Not Guilty Verdict After Two-Day DUI Trial

After a two-day trial in the District Court of Maryland for Harford County, JPB Law secured a Dismissal and a Not Guilty Verdict on two DUI charges against our client.

Our client was driving home from work on a Friday evening around 11:45 p.m., after an 11-hour shift, when the flashing lights appeared in her rearview. She immediately pulled over in a safe manner with her right blinker on and her driver’s license ready in her hand for the approaching officer. The officer, admittedly, approached our client’s vehicle with a preconceived notion that the operator of the vehicle was significantly intoxicated before he even stepped out of his police cruiser to approach our client’s vehicle for the first time.

Despite our client answering all the officer’s questions and dispelling any concern that she was impaired, the officer demanded that our client step out of her vehicle for further investigation because of her traffic infractions and allegedly “bloodshot eyes” and “constricted pupils”. On the side of a dark road, on an uneven surface, at almost midnight, after being awake for almost 18 hours, our client performed standardized field sobriety tests to the best of her ability.

Upon completion of the standardized field sobriety tests, our client, to her dismay, was arrested, placed in handcuffs, her car was towed, and she was transported to a precinct for even further investigation.

At trial, the State’s theory was that our client was so far impaired by an unspecified combination of drugs that she could not safely operate a motor vehicle. The State called three witnesses: (1) the arresting officer; (2) the Drug Recognition Expert; and (3) a chemist from the Maryland State Police laboratory. 

Ultimately, the Court dismissed one DUI charge and found our client Not Guilty of the other DUI charge.