Law Office of Glen Neeley

The Utah DUI Law Blog

Salt Lake County Attorney refuses to plea Bargain DUIs, even if the Evidence is Lacking

I was told that that Salt Lake County Attorney’s office had a policy of "No deals on DUIs." I learned first hand that the policy is true, even if the evidence is lacking. I defended a man accused of three DUIs. In all cases, I believed the man to be innocent. The evidence supported my…

November 22, 2007
Arresting Utah DUIs is “Hunting” for UHP!

A UHP Officer in Davis County, Utah, was given an award for arresting people for DUI last week. She refers to it as hunting for DUIs. During this hunt, you have to wonder how many times the officer gets buck fever and makes a DUI out of an innocent person. How many people’s lives has…

November 21, 2007
UHP draw blood for Utah DUI Arrests!

I have had several cases in Farmington, Utah, where the officer will draw blood from the arrested person rather than take him or her to get a breath test. Is this really a good idea? I mean, police drawing blood on the side of the road doesn’t seem sanitary. The police are there collecting evidence. …

November 5, 2007
MADD wants punishment for drinking drivers, not just Drunk Drivers!

Here is an interesting article about the prohibition of drinking. Some points that I find interesting are: The person who started MADD feels that the organization has gotten way out of hand and no longer supports the organization. MADD is pushing for complete prohibition of any alcohol. Lowering the legal limit has not lowered DUIs…

November 2, 2007
Saturation Patrol, Utah DUI

The Utah police agencies used to do "administrative checkpoints" to pull people over for no reason and then check them for alcohol. The problem is that that charges can be challenged because there are so many rules the police must follow to make them constitutional. So the police answer this by doing Saturation Patrols. The…

October 28, 2007
Is punishment worse for taking your Utah DUI to trial?

Recently, someone asked me if they take their case to trial, will they be punished worse that if they just plead guilty. The simply answer is generally no. In Utah, most Courts recognize that a person should not be punished for exercising the right to trial. However, out of the hundreds of DUIs that I…

October 14, 2007
Field Sobriety Tests: Do they meausre if you are impaired?

In trial, the prosecutor’s last question to a testifying officer is almost always "Officer, after these field sobriety tests, did form an opinion as to the defendant’s ability to safely drive his car?" The officer always answers, "I formed the opinion that the defendant was too impaired to safely drive a car." The interesting thing…

September 29, 2007
Utah “DUI Blitz”–Justifying the Expense

If the UHP is getting paid for 75 eight-hour overtime shifts to look for drunken drivers, don’t you think they better find some to justify the cost and expense. Think about it, they get all this to look for drunken drivers, and what would happen if they have no arrests, no DUIs, and nothing else…

September 3, 2007
Innocent Dolphins Caught in the Utah DUI Net

I once heard a story about how the tuna fisherman would go out on the ocean to harvest the tuna fish. They would use big, huge, over-sized nets to reap this harvest. In these big nets, on too many occasions, innocent dolphins would get caught in this net. The dolphins were considered just collateral damage…

September 1, 2007
Driving Permits after cited for DUI

Most, if not all, of my clients ask me when they come in for a consultation, "if my driver’s license gets suspended, can I get a work permit?" Answer: No, not in Utah. The Department of Motor Vehicles will not issue a work permit. I have only seen one in my years of practicing law…

August 31, 2007