Description

Today on the podcast Jake discusses one of the most important areas of DWI Defense because of the frequency with which it is utilized by law enforcement: the officer hand off. Many DWI investigations begin with a stopping officer who has limited training in DWI. These inexperienced DWI officers will call for a second officer to come to the scene to do a DWI investigation and determine if the driver is impaired. These scenarios are often rife with seizure issues, both in terms of unlawfully prolonging an initially valid stop, and in possibly converting the investigation into a de facto arrest requiring probable cause. If you defend DWI cases in North Carolina today's episode is a must listen.

Highlights:

• Listen to Jake analyze Rodriguez v. United States in the context of prolonging a traffic stop to conduct a DWI investigation.
• Uncover the case law and reasoning as to why the odor of alcohol alone does not give an officer reasonable suspicion to extend a traffic stop.
• Discover when the courts have determined that a de facto arrest has occurred thus requiring the State to show that probable cause for the arrest existed (before the second officer arrives on scene).
• Learn why DWI investigatory hand off situations are so common in law enforcement and why this is creating circumstance where 4^th Amendment issues are so likely to arise.