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DUI Defense

Florida DUI, criminal defense, and personal injury, explained by a forensic lawyer-scientist and former public defender. Celebrity cases, courtroom strategy, and the science behind the evidence, in plain English.

Rory Safir

Every post here is written by Rory Safir, one of a handful of ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientists in Florida and a former Assistant Public Defender in Tampa.

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The Affidavit Showed One Breath Test. The Machine’s Own Records Showed Three.

A two-count DUI from a multi-vehicle crash, breath results over 0.17, and an offer with 60 days in jail for a first-time offender. The affidavit showed one test. The instrument’s public electronic records showed three, two of them aborted on radio interference. Here is how that record, a motion to...
  • Rory Safir
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Before You Sit Down With a DUI Lawyer: The Six Things That Make the First Hour Count

The first conversation about a DUI case decides what gets investigated. The six things that make that hour count, including the 24-hour timeline with the gaps marked and the medication line most people leave vague....
  • Rory Safir
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The Officer Who Called Your DUI a Drug Case May Have Had 16 Hours of Training. Here Is What That Training Says About Itself

ARIDE is a 16-hour course, and its own manual says it will not certify an officer as a DRE and does not support picking a drug category. What the manual says about the eye and balance checks, the exam the officer passed, and why a skipped step is a validation...
  • Rory Safir
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Asleep in a Running Truck in Tampa: The Welfare Check That Became a DUI

Deputies woke a man asleep in a running truck at a Tampa apartment complex and a DUI followed. A judge suppressed it; the appeals court reversed. Where a welfare check ends, and why a parked truck can still be a DUI in Florida....
  • Rory Safir
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Police Took His Blood Without a Warrant. The Court Just Took Back the Rule They Used.

A driver refused a blood draw after a fatal crash and police took it anyway. The Fourth District affirmed suppression and receded from the sentence prosecutors had been citing as a probable cause exception to the warrant requirement....
  • Rory Safir
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Ask Safir: Can I Drive After a DUI Arrest in Florida?

The citation in your pocket is a ten day driving permit, and what you do inside those ten days decides whether you keep driving after it expires. One of the two paths costs more than people realize....
  • Rory Safir
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Ask Safir: Can a Florida DUI Be Reduced to Reckless Driving?

Reductions to reckless driving happen in Florida every week, through county programs and through pressure on the evidence. A statute most people have never heard of decides who is even allowed to take the deal....
  • Rory Safir
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Ask Safir: How Long Does a DUI Stay on Your Record in Florida?

The criminal record is permanent, the driving record keeps it for 75 years, and the clocks that do expire are the ones lawyers care about most: the five and ten year enhancement windows....
  • Rory Safir
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Ask Safir: What Happens If You Refuse the Breath Test in Florida?

Refusing the breath test after a Florida DUI arrest is now a crime, a change many drivers still have not heard about. The officer's warning is an element of that crime, and it is where these cases get fought....
  • Rory Safir
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Ask Safir: Do I Have to Do the Field Sobriety Exercises in Florida?

No law requires the roadside exercises and declining them is not a crime in Florida. What most articles skip is what declining actually changes, and what was already being graded before the question was asked....
  • Rory Safir

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Arrested for DUI in Florida, the bookI wrote the book on Florida DUIFree to anyone facing a charge in Tampa Bay. Plain English, nineteen chapters, no law degree required.Get your copy →ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientist badgeForensic Lawyer-ScientistOne of six attorneys in Florida with the ACS-CHAL designation from the American Chemical Society.What that means for your case →

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Acquittal, Pinellas County: DUI jury acquittal after the HGN eye test was challenged.

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