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In the past three articles, we have discussed the case of Florida Fish and Wildlife Deputy David Salcido, who was involved in a crash on December 18th of last year, which resulted in injuries to two pedestrians. The Pinellas County State Attorney's Office recently decided to reduce charges against Salcido from DUI to reckless driving due to a lack of evidence that Salcido was intoxicated while he was operating his motor vehicle at the time of the accident.

The State Attorney's decision has been met with strong criticism from Ned Tenney, the driver of the Toyota Corrola that Salcido struck, who believes that Salcido should be held accountable for his actions. Tirella stated that the mere fact that one officer thought that Salcido was not driving under the influence should not be enough for the State Attorney's Office to drop DUI charges. He noted that the Florida Highway Patrol Trooper who examined Salcido and thought he was not drunk was with him only for a few minutes, whereas the other deputies who responded to the scene were with him for hours and wrote detailed reports stating that Salcido was intoxicated. "This makes no sense whatsoever," Tirella said. "Why did they spend all night out there? Do their reports mean nothing?" TIrella's frustration is typical for victims caught up in alleged DUI cases.

Tenney stated that he was driving his partner home from work when he was struck from behind by Salcido's car. Tenney described the collision as similar to the feeling of a bomb going off. Salcido, who was wearing his Fish and Wildlife uniform at the time of the accident, told Tenney that there had been a shooting and he had to leave the scene of the accident. Salcido then left the scene, but returned a few minutes later, looking discheveled with his fly down. Deputies who responded to the scene after the crash described Salcido as appearing under the influence of alcohol. Since the State Attorney's Office decided to drop charges against Salcido Tenney has demanded some kind of explanation stating, "We just want an explanation of why this guy is getting a break." State Attorney Ripplinger responded by noting that charges like DUI are routinely reduced to reckless driving in cases his office finds difficult to prove.

In our last two articles, we discussed the case of former Florida Fish and Wildlife Deputy David Salcido, who was involved in a December 18, 2008 crash that resulted in injuries to two men. The Pinellas County State Attorney's Office recently decided to reduce the charges against Salcido from DUI to reckless driving. As previously discussed, the first reason that the State Attorney's Office decided to reduce the charge against Salcido: his refusal to submit to a breathalyzer or field sobriety test. In this installment, we will discuss the second reason why the State Attorney's Office deciding to reduce Salcido's charge: the arresting officer on the scene, Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Mark Cross, stated that Salcido did not appear to be drunk when he stopped him. State Attorney Richard Ripplinger, who supervises the attorneys trying Salcido's case, stated that having one officer contradict the others was an easy way for Salcido's defense to create reasonable doubt in the mind of a jury. This concern about the lack of available evidence to prove that Salcido was actually intoxicated while he was driving led the State Attorney's Office to abandon the DUI charge. Under Florida law, the crime of reckless driving can carry similar penalties to DUI, but a conviction for reckless driving does not lead to enhanced penalties for subsequent DUI offenses.

The observations of Deputy Cross were contradicted, however, by the testimony of four other officers who stated that Salcido appeared to be under the influence of alcohol following the accident. The other deputies observed Salcido for several hours while Cross observed him for only a few minutes. Nonetheless, the State Attorney's Office appeared concerned that any conflict in the evidence would make it difficult to prove their case. In our next article about Salcido's case, we will discuss the reaction from the victims of Salcido's crash to the State Attorney's decision.

The Pinellas County State Attorney's Office recently announced that it would reduce a DUI charge against former Fish and Wildlife officer David Salcido down to the offense of reckless driving. The State Attorney's Office stated that it based its decision on a lack of available evidence to prove that Salcido committed a DUI. Salcido was previously charged with driving under the influence after a December 18, 2008 crash which injured two other people. In this article we will discuss the first factor that concerned the state attorney's office about Salcido's case: his refusal to submit to breathalyzer or field sobriety testing.

After the accident, Salcido refused to take a breathalyzer test or to perform roadside field sobriety tests, depriving the prosecution of physical evidence of his intoxication. Under Florida law, a driver has given their implied consent to submit to a breathalyzer test after they are stopped under an officer's suspicion of drunken driving. Refusing to submit to a breathalyzer test is not a crime itself, however, unless the driver has a previous driving under the influence conviction.

In instances such as this one, the driver who has refused to take a breathalyzer test or a field sobriety test after his first DUI arrest is, on some occasions, in a better position to receive a favorable offer from the State attorney's Office than a motorist who has blown over .08 on a breathalyzer, although Musca Law advises always following the law. Also, in a case where a driver submits to a series of field sobriety tests, the State Attorney's Office will then have evidence to show to the jury to demonstrate how the criminal defendant may have seemed impaired. In a case where the defendant has refused both breath testing and field sobriety testing, a so-called "double refusal," the prosecutor may have little evidence to offer the jury about the degree of the defendant's intoxication.

Often, the State Attorneys in these cases focus on the fact of the defendant's refusal to argue to the jury that the Defendant must have known he was guilty or he would not have refused. In this case the State Attorney's Office acknowledged that the only physical evidence they could present against Salcido was a black and white video of him answering questions in the back of a patrol car without slurring his words. In Part 3 of our articles about Officer Salcido's case, we will discuss the other important factor that led to the State Attorney's Office decision not to press DUI charges: a conflict in the testimony from Sheriff's deputies about whether Salcido was actually intoxicated.

Six months ago, Pinellas County Fish and Wildlife Officer David Salcido was charged with driving under the influence after an automobile accident that injured two men, Tampa DUI attorney John Musca has learned. On Thursday, July 9, the State Attorney's Office dropped Salcido's charges to reckless driving, stating that they believed a DUI case would be difficult to prove against Salcido because of a lack of evidence.

The decision by prosecutors came despite reports from four Pinellas County Sheriff's Deputies with whom Salcido worked, which stated that Salcido displayed signs of intoxication on the evening of the December 19th crash. According to the deputies Salcido staggered when he walked, was slurring his words and smelled of alcohol. Additionally, witnesses to the accident and sheriff's deputies who responded to the accident reported that Salcido exhibited odd behaviors at the scene of the crash including driving away from the crash scene and returning twice, stumbling around with his fly open and refusing to speak with sheriff's deputies.

Despite this strong evidence of Salcido's intoxication, the State Attorney's Office stated that there were several factors that they thought would make it difficult to prove that Salcido was driving under the influence. Most significantly, Salcido refused to take breathalyzer and field sobriety tests. Based on Salcido's decisions to decline these tests the State Attorney's Office believed that there was not enough to prove that Salcido drove under the influence and instead decided to charge him with reckless driving, which under Florida law is punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $500. Prosecutors likely consider the lower offense easier to prove than the offense of drunk driving. In our next articles in this series we will discuss the different tests that Salcido refused and how this affected the amount of evidence the State Attorney's Office was able to present against him in his criminal case.

Rodney Philon, a former Pason County Sheriff's Deputy who worked at the detention center, found himself back in legal trouble with a DUI arrest late Wednesday night . After his arrest Philon was released from the Hillsborough County jail on a $500 bond, says Tampa DUI attorney John Musca.

Philon was previously sentenced to six months of in home detention last year after pleading guilty to possession with intent to distribute steroids. Philon was arrested last March after a tense six hour standoff with SWAT team members. Philon's reaction to the arrest was a factor in his sentencing last year. He told a federal judge that he simply wasn't sure why there were agents at his house and that he turned himself over to the authorities as soon as he understood what was going on. Officers from the Pasco sheriff's department at the time stated that they believed that Philon knew that deputies were present, but was considering his options and stalling. An unknown woman and Philon's daughter were present in the house with him prior to his DUI arrest.

At the time of Philon's arrest another Pasco Deputy, Don Riggans was arrested as part of a separate investigation into distribution of controlled substances. At the time evidence emerged that Philon considered joining the other conspiracy, but was excluded by the other people involved. Both Philon and Riggans were fired from the Pasco County Sheriff's department immediately after their arrests.

Philon's is not the first DUI arrest for a law enforcement officer in the Tampa area. Last April, Tampa police sergeant James Simonson, a 24 year veteran of the Tampa police, was also arrested for DUI. Simsonson submitted to a breathalyzer test and blew a .082 and .08. Simonson was off duty when the arrest occurred and was placed on administrative leave following the incident.

The original article is available here.

On June 23, 2009 Cleveland Cavaliers guard Tarence Kinsey Jr. was arrested for driving under the influence and taken to the Orient Road jail, where his bail was set at $500, Tampa DUI lawyer John Musca has learned. Kinsey was later released on his own recognizance. Kinsey is a Tampa native who graduated Jefferson High School as a high school basketball standout. After high school Kinsey played for the University of South Carolina, helping the Gamecocks win the NIT championship game with a clutch three point shot with one second remaining. Kinsey began his professional basketball career with the Memphis Grizzlies in 2005. In 2007, he played professionally in Turkey for a season before signing a contract with Cleveland last year as a free agent. Kinsey has not played regularly with the Cavaliers, however; the Cavaliers have used him primarily as a reserve player when other players are injured. Kinsey has averaged two points per game and has played in 50 games for the Cavaliers this season. The team appears to be concerned about the incident and released a public statement shortly after the arrest., saying, "We take matters like this very seriously. We will speak with Tarence and continue to handle this internally while the judicial process takes its course."

The police report from the incident states that Kinsey's Bentley was observed drifting in and out of his lane and driving 70 miles per hour in a 55 mile per hour zone while heading north on Howard Avenue toward Interstate 275 at around 3:30 A.M. The arresting officer noted that Kinsey had red, bloodshot eyes, was unsteady and had the odor of alcohol on his breath. The officer asked Kinsey to perform several field sobriety tests and arrested him for DUI after determining he was unsuccessful. Kinsey then refused to take a breathalyzer test at Central Breath Testing.

The original report is available here.