We’ve recently seen an increased amount of DUIs at the West Mesa Justice Court. Most of our clients who have a case were leaving the Talking Stick Resorts or Casino Arizona. The majority of the cases are investigated by the Salt River police.
In representing thousands of people, I have found that some police departments are more thorough than others. No offense to the Salt River Police, but in my experience, their DUI investigations are not as thorough as for instance Scottsdale Police. The first thing I look for in evaluating a DUI case at the West Mesa Justice Court is what reasonable suspicion that the police officer had to put my client over. Were they actually committing an offense that would be a ticketable offense? If the answer to that question is no, we file a motion to have the case dismissed. In other words, if the officer only saw my client swerve and cross the center lane of traffic momentarily, this is not reasonable suspicion to pull somebody over for DUI. This type of driving behavior is isolated and may have nothing to do with whether or not somebody’s ability to operate a vehicle was impaired. It’s possible, they were texting or they were looking at their phone for directions.
The next thing that we look at is how the officer administered field sobriety tests and how our client performed on the tests. Was the officer trained to administer field sobriety tests? How old is their certification? Do they maintain the required level of proficiency? Often times, we find that the answers to some of these questions are no. If the answer to these questions is no, we again have reason to file a motion to dismiss our client’s case.
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The final thing we look at this how the blood or breath was analyzed. Similar to field sobriety tests, the officer has to maintain a certain level of proficiency, has to be licensed and certified, and must follow proper policies and procedures. You would be surprised how often we see issues with blood or breath analysis. You would also be surprised to find out that some lawyers are not trained to identify these issues. That is not the case for our law firm. We have devoted hundreds if not thousands of hours to studying DUI investigations. We are able to identify issues for our clients and use those issues to provide exceptional outcomes.
If you have a DUI at the West Mesa justice court, let our team of experienced attorneys dive into the specifics of your DUI investigation and uncover facts that will assist in getting your case dismissed or reduced. 602-980-1987
Author Bio
Matthew L. Lopez
Matthew L. Lopez is the Managing Attorney and founder of Matthew Lopez Law, a criminal defense and DUI firm serving clients throughout Arizona. His track record of case dismissals and charge reductions has earned him honors, including a National Trial Lawyers Top 40 Under 40 nomination, a “Superb” 10/10 Avvo rating, and a Rising Star designation by Super Lawyers.
Matthew is a member of the National College for DUI Defense and holds active memberships with the Arizona Association for Criminal Justice and the Arizona Association for Justice. His firm handles criminal defense, DUI, drug charges, and traffic offenses, offering free consultations and affordable payment plans to make quality defense accessible to all Arizonans.
