Tennessee is moving forward with legislation requiring certain DUI offenders to use an ignition interlock device (IID) to operate their vehicle.

The bill, has been approved by the Senate, is not set to go to Gov. Phil Bredesen for his signature.

Ignition interlock devices are attached to the steering wheel of a car with a tube the driver must breathe into to start the motor.

Current Tennessee law allows for discretionary use of the devices for repeat offenders.

As amended, the Beavers/Shipley bill requires the use of ignition interlock devices if the offender has a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.15 percent or higher; is accompanied by a person under 18 years of age; or violates the present implied consent laws.

The legislation also provides that those convicted of drunk driving with a BAC under 0.15 have the option to install an ignition interlock device instead of being geographically restricted by a court.

The only concern about the bill on the House floor came from state Rep. Jeanne Richardson, D-Memphis.

“My concern is that we do anything that would take money out of treatment dollars, which we have been cutting for five years. … Would this program pay for itself without using part of the fines we are using in treatment?”

MADD claimed more than 320 people were killed in drunk driving crashes in Tennessee during 2008.

There are about 26,000 DUI offenders in Tennessee each year, with 20,000 of those being first-time offenders, the state’s Fiscal Review Office also noted.

Under the Beavers/Shipley bill, a person ordered to install an ignition interlock device would have to pay a one-time $40 fee for each DUI conviction. Ignition interlock device providers would be prohibited from charging more than $100 per month for leasing and maintaining a device through June 2012. By July 2012, the Tennessee Department of Safety is supposed to establish maximum fees for installing the device.

As of last January, 2,743 Tennessee driver’s license holders had an interlock restriction, while 580 license holders had an ignition interlock device installed, according to the Department of Finance and Administration.

According to MADD, 47 states use ignition interlock devices for convicted DUI offenders, and 12 states require them for all first-time offenders.

VANCOUVER, B.C. — You’re an American who’s arrived at the border just south of Vancouver, or perhaps landed at the airport, on the eve of the Olympics.

Those pricey tickets to the opening ceremonies and medal round hockey suddenly have become worthless – to you, anyway – when the Canada Border Services agent orders you to turn around.

The computer in his booth has told him you’ve got a conviction for driving under the influence in your home state, a crime that makes you inadmissible to Canada, something that’s not the case for Canadians headed south.

While impaired driving is a Criminal Code offence in Canada, the United States has a checkerboard of state laws governing driving under the influence – DUI – with varying levels of severity from misdemeanour to felony, and often light penalties unless damage, injury or death is involved.

With thousands of Americans expected to come to Vancouver and Whistler for the Games in February, lawyers on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border say the potential is there for many to get an expensive shock.

“It’s a huge issue for people who want to go to the Olympics – for some who even a long time ago have had a DUI that was reduced (to a lesser charge) and they’ve long since forgotten about it,” says Jon Scott Fox, whose practice in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue handles nothing but DUIs.

“Those people will have an unpleasant surprise at the border.”

Fox says he got a call recently from a client turned back at the border who hadn’t even been convicted. The charge was to be dismissed after the client had completed an alcohol treatment course.

“Whatever database the border guards were accessing showed a pending case,” he says.

Upwards of a million Americans a year are arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. In Washington state alone, Fox says, 25,000 people were arrested last year for driving under the influence.

“If even a small percentage of the people who have a conviction or a reduction try to cross (for the Olympics), those lines are going to get quite long,” he says.

Americans shouldn’t bother complaining to their government about it.

“There will be some and I will tell them, ‘You have a DUI, sorry about that,”‘ says Phil Chicola, U.S. consul general in Vancouver. “You shouldn’t drink and drive. I have no sympathy for those people.”

As criminal-record databases became more widely accessible in the wake of 9-11, convictions that would have escaped unnoticed now routinely pop up on Canadian border agents’ screens.

Canada Border Services doesn’t classify DUIs separately but its statistics show that last year almost a thousand people were turned back in the Pacific region for a record of criminality – the vast majority for serious criminality that would have drawn jail sentences in Canada. Numbers are down so far this year.

Someone who’s deemed inadmissible for a less serious offence can be allowed entry for compelling reasons under a temporary residence permit issued at a border officer’s discretion. But it’s intended for things like family emergencies, not a once-in-a-lifetime Olympic excursion.

“I don’t specifically know but I don’t think tickets to the Olympics is going to be a compelling reason,” says agency spokeswoman Hannah Mahoney. “They do have the potential to be turned around at that point.”

Someone convicted of relatively minor criminality, including DUI, can be deemed rehabilitated if five to 10 trouble-free years have elapsed since they’ve completed their sentence.

That decision also can be made by at the border but Vancouver lawyer Sam Hyman, who works to get clients declared rehabilitated, says agents have become more stringent since an auditor-general’s report a couple of years ago criticized the way they used their discretion.

“I’ve seen cases where multi-million-dollar deals were not felt by some officers to be compelling enough reasons, where jobs to Canada were at stake,” he says.

For multiple offences or more serious crimes, getting the rehabilitated designation can take up to a year. A pardon in the local jurisdiction is no guarantee of renewed admission into Canada, border services warns.

Hyman handles dozens of DUI-related rehabilitation cases a year.

“I can get upwards of 50 inquiries in a week,” he says.

DUI is what’s called hybrid offence. In Canada, prosecutors can proceed by summary conviction (a misdemeanour in U.S. terms) or indictment (a felony), but under border rules it’s always treated as the more serious of the two. There’s no slack for an American who’s had his DUI at home plea-bargained down to a lesser offence.

Many U.S. states also have a separate DUI law for those under 21, with a low alcohol reading enough for conviction without evidence of impairment. They sometimes show up on the border agent’s database even if the driver was a juvenile at the time.

Neither Vancouver Olympic organizers, B.C. Tourism officials nor border services plan any special campaign to warn would-be Olympic tourists about the potential stumbling block.

However, the U.S. State Department consular services web site for Canada includes travel tips that specifically mention drunk driving as a potential bar to entry.

“These are Canada’s rules,” says Chicola. “I don’t know that it should be a criminal offence but you’ve decided its a criminal offence. You make it a criminal offence, you have every right to turn them back.”

Copyright © 2010 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Well first of all you should not have been driving drunk but we are not here to preach to you. Now that you have been arrested for DUI it is time to deal with what comes next. Most DUI cases result in plea bargains. Prosecutors simply do not have time to take every case to a jury but a recent Supreme Court decision in June 2009 could set the stage for much larger number of DUI and DWI cases to head to court.<p>

In a 5-4 decision the court requires lab analysts to be in court to testify about their tests. Lab sheets that identify a substance as a narcotic or breath-test printouts describing a suspect’s blood-alcohol level are no longer sufficient evidence, the court ruled. A person must be in court to talk about the test results to meet the requirement of a defendant being able to face his accusers. The Sixth Amendment says defendants “shall enjoy the right . . . to be confronted with the witnesses against him” and that is not satisfied by a sheet of paper.<p>

With a large backlog of cases labs are finding it almost impossible to attend court hears to testify about their lab findings leading some cases being dismissed in many jurisdiction. Some DUI defense attorney’s are finding it more appealing to go to trial now in hopes that the lab techs are not able to attend the trail. This could be your best bet to get out of a DUI. Take to your lawyer to find out more.

First lets get rid of a misconception. There is no such thing as SR 22 insurance. The term SR 22 refers to a form that the State Government requires an issurer to file that binds the insurance company to an agreement that they will notify the state if your insurance is dropped or expired. It allows states to monitor the insurance coverage of drivers with DUI convictions, who are considered to be at a higher risk for accidents.  A DUI SR22 is a certificate of insurance issued by some insurance companies that warrants to a state that the driver is currently carrying a minimum amount of liability insurance.  The amount of insurance requirements vary from from state to state.

An SR-22 is a certificate of insurance filed by the home office of an insurance company directly to the Secretary of State. The SR-22 certificate is issued in one of the following forms:

1. Operator’s Certificate – This policy covers the motorist in the operation of any non-owned vehicle. If the motorist does not own a vehicle, the financial responsibility requirement can be met through the Operator’s Certificate.

2. Owner’s Certificate – This policy covers vehicles owned by the driver. The type of vehicle must be listed on the SR-22 or may be issued for “All owned vehicles”.

3. Operators-Owners Certificate – This certificate covers all vehicles owned or non-owned by the driver.

There is no simple answer to this question, but
here are some things to consider:

1. DUI Attorney Training — Ask a potential DUI attorney
about previous DUI defenses and the amount of specific training he/she has
had. Ask about training in chemical testing and field sobriety.

2. Disciplinary Actions — Ask the DUI attorney if he or
she has ever been disciplined by the State bar. Contact the American Bar
Association on line to find links to all state Bar associations.

3. Seminar – Find out if the attorneys you are
considering has ever been ask to speak at Seminars or other DUI or DWI
conferences. This is a good indication that they have a higher level of
education and experience than most DUI attorneys.

4. Fees - Most DUI lawyers work on a flat fee basis.
Highly experienced DUI attorneys usually charge a higher fee than less
experienced lawyers. For many persons facing the extreme penalties of an DUI
conviction, price is secondary to an excellent track record and winning
percentage.

5. Do they specialize? – Most good DUI and DWI attorneys
specialize in DUI arrest. Because of the volume of DUI arrest there is a lot
of business in this area so we recommend you find an attorney that focuses
on DUI’s and not just general practice. After all you would not want a foot
doctor performing open heart surgery on you. Just because they have a law
degree does not mean they will make a good DUI attorney.

6. Years in Practice – There is no substitute for
experience but of course not all old attorneys are good and not all young
DUI attorneys are bad but there is something to be said for experience.

7. Lawyer – Paralegal ratio – A busy, experienced DWI-DUI
trial attorney will have 1 to 2 paralegals assisting them. Trial preparation
requires more time than processing guilty pleas. A knowledgeable paralegal
is important so ask about the paralegal and the years of experience they
have.

8. Case load – Ask a potential DUI attorney how many
cases they are currently working and if they have the time to devote to your
case. Of course you will have to use your own judgment on this because they
will always tell you they have time but if they have more than 50 cases
ongoing and a limited number of paralegals this might be a red flag.

9. Engagement Letters – GET IT IN WRITING. Beware of DUI
attorneys who do not put their fee agreements in writing. This settles much
of the complaints that come up against DUI and DWI lawyers. Know what you
are getting into up front.

10. Personality and Communication- It is important that
you and your lawyer can get along and understand each other. It is very
important that you are able to communicate and both parties understand what
is expected. Ask him/her up front how they communicate with their clients (ie
email, phone, through a secretary, ect.). DUI attorneys are busy but you
need to know up front that you will be kept up to date on your case.

When you get charged with DUI it can have a long term effect on someone if your career depends on driving. This is why it is very important to find a good DUI attorney in your area that understands the latest and best DUI defense practices. One of the latest DUI defenses is the raising BAC theory which is also know as the subtractive retrograde theory. Not all courts will allow this argument but it does have a good deal of scientific evidence behind it. And to be honest some courts will not allow it because it is almost impossible to convict someone of DUI based on this theory unless you are obsessively drunk.

The idea behind it is due to the passage of time between alcohol consumption (your last drank) and when it actually shows up in your bloodstream. The idea is that if it takes four drinks to get you to the legal DUI point which is .08 and you drink all four of those drinks in a 10 minute period and then drive five minutes to your home the drinks have not had time to get you to the .08 BAC. However, if a cop stops you and detains you for 45 minutes and then gives you a blood alcohol test then the alcohol had time to make it into your bloodstream and now you are legally drunk even though you might have have been at the .08 level while driving.

If you had consumed alcohol immediately before driving, the alcohol had not made it in your bloodstream when you were actually driving, but by the time you ended up blowing into the breathalyzer machine (sometimes hours after you were driving) at the police station, the alcohol has now been fully absorbed into your blood due to the passage of time and will register on the test.
Talk to your DUI lawyer about this idea if it is relevant to your case.

San Diego DUI lawyer Lawrence Taylor, known as the “Dean of DUI attorneys”, claims that exposure to many the fumes of many common products, such as paint, glue, thinner or gasoline, can cause breathalyzers to register high blood alcohol readings in drunk driving suspects hours later – even with no alcohol in their bodies. Scientific studies have clearly proven this defect in breath alcohol machines, Taylor says. The problem involves the inability of these devices to distinguish alcohol from hundreds of other chemical compounds. The DUI attorney cites one such study, “The Response of the Intoxilyzer 4011AS to a Number of Possible Interfering Substances”, 35(4) Journal of Forensic Sciences 797, in which researchers found numerous common substances which were falsely reported by police breath alcohol machines as alcohol.
These included methyl ethyl ketone, which is used in lacquers, paint removers, cements, adhesives, celluloid and cleaning fluids. Another compound, toluene, also caused false high readings and is commonly used in paints, lacquers, varnishes and glues. Yet another was isopropanol, commonly known as rubbing alcohol. Fumes from these chemicals can be inhaled or absorbed through the skin. Taylor, who wrote the best-selling DUI legal textbook Drunk Driving Defense, cites another scientific study in which researchers performed tests on a professional painter who was exposed to lacquer fumes under controlled conditions. In the first test, he sprayed paint in a room for 20 minutes, wearing a protective mask; his blood and breath were then tested. Although the blood test showed no presence of alcohol, a standard DUI police breath machine (the Intoxilyzer 5000) indicated a reading of .075% blood-alcohol concentration — very close to the legal limit of .08%. “Lacquer Fumes and the Intoxilyzer”, 12 Journal of Analytical Toxicology 168. Yet another scientific study demonstrated that diethyl ether, found in some plastics and automotive products, can be inhaled and detected by breathalyzers as alcohol. “Diethyl Ether Interference with Infrared Breath Analysis”, 16 Journal of Analytical Toxicology 166. The researchers concluded that “the possibility of interference with an alcohol reading by ether or by other substances may therefore render prosecution more difficult if not impossible”.
The San Diego DUI attorney warns that the next time you are painting a room in your house, you might think twice about getting behind the wheel of your car for a few hours. For more information, visit the law firm’s website at http://sandiego.duicentral.com. Inquiries may be directed to the firm’s San Diego office: 69.232.5034. About THE LAW OFFICES OF LAWRENCE TAYLOR With a national reputation and the highest professional ratings, The Law Offices of Lawrence Taylor has specialized in DUI defense exclusively for 29 years. The firm’s California DUI defense attorneys serve clients statewide from offices in Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County, Riverside and San Francisco.