On December 21, 2009, Michael Boyle got things rolling at the new 63rd – 2nd District Court with the court’s first not-guilty verdict on an OWI (Operating While Intoxicated) case. Mr. Boyle is a Senior Trial Lawyer at the Barone Defense Firm.
In this case the driver was charged with a second drunk driving case in seven years. He faced up to a year in jail and an automatic license revocation, also for one year. The not-guilty verdict allowed the client to avoid all of these consequences for this Michigan OWI case.
In addition to being charged with drunk driving based on the theory of OUIL (Operating Under the Influence of Liquor) and UBAL (Unlawful Bodily Alcohol Content), this client was also charged with Open Intoxicants in a Motor Vehicle.
According to the police report, at approximately 9:40 p.m., the Kent County Sheriff Department was dispatched to a grocery store where a man was supposed to be passed out in his truck. The deputies and emergency people arrived and just as reported, found a driver passed out in his truck. The car was parked in a parking space, but was not running. The only field sobriety test administered was the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN), which was positive. The passed-out person also had slurred speech, a strong odor of intoxicants and was not oriented. He was arrested and his blood was drawn pursuant to a search warrant. The toxicology report came back showing a BAC of .16 grams of alcohol per 100 ml blood.
At the Driver Appeals and Assessment Division of the Michigan Secretary of State (DAAD) hearing Mr. Boyle got the officer to admit that he know nothing about when the driver got to the parking lot or how long he had been there before the Deputies arrived. Also that the Deputy collected no information during his investigation of about alcohol consumption (other than an admission) how much was consumed or over what period of time
The Deputy did claim that a half of Fifth of Crown Royal was in the vehicle and believed a 32oz cup had a mixture of coke and crown with approximately 1/8 to 1/10 was left in the cup.
At trial, Mr. Boyle cross-examined the witnesses to show that the state had no evidence of operation. Specifically, that there was no real evidence that the driver was under the influence of alcohol (OUIL) or above the legal limit (UBAL) while driving. Mr. Boyle was able to support this argument through cross examination of the State’s Expert who admitted that there was insufficient evidence. After a very brief period of deliberations, the jury found our client NOT GUILTY of OWI.
Comments on this entry are closed.