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  • But It was only a DWI...: Our clients soon discover, however, that U.S. immigration laws are not as "user-friendly" as the software they may be designing. One of the many hidden pitfalls has to do with minor criminal convictions that can delay - or even completely block - the issuance of working visas.
  • Drunk Driving Defense-Lawrence Tayor: Lawrence Taylor covers every step of the police action and legal process, from the Breathalyzer and field sobriety tests to witness preparation and jury instructions.
  • Drunk Driving Defense Book for Non-lawyers:

    • How to negotiate a plea bargain if you are in court on your own;

    • Why Field Sobriety Tests are usually not valid;

    • How to decrease a 120 day driver's license suspension to 30 days*;

    • How to find out the standard penalties for a DUI in any Court;

    • Why you should re-test a blood sample- and not only for the alcohol level;

    • Why attacking the reason the police stopped you can be a key to success;

    • How lawyers charge, what is reasonable, and one fee agreement you should never enter into;

    • How the DMV is different from the Court proceeding;

    • Checklists for your DUI case and Court appearances;

    • The time trap in a DUI drivers license suspension*;

    • Sample court forms, plea bargain agreements and police and DMV reports and much more*;

  • Intoxicated Driving
  • Alcohol Offenses
  • Breath Tesing for Prosecutors
  • Drunk Driving in the News
  • Drunk Driving; Drunk driving is illegal in most (all?) jurisdictions; laws prohibiting it refer, for instance, to driving while intoxicated (DWI), driving under the influence (of alcohol or other drugs - DUI), or drunk in charge (of a vehicle). Such laws tend to define a particular level of alcohol in the blood as the threshold of drunkenness. The most common blood alcohol content (BAC) in the United States is 0.1% for the legal limit of intoxication. Many states have enacted stricter measures by making 0.08% the legal limit of intoxication.
  • Ethanol: The chemical compound ethanol, also known as ethyl alcohol or grain alcohol, is the bio-alcohol found inalcoholic beverages. When non-chemists refer to "alcohol", they almost always mean ethanol. Its chemical formula is C2H5OH.
  • How Breathalyzers Work We hear and read about drivers involved in an accident who are later charged with drunken driving, and usually a news report on the accident will say what the driver'sblood alcohol level was and what the legal limit for blood alcohol is. A driver might be found to have a level of 0.15, for example, and the legal limit is 0.08. But what do those figures mean? And how do police officers find out if a driver they suspect has been drinking is actually legally drunk? You have probably heard about theBreathalyzer, but may wonder exactly how a person's breath can show how much that person has had to drink.
  • Court Ordered AA as a Violation of First Amendment: If you are being forced, or even pressured in any way, to attend Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, or any similar 12 Step based meetings or treatment programs, your constitutionally guaranteed, natural human right to religious liberty is being violated. On November 14, 1999 the U.S. Supreme Court refused to overturn, thus allowed to stand, a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ordering this violation to cease. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and the high courts of the states of Tennessee and New York now have made the same ruling.
  • Alcohol Intoxication Testing: The scientific determination of alcohol intoxication is always an estimate regardless if the expert is an ordinary police officer armed with a breathalyzer or a forensic toxicologist armed with the most sophisticated laboratory equipment. This is because over 90 million Americans who drink have different body chemistries and physical constitutions that exhibit extraordinary variation in the behavioral effects of alcohol our society has decided to criminalize as "intoxication". The crime of "drunkenness" has been the most common misdemeanor since colonial times. It's hard not to admit a class or moral bias against intoxication, and it may very well be the perfect example of how the law reaffirms moral boundaries.
  • What to do if you are stopped by the Police: To fight police abuse effectively you need to know your rights. There are some things you should do, some things you must do and some things you cannot do. If you are in the middle of a police encounter, you need a handy and quick reference to remind you what your rights and obligations are. That's why the ACLU is making these tips available as a downloadable .pdf file. You can photocopy this and carry it in your wallet, pocket or glove compartment to give you quick access to your rights and obligations concerning police encounters.
  • Criminal Law Bookstore
  • Use of Sobriety Checkpoints: The coordinated effort to eliminate any drinking prior to driving, largely by stepping up the use of random roadblocks or "sobriety checkpoints," is expanding. The anti-alcohol Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE) wants roadblocks deployed to ensnare at least half the U.S. driving population each year.
  • Colorado DUI Checkpoints: Law enforcement agencies may lawfully utilize sobriety checkpoints in the detection and apprehension of persons driving under the influence of alcohol as long as adequate safeguards are maintained to minimize the intrusion on the individual motorist.
  • Drink, Drive and Be Deported: It may be hard to believe, but conviction of a crime for driving under the influence could constitute an aggravated felony, as a crime of violence, and thereby make an alien criminal deportable.
  • Are Breath Tests Accurate?: At least 10,000 drunken driving cases are challenged each year because of problems associated with breath tests.
  • Colorado Motor Vehicle Books and Forms
  • BUI-Boating Under the Influence