Missouri Criminal Lawyers Blog

GUEST AUTHOR ARTICLE: not affiliated with St Louis law firm of Sansone / Lauber:

If you have been unfortunate enough to be caught and arrested for drunk driving, you must be weighing the pros and cons of hiring a DUI lawyer. Some people think that they do not need to hire a lawyer and they can represent themselves in court. Others think it is not a good idea to spend thousands of dollars on hiring a lawyer when they will eventually have to pay court fee and other DUI fines if they are proven guilty. However, as a first time DUI convict, you must understand that hiring a DUI lawyer to represent you in court should be your first priority. This is because as a layman, you will be unaware of how to deal with the situation in court and you will also not be aware of the local DUI laws, and what actions you must take to defend yourself. If you do not get professional consult, then you must prepare yourself to face the consequences of a DUI conviction, which can be severe in most states and will haunt you for the rest of your life, not to mention, leaving a permanent criminal mark on your record. So before you make the decision of whether or not to hire a DUI lawyer, you must ask some questions to yourself:

Are you aware of your Rights?

As a citizen of the state, you must be aware of your rights and the officer on duty who arrested you should tell you about your rights at the time of arrest. You may also not be sure whether you can refuse a breath test and other field sobriety tests, if the police officer asks you to take them. If you are not aware of your rights, and in the case you are arrested, you may be taken advantage of.

Are you aware of the local DUI laws?

You may also not be aware of the local laws and what you need to do in order to get your driving license back if it is suspended. The local laws include penalties and fines which will be imposed on you if you are proven guilty and the consequences also include spending time in jail, probation or serving community service hours, installation of an ignition interlock device and so on.

An experienced lawyer at you side can make a big difference by fighting for you at every step of the way. Your lawyer will take every possible measure to make sure that the charges against you are reduced as much as possible if not removed completely. They will also make sure that the fines are reduced and if the court orders any punishment, it is also minimized.

However, if you do not have a lawyer at your side, you will not be sure how to go about handling your case. You will not be aware of the deadlines which you have to meet in order to save your driving privileges. Similarly, you will not know what actions of the police officer on duty can be questioned in court and used in your favour.

Author Bio

Richard Jacobs is a chief editor since early 2007, and he currently works for MyDUIattorney. A website that helps you to find the right DUI lawyer, you can search for a Maryland DUI Attorney, and Arizona DUI Lawyer online, anytime! Top St Louis Missouri DWI Lawyer

Many years spent as both a St Louis prosecutor and now as a Missouri criminal defense lawyer, I have seen over aggressive law enforcement tactics which sometimes amount to entrapment or prosecutions without sufficient evidence but the cases are pursued anyway due to the nature of the crime. This is especially true in sexual assault cases. See St Louis Criminal Law Article: "St Louis Felony Rape Charges Dismissed Day before Trial" A case our St Louis defense law firm handled and had dismissed a few days before trial.

Recently, this type of overly aggressive prosecution resulted in an acquittal of a widely watched sexual case. In 2006 twenty nine men were prosecuted as a result of the Dateline show "To Catch a Predator". Only one, Joseph Roisman, took his case to trial, and he won. The show was based on volunteers from the online watchdog Perverted Justice who would contact individuals in chat rooms and steer the conversations towards sex. Eventually they would claim to be underage and set up a meeting. Roisman talked to a "tori_Rox_2006" who identified herself as a thirteen year old girl and he agreed to meet her. Roisman traveled 110 miles to meet the girl and when he arrived he took off his shirt as he entered the backyard of the residence. He was then confronted by the Petalum Police and arrested for attempting lewd acts with a child under the age of 13.

The Judge in the case entered an acquittal of the Defendant in the case after the prosecuting attorney presented their case. The Judge found that the prosecutors had not proven that Roisman had specific intent to commit the crime in question. He went on further to suggest that dateline's partner, Perverted Justice, lacked credibility and and engaged in entrapment. After the jurors were dismissed, they even commented that they believed Perverted Justice had an agenda and one juror said she would have found him not guilty even if the Judge did not stop the case.

This is a perfect example of entrapment. The media and law enforcement failed to show that Joseph Roisman ever intended to commit a crime. They had nothing more that some inappropriate internet conversations that did not show his intent to commit crime. The criminal defense attorney in this case aggressively defended his client and was able to show that no crime occurred. The media assumed that a Judge and jury would see the video and just assume that the person intended to commit a crime.

In Missouri, entrapment is defined in Missouri Code - § 562.066. -- Entrapment.

"1. The commission of acts which would otherwise constitute an offense is not criminal if the actor engaged in the prescribed conduct because he was entrapped by a law enforcement officer or a person acting in cooperation with such an officer.

2. An "entrapment" is perpetuated if a law enforcement officer or a person acting in cooperation with such an officer, for the purpose of obtaining evidence of the commission of an offense, solicits, encourages or otherwise induces another person to engage in conduct when he was not ready and willing to engage in such conduct."

Have you been targeted by the police or feel you have been charged for a crime you did not commit. Contact Clayton criminal defense lawyer Gary Lauber for a free legal consultation.

As a St Louis attorney that handles DWI cases on a daily basis, I am constantly asked questions by clients, friends and family about how to avoid a DWI arrest. They all seem to think that if they have had too much to drink,and they realize it while they are driving that they should pull over and sleep it off, a situation I see often in my criminal law practice. In theory this seems to make sense except that most people forget one important thing, turn off the car and remove the keys from the ignition!. In Missouri, "A person commits the crime of 'driving while intoxicated' if he operates a motor vehicle while in an intoxicated or drugged condition. See Missouri Revised Statute 577.010.1

"Operates" is defined by statute as "physically driving or operating a motor vehicle." Missouri Revised Statute 577.001.2. If the keys are in the ignition and the car is running you are operating a motor vehicle. The Missouri Court of Appeals confirmed this again in State v. Wilson (full opinion here) a decision recently handed down on July 12, 2011.

Prior to a DWI arrest, in May 2009, Barbara Lehmen saw a truck pull up in front of her house in Gasconade County Missouri. She observed a person inside the truck moving around but was unable to see who it was. The police arrived about 30 minutes later. The chief of police walked up to the truck and saw James Wilson reclined in the driver's seat of the truck asleep. Wilson's speech was slurred and he appeared to be disoriented and the police officer reached in and turned off the engine, as the truck was still running. The police ten reported that Wilson was unsteady on his feet, swaying and stumbling. He submitted to a breath sample and blew a BAC of 0.273%. At his criminal DWI trial, James Wilson was found guilty, his criminal defense attorney appealed the guilty verdict arguing that there was insufficient evidence to prove he was operating the vehicle as required by sections 577.001 and 577.010 of the Missouri Revised Statutes.

James Wilson's main argument is that the evidence did not show he was physically driving or operating a motor vehicle and that he was just sleeping in a parked truck. The Court disagreed relying on Cox v. Director of Revenue, 98 S.W.3d 548, 550-551 (Mo. Banc 2003). In that drunk driving case the police had probable cause to believe that the Defendant was operating his vehicle where the Defendant was found sleeping in the driver's seat of his car with the keys in the ignition and the engine was running. In the Wilson case, the Court went a step further and stated that the evidence was strong enough to infer that James Wilson drove there drunk as only 30 minutes had passed since he pulled up and the fact that he was incoherent and blew a 0.273% BAC. See State v. Johnston, 670 S.W.2d 552, 557 (Mo.App.S.D. 1984); See State v. Varnell, 316 S.W.3d 510, 518 (Mo.App.W.D. 2010).

The Courts confirmed the State of Missouri's position that if you are in the car and the keys are in the ignition and the car is running you can be convicted of DWI. So, if you find yourself int he position of driving home and realizing you drank too much, pull over, take the keys out of the ignition, and to be even more safe, get out of the drivers seat and sleep it off in the back seat or call someone for a ride.

Continue reading "Asleep at the Wheel: What Constitutes "Operating a Motor Vehicle" under Missouri DWI Law? " »