Florida Law
Florida Felony & Misdemeanor Criminal Defense
- Felony & Misdemeanor Criminal Defense (Florida)
Standard of Proof and Possible Defenses
Under the United States system of justice, all defendants are innocent until proven guilty. To prove a defendant guilty of DUI, the prosecution must persuade a jury (or a judge) that the defendant committed the crime "beyond a reasonable doubt." This standard of proof is higher than that required in a civil trial. To find someone guilty beyond a reasonable doubt is to believe that, in light of the evidence presented, there are no doubts of the defendant's guilt based on reason. There may be fanciful or unlikely doubts, but no reasonable doubts.
A defendant's attorney will closely scrutinize all elements of the case against his or her client but will pay particular attention to the procedures the police followed in arresting and testing the defendant. If, for example, the prosecution fails to prove the police had probable cause to stop and arrest the defendant, the case will fail even if the defendant was indeed driving drunk. Police are constitutionally prohibited from indiscriminately stopping or arresting people.
Another argument a defense attorney might make is that while the defendant may have had a blood alcohol level of more than 0.08 percent at the time of the test, when he or she was stopped, his or her blood alcohol level was still within legal bounds. The level of alcohol in a person's bloodstream does not immediately increase upon drinking alcohol. The absorption of alcohol into the bloodstream takes time and is based on a variety of factors (e.g., a person's weight, metabolism, amount of food in the stomach). If the police arrested the defendant before he or she was legally drunk, the defendant may be acquitted.
Appeal
If a defendant is convicted of DUI, he or she is still
entitled to an appeal. Appeals from a guilty plea concern
only the correctness of the sentence, not the innocence
or guilt of the defendant. Appeals from a conviction
relate to whether the defendant's right to trial was
violated in any substantial way.
1995 DUI Citations in Florida
In 1995, more than 60,000 persons were given DUI citations
in Floridathe equivalent of about 166 persons per day.
(9,000 more citations than in 1994.)
Although Florida has taken steps to reduce the number
of intoxicated persons on the highwaysFlorida laws
are among the most severe in the countrythere were
still 24,873 alcohol-related accidents in 1995 and
1,073 alcohol-related traffic deaths in 1995 (up from
987 in 1994 and from 944 in 1993).
The DUI citations breakdown for Florida is as follows:
Florida Total: 60,467By Selected County:
Brevard (includes Titusville, Palm Bay)2,303
Broward (includes Ft. Lauderdale)5,026
Collier (includes Naples, Everglades City)987
Dade (includes Miami, Coral Gables)9,670
Duval (includes Jacksonville, Atlantic Beach)3,676
Escambia (includes Pensacola)1,284
Hillsborough (includes Tampa)4,120
Lee (includes Ft. Myers)1,727
Leon (includes Tallahassee)575
Marion (includes Ocala)814
Orange (includes Orlando)3,685
Palm Beach (includes Boca Raton)2,811
Pinellas (includes St. Petersburg)4,104
Polk (includes Lakeland)1,036
Sarasota (includes Sarasota)1,343
Volusia (includes Daytona Beach)1,521
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