DUI's Can Be Turned Around If the Situation Is Right.

In late October, the Kansas Court of Appeals reversed and remanded a Johnson County District Court DUI conviction after finding that the officer did not have reasonable suspicion to stop the defendant’s vehicle.  State v. Edwards, 262 P.3d 358 (Kan. Ct. App. 2011).  Defendant Edwards was arrested in November 2008 and charged with felony DUI and refusal to take a preliminary breath test after an officer followed him into a Hy-Vee parking lot.  The officer initially became suspicious of the defendant when he stopped at a stop sign “for quite awhile”, slowly crossed the street, and then accelerated quickly.  The officer began following Edwards.  When Defendant Edwards pulled into a Hy-Vee parking lot and parked into the back of the store, the officer activated her emergency lights and pulled up behind him because she felt the vehicle was trying to avoid her.  Later, Defendant Edwards failed to perform a series of DUI test so the officer arrested him.  The trial court convicted Edwards on both charges but the Court of Appeals reversed because the appellate court found that the officer’s decision to stop Edwards was not based on reasonable suspicion and that no facts supported the officer’s conclusion that Edwards was trying to elude her.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding what you considered to be an unwarranted traffic stop, contact Lindsey and Dionne at www.ericksonscherff.com for counsel and assessment of your charges.