In my years of defending DUI cases in Pennsylvania, one of the most common misconceptions I come across is people questioning why I support DUI. The fact of the matter is, I don’t support drunk driving. It is dangerous and many lives are needlessly lost because of DUI each year. Asking a DUI defense attorney “why they support DUI” is akin to asking The Innocence Project “why they support murders.” Criminal defense attorneys do not support or encourage crime, they support and encourage justice.
PA DUI Attorney fights against injustice.
As a DUI defense attorney, I call for reform in the justice system because too many people are being falsely arrested and falsely convicted of DUI. They are too many problems that are going unchecked that undermine the justice system and put all of us at risk of a false conviction. Some of these problems include:
- Police officers who have very little training in DUI detection
- Faulty and inaccurate breath testing equipment
- Lack of oversight to ensure DUI testing equipment is working properly
- Field sobriety tests that are not scientifically validated
- Field sobriety tests do not tell whether the suspect is intoxicated- there are many people who may stumble when asked to stand on one leg for 30 seconds for reasons other than being drunk
- Blood testing is inaccurate
- Crime lab technicians are overworked, under-trained and many lack education in science to begin with
- Rampant lack of oversight in crime labs
- Corrupt police officers try to inflate DUI arrests for their own personal gain
- Prosecutors have been known to conceal evidence
On top of all of these uncertainties, the penalties for DUI are extremely harsh and will affect those convicted for the rest of their lives even if it is the only blemish on their criminal record. They may end losing job opportunities and will be humiliated when anyone searches their criminal record for the rest of their lives.
As a professional Pennsylvania DUI attorney I fight for justice so that innocent people are not convicted of a DUI under such unreliable circumstances.
Save yourself from a False Pennsylvania DUI
Over the holidays, many Pennsylvania drivers will be stopped by police for DUI. Law enforcement is a human endeavor and police officers are prone to mistakes which can lead to false arrest. As citizens fit is up to you to arm yourself with knowledge of the law so you can protect yourself against a false DUI.
This is why The McShane Firm has put together a guide to help educate you on your rights and how you should use them. Please read: What to Do if You’re pulled over for DUI in PA.
If you need professional advice on a DUI or criminal matter, please contact the Pennsylvania DUI attorneys at The McShane Firm at 1-866-MCSHANE.
We all want to trust the police and see them as upright protectors of justice. While many police officers are very professional and take their responsibility very seriously, there are others who are corrupt and use unscrupulous tactics that harm the common citizen.
Bad cops exist everywhere and there is no shortage of them in Pennsylvania. Some of them will even go as far as to lie under oath:
Pennsylvania Police Officer Admits to Lying Under Oath in DUI Case
Ex-cop admits lying in DUI case
HERMITAGE — As a citizen, Raymond Bogaty wants to believe the police.
“We all want to believe the police,” he said.
But, as Mercer County Public Defender, Bogaty has occasionally suspected that a story told by a policeman has not been the whole truth.
“I’ve been doing this for 37 years,” he said. “You always have concerns about truthfulness. You, at times, suspect the truth is not being told.”
Still, it’s rare to catch a policeman in a lie, or to get an admission that someone has lied, he said.
That unusual event occurred Tuesday when Mercer County District Attorney Robert G. Kochems and Hermitage Police Chief Patrick B. McElhinny released statements saying that Hermitage patrolman Dennis Best had admitted lying under oath in a 2008 case.
Criminal justice is intrinsically a human endeavor and due to the lack of transparency and oversight when it comes to the police, the situation is ripe for honest mistakes, purposeful and conscious misleading actions (lies) and even corruption. This can lead to false conviction if we do not successfully expose the lies and mistakes in the police officer’s account. This is why it is important to have an attorney who had trial experience in DUI cases and who has the guts to cross-examine the police.
If you feel the police have violated your rights call The McShane Firm to protect your freedom and liberty. Call 1-866-MCSHANE.
If you were one of the many who hit the Pennsylvania roadways this weekend, you probably noticed the increased police presence as part of Pennsylvania’s DUI enforcement efforts. However, one of the side effects of these DUI operations is that police officers are in the mindset to make arrests and thus make a high number of false DUI arrests.
False DUI arrest PA
The Pennsylvania DUI lawyers at The McShane Firm have fought many DUI cases and shown that faulty equipment, improper laboratory work and under-trained police officers are all common causes for false DUI arrests. We always offer a rigorous and thorough defense to protect the rights of our clients and get them the best possible result.
If you were the many people who were charged with a Pennsylvania DUI this holiday weekend act now by calling 1-866-MCSHANE. You are entitled to a free detailed consultation with one of our highly trained PA DUI Attorneys in which we will explain the charges against you, review the evidence and help you chart out a course of action.
The McShane Firm has the knowledge, experience and dedication to fight your case to the finish.
Police corruption is nothing new. There are new revelations everyday showing how rampant and deep this problem runs. Here is another example that made me sick to my stomach:
Police arranging DUI arrests for hire?
Coming clean on ‘dirty DUIs’ in Contra Costa County
A whistle-blower tells how a private detective arranged for men to be arrested for drunk driving at the behest of their ex-wives and their lawyers — and that entrapment using decoys was only one of many alleged misdeeds.
More excerpts:
Dutcher had been duped.
The women who’d ogled him worked for Butler’s detective agency. Sharon, who told Dutcher she was a divorcee employed by an investment firm, actually was a former Las Vegas showgirl.
A man who once worked for Butler had blown the whistle. He told authorities Butler arranged for men to be arrested for drunk driving at the behest of their ex-wives and their divorce lawyers — and that entrapment was only one of many alleged misdeeds.
Butler, 49, a former police officer, was arrested in February. In addition to setting up at least five DUIs, he sold drugs for law enforcement officers and helped them open and operate a brothel, collecting and delivering the profits, according to prosecutors and a statement Butler gave them after his arrest.
DUI arrests for hire? This tears the very fabric of trust between the police and the community. If the police can’t keep themselves clean, how they protect our families and communities? There needs to be a call for independent, transparent oversight to ensure police comply with their code of conduct.
Once again. With police like these, who needs criminals?
More disturbing reports out of NYC where narcotics police are being investigated for making false arrests to meet quotas:
NY Police officers planted drugs on innocent people to meet arrest quotas
We fabricated drug charges against innocent people to meet arrest quotas, former detective testifies
A former NYPD narcotics detective snared in a corruption scandal testified it was common practice to fabricate drug charges against innocent people to meet arrest quotas.
The bombshell testimony from Stephen Anderson is the first public account of the twisted culture behind the false arrests in the Brooklyn South and Queens narc squads, which led to the arrests of eight cops and a massive shakeup.
Anderson, testifying under a cooperation agreement with prosecutors, was busted for planting cocaine, a practice known as “flaking,” on four men in a Queens bar in 2008 to help out fellow cop Henry Tavarez, whose buy-and-bust activity had been low.
“Tavarez was … was worried about getting sent back [to patrol] and, you know, the supervisors getting on his case,” he recounted at the corruption trial of Brooklyn South narcotics Detective Jason Arbeeny.
“I had decided to give him [Tavarez] the drugs to help him out so that he could say he had a buy,” Anderson testified last week in Brooklyn Supreme Court.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/10/13/2011-10-13_excop_we_fabricated_drug_raps_for_quotas.html#ixzz1agAYdKdH
The detective goes on to say that such practices were commonplace and that the police had “no emotion with it”. A federal judge presiding over the case said that the NYPD’s plagued by “widespread falsification” by arresting officers.
These police officers, the ones entrusted to protect us and our families have committed crimes that are so corrupt they shake the foundations of our justice system. Imagine being totally innocent and just enjoying a good time with friends when you are suddenly arrested for buying cocaine?! What kind of emotional distress did these innocent people suffer?
It’s time to really clean up our law enforcement. There needs to be transparent and independent oversight and strict penalties for those officers violating the rights of citizens.
With cops like these, who needs criminals?
Pennsylvania Police are Using Alcohol Detecting Flashlights to Identify Drunk Drivers in State College
As if we needed more untested, unscientific, inaccurate DUI technology, police in PA have been using DUI flashlights to detect drunk drivers:
Alcohol-Detecting Flashlights Introduced in State College DUI Enforcement
Police are using flashlights to investigate DUI in Pennsylvania
High-tech flashlights that can help police identify drunk drivers have arrived in State College, borough authorities announced Monday.
In fact, the flashlights — priced at $700 apiece — have already been in use here for several months, police confirmed. The devices are part of a multi-year, federally funded research project focused on DUI-enforcement effectiveness, borough police Chief Tom King said.
“This is an extension of the officer’s nose,” he told local reporters in a press briefing.
The specialized flashlights, known as passive alcohol sensors, appear as normal flashlights. But when one is placed within five to 10 inches of a motorist’s mouth, it can detect roughly whether he or she has been drinking lightly, moderately, heavily or not at all. Indicator lights illuminate to deliver the reading.
Those readings, while revealing, are not incredibly precise and, taken by themselves, would never be the sole basis for an arrest, King said.
Is anything the police do nowadays accurate? The supposedly high-tech DUI breath machines police use are not accurate, field sobriety tests are not accurate, blood tests are not accurate and now we have DUI flashlights. Instead of spending the money to make sure officers are properly trained, the police is spending their budget on unproven, inaccurate technology.
The downside here is these inaccurate devices will be the basis for DUI arrests because the only thing required for a DUI arrest is the opinion of the investigating officer; an opinion that has been biased by the flashlight results. I am ready to bet that the bureaus using these flashlights will have a higher incidence of false arrests than before.
Now I’m just waiting for my alcohol-detecting 3D glasses.
Police corruption is rampant, so how can we trust them in DUI cases?
In my years as an attorney defending DUI cases in Pennsylvania, I have dealt closely with many police departments. One problem I have found is there is a widespread lack of oversight and supervision. On top of that, some cops are under-trained and ill prepared for the rigors of being in law enforcement. These aspects create a culture ripe for misconduct and corruption.
Not every police officer is corrupt. I have dealt with a number of professional and well-trained Pennsylvania police officers. The truly well-educated and well-informed are sadly few and far between. In reality, there is a large number of corrupt unscrupulous police officers and many more that are involved in negligent misconduct due to their own ignorance.
Case in point is the ticket-fixing scandals in New York City. Many, many police officers were involved in taking bribes and making other illegal gains. If convicted, this will surely destroy the credibility of these officers and cast a shadow of doubt over the cases they worked. Perhaps this should rightfully be so.
So what do we do?
How can we know a “good cop” from a “bad cop”?
It’s not like they run around with a sign hanging around their necks so we can know which is which simply by looking at the officer. What we need to do is look for other sources of verification such as dash camera video or a disinterested and unrelated witness. Unfortunately these simple sources of verification may not exist. So, it becomes an issue. When we have only one source of non-verified information (and especially of the information is subjective in nature), we have to look at it with great skepticism in order to be fair.
Let’s be fair and look at evidence in the light most consistent with the presumption of innocence and that is to be utterly skeptical.
DUI are cases are very complex. Most of the time, the only evidence is the opinion of a bias police officer and a reading from a blood or breath test. Unfortunately, this opinion evidence coupled with bad technology leads to far too many false DUI arrests. Here as an excellent editorial on the causes for false DUI arrests:
- Portable breath tests are one of the major reasons for false DUI arrests in Pennsylvania
Innocent often fall victim to DUI laws
I have noted some of the highlights of the article below:
- The American Medical Association, at the request of the Department of Transportation, originally deemed impaired driving to occur at a 0.15 blood alcohol level. Today, half that level — 0.08 — is considered impaired and illegal. The human body hasn’t changed during that time, but Mothers Against Drunk Driving has become a political force that no politician dares question. Driving While Intoxicated has become Driving Under the Influence. The range of acceptable drinking and driving is much more narrow.
- A Colorado study showed that 20 percent of those arrested for DUIs had legal blood alcohol levels. The problem is that residual alcohol in your mouth can distort the results of the unreliable portable breathalyzers police often use to make an arrest.
- Applying the Colorado study to Mississippi, 6,500 innocent Mississippians are arrested for DUI each year. Many lack the knowledge or money to fight the charge and just plead guilty. For the innocent, the personal cost of an undeserved DUI is immense: Lost reputations, job opportunities and the 90-day license suspensions. Car insurance rates skyrocket. A DUI often ends up costing $15,000. If police followed the rules, they would never give a breath test without waiting for at least 20 minutes. But Mississippi police are not that patient, especially when quotas need to be met and $30 million in fines is on the line.
With Labor Day weekend coming up, Pennsylvania drivers will be facing an increased number of DUI checkpoints and DUI focused patrols. Inevitably, many, many innocent people will be falsely arrested for DUI in PA as a result of the Stay Sober or Get Pulled Over” crackdown.
If you or a loved one is arrested for DUI in Pennsylvania, call 1-866-MCSHANE for a free consultation with the most experienced DUI attorneys in Pennsylvania. Our lines are open 24 hours a day to help and support you.
As a DUI attorney who has fought cases all over Pennsylvania, I have seen way too many cases where the police have wrongfully arrested people all in the name of the “War on DUI.” I have seen people with cerebral palsy, cyclic vomiting syndrome, diabetes and even people driving horse buggies wrongfully arrested for DUI and now this:
PA DUI Attorney thinks that a DUI for a motorized wheelchair is taking DUI enforcement way too far
Woman in wheelchair charged with DUI in Cumberland County
Middlesex Township police have charged a woman riding a motorized wheelchair with driving under the influence of alcohol following an incident early this morning. Police said Connie Lebo, 63, was riding around the Country Manor mobile home park while intoxicated. While the park is private property, police have an agreement with the owner to enforce traffic laws there.
Police said they first received a report of a woman crawling around a yard in the mobile home park at 4:23 a.m. When they arrived, Lebo was sitting in her motorized wheelchair and appeared drunk, police said. She told the police she had crashed the wheelchair, police said.
Her blood alcohol level was .16, twice the legal limit for driving, police said.
Police said it is rare to charge someone in a wheelchair with DUI, but they have charged people riding bicycles, horses and lawnmowers.
While some people might find this funny, or file this under “odd news,” this story represents a real life person, who can’t walk, getting wrongfully victimized by the police. It is a remarkable lack of common sense and decency. She has been humiliated and must now pay high legal fees to defend her name because some cop charged her with a DUI. If she was truly publicly intoxicated or causing a nuisance, then there are laws associated with that type of violation, but riding a motorized wheelchair should never be a DUI.
While people may poke fun at cases like these, it is a sad commentary on what our society has come to in the name of DUI enforcement. Pennsylvania has become a police state and where cops can violate your civil rights without any retribution; that’s not very funny.
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