KC Chief's defensive back arrested for DUI and more.

This seems to be old news by now but I  thought I would give a little insight about this case.  It looks like he was picked up during a routine traffic stop.  As of now he looks like he is charged with DUI.  DUI is usually charged when it is apparent that the person is intoxicated from alcohol.  It is a much easier case to prove because it is a measurable.  The police can measure how much alcohol is in a person's blood and the law lays out acceptable amounts.  If you are over that amount then it is presumed you are intoxicated.  With Drugs being the alleged intoxicant here it is a more difficult case to prove as it is more difficult to detect and establish that someone was impaired by. 

Now many people will say that he had drugs on him so that is evidence that he was using drugs.  That simply  is not the case.  It may have some circumstantial value but not much.  If they want to charge him with possession then it would be evidence, but not DUI.  DUI is Driving Under the Influence, not driving in possession of drugs. 

If you have been charged with a similar charge and need the help of a DUI defense lawyer feel free to contact our office for a free consult.

Here is the original article.

NFL player arrested in Effingham

Bill Grimes Effingham Daily News

EFFINGHAM — A professional football player apparently passing through the Effingham area was arrested Thursday on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs and other charges.

    In addition to the DUI charge, Donald David Washington III, 25, was charged with unlawful possession of cannabis, speeding and driving while license suspended. Effingham County State's Attorney Ed Deters said Washington had been stopped Thursday afternoon by an Illinois state trooper for allegedly traveling 86 miles per hour in a 65-mile per hour zone on Interstate 70 about five miles west of Effingham.

    Judge Ericka Sanders set bond at $20,000. The relatively high bond was set because authorities believe more charges might be pending. Deters said police found crushed pills during a search after Washington's arrest and believe they may be a controlled substance. The pills were sent away for testing, he said.

    Sanders told Washington she would not issue an arrest warrant for any new charges related to the pills because of the high bond.  Washington posted $2,000 bail almost immediately after his court appearance.   Washington has been a backup defensive back for the Kansas City Chiefs since 2009. He grew up in Indianapolis and played football at Ohio State University.  A complete version of this story will appear in Saturday's print edition of the Effingham Daily News.

What does a DUI cost? New Kansas law brings big changes.

DUI's plain and simple cost a driver money.  Increase in insurance costs, fines, attorney fees, reinstatment fees, ignition interlock device fees, and the list goes on and on.  An article in the Lawrence Journal World breaks it down. 

Kansas’ new DUI law bringing big changes

By Shaun Hittle — Lawrence Journal-World

Kansas enacted new drunken driving laws, effective July 1, making ignition interlock devices mandatory for even first-time offenders, creating a central repository to better track drunken drivers across the state and expanding treatment options.  The law also earned the state the highest possible rating from Mothers Against Drunk Driving for laws designed to combat drunken driving. Today, we check in with the people who deal with understanding — and implementing — the law on a daily basis. Here’s what we found:

Ignition interlock devices

 For Ace Bail Bonds, the DUI law has been a big boost to business, said owner Steve Robson. Ace is one of a few local businesses that install the interlock devices, and Robson said they’ve seen installations increase significantly over the past couple of months.  Before the new law, Ace Bail Bonds would install a small number of the devices every month, but now, they’re averaging about a 100 monthly. The biggest issue Robson has been hearing about usage of the devices is people who drink alcohol the night before and then fail the breath test in the morning. After three failures within 15 minutes, users of the interlock must pay a $25 fee to have the device reset.

Breathalyzer refusals
One of the disappointments with the law expressed by state Sen. Tim Owens, R-Overland Park, who helped craft the legislation, was that Breathalyzer, or alcohol-level breath test, refusal wasn’t criminalized. That is, it’s not a criminal — but rather a traffic — offense for someone to refuse a Breathalyzer during a traffic stop. While a person who refuses a Breathalyzer automatically loses his or her driver’s license for a year, it’s more difficult for prosecutors to obtain a DUI conviction without the test.  “Defendants (who refuse) are less likely to face criminal charges,” said Charles Branson, Douglas County District Attorney.  But some prosecutors, including Branson, have taken steps to close that loophole by working with police and judges to streamline the search warrant process for a blood test when probable cause exists.  Scott McPherson, county attorney for Rice County, said his office has copied the Douglas County model.  “It seems to be working well,” said McPherson, who estimates officers have requested search warrants for blood tests in about a dozen cases since the new law was implemented. Whether district attorneys take the steps Branson and McPherson have to handle refusals is up to each district, and it’s unclear how many counties have implemented similar plans.

The takeaway for drivers who are pulled over, at least in Douglas County, is simple: A refusal will likely lead to a search warrant for a blood test, and refusing will bring about more consequences than if a driver consents. In addition to losing a license for a year, drivers who refuse will be assessed a $400 lab fee for the blood test.

Treatment
Kendall Heiman, addictions counselor at Professional Treatment Services, performs the substance abuse assessments and evaluations required for all DUI offenders. Judges use the assessments when deciding whether to order further treatment.  The biggest change with the new law, Heiman said, is an opening up of state funding for offenders who are tagged in assessments as needing additional treatment. Since the law has passed, Heiman said the treatment needs for offenders who come through her door vary.

For DUI offenders who don’t present the markers for a substance abuse disorder, their treatment plan will consist of the assessment and follow-up at an eight-hour alcohol awareness and information course, Heiman said.  But when someone fits the criteria for further treatment, Heiman can recommend outpatient treatment, which can range up to 20 hours of group and individual treatment per week.  Heiman said they’ve seen success at this stage of treatment, which can provide the wake-up call to people that they have a substance abuse problem.  “There’s this moment of clarity” for offenders, Heiman said.  In rare cases, Heiman can recommend inpatient treatment, and the new law allocates state funding for offenders who don’t have insurance and can’t afford inpatient treatment.  Gary Lee, director of services at Valeo, the Topeka-based substance abuse treatment facility, said they haven’t yet begun to see DUI offenders sent to their 40-bed facility based on the new law, but he expects to in the coming years.  The center provides a wide-range of treatment, including detox, group therapy and individual counseling for their clients, who typically stay about two weeks.

Yearly cost of a first conviction for driving under the influence:

Interlock installation and fees: $917
Insurance increase: $60/month
Court/jail costs: $143.50
Treatment: $220 to $270
Fines and probation costs: $810 to $1150
Lawyer: $1,000 minimum
License reinstatement fee: $100
Refusal of breath test to find blood-alcohol level: $400
Total estimated cost range: $3,910 to $4,700
Costs will vary based on service providers chosen and whether someone applies for diversion. Information provided by Ace Bail Bonds, Professional Treatment Services, Douglas County Assistant District Attorney Greg Benefiel, the Ron King Agency and local attorney John Frydman.

Kansas' Breathalyzer is under fire. Read the recent article in The Pitch

Kansas' breathalyzer of choice faces scrutiny

Questions remain on the Intoxilyzer 8000.

Posted by Ben Palosaari on Wed, Nov 16, 2011 at 12:41 PM

Suspected drunken drivers in Kansas might want to cross their fingers or rub a lucky rabbit’s foot before taking a breath test to determine their blood-alcohol level. That’s because Kansas law-enforcement agencies use the Intoxilyzer 8000, a blood-alcohol testing device that’s gaining a reputation for being more of a slot machine than an accurate test of someone’s level of intoxication.

The Intoxilyzer 8000 has been the source of headaches for officials and courts in several states, and it might be just a matter of time before the same issues hit Kansas. Here’s how the machine works: It collects a driver’s breath through a tube attached to the side of a large gray box. The device then shines infrared light, which alcohol absorbs, into the breath. The machine takes a reading of the light using a proprietary source code to calculate the blood-alcohol content, then prints a sort of receipt displaying the information.


In Kansas, the Intoxilyzer 8000 is used in most counties, including Johnson, Wyandotte, Leavenworth and Douglas. However, 21 Kansas counties don’t use the machines. In Sumner County, County Attorney Evan Watson announced in January that he wouldn’t use the Intoxilyzer to prosecute DUI cases. Instead, that county would rely on blood tests. Watson didn’t respond to several interview requests from The Pitch, but he told news outlets in April that he’d seen the device fail, and it didn’t “instill [him] with confidence.”
Kansas City, Kansas lawyer Jay Norton says Watson’s approach is appropriate, given the Intoxilyzer’s history of inconsistent responses and its sensitivity to radio-frequency interference from electrical devices such as smartphones."The concern isn’t for accurate and reliable science," Norton says. "The concern is for winnable cases."

Officials nationwide have grown wary of trusting the Intoxilyzer. Earlier this year, a Florida investigation found thousands of breath tests with the Intoxilyzer 8000, dating back to 2006, that had produced inaccurate calculations. Forty percent of the Sunshine State’s 231 Intoxilyzer 8000 units were found to be faulty. Some of the machines registered as much as 12 liters of breath from suspected drunken drivers, despite human breath capacity topping out at 5 liters. "It’s saying that it’s getting 10, 15, 20 liters of breath from a human being, which is impossible. It’s fiction," Norton says. "There’s something wrong with the software in the machine, the function of the machine."

In October, prosecutors in Manatee County, Florida, announced that they would throw out Intoxilyzer readings for about 100 DUI defendants and instead either use other evidence to prosecute the cases or drop the charges.

In Ohio, a judge wrote a decision in June allowing defendants to challenge breath results. The judge noted a witness’s testimony that "the longer you blow, the higher your score" with the Intoxilyzer. Another Ohio judge has refused to allow evidence gathered by the Intoxilyzer in his courtroom until the state proves that the machines produce accurate results.

The state of Kansas, however, is standing by the Intoxilyzer 8000. The Breath Alcohol Laboratory Program of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment oversees the state’s 251 Intoxilyzer 8000s. Breath Alcohol Supervisor Christine Houston says the devices are accurate, and when they need repair, the KDHE has procedures in place to rotate them out of service. Houston says she has worked with Intoxilyzer technology for 10 years and has no reason to doubt its effectiveness.

The KDHE doesn’t see a county’s refusal to use the machines as a repudiation of the Intoxilyzer. "That’s their prerogative,” Houston says, “and I’m not going to tell them one way or another." Houston says the KDHE never had the chance to convince Watson in Sumner County of the Intoxilyzer’s usefulness. "He also has never allowed me to be able to demonstrate the instrumentation to him or been able to explain to him how the instrument works,” she says. “He has no idea how it even works, much less whether it works accurately and precisionally [sic]."

Blood and urine tests are acceptable forms of testing, but Houston says the number of breath tests far outweigh the number of blood tests. "If there was some idea or philosophy that the instrumentation was false in some way, shape or form, you wouldn’t have the discrepancy that we have in the number of breath tests versus blood in the state," she says.

CMI Inc., the company that manufactures the Intoxilyzer, did not return requests for comment. And the company doesn’t appear to be helping its cause. Courts in multiple states have told CMI to release the Intoxilyzer source code so that defense attorneys can learn how the device calculates blood-alcohol content. The company has refused, saying it’s a trade secret. CMI is also in a bizarre standoff with Florida, where the company has been found in contempt for not releasing the code.

In Kansas, no legal challenges to the Intoxilyzer 8000 have been mounted. But Norton says the troubled device’s future doesn’t look good. "I think that CMI is just doing the best that they can to outrun all of these boulders that are rolling at them and this machine right now," he says. "I think that public opinion on this machine may eventually shift because there’s been so many problems, and they’re being pointed out more and more."

Read the original article here http://www.pitch.com/plog/archives/2011/11/16/kansas-breathalyzer-of-choice-faces-scrutiny