can I afford to pay the fines when I cannot even drive myself to work?
Should I just accept a plea bargain?
What if they didn't read me my Miranda Rights?
What are the collateral consequences and how can I minimize them?
...and so much more.
You will find, within the pages of this book, answers to these and other questions. You will learn about courtroom strategies used across the country by some of the most prominent DUI Defense Attorneys in the Nation. These same advocates will tell you what to look for in a lawyer, and how to spot a bad one. When, precisely, to ask for an attorney, and if and when honesty really is the best policy.
Should you submit to field sobriety tests at all? Not all top-notch lawyers agree upon this and other key questions around the concept of "implied consent." The consequences associated with refusals vary from state to state; nevertheless, it pays to be prepared to react appropriately should you ever be invited to participate in such a test alongside a busy freeway. Even if you have studied for these tests, you may not pass them. The weather, highway traffic, the very shoes you are wearing, and your own physical condition (quite apart from your alcohol level) can ensure that you will be deemed to be impaired by the officer in charge. You could then be cuffed and stuffed into that waiting police cruiser and on your way to a lifetime of being a known offender. Do yourself the favor of weighing the consequences yourself before you are asked to walk that invisible line. If you drive an automobile, it pays to be proactive.
Perhaps the least reliable law enforcement impairment-measurement tool is the uniformed police officer himself. Before you put the key in the ignition again, learn the 24 "clues" officers may use to determine whether or not you are likely an impaired driver. Understand that if you are at all nervous or intimidated, in the minutes after a stop, the officer's subjective "impressions" of your behavior are likely to show up in his police report as evidence of your intoxication. An officer's subjective opinions and his fallible sense of smell could land you in jail in a heartbeat. This could be your fate even if the "overpowering smell of alcohol" in your car belongs to your Uncle Fred who called you for a ride home from the poker game. The breath mint in your mouth might just seal the deal.
Because we humans are trained, from an early age, to step up to the proverbial plate and accept the consequences of our misdeeds, many drivers automatically assume that they are guilty of DWI the moment they are pulled over. If they did have a drink or two, they seem compelled to confess their guilt and accept the consequences even though the chances are very good that they are not at all impaired. They throw themselves upon the mercy of the court in spite of the fact that the tools law enforcement relies upon to determine sobriety and the haphazard application of field sobriety tests are highly un-reliable. Incredibly, many people who find themselves charged with driving while impaired don't even take advantage of the many protected rights written into the Constitution to shield citizens from illegal searches, and self-incrimination. Then, to make matters much worse, many people fail to retain a lawyer to help them safeguard their right to equal protection under the law. Those people often regret the decision to accept their conviction meekly for the rest of their lives. The record of your arrest is very, very public and will follow you all the days of your life if it isn't handled by a knowledgeable, experienced DUI defense attorney.
You need not be a problem drinker to read this book. As a matter of fact, if you do frequently drive while impaired, you might be disappointed to learn that the lawyers whose chapters lie within are most interested in getting you off the streets. They are unanimously in favor of driving only when you are sober. Nevertheless, because even the president of the Temperance League can find himself at the side of the highway awash in blinking blue lights, this is a book for anybody who drives.
If forewarned is forearmed, this book is your arsenal. A Cup of Coffee With 10 Of The Top DUI Attorneys In The United States will arm you with everything you'll need know and do if you are ever pulled over by the police and charged with a DUI.
Randy Van Ittersum
Host & Founder - Business Leader Spotlight Show
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