A bill has been introduced in the Colorado State Senate to ban photo traffic tickets in Colorado. The bill sponsored by Sen. Scott Renfroe, a Weld County Republican, would prevent municipalities from using automated vehicle identification systems to identify violators of traffic regulations and issue citations based on photographic evidence. Many municipalities in Colorado have installed photo radar and red light systems in their cities. Colorado Springs stopped its red light camera program at the end of last year. Sen. Renfroe’s bill, SB 12-050, has been assigned to the Senate Transportation Committee.

On February 2, 2012, a division of the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled that a trial court was wrong to approve the use of medical marijuana by a defendant on probation. In the case of People v. Leonard Watkins, Mr. Watkins pled guilty to a felony in Arapahoe County and was placed on probation for 6 years. Among his conditions of probation, Mr. Watkins was not to violate any laws and not use or possess any narcotic, dangerous or abusable substance without a prescription. Soon after being placed on probation, Mr. Watkins received a certificate from the State of Colorado for the medical use of marijuana. The Probation Department asked for direction from the court and the court entered an order approving Mr. Watkins’ use of medical marijuana. The District Attorney appealed the court’s order approving medical marijuana.

The Court of Appeals noted that the use of marijuana even for medical purposes is a violation under federal law and thus would violate Mr. Watkins’ condition of probation that he not commit any new offenses while on probation. Colorado’s medical marijuana amendment did not offer any protection for Mr. Watkins because it is not a prescription from a doctor but a certification that the patient has a debilitating medical condition and might benefit from the medical use of marijuana. Based on this, the Court of Appeals held that the physician’s certification was not a written lawful prescription that was required under the terms of Mr. Watkins’ probation. Finally, since probation is considered a privilege and reasonable conditions of probation can be imposed that curtail a probationer’s rights, any constitutional right to use medical marijuana in Colorado may be curtailed during the term of Mr. Watkins’ probationary sentence.

According to recently released statistics, Colorado Springs saw a 33 percent increase in homicides in 2011. The 32 homicides committed in 2011 is the largest number committed in Colorado Springs in one year. Although Colorado Springs saw such a large percentage increase in homicides, the 2011 murder rate is close to or lower than comparably sized cities in Colorado and the United States.

At the end of 2011, the Colorado Springs Police Department had 622 officers.
With a population of approximately 415,000 people, Colorado Springs has 669 residents for every police officer. By comparison, other large cities in Colorado have a lower ratio — Aurora has 509 residents per officer and Denver has 422 residents per officer.

According to a recent article on the website carinsurance.com, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) will be making a push across the country for states to enact laws requiring convicted drunk drivers to install ignition interlock devices in their cars. Only 14 states — Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Utah and Washington – currently require ignition interlock devices for every convicted drunk driver. In Colorado, a person is required to install the interlock if they are convicted of Driving Under the Influence (DUI), have multiple drinking and driving convictions, or were revoked for having a BAC above .08.

New Mexico has seen a 35% reduction in drunk-driving fatalities since it passed its ignition interlock law. Drunk driving deaths have been reduced by 46% in Arizona since 2007. A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that the interlock reduced second offense rates by 67%.

Update:   A bill has been introduced in the US House of Representatives to offer additional highway funds to states that require ignition interlock devices for DUI offenders.

A unanimous United States Supreme Court ruled on January 23, 2012 that the Government’s attachment of a GPS tracking device to a vehicle and its use of that device to monitor the vehicle’s movements on public streets constitutes a search under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. In the case of United States v. Jones, the Government installed a GPS tracking device on a vehicle and monitored its movements for 28 days. The Fourth Amendment protects the “right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures”. Since the Government did not have a valid search warrant for use of the GPS device, the evidence obtained from the GPS was suppressed.

Having a good Colorado Springs criminal defense attorney representing you is critical when important constitutional issues come up in your case. Call Daniel, Thom & Katzman, PC if you have questions about this or any other issue.

This weekend is expected to be a very busy one for office and holiday parties. If you are going to be at a function, Daniel, Thom & Katzman urges you to drink responsibly. An average person can easily become impaired after a couple of drinks at a party.

Should you be stopped by the police, remember that any field sobriety tests are completely voluntary. You are not required to submit to these tests. You may be asked to perform a chemical test of either your blood or breath. If you take a breath test, your results will be known immediately and if the result is .08 or higher, the police officer will take your driver’s license. The results of the blood test may take 2 weeks or longer to come back and the police officer will not take your driver’s license at the time of your arrest. You may get a letter from DMV revoking your license several weeks after your arrest. You also have the right to refuse the chemical test. If you refuse, you may lose your driver’s license for1 year on a first-time refusal and you will not be allowed any restricted privileges to drive to work or for any other reason. Before refusing the test, please remember that the consequences to your license may be much more serious than if you took a blood or breath test.

If your license is taken by the police officer, you have 7 days to request a DMV hearing to challenge the revocation of your driver’s license. The revocation goes into effect automatically unless you request the DMV hearing.

If you have the misfortune of being charged with a DUI, you need the help of an experienced DUI attorney. There are some very important deadlines that can result in the waiving of important rights unless you act right after your arrest. Please call us so we can discuss your rights and evaluate your case.

We at Daniel, Thom & Katzman wish you a safe and happy holiday

In Pueblo County this past Fourth of July, a Colorado woman—allegedly under the influence of alcohol—sped down South Purcell Boulevard in Pueblo West at a reported speed of sixty-five miles-per-hour.  She reportedly exceeded the thirty mile-per-hour speed limit in an attempt to evade law enforcement officials who intended to pull her over for a suspected DUI.  Unfortunately, in her attempt to avoid law enforcement, she lost control of her vehicle (shortly after cutting-out her headlights) and ended-up rolled-over in a six foot deep construction ditch.  As a result of he crash, the woman suffered injuries and received medical assistance at Parkview West Medical Center.  Not long after her recovery, police officers arrived at the hospital to charge her with vehicular eluding, DUI, driving with a suspended or revoked license, reckless driving, and driving without wearing a seat belt.

Unfortunately (as was the case with this woman), holidays such as the Fourth of July, St Patrick’s Day, and New Year’s Eve provide many individuals an excuse to consume copious amounts of alcohol and make poorly thought-out life choices.  Consequently, those individuals then make decisions (that have serious legal consequences) rather carelessly.  For a case in point, consider that this Colorado woman now has expensive hospital bills, potentially agonizing life-long injuries, heavy fines, considerable prison time, community service, and DUI classes to attend—all because she made poor decisions while her abilities were impaired.  (Furthermore,  she’ll have to continually confront members of her community to explain the likely social stigma they’ll attribute to her for endangering herself and other motorists.)

Truly, alcohol and other drugs have the ability to impair the judgment of those who consume too much of it—or those who consume it irresponsibly.  While most Individuals –under normal circumstances—might not ever even consider getting behind the wheel while intoxicated, those who’ve “overdone it,” so to speak, could easily misjudge their abilities and make the serious mistake of climbing into a vehicle while under the influence.  In the event you find yourself facing DUI, DUAI, or other related charges, then you should contact a Colorado DUI defense attorney without delay.  While not every circumstance results in a judgment wherein suspects totally avoid conviction, many cases do, and as such you’ll want to make sure you the best counsel you can get.  At the very least, having a seasoned DUI defense attorney ready to represent you in legal matters can help protect you from some of the harsher sentences associated with DUIs.

There are integral pieces of evidence that the prosecution uses in just about every DUI case.  Breathalyzer readings and/or blood tests top the list, but the testimony of the arresting officer is also critical in getting a conviction in many cases. Many drivers think that just because they’ve failed the field sobriety test or scored above the legal limit on a breath test, they will automatically be convicted for driving under the influence. However, this isn’t necessarily the case, especially when a good defense attorney is involved.

A defense attorney with experience in DUI cases will use their expertise to find inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the testimony of the arresting officers to prove that your arrest didn’t go according to procedure. If your rights were violated during the arrest, your defense attorney can use this evidence to get your charges dismissed. In DUI cases, defense lawyers will also call the accuracy of the blood alcohol tests into question. The blood drawn for your BAC test can be requested for testing performed in a private third party laboratory by your attorney. If there is a difference in the readings between the private lab test and the test performed by the police, this may be enough to call the entire case into question.

Many law enforcement officials are specifically trained to identify DUI drivers, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that those officers can’t make mistakes. Your defense attorney will review all of the available evidence, including dashboard camera footage if available, in order to ensure that proper procedure was followed every step of the way during the police investigation that resulted in your DUI charge. If an experienced defense attorney identifies a wrongdoing on the part of the arresting officer, he or she will be able to use that information to build up your defense in an effort to get your charges reduced or dismissed.

Not every DUI stop is conducted lawfully, and not every arrest needs to end in a conviction. Many people don’t realize that a Driving Under the Influence case is just like any other court case, and you can fight DUI charges just like any other criminal charge if you have a good defense lawyer. If you’ve been arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and feel as though you may not have been treated fairly during the course of the stop and arrest, reach out to a defense attorney who has experience handling DUI cases.

When it comes to driving under the influence, there are two separate charges involved: the criminal charges for breaking laws against driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, and the traffic charges in order to suspend a driver’s license. While the criminal charges for DUI are heard in criminal court, license suspension charges are heard by traffic court in a DMV hearing. Some drivers get so overly absorbed in the possibility of the penalties they’ll face during their criminal hearing from a drunk driving arrest that they tend to completely look past the license suspension hearing process. Though this hearing has no bearing on the potential fines that you’ll face from a DUI conviction or the possible time behind bars that you’ll be required to spend, it is an integral part of the process for retaining your driving privileges.

In most states, if you don’t schedule your DMV hearing in a timely manner following your arrest for drunk driving, the initial revocation of your driving privileges will very likely be upheld, and you won’t have much recourse when it comes to trying to get back on the road. This is why hiring a qualified DUI attorney is a very wise move following an arrest for DUI, DWI, DWAI or another drunk driving violation.

A defense attorney with experience in drunk driving cases will not only get your license suspension hearing scheduled prior to the deadline, but they’ll be able to formulate the best possible strategy for your specific situation. An experienced DUI attorney will have helped countless clients in your situation and will know exactly what information is important to present in the venue of the DMV hearing in order to get your license suspension reduced or possible even lifted.

An experienced DUI attorney knows just how important the DMV hearing is to reinstating your driver’s license and maintaining some semblance of order in your lifestyle.  Getting your driver’s license back, even in a limited capacity, is critical if you hope to be able to get to and from work and other obligations following a drunk driving arrest. Once you’ve had an experienced defense attorney with experience in drunk driving cases help you navigate the difficult DMV hearing, you’ll be able to clearly focus on the criminal portion of your hearing with their help as well. Having a good DUI defense lawyer by your side is crucial to fighting a conviction at every step in order to realize the best results possible from your DUI case.

There are few things that can cause stress to a driver more than being pulled over after having had a few drinks and failing to perform well on the sobriety field test. Most drivers know just how much a DUI or DWI conviction can affect their lives, and no one wants to be subjected to the very severe punishments often associated with a drunk driving conviction. If you try to face your drunk driving charges alone, you can be subjecting yourself to months of stress and headaches.

Depending upon your location and the perceived severity of your drunk driving related crime, you could be in for a battery of unfavorable punishments if you get convicted. You could face very steep fines, lengthy jail terms and possibly have your driving privileges revoked for the foreseeable future. The personal, professional and financial parts of your life could all suffer greatly from a drunk driving conviction, which is why it is imperative that you reach out to a qualified DUI attorney at your earliest convenience following an arrest for drunk driving.

A good DUI attorney will be able to guide you through every step of the potentially confusing drunk driving court process to ensure that all the necessary steps of legal procedure are adhered to, which can be very difficult to do on your own. For example, most people don’t know that a drunk driving charge will be tried in criminal court, but that they will also have to have a hearing at their state department of motor vehicles about whether or not their driver’s license will be suspended. With an attorney, you’ll get help scheduling your DMV hearing and help developing the strongest possible defense for both your DMV and your criminal hearing in an effort to minimize the potential penalties that you’ll face.

An experienced DUI attorney will be able to quickly identify the presence of evidence that could be beneficial to your defense and use their expert knowledge to highlight those key facts during the trial in criminal court. If there are discrepancies in testimony, errors on the police report or any inconsistencies shown during the investigation, your DUI attorney will be able to find them and use them to build a powerful and effective defense strategy. Going through the experience of a DUI on your own can be very intimidating, but having a qualified DUI attorney by your side can make the process much smoother and easier.