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Wednesday, December 31, 2014
By Michael Nichols
Categories: Michael J. Nichols, Drunk-Driving, OWI
In the flurry of action right before the end of 2014, state lawmakers failed to change Michigan's drunk driving laws. Michigan OWI-OWID attorney Mike Nichols of East Lansing says it was a boon for persons who will be arrested but not necessarily those who were arrested in 2014. "Despite the heavy influence of the Michigan State Police, one of the most powerful lobbying groups in all of Lansing, the law says that standardized field sobriety tests are not admissible unless one side or the other opens the door," Nichols says.
The law was re-written in 2014 to include standardized field sobriety tests as part of the over all DUI roadside investigation. Nichols, who wrote the book on OWI for West Publishing and is active in legislative committees for the Criminal Defense Attorneys and State Bar of Michigan, explains what happened: "when the MSP tried to get roadside saliva testing passed, they ended up with different changes to proposed legislation that was rejected. The 'settled' on including the Portable Breath Test and SFST battery in the same category of tests - not realizing that the PBT is inadmissible in the prosecutor's 'case-in-chief' and the language of the compromise bill never differentiated the SFST in that regard. The MSP and Prosecuting Attorneys Association tried to make a fix in the final hours of the 'lame duck session' but they just ran out of time because road-funding took all the priority and energy of lawmakers who pulled an 'all-nighter.'"
Nichols says that the legislature did pass a package of bills to lower the 'per se' bodily alcohol content from .10 to .08 grams of alcohol per 210 liters of breath or 100 milliliters of blood; "the legislature DID change the definitions of a 'vessel' so that people will not be prosecuted for 'drunk-tubing' but prosecuting an OWI boat offense is still going to be dicey for any prosecutor up against a QUALIFIED defense attorney.
Nichols is ready to start 2015 off by defending citizens accused of violating Michigan's drunk driving; drunk snowmobiling and when the weather is ready, drunk-boating laws. For the attorneys who are qualified to take on the government, stay on the cutting edge of the law and the science and who are committed to results, call Mike Nichols at 517.432.9000