Articles Posted in DUI – Driving Under the Influence in Jacksonville

The man who drove his van into a Jacksonville home and killed a sleeping 17-year-old was sentenced this month to 12 years in state prison. Ismet Sijamhodzic ran a stop sign and his car left the road, driving onto the lawn and through the front bedroom of the Southside Jacksonville home, according to a report published on News4Jax. The 52-year-old man had a marijuana and prescription medication used to treat depression in his system at the time of the crash, the television station reported. Sijamhodzic pleaded guilty earlier this year to vehicular homicide, a second-degree felony with a maximum sentence of 15 years in state prison. Instead of seeking the maximum, prosecutors asked for a 12-year sentence because Sijamhodzic did not have a criminal record and because the family of the victim was in agreement that 12 years was a sufficient amount of time in prison.

Vehicular homicide is a Jacksonville Traffic Charge in which the state must prove someone was killed and the death was “caused by the operation of a motor vehicle by another in a reckless manner likely to cause the death of, or great bodily harm to, another,” according to Florida law. In this Jacksonville Traffic Case, Sijamhodzic went right through a stop sign and hit the home with enough speed and force that the van went through the front of the home and into the teen’s bedroom. While there was no intent to harm her, there doesn’t need to be one in this Jacksonville Traffic Case. There only needs to be evidence that the person was driving recklessly and, Sijamhodzic and his defense team must have felt there was enough there in this Jacksonville Traffic Case that it was worth taking a deal and resolving the case. In many similar cases, the judge will hold a sentencing hearing to hear from both sides where they state their case and desired sentence. Often, the judge will then set a date for a couple of weeks following the hearing to announce the sentence.

Sijamhodzic says he still does not remember the crash. He told police he bought a Xanax from his niece and took it that day, but he thought it was a painkiller. The state chose to charge him with vehicular homicide instead of DUI manslaughter, likely because running the stop sign provided obvious proof needed in the case. Had prosecutors chose DUI manslaughter, they would have to prove that Sijamhodzic was impaired at the time of the crash, which is more difficult with drugs that can stay in your system for several days. Plus, DUI manslaughter has the same maximum sentence as vehicular homicide, so prosecutors can pick and choose which one best aligns with the fact of their case.

A popular Jacksonville meteorologist was arrested last weekend, charged with a DUI at Jacksonville Beach. Tim Deegan, chief meteorologist for First Coast News, was arrested Saturday evening and released from jail the following morning, according to a report in the Florida Times-Union. Details of the arrest were not immediately available, but this is another example of how a mistake that many people make ends up being a news story when it happens to a public figure.

Unless his blood-alcohol is more than double the legal limit of .08, Deegan is likely facing up to six months in jail, though jail time is rare when a person is charged with their first DUI. Jacksonville DUI Cases, though, are in many cases reduced to reckless driving charges or even dropped outright because there are strict procedures in DUI arrests that in some cases are not followed. For example, for an officer to pull a driver over in the first place, he or she must see a traffic violation such as speeding or the driver swerving and failing to stay in his or her lane. Once the officer comes to the driver’s window, the officer must notice signs of impairment before opening a Jacksonville DUI investigation. Signs of impairment that police often cite in Jacksonville DUI cases include the odor of alcoholic beverages, slurred speech or red or watery eyes. If the officer believes the driver may be intoxicated, the officer will ask the person to perform field sobriety exercises.

The exercises are designed to determine if a suspect is too impaired to be driving. The officer typically asks the suspect to walk in a straight line and turn around; stand on one leg; stand with his or her legs together to test balance; move their arms to touch their finger to their nose and recite the alphabet or a series of numbers in order (Rhomberg Alphabet). Each phase of the test has various indicators of impairment and, if a suspect does poorly enough overall, he or she will be arrested on a Jacksonville DUI Charge. Drivers can also choose not to take the field sobriety test, but that will also likely lead to their arrest on a Jacksonville DUI Charge. The suspect will then be driven to the police station to be booked and to take a breath test. Suspects can also decline the breath test, but refusing to take it means the person will be spending the night in jail. That night is sometimes worth it because it takes one more piece of evidence away from the state in the prosecution of the case.

A 20-year-old Jacksonville man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the traffic crash that killed his friend in 2012. David Gallagher was sentenced on the DUI manslaughter charge that he pleaded guilty to in June, according to a report in the Florida Times-Union. Gallagher lost control of the car he was driving about 3:20 a.m., swerved off the road, hitting a mailbox and a parked truck, the newspaper reported. Gallagher suffered non-life threatening injuries. His passenger, though, died at the scene.

Part of Gallagher’s sentence also includes 300 hours of community service to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the newspaper reported. That could be done during Gallagher’s time in prison, for example. If he is transported to local high schools to talk about the consequences of driving drunk and underage, as he was the night of the accident. The penalties and charges in Jacksonville DUI cases are ultimately based on how much damage a person causes to property or to other people while he or she is driving intoxicated. For example, take a common DUI where a person is pulled over for one reason or another and then arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence. That DUI is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail. There are other serious consequences that can come with it, including fines, a driver’s license suspension and mandatory educational classes, but the jail exposure is only six months on a driver’s first DUI. A Jacksonville DUI crash that involves property damage, either another vehicle or running into a fence or building, is still a misdemeanor, but the jail exposure jumps to one year. When injuries to people come into play, stakes increase dramatically. A Jacksonville Driving Under the Influence causing serious bodily injury is a third-degree felony with a maximum penalty of five years in prison. A Jacksonville DUI manslaughter, which is a DUI causing a death, is a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. The charge also carries a minimum mandatory sentence of four years in prison. In Gallagher’s Jacksonville DUI Case, the judge went closer to the maximum, sentencing his to 10 years.

While many misdemeanor charges in Jacksonville DUI cases can be reduced or bring not guilty verdicts at trial, that is far less likely in charges involving injury or death. The biggest reason is people can refuse a breath test in a Jacksonville DUI case. While that comes with a penalty, it significantly reduces evidence in a Jacksonville DUI Case. But, if there is an injury or death, police can take a suspect’s blood without consent and test it for alcohol content. If it comes back that the person was above the legal limit of .08, there’s not much the defense can do. That’s why Jacksonville DUI Manslaughter Cases do not go to trial as often as misdemeanor DUIs and often result in guilty pleas. Our Jacksonville DUI Attorney has represented hundreds of people charged with DUI and knows all of the intricate details police must follow when making a DUI arrest. Our Jacksonville DUI Attorney will thoroughly investigative the case against you or your loved one to determine if there are areas to contest, especially in terms of the traffic stop.

Police arrested a man on multiple Jacksonville DUI felonies this week, six months after a passenger in his car, a 20-year-old University of North Florida student, was killed in a New Year’s Day crash. Sean Franke is facing several felony charges, including DUI manslaughter and two counts of DUI causing serious injury, according to a report by Action News Jacksonville. Franke allegedly drove his pickup truck off the road and into a pole, killing one passenger and injuring two others and himself, the television station reported. Franke and the two surviving passengers were hospitalized with injuries.

The most serious charges Franke now faces in this Jacksonville DUI case are DUI manslaughter and the two counts of DUI causing serious bodily injury. DUI manslaughter is a second-degree felony in Florida, punishable by up to 15 years in prison, while DUI causing serious bodily injury is a third-degree felony with a maximum penalty of five years in prison on each count. So Franke could get up to 25 years on those charges alone, and also faces misdemeanor DUI charges. The long delay in charging a DUI manslaughter case is not uncommon in Duval County DUI cases. In any DUI that results in an injury, police can test the blood of the driver without consent as long as certain requirements are met. This differs significantly from a traditional DUI when a driver is pulled over because police suspect a driver is impaired. In a standard Jacksonville DUI case, a driver can refuse to submit to a breath test or field sobriety exercises, though it can result in an automatic one-year driver’s license suspension. But when there are serious injuries or a death involved, the driver has no choice. In this Jacksonville DUI case, the driver was hospitalized, too, and may or may not have even been conscious when his blood was taken. Blood tests are also much more accurate when reading blood-alcohol level to determine if it is higher than the legal threshold of .08.

While it may seem obvious that alcohol was involved in a crash with a truck full of 19-and 20-years who were out for New Year’s, assumptions alone are not enough to prove a person’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The delay was getting the blood results back from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the television station reported. Franke turned himself into police when the charges were finalized and is being held in jail on a $205,000 bond. Charges and potential penalties in Jacksonville DUI cases increase significantly when people are injured and even more so when someone is killed. Our Jacksonville DUI attorney has represented hundreds of clients on Jacksonville DUI charges and knows the series of specific steps police must follow to properly investigate a DUI so charges can stick. In many cases, they do not.

Nearly one year after a Nassau County Commissioner proclaimed her innocence while being arrested for DUI, the state has dropped the charge against her. Instead, Stacy Johnson pleaded guilty last month to reckless driving, saying she was texting while driving the night of her arrest, but she was not intoxicated, according to a report in the Florida Times-Union. Johnson stepped down as chairwoman of the county commission days after her 2012 arrest, but stayed on the commission. She did not seek reelection and is now no longer an elected official.

Johnson was extremely critical of police in video from her Nassau County DUI arrest that was released and broadcast on local news sites, claiming the arrest was a political setup. Johnson said prosecutors offered to drop the charge shortly after her arrest if she agreed to resign her seat immediately, but she refused, the newspaper reported. She eventually pleaded guilty to reckless driving, paid a $208 fine, but did not receive any points on her license, the newspaper reported.

Police received a call about Johnson’s car allegedly swerving and almost hitting another vehicle and she was pulled over in her driveway by three officers, the newspaper reported. Johnson said she had one glass of wine, but police said she was unsteady on her feet and that they smelled an odor of alcohol beverages when speaking with her. Johnson refused to perform field sobriety exercises or take a breath test, the newspaper reported. The refusal to take the breath test resulted in a one-year driver’s license suspension and mandatory DUI school, the newspaper reported, and prosecutors said those punishments are the reason they agreed to drop the DUI charge.

A veteran Clay County Sheriff’s Office deputy was suspended following his arrest last month on a DUI charge following a traffic crash. James Avery was arrested by the Florida Highway Patrol after the 1:15 a.m. crash after he was allegedly mumbling his speech, unsteady on his feet and appearing to be very tired and drowsy, according to a report in the Florida Times-Union. Avery was arrested and charged with driving under the influence in Clay County, a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail.

But Avery does have one piece of evidence that is in his favor for now. When police asked him to take a breath test, he did and it came back that he had no alcohol at all in his system, the newspaper reported. Police ordered him to submit a urine sample, which was sent to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement laboratory for analysis, the newspaper reported. It’s unclear whether Avery submitted to that test as a condition of his employment or if his willingly did so as a part of the criminal investigation to prove that he was, in fact, sober at the time of his arrest. If the test was part of his employment, one would expect his Clay County DUI Attorney to argue that the test be thrown out in the criminal case.

A urine test could show drugs in a Clay County DUI suspect’s system that would contribute the person driving under the influence. When someone is arrested on a Clay County DUI charge, the automatic assumption is the person was under the influence of alcohol. And our Clay County DUI attorney would agree that alcohol is the substance involved in the vast majority of DUI cases. Alcohol is more commonly detected, mostly because it is used more and is legal. The odor and signs of impairment also make it easier to spot for a police officer. If someone is on, for example, prescription narcotics, there isn’t an odor an officer would immediately be able to pick up on when the driver opened his or her mouth to speak. A fair question in this case is: Why police would arrest Avery if the breath test came out .000? One reason is officers may have suspected he was on something else. Another procedural answer is the arrest occurs after the officer declares the driver has failed field sobriety exercises. Many people think breath tests are administered at the side of the road. They are not in Clay County DUI cases. The breath tests are given inside the jail as part of the booking process. So the driver has already been handcuffed and hauled downtown because the officer suspects there is enough evidence to charge the driver with a Clay County DUI. A breath test void of alcohol does not mean the person won’t spend the night in jail and be charged with a DUI.

Coming up on two years after he was first arrested on a Clay County DUI charge, prosecutors have not chosen not to go forward with the case against a Clay County lawyer and former school board candidate. During a pretrial hearing last month, the State Attorney’s Office announced it would drop the charges against Joseph Wiggins, according to a report in the Florida Times-Union. Wiggins had maintained his innocence since his arrest in August 2011 and said he didn’t know if the pending charge contributed to his defeat in a 2012 election for the Clay County School Board.

He was charged with misdemeanor DUI and was facing up to six months in jail. His case was pending for 20 months before the state decided to drop the charge. Jacksonville DUI Cases can be difficult for the state to prove, particularly if the suspect does not submit to a breathalyzer exam. There are specific procedures police must follow when making a Clay County DUI arrest, and, if they are not all followed precisely, the traffic stop can be thrown out and the state is left with very little to go on – sometimes nothing at all. A DUI arrest begins with a traffic stop and the officer must have a reasonable suspicion that the suspect is committing a crime or traffic infraction before he or she even approaches the vehicle. Once the officer begins speaking with a suspect, he or she must see or detect more suspicious activity before asking to perform field sobriety exercises. The typical reasons our Clay County DUI Attorney has seen in police reports through the years are: red or watery eyes, a subject smelling like alcohol, slurred speech or the person swaying when her or she stood or walked.

If an officer feels the suspect is showing one or more of these signs, the next step is asking the driver to perform field sobriety exercises. The defendant can decline, which will likely result in an immediate arrest, but would also limit evidence in a potential criminal case. The exercises are tailored to determine if a suspect is fit to be behind the wheel. The officer typically asks the suspect to walk in a straight line and turn around; stand on one leg; stand with his or her legs together to test balance; move their arms to touch their finger to their nose and recite the alphabet or a series of numbers in order (Rhomberg Alphabet). Each individual test has various indicators of impairment and, if a suspect has enough missteps during the testing, he or she will be arrested on a Clay County DUI Charge. From there, the suspect will be brought to the police station and told to take a breath test. Suspects in Clay County DUI Cases do not have to take the test, but, similar to field sobriety tests, refusing to take it means at least one night in jail. If the defendant does take the test, our Clay County DUI Attorney will examine the test and its results to be sure it was administered correctly, just as she will for the initial traffic stop.

A high-ranking assistant chief and 22-year veteran of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office was arrested last weekend for DUI following a crash on Interstate 95 in St. Johns County. Larry Jones was arrested on the misdemeanor driving under the influence charge and spent the night in jail before posting a $500 bond to get out, according to a television news report by News4Jax. Jones faces up to six months in jail if convicted or if he pleads guilty in this St. Johns County DUI Case. Jail time in a case like this is rare and more likely penalties include some sort of probation, fines and being required to attend a DUI panel and hear from the families of people whose loved ones were killed or injured by drunken drivers.

Jones was allegedly involved in a crash in the early-morning hours of April 20, the television station reported. No serious injuries were mentioned in the initial media reports following the arrest. Injuries are very important in a St. Johns DUI case like this. Not only are the charges enhanced if someone is injured, it also opens up the police’s ability to collect evidence from the suspect. If people are injured in a suspected DUI crash, police can take a blood sample from the alleged driver and there’s nothing the driver can do to stop them. In a traditional DUI, the driver has options. Now, all of those options will most likely land a person in jail for the night, but if there are signs of impairment that was likely to happen anyway. But the options could pay dividends down the road by limiting the potential evidence that can be used in trial.

Normally, a DUI investigation begins when an officer pulls a driver over for some sort of traffic violation. If the officer sees signs of impairment – odor of alcohol, slurred speech, red and watery eyes – he or she can start a DUI investigation and ask the driver to perform field sobriety exercises. The exercises are designed to test balance and impairment and, in many St. Johns County DUI cases, they are filmed from a dashboard camera in the patrol car. That means the video can be shown during a trial for a jury to see for itself. Sometimes that could help a client, other times it could destroy a St. Johns County DUI case. Following the exercises, or a driver’s refusal to take them, the officer usually makes the call on whether to arrest the driver. If an arrest is made, the driver will be transported to jail and, once there, police will ask the driver to take a breath test. The test measures the amount of alcohol in a person’s blood. In Florida and in most states, the legal limit is .08. That’s about four beers, mixed drinks or glasses of wine for a person who weighs 200 pounds. The accuracy of the breath tests has been repeatedly questioned, though a poor result on the test will likely not look good in front of a jury. Refusing to take a breath test can result in a one-year driver’s license suspension. The way the law is written, by agreeing to have a driver’s license, a person provides consent to submit to blood and/or breath tests. There are certainly consequences either way and, whichever decision a driver makes, a St. Johns County DUI attorney can assess the evidence and determine the best way to move forward in the case.