From Our Perspective: DUI, Trespassing Charges Dismissed

Robinson & Henry’s knowledgeable attorneys give their professional insight in “From Our Perspective” where we take a closer look at successful outcomes achieved by our attorneys. In this ongoing video series, our attorneys also share their input on other cases and legal issues in Colorado.

In this episode, Robinson & Henry Criminal Defense Partner Ryan Robertson discusses how he got a client’s DUI and trespassing charges dismissed. 

It can be easy to get lost in the mountains if you aren’t on a major highway and are unfamiliar with the location. When our client got turned around, he pulled into a driveway to check a map and get back on track. Spotting our client’s car in their driveway, the homeowner called police to report a possible break-in attempt.   

That call resulted in our client being arrested and charged with DUI and trespassing. 

Feeling trapped, our client reached out to Robinson & Henry for help. Ryan spotted weakness in the district attorney’s case and turned the tables in what seemed to be a hopeless situation for our client. 

This client’s story serves as a reminder to seek out an experienced criminal defense lawyer in the event you face criminal charges. 

Past results afford no guarantee of future results; each matter is different and must be judged on its own merits. Facts are those of an actual Robinson & Henry litigation case. 

 

Question: Ryan, thank you for joining me at Tell me more about our client and the tough situation that they were in.

Ryan: Our client was actually driving through the mountains and got a little bit lost. It was a little bit outside his neighborhood. He pulled into a random driveway so he could try to gain his bearings and go on Apple Maps, I believe, trying to figure out where exactly he was trying to go. The owner of the house did not take too kindly to that, actually threatened to kill our client.

The client got off of the property and just started driving again. The owner of that household actually ended up calling the police, and claimed that the client was actually trying to trespass or was trying to potentially maybe even break into that owner’s home. 

Question: Did law enforcement witness any DUI related issues? And was the client arrested then?

Ryan:  Yes, he was arrested, but no, they actually didn’t see any sort of indication that he was driving under the influence. And in fact, the officer during the motions hearing indicated that there was nothing. He was driving the car at an appropriate rate of speed, there was no weaving, there wasn’t even a busted tail light or a bad windshield or something like that. The officer just simply pulled him over based off of that report of the trespass. 

Question: What were the penalties the District Attorney was seeking in this case? 

Ryan: This client unfortunately had two prior DUIs. He was already at a minimum mandatory 60 days of jail. When the client elected to do a blood test, in this case, he actually ended up having above a .2 (blood alcohol content) and so the D.A. was actually seeking 90 days jail, two years of supervised probation and a litany of other issues related to that, including alcohol classes, a lot of community service, and a victim impact panel. And again, I can’t stress enough supervised probation, which means that you have somebody who’s checking up on you. If they ask you to jump, the only question you respond with is, “How high?” and that he was going to have to do it for two years. 

Question: What was the legal strategy you thought was best in this situation? 

Ryan: Because of what we were seeing inside the reports that simply this was not a trespass. Otherwise, anytime, anywhere of us get lost and maybe pull over to the side of the road or drive up onto somebody’s driveway so we can turn around. Under that legal theory, all of us have committed trespass how many times in our lives? So first off, we knew that there was an issue there. 

Second, the officer could not say anything that showed that our client was driving poorly. He simply just pulled him over on kind of a hunch, which is just simply prohibited. So we thought that this was something that we could actually deal with via filing a motion to dismiss. 

Questions: And tell us about the results. 

Ryan: We went to a hearing on this and the judge actually issued an order agreeing with us. The judge found that there was simply no trespass, that there was simply no bad driving, and that the officer had exceeded their authority and suppressed all of the evidence in the case that had been picked up by this officer, including any observations of our client after he had been pulled over and any of those blood test results. And so the DA was forced to dismiss the case and the client did not have to face a single day in jail. 

Question: If someone does find themselves facing a DUI charge, why should they be seeking legal advice and not try to handle it on their own? 

Ryan: They really just need to go to a lawyer and at least go through the entire scenario. I can tell you, as someone who did the consultation with this client, he thought that there was no hope in the world to try to avoid this. He actually just said, “I just want to make sure I have to do as little days in jail as possible.” But because we obviously understand the nuances and what an officer can do, what they can’t do and what the State’s burden is, we were able to immediately diagnose this as something that we could probably get kicked and we were able to.