Sammis Law Firm
Sammis Law Firm
During the initial consultation, one of the most frequent questions is: “Will I lose my driver’s license because of the DUI?” The short answer is that it depends. After a DUI arrest, your driver’s license is impacted in two ways – the administrative suspension and the court-ordered suspension. The “On-the-Spot” Administrative Suspension First, the officer […]
Recent statistics from the Bureau of Administrative Review Office shows that for all of the administrative suspensions invalidated in 2015, the hearing officers gave the following reasons listed in order by percentage: No .02 Agreement on the Intoxilyzer Breathalyzer Test -.05% No Probable Cause Under 21 – .17% Refusal Affidavit Not Attested To -.98% No […]
Update on E-Warrants on August 19, 2016: Hillsborough’s New Electronic Warrants Should Speed Up Justice – During the week of August 15, 2016, the Hillsborough Circuit Court launched an e-warrant pilot program. The program allows the on-call judge to log on to a secure site and view a warrant right away – the moment that […]
DUI Checkpoints are highly ineffective. On February 27, 2016, the University of South Florida Police Department conducted a DUI checkpoint on 50th Street near the USF Catholic Student Center. According to Cpl. Scott Parker’s after-action report / critique, there were 441 vehicles stopped at the checkpoint. Out of all of those people delayed in the […]
Summary: This blog article is about major problems with the Tampa Police Department’s recent DUI checkpoint. Although the operational plan clearly required the officers to only stop every 5th car, for some reason not allowed by the plan, the officers on the scene decided to start stopping every 3rd car, then every car, then back […]
Florida Statute Section 316.1933 is silent as to whether a warrant is required for a forced blood draw. The statute does however, say that the blood test must be “reasonable.” This reasonableness requirement expressed in Florida Statute Section 316.1933 could be read as a recognition that the forced taking of blood on a pre-arrest basis […]
The ruling in Missouri v. McNeely, 133 S. Ct. 1552 (2013), requires that law enforcement officers, without express and voluntary consent, obtain a search warrant prior to taking blood during a DUI-related investigation. In Florida, law enforcement officers are also bound by the 5th D.C.A.’s decision in State v. Geiss, 70 So. 3d 642, 646 […]
For DUI cases involving death or serious bodily injury with a forced blood draw, a warrant is required. Without a warrant, the criminal defense attorney can file a motion to suppress the blood and blood test results. The only exception to the warrant requirement that might apply involves a showing of exigent circumstances. For cases […]
Prior to Missouri v. McNeely, 133 S. Ct. 1552 (2013), law enforcement officers in Florida would ask for a voluntary blood draw of a driver suspected of DUI if the case involved a crash with serious bodily injury or death. If the suspect refused, the officers would use Florida Statute 316.1933 as a basis […]
What happens if the officer asks for a breath or urine test prior to the arrest? If the suspect is 21 years of age or older, then requesting a breath or urine test before the arrest is a clear violation of Florida’s implied consent law. The request itself, the refusal to submit, or the test […]
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Sammis Law Firm, P.A.
1005 N. Marion St.
Tampa, FL 33602
(813) 250-0200
Sammis Law Firm, P.A.
7509 Little Rd.
New Port Richey, FL 34654
(727) 807-6392
Sammis Law Firm, P.A.
14010 Roosevelt Blvd. #701
Clearwater, FL 33762
(727) 210-7004
