I was interviewed by a paper in St. George Utah.  A guest writer Brittany Stoker wrote the following for my Blog.

 According to current law, police officers are prohibited from pulling people over unless there is a reason for them to suspect that a person is breaking the law (reasonable suspicion). However, there is one exception to this rule: DUI checkpoints allow law enforcement officials to pull over randomly selected drivers without probable cause.

Glen Neeley, Board Certified DUI Attorney in Ogden, Utah, proposed the following scenario in a Utah newspaper recently: “Say it’s late at night and a driver who has been working late goes through a checkpoint and has bloodshot eyes because he’s tired.” At this point, it is possible that the police officer may suspect drug use and would administer a blood test at that time. Neeley continued, “That takes a couple of weeks to come back, so they charge him with DUI based on those observations.”

Neeley goes on to state that, “Even if a person is ultimately vindicated by their blood test, simply being charged with a DUI can be quite expensive. Number one, he’s been taken to jail; number two, his car has been impounded; number three, he’s had to bail out of jail; number four, he’s had to hire an attorney and pay attorney fees. All of this happens before the case eventually gets resolved and dismissed.”

The many opponents of DUI checkpoints state that DUI checkpoints are an invasion of privacy and violate drivers’ fourth amendment rights, which protect citizens from unlawful searches. Fortunately, for many people who seem to have just been “in the wrong place at the wrong time,” a bill recently passed through the Utah House of Representatives prohibits law enforcement from conducting DUI checkpoints. If this bill makes it through the state Senate and becomes law, law enforcement would no longer be able to stop random drivers at these checkpoints to conduct tests for DUI violations.

According to Neeley, situations similar to the one cited above “happen every day.” Neeley has successfully represented clients found in this situation several times and has received the same specialized Standardized Field Sobriety Tests training as police officers receive. In other words, if you’ve been charged with a DUI, whether at a random checkpoint or otherwise, having Glen Neeley on your team is the best decision you can make. Call Glen Neeley, board certified attorney, at 801-612-1511 for a free consultation. You and your family will be glad you did.