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Criminal Defense

2 DUIs dismissed after attorney exposes blood evidence problems

Attorney Robert Cabe was able to help two defendants beat their DUI charges by utilizing blood evidence in their favor.

First, a young man caused a multi-car collision that resulted in significant injuries. After an unexplained delay, by the time officers arrived on the scene, the young man’s speech was slurred, his gait was unsteady, and he was unable to comprehend basic commands. Naturally, officers believed he was under the influence.

Mr. Cabe was retained to investigate the case. He located and interviewed witnesses who saw the collision and explained they saw the young man suffer a seizure. Surprisingly, law enforcement knew nothing of this seizure (emergency personnel arrived on the scene first, and the initial witnesses left once the scene was turned over to emergency personnel, but somehow the seizure was never conveyed to law enforcement).

After attorney Cabe brought the seizure to law enforcement’s attention, the investigator’s theory changed in that law enforcement believed that the seizure “must have been drug induced.” However, blood evidence was obtained from the hospital and was then tested for alcohol and drugs. The results were clear: the young man was as clean as a whistle. By that point, there was no denying the young man simply suffered a traumatic medical episode that resulted in a horrific collision. Criminal charges were not warranted, and the DUI investigation was dismissed.

In another case, a young woman admitted to an officer during a traffic stop that she smoked marijuana earlier that day. Regardless of any time lapse, the officer arrested the woman for DUI marijuana. She consented to the blood test. After the results were returned, the prosecutor indicated that the case must go to trial. Fortunately, Attorney Cabe had already been trained in interpreting DUI marijuana blood evidence, and pointed out problems in the test results. Ultimately, Mr. Cabe educated the prosecutor and the judge that the only type of marijuana found in the woman’s body, also known as “carboxy” was not psycho-active. In other words, the blood evidence revealed that the only marijuana in the woman’s body was the trace amount of marijuana (i.e. the type that shows up on a worker’s drug screen). Therefore, the blood evidence proved that the young woman simply was not high. The case was dismissed.