DUI Deposition Shows Why DUI Attorneys Must Know More than the Law

September 23, 2014 by Michael Dye

DUI Deposition regarding cocaine impairment.

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Hire a DUI Attorney Who Knows the Law and the Science

The Florida DUI statute is FL Stat 316.193. Here is what it says in a nutshell, the state must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that:
1. You were in actual physical control of a motor vehicle;
2. On the streets, highways or a public vehicular area within the State of Florida;
3. While impaired by alcohol, certain inhalants listed in FL Stat 877.111 or a controlled substance listed in Chapter 893 of the Florida Statutes.

Florida uses urine testing for DUI drug cases with limited exceptions. Drugs typically have longer detection windows in urine tests than in blood tests. Indications of marijuana use can be detected in urine for up to 30 days after ingestion. However, that does not mean that a person is high on marijuana for 30 days. It simply indicates that certain chemical markers are present even after the drug has lost it pharmacological effect. How can a drug stay in your system, yet not make you high? The answer is that it can’t. Once the drug a/k/a the “parent compound” enters your system, it begins to break down into metabolites. For purposes of this example, metabolites can be divided into 2 categories. 1) active metabolites – has a pharmacological effect and 2) inactive metabolites – doesn’t have a pharmacological effect. So what substance did the toxicologist find in the urine? Was it the parent compound? Was it an active metabolite? Was it an inactive metabolite? A DUI attorney needs to know how a drug metabolizes in a person’s system and what substance is being detected on a drug screen. As you can see in the DUI deposition below, an individual was accused of driving under the influence of cocaine. He hired a good defense attorney, Daniel Rosenberg, who understands the limitations of urinalysis. As a result, the client’s DUI was reduced to a reckless driving and withheld adjudication.

[gview file=”https://yourfloridacriminalattorney.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/DUI-Cocaine-Urinalysis-Depo.pdf” save=”1″]

Fort Lauderdale DUI Attorney, Michael Dye, represents individuals charged with all types of felonies and misdemeanors including, but not limited to contempt of court. For more information, please contact Mr. Dye at his Fort Lauderdale or Miami office:

The Law Offices of Michael A. Dye, PA, 1 East Broward Boulevard #700, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301 (954)990-0525 or
The Law Offices of Michael A. Dye, PA, 2 S Biscayne Blvd, Miami, FL 33131 (305)459-3286

Deposition courtesy of The Law Offices of Daniel Rosenberg, PA

Roadside Sobriety Exercises | Standardized Field Sobriety Tests

July 29, 2014 by Michael Dye

Police officer incorrectly administering the SFST’s.

DUI Attorney Miami | Criminal Lawyer Miami

Prior to being arrested for a DUI, and sometimes afterwards, the police often ask a defendant to submit to a series of exercises in order to determine the individual’s sobriety. These exercises are known as the Standardized Field Sobriety Tests or SFST’s for short. The SFST’s is a series of 3 tests that the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration has determined can be used to identify impairment in an individual. The officer demonstrates and then observes the defendant perform the exercises. The officer is trained to identify certain indicators of impairment that can be used to establish probable cause for an arrest or to simply pile on additional evidence of impairment.

The exercises must be administered and evaluated in a standardized fashion in order to ensure an accurate result. The tests were developed by NHTSA in conjunction with the Southern California Research institute. There are only 3 SFST’s that are statistically correlated to impairment. Those tests are the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus, the Walk-And-Turn and the One-Leg Stand. These 3 tests are to be administered the same way every single time and evaluated through the use of strict criteria limiting an officer’s discretion as to what is a “pass” or what is a “fail.”

The unfortunate reality is that the standardized administration and evaluation of the SFST’s is largely ignored by police departments and individual police officers. The exercises are frequently administered and evaluated incorrectly leading the officer to form an opinion that can not be validated by any of the studies or research. Additionally, officers that are not properly trained often use improvised exercises that have been found to have no correlation to impairment. The most common of these tests are the “finger to nose” test, any test involving the alphabet and a wide variety of different counting exercises using your fingers. Do not be mistaken, those tests are not approved to detect impairment. Many DUI attorneys are not familiar with the concepts involved with the SFST’s.

When consulting with a criminal lawyer concerning your DUI case, you should ask the lawyer:

1) Are you familiar with the SFST’s?

2) What additional training have you received in the administration and interpretation of the SFST’s?

3) Do you own a copy of the NHTSA SFST Manual?

4) Approximately how many trials have you had where you cross examined the arresting officer concerning the NHTSA criteria?

DUI Attorney, Michael Dye received additional training in the administration and interpretation of the SFST’s from Doug Scott, a pioneer in the field of the Drug Recognition Expert Program, who is recognized as an expert in the administration and interpretation of the SFST’s. Mr. Dye has the most current version of the NHTSA SFST Student Manual and actively utilizes it as reference and impeachment material in both depositions and trials. Mr. Dye has cross examined the arresting officer regarding the SFST’s in over 20 trials and numerous depositions.

For additional information, please contact

The Law Offices of Michael A. Dye, PA, 1 E Broward Blvd #700, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301 (954)990-0525 or
The Law Offices of Michael A. Dye, PA, 2 S Biscayne Blvd, Miami, FL 33131 (305)459-3286

Filed Under: 4th Amendment, Criminal Lawyer, DRE, Drug Recognition Expert, DUI Drug, DUI Lawyer, Roadside Sobriety Tests, Search and Seizure, Standardized Field Sobriety Tests Tagged With: Criminal Lawyer Fort Lauderdale, Criminal Lawyer Miami, dui attorney fort lauderdale, dui attorney miami

Drugged Driving | Urinalysis | Metabolite DUI

July 5, 2014 by Michael Dye

DUI Lawyer Explains the Limitations of Urinalysis in DUI Drug Cases

Blood, urine and hair are the three commonly accepted methods drug testing. Pursuant to Florida Law, law enforcement is limited in its ability to secure a blood sample from a suspected impaired driver and hair follicle testing is not an approved test for DUI investigations. Accordingly, when it comes to DUI under a drug impairment theory, a urinalysis is typically used to determine the presence of an impairing substance. There are exceptions with regard to blood and the police may obtain a blood sample for testing under limited circumstances.

A DUI drug case with a urinalysis as evidence of impairment should be difficult if not impossible for a case to prove. A urinalysis is incapable of determining when substances were ingested. It is an established fact that a urinalysis will yield a positive test result for impairing substances long after the cessation of impairing effects.

A basic understanding of human physiology is required to understand why a urine test cannot prove impairment. In addition to human physiology, it is necessary to have a general understanding of the scientific principals behind the testing methods. With regard to physiology, the issue comes down to the difference between the renal system and the circulatory system. With regard to the scientific principals, it is imperative to know what constitutes a positive test result.

Regarding the systems, there are three main points to remember. Point 1: The renal system produces and eliminates urine. Point 2: The circulatory system can be looked at as a blood distribution network. Point 3: For the purposes of a DUI urinalysis, there is no correlation between the renal and circulatory systems.

For purposes of determining the impairment of an individual, the only thing that matters is what substances are in the blood. As such a urinalysis testing for impairing substances is an indirect test. In order for a urinalysis to be useful as an indirect test, there must be a correlation between what is found in the urine and what is contained in the blood. As stated above, there is no correlation between the two. Urinalysis in a DUI case will almost always be a qualitative analysis meaning that the lab only tested for the presence of a given substance. A qualitative analysis of urine gives no information as to whether a suspect is impaired. It does not tell how much or when a drug was ingested. The results are simply a “marker” indicating prior exposure to a substance. Performing a quantitative analysis is possible, but it is also pointless. Determining how much of a given substance is present in a suspects urine is irrelevant because of the lack of correlation between urine and blood.

The amount of time that it takes a drug to be undetectable in urine varies by drug. A classic example of this is marijuana. Marijuana’s effects typically last for two to three hours. However, marijuana’s metabolites are highly fat-soluble. Therefore, the THC and metabolites are stored in body fat. Individuals can show up positive on a urinalysis for a DUI up to four weeks after smoking marijuana. The actual length of time depends on the frequency of use and amount used.

While marijuana is an extreme example detection times, other drugs render the results of a urinalysis in a DUI irrelevant. For example, the metabolites of cocaine can be detected in urine for two to five days after use. Likewise, amphetamines have a short detection window, but can still be found in urine up to five days after use.

Drug metabolism is the breakdown of the parent compound into metabolites. A parent compound is the actual substance that is ingested. A metabolite is the byproduct of the parent compound when the parent compound is “broken down” through the biochemical process after ingested.

Metabolites can be divided into two categories for purposes of a DUI. A metabolite can either be active or inactive. In simple terms, an active metabolite of an impairing substance will have an impairing effect. An inactive metabolite is simply a marker of prior use and has no impairing effect on the individual.

A problem arises in DUI urine testing when an inactive metabolite yields a positive result on a urinalysis. For example, the main metabolite of marijuana is THC-COOH. THC-COOH is a nonpsychoactive substance and highly fat soluble. As such, THC-COOH has no impairing effect on an individual. However, it is detectable in urine for 3 to 4 weeks after using marijuana. The vast majority of tests currently used to determine if an individual has ingested marijuana do not test for THC and do not test for active metabolites of THC. The preliminary and confirmatory tests do not test for any substance that would cause impairment. Accordingly, if an individual tests positive for marijuana, he or she has only tested positive for the inactive metabolite of marijuana. The only thing that this would prove is that the individual smoked marijuana sometime within the last 3 to 4 weeks.

There is a four point analysis to defending a DUI urinalyses case. Issue 1: It is crucial to know exactly what substance is being tested for in the urinalysis. Issue 2: Research what exactly constitutes a positive result. Issue 3: Assuming the test is accurate, identify the time range in which the substance could have been ingested. Issue 4: Compare the known effect of the drug on an individual’s behavior. Compare the known effects against the DUI video, the officer’s report and a DRE report if any.

In order for the state to prove a DUI, the state must prove that an individual was impaired. Urinalysis alone can not prove impairment. The results of a urinalysis should be considered by an attorney defending a DUI case. However, with an effective cross examination of the State’s expert, the results of a urinalysis usually do not carry much weight.

For additional information, please contact DUI Lawyer Michael Dye at: