According to the police report, officers were dispatched to a gas station for a report of a male who attempted to purchase beer, was turned away because it was past midnight and because the male was intoxicated and making a scene. That was allegedly our client, JO. The clerk said JO returned to this vehicle and fell asleep in the vehicle. Officers then arrived, observed signs of intoxication, put JO through field sobriety tests, which he allegedly failed, and arrested him for OWI. A blood draw was completed returning a result of .105.
When the prosecutor would not agree to reduce the charge, Attorney Murray and JO went forward with the municipal court trial. At trial, the prosecutor failed to call the gas station clerk as a witness and failed to question the officer regarding information provided by the clerk. As a result, the court had no information regarding when JO arrived at the gas station. Being aware of the lack of evidence, Attorney Murray did not ask a single question to avoid this information being put into the record. Attorney Murray then argued that the prosecutor had failed to prove that JO was impaired at the time of driving as they had not put any evidence into the record as to when JO arrived at the gas station. The judge agreed and found JO not guilty of both the OWI and the PAC citations. The prosecutor chose not to appeal.
Knowing how to spot issues and capitalize on them is what we do. This was a great outcome and would not have happened without JO choosing to fight the charges and hiring an experienced attorney to get the job done.
