Attorney Murray Comes Up Big in Two Cases

1) November 25, 2014: Operating with a Restricted Controlled Substance Reduced to Minor City Ordinance Ticket: When BF was involved in an accident she knew she was going to be in a bit of trouble because she did not have a license.  However, she thought she would be fine when the officer asked her to perform field sobriety tests because she was sober.  Yet, even completely sober people can fail these challenging tests, which BF had the misfortune of learning....right there on the side of the road. She was arrested on the spot and taken to the hospital for a blood draw.  As is commonly done, the officer requested a drug test if BF's blood-alcohol concentration turned out to be below the legal limit for alcohol. While BF's blood-alcohol concentration did come back below .08, THC (marijuana) was found in her system, even though she had not used any for several weeks. Illegal drug cases like BF's can be extremely difficult to defend. Unlike a drunk driving case where the prosecutor has to prove a certain level (.08 or more) of alcohol consumption, in an illegal drug case the prosecutor merely has to show the drug was present in the person's system, even if it is just a trace amount from days or weeks before. Undaunted,  Attorney Murray scoured the discovery materials, including the blood test records, and prepared for trial.  On the morning of trial, the prosecutor offered to reduce the charge to a city ordinance ticket that would not even show up on BF's driving record.  The charge of Driving Without a License was also dismissed. This was about the best possible result BF could have hoped for. She avoided the awful stigma of a drug-related driving conviction and also avoided any loss of license. Another extremely happy client.

2) November 12, 2014: Client Escapes OWI-3rd Conviction for the Second Time with Our Firm: RG had previously retained our firm to represent him in an OWI-3rd several years ago. We delivered by getting those charges reduced to a non-alcohol related offense.  Unfortunately, RG picked up another OWI-3rd earlier this year and naturally came to us again.  Things initially seemed grim.  There was an accident, a high test result, and poor field sobriety tests.  But by focusing on the improper procedure used by the hospital staff in drawing RG's blood, Attorney Murray was able to convince the prosecutor to reduce the charge again to a non-alcohol related misdemeanor offense, Negligent Operation of a Motor Vehicle.  This reduced offense carries no license loss, no ignition interlock device and will not even appear on RG's driver record. Given that this was the second OWI-third charge RG had escaped, however, the prosecutor did want some jail time.  This was problematic for RG given his work schedule.  Ultimately, Attorney Murray convinced the judge to allow RG to serve his sentence at the rate of just five days a month.  RG once again had a huge load off his chest and kept his job. Not many people are able to avoid even one offense as significant as an OWI-3rd, let alone two. These are the types of outcomes for our clients that separate us from the rest.