TEXTING SEXTING AND DRIVING DON’T MIX –TAKE IT HOME

A national newspaper (name withheld..I don’t advertise) ran a story on a case that should be of interest to residents of South Florida. A young lady was arrested for driving intoxicated, or impaired, at the same time as she was texting sexual content. The cop thought it was a triple play, the lawyer walked her out-of-court. Why? Impairment from non-alcoholic substances is difficult to prove. I, your South Florida criminal defense lawyer, made some new law several years ago…it was a vehicular homicide case in which the impairment was based on blood work of the driver…..it showed the presence of cocaine distillates: chemicals in the blood which are markers or indicators that cocaine was ingested and processed. The mere existence of these indicators does not prove impairment; it just proves cocaine was ingested. By refusing to speak to the arresting officer and refusing to submit to roadside sobriety tests the defendant was charged with several criminal offenses. The state was unable to prove impairment and the jury found the defendant not guilty of vehicular homicide. The defendant was found guilty of several other charges involving resisting arrest, filing false police report, and destruction of evidence. The reported case similarly had evidence problems. The texting and sexting could not be proven to have occurred at the moment of the impact. Likewise the non-alcohol impairment was too hard to prove. Florida and several other state legislatures have proposed statutes which prohibit texting while driving. Contact your South Florida criminal defense lawyer for more information.