Wednesday, August 27, 2014

MAXIMIZING HO. CO. MARYLAND INTOXICATION DEFENSE: ALCOHOL RETROGRADE EXTRAPOLATION

www.CharlesJeromeWare.com.  "Here to make a difference."  AIDUIA "10 BEST" ATTORNEYS.

Defense attorney Charles Ware is ranked and recognized by his many satisfied clients as well as his legal peers as "One of the 10 BEST DUI, DWI [and Public Intoxication] Attorneys in the State of Maryland."  This accomplishment is confirmed and acknowledged by the national trial attorneys organization, The American Institute of DUI and DWI Attorneys [AIDUIA].

Attorney Charles Ware's Maryland-based nationally-respected and highly-regarded law firm, Charles Jerome Ware, Attorneys & Counselors, LLC, has successfully represented hundreds of satisfied clients in drunk driving and public intoxication cases since 1988.  We can help you.  Guaranteed.

Retrograde extrapolation.  Whether in a per se or a traditional DUI case, the prosecutor will usually introduce chemical evidence of the defendant's blood-alcohol level.  Of course, by itself this evidence is irrelevant: It reflects the blood-alcohol level of the defendant at the time of testing - not at the time of driving.  And, of course, it is not a crime to be under the influence of alcohol in a police station or hospital.

A number of states have statutes that provide the blood-alcohol level at the time of testing is conclusively presumed to be the level at the time of driving.  Such a statute was challenged in State v. Ullan (no. 5884, Olmstead County, Minnesota, District Court, Eastern Appellate Division, slip opinion filed October 21, 1983).  In the trial court, the jury returned a guilty verdict to the offense of driving with an alcohol concentration greater than .10 percent.  On appeal to the district court, the defendant contended that the trial court's jury instruction had created an impermissible conclusive presumption and thus constituted a denial of due process.  The district court agreed with the defendant.

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