You may be surprised to learn that when you are drinking you don’t remember much of what went on in your interaction with the police. You knew it at the time, but recollecting it in my office is a different story. That is why the Body Cam is invaluable. Now if you pay peanuts, you get a monkey, meaning you get a lawyer who is going to do the least amount of work possible- sometimes none except to show up and plead you guilty to whatever the State wants. The Body Cam is not being sent automatically and you have to follow up and ask. Sometimes you win the case because of it, or sometimes you suppress the breath test. Suppression was what happened last week.
My client could not believe what I told the client I was watching. The client reacted to the police behavior at the time, but did not remember it later. First of all NO ONE watched the client for the full 20 minutes preceding the test. The client was left on her own part of the time. Worse, while the officer was doing his paperwork with his back to her, a second officer walked over to her and told her the judge would go easier if she took the test!!! Absolutely results in suppression. I gave the judge an opening statement, and after rolling her eyes she said she thought she should view the video now to see if we could deal with the breath test suppression up front. I also gave her the email I sent to the prosecutor two nights before after I finished watching it. The email outlined the exact times on the video that the police did something wrong. I did not go home until I watched it and sent the email, criminal defense is not a 9 to 5 profession. The judge watch where I told her and returned and threw the breath test out. The case was resolved for the lesser offense of DWI. That was a win.