Tyler Smith recently won a motion to suppress a hearing in an Operating Under the Influence (OUI) case. A police officer received a tip that a driver, later identified as our client, was driving erratically. The officer responded to the client’s home and was let inside by another occupant. Once inside, the officer confronted the client about the complaint and began asking about alcohol use. The officer eventually told the client to step outside of the home to perform field sobriety tests. The officer administered field sobriety tests and arrested our client for operating under the influence. After the arrest, the client refused a breathalyzer.
The State charged the client with operating under the influence. If convicted, he faced a mandatory minimum penalty of 96 hours in jail, a $500 fine, and a 150-day license suspension.
Tyler argued that the officer violated our client’s Fourth Amendment rights by ordering the client to leave his home for field sobriety tests. The Court ultimately agreed, suppressing all of the evidence obtained from that point forward. With that evidence suppressed, the State was left with insufficient evidence to prove Operating Under the Influence and dismissed the case.
