Tuesday, May 06, 2008
South Carolina DUI criminal defense news & Reese Joye the Legend
San Diego DUI criminal defense attorney news from South Carolina
May 6, 2008
The DUI trial of Lowcountry State Sen. Randy Scott will be managed by a Spartanburg, S.C. prosecutor - not the solicitor assigned to his district - a judge ruled today.
Trey Gowdy, the 7th Circuit solicitor will prosecute the case after 1st Circuit solicitor David Pascoe recused himself. The decision ostensibly clears the way for Scott to receive a “fair trial.”
Scott’s DUI arrest also unexpectedly morphed into a case study on the First Amendment over the weekend.
Specifically, the Senator’s attorneys attempted to block the publication of several incriminating jailhouse tapes which included Scott cursing extensively and instructing a magistrate to “get off his lazy ass” and release him from jail.
FITSNews was pressured to remove the tapes from our website by Scott’s attorneys, although that was before they recognized that the lawyers drink the blood of their young.
Initial reports were that the trial itself was set to be moved to Spartanburg, but apparently a venue hasn’t been set yet.
South Carolina DUI criminal defense lawyer legend Reese Joye single-handedly got the legislature in his state to require videotaping of all DUI arrests. No other state has that requirement, Reese, with the connections he brilliantly nurtured, was able to do that amazing feat.
In other South Carolina DUI news, criminal defense attorney, Stuart Axelrod, watched the patrol car video of the night a North Myrtle Beach police officer stopped Atlantic Beach town councilwoman back on April 14.
Axelrod says that there were several issues he saw on the tape that makes him question officer Jim Ellis' decisions that night, the main one, turning his microphone off during the stop.
Ellis pulled Pierce over on Highway 17 business after the video shows Pierce driving under 20 miles per hour in the passing lane, then her van drifts over into the middle lane of traffic, before she crosses back across her lane and half into the median.
The video also shows Pierce hitting her brakes several times for no apparent reason, before Ellis turns his lights on her and pulls her over.
During the stop, which happened around 11:40 p.m., Pierce tells Ellis she just left church and that she had taken pain medicine for back pains.
Pierce admits she took a dosage of oxycodone, and told Ellis she had a prescription for the narcotic, but that she didn't have it with her.
During the stop, an unidentified Atlantic Beach officer pulls up, just out of view of the patrolman's camera, and the two begin a conversation, which starts out involving Pierce.
Only seconds into the conversation, the Atlantic Beach officer tells Ellis that he does know who Pierce is, then Ellis turns his microphone off.
Axelrod said in his 11 years of defending DUI drivers, he's never seen a case with so many questions, "I think it's kind of questionable to turn off a mic when a police officer stops somebody. It's there for the police officer's safety, the person he stops safety, and for the record. So, there's no question here, as you're asking me, we don't know what transpired in that conversation."
North Myrtle Beach police chief William Bailey said that Ellis had no idea who Pierce was when he stopped her.
Axelrod said he doesn't believe from the video that Ellis even tried to test Pierce's sobriety, "In some sense, they could have taken her out of that car, they could have had her do a field sobriety test as they do for everybody that I represent."
Ellis issued Pierce a warning ticket for her erratic driving, according to Bailey.
Ellis then told Pierce she shouldn't drive with the oxycodone in her system, then told her he'd let her drive home while he followed her back down Highway 17 business to her home in Atlantic Beach.
Axelrod said Ellis put too much on the line that night, "What should have been done was, he should have called her a cab. He could have had someone come get her, and they could have left her car right there. I think, if he thinks she's driving under the influence and then she drove home; let's say she ran over somebody with a police officer following behind her, who would be liable?"
www.SanDiegoDrunkDrivingAttorney.net/articles
May 6, 2008
The DUI trial of Lowcountry State Sen. Randy Scott will be managed by a Spartanburg, S.C. prosecutor - not the solicitor assigned to his district - a judge ruled today.
Trey Gowdy, the 7th Circuit solicitor will prosecute the case after 1st Circuit solicitor David Pascoe recused himself. The decision ostensibly clears the way for Scott to receive a “fair trial.”
Scott’s DUI arrest also unexpectedly morphed into a case study on the First Amendment over the weekend.
Specifically, the Senator’s attorneys attempted to block the publication of several incriminating jailhouse tapes which included Scott cursing extensively and instructing a magistrate to “get off his lazy ass” and release him from jail.
FITSNews was pressured to remove the tapes from our website by Scott’s attorneys, although that was before they recognized that the lawyers drink the blood of their young.
Initial reports were that the trial itself was set to be moved to Spartanburg, but apparently a venue hasn’t been set yet.
South Carolina DUI criminal defense lawyer legend Reese Joye single-handedly got the legislature in his state to require videotaping of all DUI arrests. No other state has that requirement, Reese, with the connections he brilliantly nurtured, was able to do that amazing feat.
In other South Carolina DUI news, criminal defense attorney, Stuart Axelrod, watched the patrol car video of the night a North Myrtle Beach police officer stopped Atlantic Beach town councilwoman back on April 14.
Axelrod says that there were several issues he saw on the tape that makes him question officer Jim Ellis' decisions that night, the main one, turning his microphone off during the stop.
Ellis pulled Pierce over on Highway 17 business after the video shows Pierce driving under 20 miles per hour in the passing lane, then her van drifts over into the middle lane of traffic, before she crosses back across her lane and half into the median.
The video also shows Pierce hitting her brakes several times for no apparent reason, before Ellis turns his lights on her and pulls her over.
During the stop, which happened around 11:40 p.m., Pierce tells Ellis she just left church and that she had taken pain medicine for back pains.
Pierce admits she took a dosage of oxycodone, and told Ellis she had a prescription for the narcotic, but that she didn't have it with her.
During the stop, an unidentified Atlantic Beach officer pulls up, just out of view of the patrolman's camera, and the two begin a conversation, which starts out involving Pierce.
Only seconds into the conversation, the Atlantic Beach officer tells Ellis that he does know who Pierce is, then Ellis turns his microphone off.
Axelrod said in his 11 years of defending DUI drivers, he's never seen a case with so many questions, "I think it's kind of questionable to turn off a mic when a police officer stops somebody. It's there for the police officer's safety, the person he stops safety, and for the record. So, there's no question here, as you're asking me, we don't know what transpired in that conversation."
North Myrtle Beach police chief William Bailey said that Ellis had no idea who Pierce was when he stopped her.
Axelrod said he doesn't believe from the video that Ellis even tried to test Pierce's sobriety, "In some sense, they could have taken her out of that car, they could have had her do a field sobriety test as they do for everybody that I represent."
Ellis issued Pierce a warning ticket for her erratic driving, according to Bailey.
Ellis then told Pierce she shouldn't drive with the oxycodone in her system, then told her he'd let her drive home while he followed her back down Highway 17 business to her home in Atlantic Beach.
Axelrod said Ellis put too much on the line that night, "What should have been done was, he should have called her a cab. He could have had someone come get her, and they could have left her car right there. I think, if he thinks she's driving under the influence and then she drove home; let's say she ran over somebody with a police officer following behind her, who would be liable?"
www.SanDiegoDrunkDrivingAttorney.net/articles
# posted by SanDiegoDUI @ 7:24 PM 
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