OUI-LIQUOR (second offense): NOT GUILTY

On June 1, 2008, police were dispatched for a caller reporting an erratic operator. The caller was actually following the Defendant while reporting the information to police. The officer followed the Defendant’s vehicle and observed her cross the yellow center line. Defendant did not pull over right away but continued traveling for another fifty yards before finally pulling over to the very edge of the roadway. The officer asked Defendant to exit the vehicle to perform field sobriety tests. She stated that she had been coming from a wedding and denied drinking any alcohol. The officer detected a strong odor of alcohol coming from her breathe and he observed that her eyes were bloodshot. Defendant exited the vehicle in bare-feet stating that she had been wearing heels all night. Defendant failed all field sobriety tests, which included the one-legged stand and nine-step walk and turn. During booking, the officer stated that she was unsteady on her feet, that she walked into a wall, and that she almost fell into the hallway when being escorted to her cell. The officer stated that the Defendant’s face was flush, that her eyes were glassy and bloodshot, and that she appeared to be confused. Three months prior to her arrest, Defendant was convicted of OUI-Liquor having registered a blood alcohol content of .22, making this a second offense. At trial, Attorney Gerald J. Noonan called a mechanic to testify. The mechanic had inspected and test-driven the Defendant’s vehicle and he testified that the vehicle would drift in a certain direction because the alignment was bad. Attorney Noonan called a witness who testified that he attended the wedding with the Defendant prior to the arrest and that he sat at the same table with her during the wedding. The witness testified that he did not observe the Defendant consume any alcohol at the wedding and that she appeared sober at the wedding. Finally, Attorney Noonan impeached the officer by introducing Defendant’s color booking photo, which showed that her eyes were clear and face was normal in contradiction to the officer’s testimony that her face was flush and that her eyes were glassy and bloodshot.

Result: Attorney Gerald J. Noonan gets Not Guilty verdict on second offense OUI saving his client from possible 60 days in jail and a three-year suspension of driver’s license.