April 17th, 2009: Results: Judge granted Motion to Suppress, Charge of DUI dropped by State.
April 28, 2009 A Florida Highway Patrol Trooper observed a vehicle change lanes without signaling and then swerve twice through a yellow painted safety zone. The trooper stopped this vehicle. When he made contact with the driver he smelled the "obvious" odor of alcohol. He also noticed that the driver had other signs of impairment: red bloodshot eyes, watery eyes, and his speech was thick. The driver was then asked to perform the Field Sobriety Tasks (FST's: walk and turn, finger to nose, and one leg stand). According to the trooper, the driver performed poorly on all these. Based upon all the observation, the driver was arrested and taken to the Breath Alcohol Testing Facitlity at the Palm Beach County Jail. The driver gave two samples which were a .162 and a .159.
The Law Office of Robert Norvell filed a Motion to Suppress based upon what we believed to be an illegal stop by the trooper. On April 9th, 2008, before Judge Bosso-Pardo, the Court agreed and suppressed all evidence in the case.
The Assistant State Attorney, the following week, dropped the DUI charge against my client as well as the three citations that were issued to him as well.