My DUI Experience
DUI arrests, DUI plea negotiations, DUI trials, and DUI penalties look very different depending upon where you're "sitting". A DUI defendant sees a different slice of the process than an arresting officer, and attorneys for the state and for the defendant come from still different perspectives. My DUI experience is your opportunity to talk about DUI arrest, a DUI trial, or any other aspect of the process in a first-person format: just tell us your story.
Our first DUI Experience comes from a reluctant juror turned staunch advocate-an ordinary citizen who entered the courtroom with pre-conceived notions and made some interesting discoveries during the course of the DUI trial she participated in.
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Juror Number Eight
When I was eight months pregnant I received a summons for jury duty in the mail. Since my pregnancy had been so medically complicated I thought I'd have no problem getting out of it. I called the court to explain, but I was told to show up and "tell it to the judge". So armed with a letter from my doctor explaining why it was not a fabulous idea for me to serve on a jury at this time I arrived at the "courthouse", which in this case was a courtroom inside the university police station.
The room was filled to the brim with potential jurors for a DUI trial. After sitting through the roll call and automatic dismissals when a person said they could not be fair, about 200 people still remained. We were told that if we had a good reason that we could not serve to line up to talk to the judge in chambers. So finally, after seeing many people walking out of chambers shaking their heads, it was my turn to talk to the judge.
I showed him the letter from my doctor and he expressed in so many words that he thought I was being a wuss. He said in the event that I was chosen and seated as a juror, it was my duty to at least try to serve. So I returned to the courtroom and later was chosen, seated and sworn in as juror number eight.
The next afternoon all the jurors who were chosen reported for duty and a DUI trial began. Truthfully, I had already decided that if the defendant had failed the breath test that I would vote to convict. However, my opinions were changed along the way.
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We watched the tape of the arrest. The defendant was a college student who had just argued with his girlfriend and was pulled over for speeding. His truck wasn't weaving all over the road, he didn't have any problems bringing the truck to a stop and he didn't stumble out of it. The officer smelled alcohol and conducted a field sobriety test. The defendant was able to pass most all of it except he was stuttering a bit and had trouble saying the alphabet backwards. Well, I thought about it and if I was pulled over and suspected of DUI I would be really nervous, I would probably stutter and even on a great day I can't say the alphabet backwards. So, next the officer shined his super bright flashlight in the defendant's face and told him to follow the movement of a pen with his eyes. On the tape it was impossible for us, as jurors, to see what the officer described as "jittery" eye movement. Apparently the "jittery" eye movement is a symptom of alcohol impairment. I didn't see it so I can't say for sure that his eye movement was not smooth. I can say from watching him he did not seem impaired to me, he seemed nervous.
So next we watched a video of his breath test. The officer stated that he had calibrated the machine prior to the test and that the defendant's BAC (blood alcohol content) reading was .08, which is the legal limit for DUI in my state.
The defense didn't put on much of a show in this trial. The defendant's attorney put the guy's mother on the stand. I hope that I didn't roll my eyes, but it's possible that I did when she talked about what a good boy he was and how his arrest had impacted his life. I could have done without hearing from his mom. Then the defendant took the stand and his testimony wasn't all that strong either, he basically said he had two beers prior to his arrest but that he was not impaired.
So when all was said and done the judge gave instructions to the jury. He told us that impairment was the issue and that if we felt the defendant was impaired by his alcohol use on the night of the arrest then we were to vote guilty, if he was not impaired to vote not guilty. It all came down to impairment.
Well, here's the problem. I didn't see any impairment. He walked fine, he talked fine and I could not see from watching the tapes any level of impairment.
The jury took an initial vote. 10 voted guilty and someone else and I voted not guilty. So we began to debate. It soon became clear to everyone who had voted not guilty and the other 10 jurors started to put pressure on us. The debate became very heated, at one point another juror yelling in my face that I was trying to "mother" the defendant. At that point I calmly sat back in my seat and said to the group, "I'm not changing my vote, no matter what".
At that point the room became silent and the other juror who also voted not guilty said the same thing. The jury forewoman went out to tell the judge we were deadlocked. Then the judge, attorneys, arresting officer and the defendant came back into the room. The judge talked to us some about how important our job was and that we should try to reach a verdict. He then asked if we had any questions. Well, I did.
I asked the judge what the tolerance of the breath test machine was and if there was any margin of error. This was a largely irrelevant question since the question was impairment, not BAC, but it seemed that the other jurors were fixed on the breath test results and could not see past it. The judge informed me and the other jurors that the test was 100% accurate. We were instructed to go back and try to reach a unanimous decision.
So back in the jury room I tried to explain to the other jurors how a breath test can not be 100% accurate in all situations. For one thing a breath test is an estimate of the blood alcohol content, not an exact measurement. To measure blood alcohol content you must use blood. Have you ever gotten an estimate for something and then have the amount turn out to be totally different when you paid the bill? Exactly. An estimate is just that. I can estimate how many jelly beans I think are in a jar and be way off, but it's my estimate. A breath test is a little more scientific, but all in all it is still an estimate. So for the judge to say that it is 100% accurate in all cases just didn't make any sense.
In the end, after taking several more votes, the result was the same. The same 10 jurors voted guilty and myself and one other juror held out with not guilty. We reported this to the judge and were dismissed.
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I later found out that instead of requesting a new trial the defendant agreed to plead guilty to reckless driving and pay a hefty fine. He didn't get off scott-free, but he wasn't convicted of DUI either. He made a mistake and he paid a price. I know that after all of this he won't drive again if he's had any alcohol to drink and really that's all that matters to me.