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Sunday, January 6, 2013

A woman learns a hard lesson about finding the right lawyer from the Michigan Court of Appeals - at the expense of a prison sentence for a drunk driving causing death conviction in Berrien County Michigan

By Michael Nichols
Categories: Michael J. Nichols

The Michigan Court of Appeals has held that it was not "ineffective assistance" of counsel when a lawyer failed to present evidence of the intoxication of the dead driver in an OWI causing death case from Berrien County.  Michigan OWI-OUIL-OUID lawyer Mike Nichols of Lansing praised the dissenting judge for an opinion disagreeing with the majority: "in this case, the trial court gave the defense attorney specific guidance that he would consider allowing the evidence in to trial if an expert had testimony about the dead driver's blood alcohol content at the time of driving," said Nichols. He added: "here the testimony of Dr. Dennis Simpson would have been that the dead driver was between .075 and .082 at the time of the accident. It seems like ineffective assistance of counsel that could have saved this woman a prison sentence."

Dr. Dennis Simpson is an expert in alcohol intoxication and testing. He is often contacted by the lawyers at the Nichols Law Firm when he has an opinion within a reasonable degree of scientific certainty that can be helpful to a defense. Nichols says "Dr. Simpson is a good scientist who presents testimony with integrity. I worked with him several times including consulting on cases. Many times I do not call him to testify but only because his testimony would be redundant or is not necessary or helpful to the jury's understanding of the facts of the case." Nichols, author of the West OWI Handbook, adds: "this woman was sentenced to a minimum of 19 months to 15 years in prison when there is potential evidence that could have made the difference between a conviction for OWI and a conviction for OWI causing death. The hard lesson is to make sure that the lawyer is a 'qualified' DUI lawyer when the stakes are high - and anytime your reputation, criminal history and especially your liberty is on the line - the stakes are high."
 
A full text of the opinion in People v Karsten can be found here:
 
For the lawyers who are committed to results and skilled at trial, contact the Nichols Law Firm at 517.432.9000 or contact Mike Nichols at mnichols@nicholslaw.net.
 

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Peer Recognition

Mike Nichols is a national leader in drunk driving defense. He is a member of the Forensic Committee and Michigan delegate to the National College for DUI Defense. He is also a Sustaining Member of the College. Nichols is also a founding member of the Michigan Association of OWI Attorneys; a member of the American Chemical Society; an associate member of he American Academy of Forensic Science, Adjunct Professor of Forensic Evidence in Criminal Law and OWI Law and Practice at Cooley Law School. He is also author of the West OWI Practice book and several chapters in other books on science and the law.

Mike Nichols is recognized by his peers in Michigan as a “SuperLawyer” in DUI/Criminal Defense. Nichols has also been asked to speak at conferences by groups such as the NCDD; Various Bar Associations in other states.