Happy New Year! From New Hampshire Lawyer Mark Stevens 603-893-0074

Happy New Year! Please drive safely. Don't forget the new "no texting law" goes into effect at midnight tonight; don't give the police any extra reasons to stop you tonight. Make sure and check your lights, including plate lights before heading out tonight. Any equipment violation will get you stopped on New Year's Eve. Take a cab if you need to or arrange for a designated driver. If you do run into any weekend issues feel free to call at any time. Don't wait until Monday! Call 603-893-0074, or in New Hampshire call toll free 1-800-DWI-LAWS.

Have a safe night,

Mark Stevens

http://www.ByeByeDWI.com

Posting Names of Drivers Accused of DWI on Twitter-The Latest Tactic in the DWI Witch Hunt

Here's the latest twist on punishing people charged with DWI, whether or not they're ever convicted. As the article below describes a new tactic will be employed by at least once county in Texas: publicly tweeting the names of drivers suspected of DWI by the police on twitter. That's right, no waiting around until the actual court verdict, or for the Constitution to get in the way of some old fashioned public scorn, they'll just start the punishment process immediately upon arrest.

And because this unusual move has gained a lot of attention, it will probably be copied by other jurisdictions. Most actions against people accused of DWI are quickly mimicked by other jurisdictions across the country; the harsher the procedure the more likely it is to be parrotted. Here is a link to the story and the goal of humiliating the DWI suspects.

http://www.examiner.com/x-6689-Houston-Page-One-Examiner~y2009m12d23-DWI-suspects-names-on-Twitter

What will happen to the citizens who win their cases, I wonder? In the interest of fairness will the county tweet "not guilty" and "case dismissed" results?

Have a safe night,

Mark Stevens

http://www.ByeByeDWI.com

http://www.ByeByeOUI.com

http://www.ByeByeDUI.com

http://www.nhdwilaws.com

New YouTube Video on DWI Roadblocks-See RCTV Q and A Episode 5

Hello everyone. This new video was just posted on YouTube today. This is currently running on RCTV. It is Q and A hosted by Kendra Cooper. Massachusetts OUI defense attorney Jay Milligan and I were guests on this episode, which deals with DWI roadblocks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHWueW5wbNY

If you or a loved one has been stopped in a New Hampshire DWI roadblock and arrested for a DWI or other offense please feel free to contact my office for a free initial case consultation.

Have a safe night,

Mark Stevens

http://www.ByeByeDWI.com

http://www.ByeByeOUI.com

http://www.ByeByeDUI.com

http://www.nhdwilaws.com

Another State Crime Lab (NY) in Shameful Disarray

I was asked during a trial this year by a judge why any one who was innocent would refuse to take a breath or blood test to prove his or her innocence after a DWI arrest. My answer was longer than I can include here, but part of it was that many people simply don't trust the government's tools that they use to convict people, some of whom are sober. In other words, it is not consciousness of guilt; it is consciousness of the fallibility of the means by which the government gathers evidence in DWI cases.

For the most part, the police do not videotape the arrests and roadside gymnastics, so impairment is in in the eye, memory and report of the beholder. And now the nationwide general state of forensic crime lab testing has come under scrutiny. Now yet another shocking report about the state crime lab in New York has been published. See this link to an ABA article that discusses the study. One NY analyst did not know how to use a microscope. One New York crime analyst's results were falsified to the point that one-third of his 322 "test results" were compromised.

http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/report_slams_shoddy_work_at_state_police_lab/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=ABA+Journal+Daily+News&utm_content=Twitter>/a>




http://www.ByeByeDWI.com

http://www.ByeByeOUI.com

http://www.ByeByeDUI.com

http://www.nhdwilaws.com

New Case Results on ByeByeDWI.com - "Tazed But Not Suspended" by Mark Stevens 603-893-0074

Hello everyone. I have posted two new case results on my website, one a dismissal of a boating while intoxicated charge and the other is the dismissal of an ALS suspension after the driver was tazed:

http://www.ByeByeDWI.com

You will see a victory in a boating while intoxicated that was dismissed during a trial in District Court last week. In that case most of the evidence was suppressed after my motion to suppress was granted based on an illegal extension of the initial stop of the driver by police. It is important to challenge any and all evidence the state tries to present in a DWI or boating while intoxicated case.

Another noteworthy case result is the administrative license suspension hearing victory from November 24, 2009. In that case, the citizen was climbing out of a vehicle that had come to rest against a tree just off the road. After a brief unfriendly discussion with police, an officer electronically shocked the citizen, and charged him with DWI, resisting arrest and a medley of other alleged transgressions. As you can read, his administrative license suspension for allegedly refusing a blood test was dismissed after a hearing. See the article titled Tazed But Not Suspended. Further proof that the only really "automatic" suspensions are the ones that don't get challenged.

Have a safe day,

Mark Stevens

http://www.ByeByeDWI.com

http://www.ByeByeOUI.com

http://www.ByeByeDUI.com

http://www.nhdwilaws.com

"Green Tongue" Evidence Tossed Again: Junk Science Exposed in Georgia-NH DWI Lawyer Mark Stevens 603-893-0075

Hi everyone. Here's a link to a story about a bogus, false arrest. The cops noted "a reddening of the conjunctiva and a greenish color on the driver's tongue". The "reddening" would be the same if you smoked weed, overslept, didn't sleep, drank a lot of coffee, didn't drink enough coffee, stayed outside in the sun or almost anything else, because "reddening of the conjunctiva" is in the "eye" of the beholder. The "greenish tongue" could be caused by eating green Italian wedding cookies, jalapenos or anything else with green food coloring. But as many of us have heard, cops will testify that "based on their training and experience, a green tongue means that the green tongued person had smoked weed". The beauty of this case: the "suspect" agreed to a blood test that revealed that he had not smoked any marijuana! Maybe they should change the "green tongue" part of the curriculum at the police academy?

http://www.celebstoner.com/200912053330/news/drug-bust-news/nas-dui-dropped.html"

The police will stretch logic and reason to the point of absurdity. If you hear testimony that doesn't make sense, don't buy what they're selling simply because they bolster the comment with "based on my experience and training". As you can see in this case, a blood test entirely disproved this officer's "training and experience" about "green tongues".


Have a safe day,

Mark Stevens

http://www.ByeByeDWI.com

http://www.ByeByeOUI.com

http://www.ByeByeDUI.com

http://www.nhdwilaws.com

The Curious Case of Raymond Oscar Butler by Mark Stevens 603-893-0074

Hello everyone. This post, as well as a search and seizure case post to be published later today, does not involve a New Hampshire DWI case. It does, though, involve an interesting Sixth Amendment right addressed by the California Supreme Court in which it reversed a death penalty conviction a couple of days ago. The case is People of California v. Raymond Oscar Butler, decided December 10, 2009. Note the date of the opinion if you search for more information on it because it is not Mr. Butler's only death penalty conviction and it is not even his only death penalty case.

The case involves the application of Faretta v, California and the right of a person accused of a crime to act as one's own lawyer. Faretta set the standard for the criminally accused to act pro se (in California this is called pro per), as their own counsel. In 2008 though, the U.S. Supreme Court had decided in Indiana v. Edwards that Edwards' trial judge had correctly denied his request to act as his own counsel because of his mental illness. The government argued in Butler that the Edwards case had dimmed the bright line rule of Faretta and that the trial judge had been justified in denying Mr. Butler the right to represent himself. The facts of Butler, though, are that the trial judge denied Butler the right to act pro se because of numerous security restrictions the jail had placed on him, which would limit his access to the prison library and other resources necessary to prepare a defense. This is a markedly different situation than Edwards. A brief history of this case is interesting:

In 1994 Raymond Oscar Butler was arrested and charged with killing two college students during a carjacking in San Pedro, CA. He was subsequently convicted of both of those murders in 1995 and sentenced to death. While awaiting trial on those two murders though, he was charged with the 1st degree murder of a fellow inmate in the LA county jail in a stabbing death on the way to the showers. The fellow inmate was stabbed with a handcuff key that had been fashioned into a shank.

Aside from the jailhouse murder charge, Butler had other disciplinary issues while incarcerated, including three counts of possession of razor blades, and the state moved to prevent him from access to the jail's law library because of security concerns. The trial court agreed but the California Supreme Court in a 5-2 decision reversed and remanded the case for a new trial, noting that under Faretta Mr. Butler had the right to defend himself as his own counsel.

It was not lost on all concerned with the case (or on the Faretta Court either) that acting as one's own counsel in a first degree murder trial is not clever. The chances of success representing oneself in a murder trial are about the same as removing one's own appendix successfully: at some time in history some one has probably done it and lived, but it is more likely and much less painful if if the matter is handled by professionals.

So Mr. Butler's latest death penalty conviction has been reversed and remanded for a new trial. It will be interesting to see if he now does represent himself, or if he utilized the last decade in which the case has been on appeal to accept appointed counsel on remand.

Have a safe day,

Mark Stevens

http://www.ByeByeDWI.com

http://www.ByeByeOUI.com

http://www.ByeByeDUI.com

http://www.nhdwilaws.com

New DWI Roadblock Story in Eagle Tribune

Yesterday's Eagle Tribune ran a story on DWI roadblocks in the wake of the roadblock last weekend in which a passenger was killed while in police custody. You may recall that the arrest of the man who was killed occurred on the front lawn of the Eagle Tribune's office building. Here is a link to the story:

http://www.eagletribune.com/punews/local_story_340004838.html

Have a safe day,

Mark Stevens

http://www.ByeByeDWI.com

http://www.ByeByeOUI.com

http://www.ByeByeDUI.com

http://www.nhdwilaws.com

New YouTube Video-RCTV Episode 4-Breath Testing in High Schools-Mark Stevens 603-893-0074

Hello everyone. Here is a new video of an RCTV broadcast that is now on YouTube. It is a Q and A show hosted by Attorney Kendra Cooper. Massachusetts OUI defense attorney Jay Milligan and I are the guests on this show. The topic is the new trend of mandatory breath testing of high school students using hand-held breath gadgets. Here is a link to the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-NQQ53y070

Have a safe day,

Mark Stevens

http://www.ByeByeDWI.com

http://www.ByeByeOUI.com

http://www.ByeByeDUI.com

http://www.nhdwilaws.com