Law Office of Mark Stevens
5 Manor Parkway
Salem, NH 03079
Telephone: (603) 893-0074
Fax: (603) 893-5022
info@attorneymarkstevens.com 		Admitted in all state and federal courts in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Representing clients in criminal defense matters, including narcotics charges, drunk driving charges, Driving While Intoxicated (DWI), Operating Under the Influence (OUI), and Driving Under the Influence (DUI). Representation of clients at Department of Motor Vehicles (NH) and Registry of Motor Vehicles (MA) hearings and appeals.

ALS CASE OF THE WEEK –WEEK OF MAY 18, 2007
DWI CASE EXAMPLE: 180 DAY ALS SUSPENSION OF RIGHT TO DRIVE BASED ON ALLEGED CONTROLLED DRUGS ON A BLOOD TEST

Sponsored by ByeByeDWI.com


Please note-this is an example of the disposition of a recent New Hampshire DWI case. It is by no means a guaranty of any particular result in any other case.

BASIC FACTS: The defendant was stopped by the police for a series of alleged driving transgressions.  After the usual series of questions, observations of red bloodshot eyes, odor of alcohol and slurred speech the officer asked the defendant to perform the series of sidewalk gymnastics known as “field sobriety tests”.  The defendant predictably failed this ordeal.  He admitted consuming 7 beers.  The breath test at the station read .000 twice though.  Miffed by the exculpatory printout of the drunk-in-the-box, the police decided that the defendant must be on drugs.  The police demanded a blood test, and the defendant agreed to take a blood test.  The officer took him to a hospital where medical personnel took the defendant’s blood out of his arm.

The blood test came back with a zero reading for alcohol, just like the drunk-in-the-box at the police station had indicated.  There was a small amount of a prescription drug detected on the blood test though.  Unfazed by the fact that the defendant had neither blown over a .08 nor refused to blow into the box, the state sought to suspend the defendant’s driver’s license for 180 days by submitting an ALS request anyway.  This exposes a dark reality for the driver confronted with whether to submit to a gauntlet of chemical testing: this driver never refused anything, and never failed anything, yet the police still sought to take his license under the ALS process.  The defendant elected to hire Attorney Stevens to challenge the administrative license suspension at a hearing at the Department of Safety. 

DEFENSE POSTURE:          Attorney Stevens filed a motion to dismiss the requested suspension action against the defendant.  He argued that the state’s request to suspend the defendant’s right to drive did not fit within either criterion under which he could be suspended under the Administrative License Suspension law. 

RESULT:       DISMISSED!!!   The defendant’s right to drive pending trial was maintained.  He did not suffer the 180 day administrative suspension that the state sought to impose on him.

Attorney Stevens thanks God for this successful defense!!!





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