On December 6, 2011 the Southern District of Missouri filed the following opinion regarding the inference of operation of a motor vehicle.

In this case, when the officer arrived, the vehicle was stationary and not moving. No witnesses were presented that physically saw the vehicle in Motion. Defendant appeared to be asleep when the office approached the vehicle. While the engine was running, the police office admitted it sounded as though it was having mechanical issues.

The prosecuting must prove two things to win a criminal DWI case. 1. Operation of the Vehicle; 2. While intoxicated.

In this case, as the engine was running, significant additional evidence of driving is not required.

As defendant was in the driver’s seat when the officer approached and the vehicle was running, the jury could reasonably conclude that the defendant was positioned as necessary to operate the vehicle.

To read the case, click here.

The attorneys at PulledOver.com keep up to date on all the new changes and court decisions for Missouri DWI law. If you have been arrested for DWI in Missouri, you need a top Missouri DWI Attorney to protect your legal rights.

St. Charles, MO — A jury in St. Charles County, MO found Wentzville Municipal Court Judge Michael E. Carter not guilty of DWI, but did find him guilty of speeding.

Carter was stopped on westbound I-70 in St. Charles by the Missouri State Highway Patrol Trooper Joseph Flynn for speeding on December 6, 2009. Flynn said that he smelled alcohol on Carter’s breath, that his speech was mumbled, that his eyes were watery and bloodshot, and that he was unsteady on his feet.

Carter refused to take a breath test to measure his blood alcohol concentration and was charged with DWI and speeding 76 mph in a 60 mph zone.

At trial, the prosecutor argued that Trooper Flynn’s observations were enough for a conviction.

Carter’s defense attorney did not contest the speeding charge, but argued that prosecutors could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Carter was driving while intoxicated. The jury agreed.

A DWI arrest is not a conviction. If you have been arrested for DWI, contact us today for a free consultation with top Missouri drunk driving defense attorney W. M. Thornburg.

Sunset Hills, MO — Former Sunset Hills cop Christine Miller was sentenced to an 8-year prison sentence for a 2009 drunk driving crash that killed 4 people. She was off-duty and had been drinking at a bar about 1,000 feet from the Sunset Hills Police Station when the deadly accident occurred.

In December, Miller pleaded guilty to four counts of involuntary manslaughter and one count of 2nd degree assault. Prosecutors recommended that the judge sentence Miller to 20 years in prison. Miller’s defense attorney asked the judge to choose from the low end of the sentencing range.

The judge ordered an eight-year prison term on each manslaughter charge and seven years in prison for the assault charge, the sentences to run concurrently. Prosecutors called it “a terribly inappropriate sentence.”

Miller was driving the wrong way on the road at the time of the crash and is reported to have had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .229%, nearly three times the .08% legal limit in Missouri.

Missouri DWI Lawyers – MO Criminal Defense Attorneys

Pacific, MO — A Pacific, MO police officer was arrested for DWI while driving an unmarked police. He was been suspended from the department without pay pending investigation.

The Chief of the Pacific Police Department said that he had been advised by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office that the officer had been arrested by a deputy early Tuesday morning.

It has been reported that the deputy was driving through the Pacific City Park when he was passed by speeding unmarked police vehicle. The deputy pulled over and approached the vehicle. The driver got out of the vehicle. It was reported that he smelled of alcohol and failed standardized field sobriety test.

“A police officer is no higher than a human being, except the expectations are higher,” said Pacific Police Chief Matt Mansell. The DWI arrest of the officer, “is a shock to everyone. He’s supposed to uphold the law, not break it. But he has the right to due process.”

Franklin County, MO Drunk Driving Defense Attorney – DWI Lawyer

"Sobriety checkpoints have been proven ineffective at stopping drunk drivers," says Sarah Longwell, Managing Director of the American Beverage Institute, and she has the research to back up her claim. The following information is from a December 10, 2010 ABI press release:

The average BAC of a drunk driver in a fatal crash is .19% — that’s more than double the legal limit. Because checkpoints are highly visible by design and publicized in advance, they are easily avoided by the chronic drunk drivers who cause the majority of alcohol-impaired traffic fatalities.

A 2009 University of Maryland study found that checkpoints don’t have "any impact on public perceptions, driver behaviors, or alcohol-related crashes, police citations for impaired driving, and public perceptions of alcohol-impaired driving risk."

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has reported that after reviewing checkpoint programs in several states "changes in awareness, perceptions, and self-reported behavior did not occur."

Additionally, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), "typically, sobriety checkpoints do not yield a large volume of DUI arrests." For example, in 2008, over a million vehicles went through 1,469 California checkpoints. Police arrested just one-third of 1 percent of those motorists for drunk driving. A similar analysis in Arizona found that over a two year span, sobriety checkpoints arrested less than one percent of 46,000 drivers stopped and cost taxpayers over $140,000.

State Supreme Court Cases from both Pennsylvania and New Hampshire revealed that roving patrols caught 10 times more drunk drivers than checkpoints. According to the FBI "It is proven that saturation efforts will bring more DUI arrests than sobriety checkpoints." Patrols also stop speeding, aggressive, drowsy, and distracted drivers because officers can catch them in the act.

Longwell concludes that "Roadblocks target moderate drinkers instead of the root cause of today’s drunk driving problem—hard core alcohol abusers." "Having a glass of wine with Christmas dinner, a beer while watching a football game, or a Champagne toast at midnight are perfectly safe and legal activities," Longwell continued. "Police tactics should focus on stopping dangerous drunk drivers, not responsible drinkers."

St. Louis, MO DWI Lawyers – Criminal Defense Attorneys

St. Charles DWI arrest saturation patrols on Saturday night netted 14 arrests according to the Sheriff’s Department.

Half of the drivers arrested on suspicion of drunken driving also had existing warrants for their arrest outstanding on unrelated charges.

Police from St. Charles, St. Peters, O’Fallon teamed up with the St. Charles County Sheriff’s Department for the effort. The DWI saturation patrol was conducted along the I-70 corridor.

Funding for the extra patrols was provided by federal grants distributed by the State of Missouri to local police agencies. The stated purpose of the DWI enforcement saturation patrol was to discourage drunken driving.

Experienced St. Charles, MO DWI Lawyer – Criminal Defense Attorney

DWI saturation patrols are planned to catch drunken drivers this Saturday night in St. Charles County.  Sheriffs and police officers from St. Charles (City and County), O’Fallon and St. Peters will participate in the effort.  Twenty vehicles will be.

The saturation patrol will be funded by a federal grant to discourage driving while intoxicated.  DWI checkpoints will not be used in Saturday night’s law enforcement.

St. Charles, MO DWI Attorney

Missouri State Highway Patrol Troop C announced that it will partipate in the 2010 C.A.R.E. (Combined Accident Reduction Effort) Life Saver Weekend scheduled.  The effort is scheduled to begin just after midnight on Friday, December 17, 2010, and will end on Sunday, December 19, 2010 at Midnight.

Troopers will focus on the enforcement of Missouri traffic violations including speeding, aggressive driving, and driving while intoxicated (DWI).

The goal of the effort is to reduce drunken driving and other holiday travel safety issues.   Troopers are encouraging drivers to wear their seatbelt, drive within the speed limit, and not drink and drive.

Troop C covers the following counties: Franklin, Jefferson, Lincoln, Perry, Pike, St. Charles, St. Francois, St. Louis, Ste. Genevieve, Warren, and Washington.

DWI Lawyer – St. Louis, MO Criminal Defense Attorney

The Missouri State Highway Patrol announced last week its plan for a DWI sobriety checkpoint to be held somewhere in Jefferson County, sometime in December.

Sobriety CheckPoint To Be Held In Jefferson County

MISSOURI STATE HIGHWAY PATROL
a division of the
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY

Troop C Headquarters- 891 Technology Drive, Weldon Spring, MO 63304

NEWS RELEASE

For further information please contact: Corporal Jeff Wilson
636-300-2800 ext. 3334
C010184
November 5, 2010

EMPHASIS: Sobriety CheckPoint To Be Held In Jefferson County

Captain Ronald S. Johnson, commanding officer of Troop C, Weldon Spring, announces that a sobriety checkpoint will be held in Jefferson County sometime in the month of December. The Missouri State Highway Patrol, in cooperation with other area law enforcement agencies, will conduct the checkpoint.

Sobriety checkpoints are part of the Patrol’s efforts to remove intoxicated drivers from Missouri’s highways, and are conducted at various locations which have been found to experience a higher than normal number of alcohol-related contacts and collisions.

Captain Johnson says, “Intoxicated drivers compromise the safety of themselves and of every person who travels the highways in Jefferson County. We will continue to do everything we can to remove these hazardous drivers from our highways.”

The MSHP’s 11-5-10 press release can be found here.

Jefferson County, MO DWI Lawyer – Drunk Driving Defense Attorney

A DWI sobriety checkpoint Saturday night in Columbia, MO produced 5 DWI arrests, according to the Boone County Sheriff’s Department.

Approximately 542 drivers on Hwy 763 N at Brown School Road were stopped by Boone County Deputies between shortly before Midnight and 3:00 A.M.. In addition to 5 drivers being arrest for DWI, 16 others were arrested; 3 for driving without a valid license, 7 for driving while suspended or revoked, 5 for liquor law violations and one for possession of marijuana.

Columbia, MO DWI Lawyer – Criminal Defense Attorney