Tag: Implied Consent

OWI Amended to Public Intoxication Preserves CDL

Another result of our relentless pretrial discovery efforts is now on display in Jasper County.  After painstakingly reviewing every word of the implied consent video, we discovered that our client asked for an attorney.  The officer did not honor this request, but instead requested a breath sample for testing on the DataMaster DMT.  Our client refused. Iowa law provides a limited right to consult with a lawyer while being detained by police.   The prosecutor amended the OWI because the breath test refusal would not be admissible due to the violation. The result?  A simple misdemeanor.  No jail.  A fine of […]

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GRL Wins DOT and Saves CDL

Iowa provides a limited statutory right to speak with a family member or attorney before submitting to breath testing.  Most of the time, the driver must first trigger the right by asking for a phone call. In this case, our client told the officer he had an out-of-state CDL.  He asked whether implied consent would affect his commercial driver’s license.  When the officer said that he couldn’t answer that question, our client replied that he would wait for the lawyer to arrive. The officer immediately requested a breath specimen.  Our client refused. GRL Law recently appealed the one year revocation […]

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Breath Test Suppressed After Officer Fails to Explain Rights

Iowa provides a limited statutory right to speak with a family member or attorney before submitting to breath testing under Iowa Code section 804.20.  Most of the time, the driver must first trigger the right by asking for a phone call while in custody. In this case, the officer instead volunteered the opportunity to make “a call” after invoking implied consent.  Thinking this was his one and only call, our client wisely requested an explanation.  The officer repeated his offer.  And then added the call could be placed either before or after chemical testing. Here’s where the officer erred. Section […]

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GRL Suppresses Breath Test and Saves CDL

The impaired driving defense attorneys at GRL prevented yet another CDL holder from being disqualified by the Iowa DOT. A thorough review of pretrial discovery indicated that the arresting officer made a critical mistake during the implied consent process.  He failed to properly observe the 15-minute waiting period before requesting a breath sample for testing on the DataMaster DMT.  As a result, the district court suppressed the test result from evidence making it inadmissible at trial.  This ruling is binding on the DOT and serves to rescind and remove the revocation (and CDL disqualification) from the driver’s record. GRL defends […]

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GRL Saves CDL with DOT WIN

The drug defense attorneys at GRL Law prove once again that preparation is everything when it comes to implied consent testing and DOT administrative hearings.  This is especially true when it involves professional CDL drivers and forensic drug testing. In this case, a DOT officer assigned to an I-35 weigh station in North Iowa believed he had reasonable grounds to invoke implied consent and request a urine sample under Iowa Code section 321J.6 based on the discovery of a small amount of marijuana and an admission to smoking the previous evening.  When the sample came back positive for non-impairing metabolites […]

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OWI amended to Public Intoxication due to failure to provide a proper advisory to client

Jasper County, Iowa- A Spanish speaking client was pulled over for a suspected OWI charge. The officer is required to read the client an implied consent advisory that informs them what will happen if they consent to or refuse the breath test offered by the officer.  When the person does not speak English, the officer is required to convey the advisory to the person so that it can be understood.  In this case, the officer brought in a second officer who translated the advisory into Spanish and read it aloud to the client.  GRL Law attorney Grant Gangestad hired an […]

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