The Alabama legislature, in a 2021 legislative session, passed into law an act that will allow many criminal convictions to be expunged. When criminal arrests and now convictions are “expunged” the result is supposed to remove these sensitive records from public access. This new expungement law went into effect August 1, 2021. The new law even includes many felony convictions. This means that felony convictions that did not include a violent crime can be removed from access by most everyone, i. e. expunged.

The expungement law, which can be found via the internet is located in Section 15-27-1 et seq. of the Code of Alabama, 1975. There is a partial list of violent crimes that cannot be expunged found in Section 12-25-32(15) of the Alabama Code.

In felony conviction expungements, one must first obtain a pardon from the State of Alabama. We do not know how this will play out since according to sources, only 20 pardons were issued in the whole year of 2020!

Unfortunately, DUI convictions were excluded from this new expungement law, so that a DUI conviction, whether it was a felony or misdemeanor, cannot be expunged. In DUI cases that were resolved in the citizen’s favor, however, the arrest records CAN be expunged.

Anyone seeking to obtain an expungement, whether convicted or not, should consult a lawyer who does this type of work.

Phillip B. Price
Price Law Firm, P. C.

In March I, with the other members of the public, began hearing of a possible virus coming around. Covid 19 or Corona virus, both meaning the virus that presumably “escaped” from Wuhan, China was invading our country. Flights started getting banned, people started getting quarantined, and then suddenly, every-day items like bathroom tissue, paper towels and bottled water flew off the store shelves and became scarce. Bars and restaurants were ordered by the government to shut down. Well, the obvious happened, there was far less drinking and driving. People not going out to socially drink reduced the number of DUI arrests. Combined with stand-down orders of police leaders to reduce the threat of invading jails with Covid-19, DUI’s plummeted.

The number of DUI arrests have decreased around 70% according to some statistics. It is ironic the amount of alcohol sales from state stores increased by over 20% as the number of DUI cases decreased. Covid-19 has adversely affected the legal system as it limps along doing the best it can at providing people, both victims and defendants their chance in court. With masks and social distancing required, many stresses have been placed upon the legal system to remain fair to both sides of the litigation playing field. Many issues are yet to be decided; the right to a “public” trial is a constitutional right guaranteed by the state and national constitutions. Does limiting the number of people in a courtroom affect the accused’s right to a public trial? What effect does it have to the system of justice to allow the jurors to wear masks so their expressions on their faces are covered? What effect does wearing a mask have on one’s ability to do roadside field sobriety tests? It seems reasonable that everyone talking through a mask has “slurred speech”.

If you were handed a breath tube and asked to put it in your mouth and blow for a breath alcohol result, would you feel safe doing so considering the Covid-19 pandemic?

In states other than Alabama wearing facial masks is likely to increase one's breath temperature. Higher breath temperature will increase the breath alcohol reading as to their true blood alcohol reading by about 7% per degree F. Alabama is excluded from this phenomenon because Alabama's breath alcohol machines measure the temperature of the breath and will adjust the reading accordingly if the breath temperature is high. The average breath temperature is stated to be 34 degrees centigrade for the "average" person.

So, in my DUI lawyer world, many lessons have been learned and many more will be learned in the future as we pass through the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020.

Attorney Phillip Price, the founding partner and principal of the Price Law Firm, P.C., has been representing people charged with DUI in the State of Alabama for over 40 years. He is the author of the Alabama DUI Handbook published by West and he is a contributor to the DUI News Blog. He is well known for his results on behalf of his clients and, also, his knowledge dealing with various breath testing instruments including the Drager Alcotest MKIII, Intoxilyzer Model 5000, and Alco Sensor IV.

Click here to listen to the podcast - Episode 109 - Next Lawyer Up with Ron Sykstus featuring Phillip (Phil) Price

By, Phillip B. Price, Sr. ©, DUI Board Certified in DUI Defense Attorney

DUI

Most everyone knows what a DUI charge is. Most DUI’s are alcohol related.  Simply put, one is arrested for DUI when the police claim that the person had too much alcohol to drink.  In Alabama, there are currently 5 different ways to charge someone with driving under the influence (DUI). They are:

• Driving with a blood alcohol level of .08% or greater
• Driving after drinking alcohol to the point that the alcohol makes you an unsafe driver.
• Driving under the influence of a controlled substance
• Driving under the combined influence of alcohol and a controlled substance
• Driving under the influence of any substance that renders you incapable of safely driving

The penalties include the possibility of the loss of one’s driver’s license, possible jail, probation, counseling and/or treatment, fines, along with many other fees and secondary effects on one’s life.

Diversion

I have been a DUI defense lawyer for over 35 years. I have seen the “legal” system make several changes in the DUI arena. There was a period of time when we could not settle a DUI case. You either pled guilty or went to trial. I have tried many, many DUI cases in my career; more than any other attorney north of Montgomery, Alabama, I would surmise. At one point, a circuit judge made me try 3 DUI jury trials in a row: one right after the other in the same week. Luckily, the juries in all three cases rendered “not guilty” verdicts!  My point here is that I have seen the DUI “system” and laws change over the many years that I have been handling them.

One thing that has happened in the last decade is that there has been an increase in the number of “diversion” programs. “Diversion” basically means an alternative to being convicted after compliance with many court-sponsored obligations. In 2013 the Alabama legislature passed an act that authorized municipalities to establish a “pre-trial diversion program”, in lieu of prosecuting the DUI case. Some cities around the state did so and some did not.  A diversion program, generally speaking, means that one accused of DUI pleads guilty to the DUI, and the judge does not impose judgment or sentence. Meanwhile, the person charged with DUI does certain things, including but not limited to: counseling, treatment, community service, Victim Impact Panel, so-called “color-coding”, among many other possible requirements. If the person successfully completes the program, he or she gets their DUI case dismissed upon the payment of many fees and court costs. If the person fails with any aspect of the program, they are automatically up for automatic conviction and will suffer the consequences thereof.

The City of Huntsville, Alabama passed diversion ordinance No. 13-845 in October of 2013. The city, at that time determined that the persons who would qualify for the benefits of diversion would be limited to those who took the breath test and scored below .12% BAC. If you refused the breath test or blew .12% BAC or greater, you did not qualify for the City of Huntsville diversion program. The City of Huntsville is presently in the process of passing a brand-new “diversion program”. Under the diversion program being presently considered by the Huntsville governing body, includes DUI offenders whose blood alcohol content is as high as .149% BAC. It also allows the new diversion program to those DUI arrestees who refused to take the breath test altogether. It does not exclude people who have been previously arrested for DUI.

So, it is a “no brainer” that the citizen accused of DUI should accept the diversion program with the City of Huntsville, right? NOT SO FAST!  SEEK THE ADVICE OF AN EXPERIENCED DUI ATTORNEY! WHY? Keep reading. 

2018 Alabama Interlock Law

In 2018, the Alabama legislature, at the “encouragement” of interlock lobbyists, passed a bill that requires any person who enters a diversion, or similar program, to install an interlock device on his or her vehicle for period of six months, or the length of the diversion program, whichever is longer. There is a fee for installation, a monthly fee for maintenance, along with other fees associated with the device. The interlock device is not specific for ethyl alcohol and it will beep intermittently and one must find a place to pull over and blow or the vehicle will go dead and will not start. One must normally blow into the interlock device and show a BAC under a .02%.

Administration Driver’s License Suspension

Typically, in every DUI arrest, the citizen will either refuse the breath test or take it and blow over .08% BAC.  In most cases, the citizen will have his or her driver’s license confiscated and will also undergo a suspension of the driver’s license for a period of time. This can occur even if the person is undergoing diversion unless action is taken.  There ARE things that can be done to keep this from happening in many/most cases.

Failing the Diversion Program means DUI conviction

Under the terms of the City of Huntsville’s proposed diversion ordinance, one has to plead guilty in the record in order to get diversion.  If one messes up, the court can automatically impose a DUI conviction that the person pled guilty to in order to get diversion.

Effects of Guilty Plea

In certain circumstances, a mere plea of guilty, or an admission of guilt, can have negative ramifications.  This is true even if the person is NOT convicted of the DUI that he or she had previously admitted to.  The two circumstances that immediately come to mind are those associated with CDL holders and Immigrants.  There are other circumstances as well that the mere admission of being under the influence can cause negative consequences.

Summary

There are diversion programs within the Alabama DUI litigation system. Most of the comments made herein apply to other diversion programs in the state as well as the diversion program proposed by the City of Huntsville, Alabama. Whether to undergo the particular program requires a detailed analysis.  Price Law Firm PC stands ready and able to help you with your DUI decisions.  YOU MUST GET YOUR CASE EVALUATED EARLY!  This written and submitted by: DUI defense attorney, Phillip B.  Price, Sr., who is the ONLY attorney in North Alabama that is “Board Certified in DUI Defense” by the National College for DUI Defense, as sanctioned by the American Bar Association for the certification.