Tampa DUI Lawyer Blog

Two different local residents have been arrested on Tuesday after police located each in their vehicles, apparently under the influence of prescription medication. The first arrest came after a police officer observed a suspicious car parked in front of a closed business at about 4:30 in the morning. The motor on the vehicle was running and the man sitting in the driver's seat was unresponsive to knocking on the window. The man, later identified as Christopher Castorino, 30, was passed out, hunched away from his window. The officer saw a notebook in the car with a white powdery substance on it. He opened the door and was about to wake the victim by touching him on the arm.

The arrest report detailed Castorino's fuzzy condition. When he awoke, he was not particularly lucid, and could not tell the officer how he came to be parked at that location or why he was there. Eventually, he told the officer that he had taken methadone by snorting it before falling asleep. Castorino was arrested and taken into custody on charges of possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a controlled substance. He has not at this point been charged with driving under the influence, although he probably could be at the discretion of the State Attorney's Office, as he was likely in actual physical control of the motor vehicle while under the influence of the methadone.

On the same evening, police responded to a call regarding an accident on Commercial Way, where they found Kelly Leonard, 43, in a Mini Cooper on the road. Leonard believed she was at a different location than she actually was, and according to witnesses at the scene, had been driving too fast when she hit a curb, causing a tire to burst. Leonard failed roadside sobriety tests administered at the scene. Additionally, police officers found prescription medication in the car, as well as a travel mug filled with wine. Her blood alcohol test revealed that she was at 0.045 percent, which is lower than the level at which the law presumes intoxication. Still, the state can establish intoxication by other means. She has been charged with driving under the influence and possession of a controlled substance.

The original article is available here.

If you have been arrested for a prescription drug DUI, contact the DUI lawyers in Tampa at the Musca Law office.

A night out on the town ended up causing trouble for one local woman. Although Gilmara Barreras, 26, and her friend designated a sober driving for their escapades, the Barreras still found herself in trouble with law enforcement in Tampa in the early hours of Thursday morning. Barreras was out at local bars with acquaintances.

Barreras and her friend were removed from the premises of the Pickled Parrot by the management at about 1:30 in the morning due to their disorderly behavior. A manager from the establishment notified a nearby deputy of the situation. When the deputy inquired as to the problem, neither would explain the situation, and Barreras became hostile.

As the deputy tried to make a report, Barreras dialed 911 and yelled at the deputy that she wanted him to take a report of the incident. He told her that he was doing so and asked her to get off the phone. She dialed 911 again as the deputy gave her a number and explained to her how to use it in order to receive a copy of his report at the Sheriff's office. Again, Barreras called the 911 emergency number to insist to the operators that an officer take a report of the incident at the bar. At that point, the deputy escorted the pair into a vehicle with a designated driver. While in the car, Barreras called 911 two more times, for a total of five 911 calls. After the fifth, deputies were dispatched to her home, where she was arrested for making false 911 calls. The charge is a misdemeanor and is usually employed only when a person egregiously or continuously violates the emergencies-only nature of the system.

The lesson: use alcohol responsibly. In addition to the possibility of DUI/DWI, reckless driving, and other criminal charges, crimes such as public intoxication and disorderly intoxication can also happen after a partygoer has too much to drink. Many crimes, especially domestic violence, tend to happen frequently when one or more people are under the influence of alcohol.

More information is available here.

Travis Kelton Hill III, who is 20, was expected to go to trial for DUI Manslaughter next month, but a revised witness list has thrown a kink into those plans. Instead, his defense attorney has added an additional possible witness, a physician/toxicologist. The assistant state attorney will need to depose the new witness, which cannot occur until July 22 in Palm Beach County, due to the high caseload the office carries. The defense advised the court at a pretrial conference that they do not intend to identify any more witnesses between now and the trial. Another pretrial conference was scheduled for early August and the state plans to proceed with a jury trial sometime in September.

Hill was charged with DUI and negligent vehicular manslaughter following the death of Kristin Marie Dessingue, a 16-year-old resident of Coconut Creek. The pair were traveling in Hill's vehicle when he allegedly failed to properly complete a curve, flipping over the vehicle. Dessingue was ejected from the truck, as was Hill. Hill sustained injuries to his neck and back, while an additional passenger only suffered minor injuries. A hospital collected a blood sample from Hill which showed a blood alcohol concentration of 0.179 percent. State law presumes a driver is impaired at 0.08 percent, although actual impairment can be demonstrated in some cases where a driver had an even lower BAC at the time of a traffic stop or accident.

Judge Peter Estrada declined to impose additional requirements for Hill's pretrial release, such as random breath alcohol and urinalysis testing, because tips about Hill's behavior were coming from an anonymous caller. "Whoever's making these phone calls does not wish to come forward and give their name, so unless they do so, I don't think I have any authority whatsoever to have a hearing to determine whether or not they actually revoke Mr. Hill's pretrial release order and put him into custody pending his trial," the judge said.

The original article is available here.

Tampa police officers can no longer administratively close a case - a step taken when there are no more leads to be pursued - until they have consulted with the State Attorney's Office on the case. The change was announced after criticism related to a February hit-and-run accident that left a homeless women dead. The case was administratively closed by detectives, although it could be prosecuted, even in the years to come, if the department gathered sufficient evidence against a suspect. Although hit-and-run and DUI often go hand-in-hand, there has been no allegation that the hit-and-run driver was under the influence of alcohol.

On February 8, a Nissan Murano hit Melissa Sjostrom, 33, as she crossed Hyde Park Avenue. The investigation into the hit-and-run accident centered on the prominent local Valdez family. The oldest daughter, Jordan Valdez, is believed by police to have been the driver in that accident. Jordan is 16 years old. The Valdez's Nissan Murano was impounded the night of the accident after officers observed significant body damage. Jordan did not advise her parents that she had been involved in an accident until the vehicle had been impounded by law enforcement officers. The paint chips from the scene of the accident match the paint on the Valdez vehicle.

In late April, Jordan Valdez's attorney admitted to police that Jordan had been the driver of the vehicle that evening, as opposed to one of her parents or another person. The admission was for the civil investigation and Jordan was cited for careless driving. The case was thereafter administratively closed. Last week, the careless driving citation was dropped because the police officer did not appear to testify for the case. Her attorney has stated that they believed the matter was over when the police officer issued Jordan the citation and gave her a lecture in front of her father, which reportedly reduced the teenager to tears. At this point in time, no one, including Jordan Valdez, has been charged in relation to the hit-and-run accident, and the teen's driving record is unblemished according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

If you have been arrested for a hit-and-run or DUI, contact the Tampa DUI attorneys at Musca Law to discuss your legal rights.

School officials emphasize safe adult usage, or non-usage, of alcohol in health curriculum, particularly focusing on the importance of not driving while intoxicated. Some parents are likely to be up in arms over the bad example a local school official is setting after his own misdemeanor DUI arrest. A Tampa bay area school administrator has been arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol following a late-night weekend incident. Melvin Williams, Jr., who is 31, is the assistant principal of Strawberry Crest High School, which is located in Dover. Williams resides in Riverview.

According to law enforcement officials, Williams was arrested at about 1:40 a.m. this morning. An officer reported observing his vehicle driving erratically near the intersection of Dona Michelle Drive and Bruce B. Downs Boulevard. Specifically, Williams was allegedly unable to maintain a single lane with his black Nissan SUV. The police officer pulled over the vehicle, reporting that Williams had the odor of alcohol on his breath. Additionally, he displayed other signs of intoxication, such as poor balance when standing and a glassy-eyed appearance. Williams was arrested for DUI/DWI and, after being booked at the jail, was released on a $500 bond.

The arresting police officer was unable to collect a breath sample from Williams, who refused. Florida provides a serious disincentive for motorists to refuse to submit to breathalyzer tests: driver's license suspension. The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles is the state agency in charge of administering and maintaining driver's licenses. If a driver is arrested - not convicted - for first-time DUI, the state automatically revokes his license for a period of six months, so long as he does not request and prevail at a formal administrative hearing. If that driver refused to submit to a breath alcohol test, however, the revocation period is one full year. An experienced DUI attorney from Musca Law can advise you of your legal rights if you have been arrested for driving under the influence.

 

In Orlando, a local man is being heralded as a good Samaritan. Police say that Charles Dalton was riding in a taxi cab when he saw another vehicle plunge into Lake Eola in the early hours of Saturday morning. Dalton reacted swiftly, bolting out of the cab and stripping to his underwear before diving into the lake to rescue the driver of the vehicle. He pulled Romelli Bernadeze Cainong, 30, from the driver's seat of the submerged vehicle.

Police later charged Bernadeze Cainong with driving under the influence. She told police that she accidentally drove the car into Lake Eola after swerving suddenly to avoid hitting a pedestrian. Officers detected to odor of alcohol on Bernadeze Cainong. She failed every roadside field sobriety test that law enforcement officials administered and told police she had consumed two vodka cocktails at a club before getting in the car to drive herself home. She was taken into custody, but posted bail and was released over the weekend.

In Viera, Florida, a woman who has been convicted of DUI Manslaughter was ordered by a civil court to pay in excess of six million dollars to the family of the man killed in the car accident. Mary Tyler Christensen was convicted of one count of DUI Manslaughter after she hit Thomas Bowen, causing his death in the 2005. Bowen was on the shoulder of I-95, where he was changing a flat tire on his vehicle. He is survived by his wife and two children.

At the time of the accident, detectives determined that Christensen was both under the influence of alcohol as well as pain medication, rendering her too impaired to drive safely. After fatally hitting Bowen, Christensen did not stop or render aid, but instead fled the scene. She pleaded guilty last year and is serving eleven and a half years in a Florida prison for the crime.

 

In light of the recent news reports on the DUI charge picked up by a Hillsborough County woman who was in her third trimester of pregnancy, this article deals with the sensitive topic of alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Although experts debate whether there is any safe level of alcohol intake for a pregnant woman, it is undisputed that higher levels of alcohol consumption can be extremely detrimental to the fetus.

The Surgeon General recommends that women not drink at all during their pregnancies. High consumption of alcohol can cause a baby to be born with a disorder known as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. The primary damage caused by alcohol to a fetus is to the central nervous system. The brain is particularly affected and FAS often causes serious developmental disabilities and even mental retardation. Brain cells suffer serious damage while developing. The damage extends to lifelong difficulties for people with FAS.

Brain damage related to alcohol consumption by the mother can occur throughout the pregnancy, because the brain continues developing through the third trimester. People with FAS may not remember events well, have difficulty with logical reasoning, and suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder. They may also display specific physical development characteristics, as well, such as growth deficiency and certain facial characteristics in the eyes, nose, and mouth.

FAS was first recognized in 1842, although it would be over a century before medical researchers began to understand the full ramifications. Some researchers believe that the term Fetal Alcohol Syndrome makes childhood diagnosis more difficult, because parents are less likely to cooperate due to the stigma and that fact that the name of the syndrome indicates that it is preventable.

People with FAS often develop problems with the law. Of those aged 12 years or older, sixty percent reported having had criminal issues. Now, doctors and social workers strive to provide people with FAS earlier diagnoses and broader social services whenever possible, to avoid criminal activity, excessive difficulty in school, and other problems. 


If you have been charged with driving under the influence in the Tampa bay area, contact the Tampa DUI defense lawyers at Musca Law as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, driving under the influence has many ramifications - for the driver, his or her passengers, and everyone else on the road. Long-term alcohol abuse also significantly impacts a person's health. For a pregnant woman, the effects on the fetus she carries can be dire.

A woman in Hillsborough Count was arrested for DUI this week. The story made national headlines due to her pregnancy: she is eight months along. Nicole Vanneil, 22, of Lutz was arrested last month after law enforcement officers observed her driving erratically and failing to maintain a single lane on the highway. She was reportedly swerving and driving dangerously. She failed a roadside field sobriety test and refused to submit to a breath alcohol test.

Law enforcement officers who stopped Vanneil's vehicle reported detecting the odor of marijuana coming from her car. They searched the vehicle, locating marijuana in addition to various drug paraphernalia, including a marijuana pipe allegedly found alongside the drug itself.

Under state law, Vanneil could spend up to a year in jail on the drug charges, although such long sentences are uncommon in marijuana cases. She has been charged with DUI, possession of under 20 grams of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Her refusal to submit to a breathalyzer test to gauge her blood alcohol concentration has caused the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to administratively revoke her drivers license for 12 months.

This incident was not the first time Vanneil has faced the criminal justice system. She was previously charged with DUI in 2004 and 2005, although the latter charge was reduced to reckless driving. At those times, she would have been under 21, the legal age to consume alcohol in Florida. The standard for conviction of DUI for a person under 21 is only 0.02 percent BAC or actual impairment, compared to 0.08 percent or actual impairment for a driver at least 21 years of age.