Law Office of Glen Neeley

Tag: Field Sobriety Tests

  • Judges Find Trooper Lisa Steed Not Credible

    Judges are finally starting to recognize credibility issues in Trooper Steed’s work.  Judge Cutler in a this written opinion takes note that the Trooper’s testimony lacked credibility in three significant areas.   www.utahduilawblog.com/uploads/file/Steed Cutler ruling.pdf First, the judge did not believe that the trooper was just on "traffic enforcement."  She was staking out the place trying…

  • Utah DUI Cops’ Eye Test (HGN)…Is it Valid?

     The Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus Test is a field test that officers across the nation, including Utah, use to determine whether a person is impaired.  Is the test valid?  The officer is not an opthamalogist and uses no scientific equipment to check a person’s eyes. He is not trained by anyone who has scientific training with…

  • Field Sobriety Tests show bad balance, but Not impaired

       A man by the name of Callis called me the other day.  He was upset at a Utah Highway Patrol Trooper, Trooper Lisa Steed.  He wanted to talk with me, so I met with him to find out what his complaint was.  His case was over and dismissed, but the lasting affect it had…

  • Utah DUI Field Sobriety Tricks

    A DUI specialist from Lubbock Texas, Stephen Hamilton, wrote this interesting article about Field Sobriety Tricks.  He ended up with a case where the officer admits that that these tests are tricks.  The officer tells the citizen accused that these tests "are just part of the part of the field sobriety tricks."  Mr. Hamilton even…

  • 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…

  • Field Sobriety Tests–Walk and Turn Test

    Lawrence Taylor out in California wrote an article about how Field Sobriety Tests are designed to make you fail.  I could not agree more.  For example, the other day I was doing a trial down in Salt Lake City on a DUI.  During the break, before I was going to begin to cross examine the…

  • Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN)–What does it look like?

    Many people come into my office and tell me about their field sobriety tests.  Often they say, "I know I passed the eye test, I did everything I was supposed to do on that test."  A person may have followed all of the instructions, but that is not the main purpose of the test.  The…

  • Field Sobriety Tests, Should I do them?

    Sometimes people are under the assumption that if an officer asks me to do something, they must do it. This scenario frequently happens when an officer requests a citizen to perform roadside field sobriety tests. “Do I have to do these tests?” The quick and easy answer to this is absolutely not. Many times an officer will pull a…