Yesterday I had a trial in District Court. I even got started by 9:15 and it was over by 9:45. Credit goes to the Baltimore County Police Officer who was didn’t guess when he didn’t know an answer, and laid it out just as he remembered .The prosecutor called me the day before and offered a plea and I told her it was a trial. She asked what the issues were and I told her “everything is in play.” Sometimes I will focus them on what is absolutely a losing issue for them but I didn’t this time as I knew she hadn’t had a chance to watch the Body Camera Footage, and I knew she should. When I got to court she asked again and I said “everything, and the breath test is not coming in.” She didn’t believe me and neither did the arresting officer.
My client did really well on the SFSTs considering she crushed her car when she hit the electric utility pole, and every airbag exploded. The officer’s Body Camera did not activate and it didn’t matter in this case. The entire breath test was on Body Camera and it was totally screwed up. Before the technician testified, I told the Judge we could cut to the case and told him exactly what the video showed and the test wasn’t coming in. He agreed but the State wanted to try anyway. After asking a few questions, the prosecutor got up and said the tape showed exactly what I said it showed. She was unsure about law, and that happens when you are relatively new, and the Judge explained that I was right and I pointed it out for her so she would know the next time.
The Judge had no choice but to find the client not guilty of everything and we went and filed the Expungement for the DUI charges (you cannot expunge non-incarcerable citations even if found not guilty). The prosecutor did as well as she could do with the evidence she had. My college student client knows that she had put her whole career aspirations in jeopardy, and I expect her to the advantage of the outcome of this case. No future fee for me, but she will have the opportunity to live a productive life and that is the most important thing that should come out of this case.