Ray Flavin's Legal Blog

A question was asked about what you have to do for the police during a DUI arrest, I will give you a short answer that applies in nearly all situations.

In a McHenry County DUI stop:

1.  You are not required to perform field sobriety tests

2.  You are not required to take the breathalyzer, urine test or blood test (but if you refuse your license will be suspended for a period of time)

3.  You do not have to speak to the police or answer questions

4   You do have to produce a license, if you possess one.

Never lie to the police.  If you are the subject of the investigation, do not talk with the police.  You do not have to answer questions regarding whether you were driving.  You do not have to allow the police to search your vehicle. Do not make any statement that are "off the record" because there is no such thing.

Remember that the police are there to document evidence of the crime.  The are really bad at documenting evidence which does not tend to prove the crime.  Generally, they will only record evidence that tends to incriminate.

Any questions:  just email me at "answers at ray flavin dot com"  (this was spelled out because when I list an email address on a blog it seems to attract spam.

Ray Flavin

Posted by lawblog at 03:04 PM | Permalink

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Well the Chief judge for the county next to McHenry was arrested for DUI last night.  During the arrest he was pepper sprayed.  I have to think that he will be looking at DUI law a lot differently from now on.

It's funny, but there's really no substitute for real life experience with the law.  I dream of the day that laws are made by people with great wisdom and experience, rather than from out of work attorneys, business owners and other under-employed individuals driven by the desire to be re-elected.  I long for the day that the legislature will cancel crappy laws and simplify the remaining laws.  I deeply believe that laws should be easily understood by the people. 

Ray Flavin

Posted by lawblog at 02:48 PM | Permalink

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If you find your way to this blog by a way other than through the webpage, please go take a look at the new webpage set up.  Also, all comments to this page that you would like me to see should be posted to answers at rayflavin dot com

Ray Flavin

Posted by lawblog at 02:40 PM | Permalink

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There are many traffic crimes that have mandatory minimum sentences.  DUI is one of them.  It is a popular crime for the legislature to rail against, because frankly there is no opposition to harsh DUI sentences.

Then came the Illinois State Recession of 08'

Now we will see how committed the legislature is to breaking the bank by jailing a very large number of non violent offenders.  My prediction is that we will see the implementation of new programs that allow the state to avoid paying for the bad legislation they have enacted.

Ray Flavin

Posted by lawblog at 11:24 PM | Permalink

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Court costs are too high.  Recently the legislature enacted a law which allowed each city to charge an extra $500 "equipment fee" for the purchase of video equipment (and other equipment).  The idea was that we should make the "DRUNK DRIVERS" pay for new equipment.

Of course all of the state representatives agreed.

In McHenry County the reality is that the police departments like to collect this money but they don't like to buy video machines.  And the reason is: because they don't want me to use the video tape during trial.  It seems they have a hard time getting the police reports to match the video (because video don't lie).

Ray Flavin

Posted by lawblog at 03:12 PM | Permalink

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