Motion to Suppress and Motion to Dismiss Evidence in a DWI Case | Dummit Fradin

we've covered a lot of ground so far on this video but just in case someone happens to be skipping around to the different topics why don't we recap very briefly and talk about motions to dismiss or motions to suppress certain types of evidence whether it's you know chemical or our blood test or whatever what are some of the ways that you do that well a motion to suppress in District Court is can be done orally you don't have to file written motions if you're up in Superior Court you actually have to file a written motion and have supporting affidavits but there are motions to suppress for lack of articulable suspicion basically the stop was bad and those are all based on the Fourth Amendment that it's an unreasonable seizure there are motions to suppress for a lack of probable cause that the arrest was invalid because they didn't have enough probable cause to arrest there is a motion to suppress for what I call the 20-minute rule but that vague area somewhere between articulate suspicion and probable cause if they don't have enough grounds to keep detaining you so those are three general areas then there's the multitude of motions we've talked about to suppress a breath test or a blood test based on all sorts of different issues I've seen on television where people talk about you know a motion to suppress but I've also seen the TV lawyers stand up and say we're asking for a dismissal your honor can you walk me through that what's the difference between a motion to suppress and a motion to dismiss well a motion to suppress only suppresses evidence motion to dismiss dismiss is the case now as a practical matter if you win on a motion events based on the Fourth Amendment then all evidence that is gathered after an illegal seizure is suppressed and the case is over you win the case so a motion to suppress based on the Fourth Amendment typically means you've won now that's so that's true of articulable suspicion if they didn't have a valid reason to pull you over all evidences suppress if they didn't have a valid reason to arrest you all the rest of the evidence is suppressed but now if we talk just about breath tests if they violate one of the statutes on breath testing and they suppress the breath test that doesn't mean that the case gets thrown out you then can go to trial with the the driving the field sobriety tests but no breath test ever mentioned so typically suppressing a breath test is a huge victory and can result in a dismissal you know something I haven't asked you about throughout these conversations is due process we hear it again going back to television you'll see TV lawyers get in court and they talk about due process what does that mean for someone that has been stopped for DWI they've gone through all the blood tests or chemical tests or whatever they've gotten in touch with you you're getting ready to go to trial does due process come into play at all absolutely you have a right to a fair trial and in DWI situations routinely the state is not able to get all their witnesses together and so what happens in a lot of DWIs is after the case has been continued a bunch the judge finally says well I'm not granting anymore continuances and the state doesn't have their witnesses ready to go forward so the state will take a voluntary dismissal of the case now typically the client is you know oh great you got my case dismissed but it was not not guilty and it was not dismissed by a judge it was voluntarily dismissed by the DA so they can refile charges okay and a lot of times they do refile charges and start the process all over again well I've been very successful at getting Superior Court judges to say no no no that's a violation of due process if a district court judge has already ruled that this case has been continued too many times ultimately it's speedy trial right but it doesn't really fall under speedy trial it falls under due process of law so that you're entitled to a fair hearing and the state can't use a procedural back a procedural method of dismissing and refiling as a backdoor way of getting a continuance so due process absolutely is alive and well in DW well that takes us to something that's a big topic and I know you have a lot of questions about this and we're gonna try to answer them that's the topic of sentencing when it comes time for sentencing and we'll do that next

Channel: Dummit Fradin

Views: 17,874

Keywords: stop, probable cause, grounds for detention, breath test, blood test, motion to suppress, dismissal, continuation, dwi defense, dui, arrested, charged, rights, dummit law firm, nc, north carolina, attorney, lawyer, winston-salem, Clarke Dummit, dummit fradin, drunk driving defense, winston salem dwi lawyer, dui in nc, dwi in nc, motion to suppress evidence, motion to dismiss evidence, difference between motion to dismiss and motion to suppress

Id: NRIw8FjOeao

Length: 4min 37sec (277 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 02 2011