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Matthew Fox was arrested in Bend, Oregon on suspicion of DUI. His initial appearance will be in a Deschutes County courtroom on June 17. He was arrested around 3:30 am Friday morning.

Fox is an actor. He played Charlie Salinger on Party of Five and Jack Shephard more recently on Lost. He moved his family from Hawaii to Oregon after the TV series Lost ended after six seasons in 2010.

According to Wikipedia, Fox is no stranger to the law. On August 28, 2011, Fox was reported to have punched a female bus driver in the chest and pelvic area after he attempted to board a party bus reserved for a private bachelor party outside of Christie's Cabaret in Cleveland, Ohio.  On September 16, 2011, a spokeswoman for the city of Cleveland announced that prosecutors had decided not to charge Fox. A civil suit related to the alleged incident has been filed.

Continue reading …]]> The week was done and my client, let’s call him Joe, finally made it to his favorite watering hole.

You know police are out in force looking for drunk drivers, especially on Friday and Saturday nights.  So, Joe didn’t start out intending to get drunk and drive.  But, as the drinks began to flow, his inhibitions weakened and the thought of “just one more” didn’t seem like such a bad idea.  After all, he was there among friends.

Finally, the thought occurred to him to leave – to drive himself home, before he felt that he had “too much” to drink.  Do I really even know how much is “too much?” Joe thought to himself as he fumbled for his keys. Of course not. But he felt fine. He wasn’t stumbling or losing his balance – “no problem” he told himself.

While driving down a long stretch of road, Joe noticed some headlights pretty far behind him.  As he approached a stop sign, he turned his blinker on to turn left.  He stopped, turned left and proceeded on down the road.  

Suddenly Joe noticed those headlights behind him quickly getting closer.  It was then that he realized it was a police car with its emergency lights illuminated.  “Is he after me?” Joe thought out loud.  What did I do wrong? Is he going to know if I’ve been drinking?  Will I be arrested for DUI?  Joe’s stomach felt sick and he started to worry. He had a friend that lost her license for a year after a DUI. If that happened, how would he get his daughter to school in the morning? How would he get to work? What would he tell his wife? His friends? Joe had responsibilities. He was a good person.

Sure enough, the flashing lights got closer and closer in Joe’s rear view mirror. The police car pulled him over, and Joe’s heart wouldn’t stop thumping as the cop approached his window.  

“Sir, do you know why I pulled you over?” the officer bellowed. His voice was deep, and he spat out his words with the authority of a drill sergeant.

Joe thought to himself, “I don’t think I was speeding… I stopped at the stop sign… I used my turn signal.”  

“No officer, I don’t think I was speeding or anything.” Joe replied, trying to enunciate his words as clearly as possible while maintaining eye contact so the officer wouldn’t suspect anything.

“OK well you didn’t turn your blinker on between 300 feet and a half a mile before you turned,” the officer explained.

The officer had been following Joe since he left the bar.  He noticed Joe squealed his tires when he pulled out of the parking lot back at the bar, and that was what called his attention to Joe in the first place. The failure to turn on the turn signal at least 300 feet before the intersection gave the police officer a reason to pull Joe over.  Joe felt compelled to explain that he had never heard of that law.  

The officer moved in closer, apparently intent on hearing what Joe had to say. As he got closer, he thought he smelled the odor of alcohol on Joe’s breath. He looked Joe in the eyes. He looked tired, and his eyes were watery.

“License and registration please,” said the officer.

Joe had difficulty getting his license out of his wallet because he hadn’t taken it out in over a year. After trying his best to get the license out from behind the clear plastic cover, he gave up and just handed his entire wallet to the officer. The police man reached into the wallet with his thumb and first finger and surgically removed the license in one yank, then handed the wallet back to Joe without blinking.

“Registration please”.

Joe fumbled around in the glove compartment, until he found the document he was searching for. “Here ya go” he said as he handed it to the cop.

“That’s your insurance card, sir. Registration please.”

Joe went back to fumbling.

Joe wanted to be as cooperative as possible. Hopefully the officer saw that. He found the registration stuck in the front of his owner’s manual and handed it over to the waiting patrolman, who then walked back to his patrol car. The officer sat in the patrol car with his eyes down for a long time. The lights kept flashing.

“I guess he can’t see those flashing lights from inside the patrol car,” Joe thought to himself. They were driving Joe crazy as they danced off all the shiny objects surrounding him — his side mirrors, his rear view mirror, the chrome trim on his dashboard.

After an eternity, and after checking Joe’s documents against the computer in his cruiser, the officer returned to Joe’s window and asked, “Sir, have you had anything to drink?”  

Joe was raised to believe that honesty is the best policy, and he so wanted to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, but not all at once.  So he said, “Yes sir, but… I’ve had two beers this evening.”

Joe thought he saw the corners of the officer’s mouth curl upward ever so slightly to form a faint grin when he said “two beers”.

“Please step out of the car”.

Joe stepped out of the car and was directed to walk to a spot on the shoulder of the road in front of his front bumper.

Standing on the shoulder of the road, Joe saw that the officer wasn’t as tall as he seemed when he first came to Joe’s window. Joe felt this wasn’t so bad. Strangely, the fact that this police man wasn’t as tall as Joe made him feel like things weren’t so bad. Maybe this was just a regular guy in a uniform protecting the public. Joe actually kind of felt bad for the officer. It was starting to rain and here he was standing out there getting wet, and for no good reason. “This will be quick” Joe thought to himself.

The officer stepped up to Joe and looked him in the eye. He started describing to Joe what they were going to do there on the side of the road. “You’re going to stand like this” he heard the officer say, and then something about “hold your toe up in the air” and “look straight ahead”. He didn’t catch all of what the officer said, but when the officer said “OK Your Turn”, Joe did his best to mimic what the officer had done.

“Now you’re going to count backwards from…” Joe couldn’t really hear all of what the officer was saying but he didn’t want him to think he was drunk and out of control, so he did his best to follow along with what he was being told to do, and he gave it the ol’ college try.

After going through what must have been half a dozen of these types of roadside tests, the officer told Joe to stand and face the front of his car. The officer pushed his shoulders forward and Joe caught himself by placing his hands on the hood of the car. The officer pulled one arm behind Joe’s back. He felt the clicking of a handcuff around his wrist. Then the officer made him put his other hand behind his back, and he felt that clicking sensation again and he couldn’t use his hands any longer.

The officer walked Joe toward the police cruiser and opened the back door for him. Joe felt the officer’s hand on the top of his head as he crouched to get into the back seat.  Joe tried to sit still in the back of the patrol car, but he had to lean to the side because the handcuffs hurt his wrist. The officer got into the driver’s seat and spoke on the radio. Joe felt like his head was spinning. He could hear the officer talking but he was so upset that none of the words made any sense. Joe looked out the window and tried not to start crying. He had never been arrested before.

The people driving by were looking into the back of the police cruiser and seeing Joe. One woman looked him right in the eyes. “She thinks I’m a criminal” he whispered to himself.

And then they pulled away, leaving Joe’s car on the side of the road.

To be continued…

This story is a purely fictional account. Any resemblance of this story or the characters in this story to real DUI arrest cases or real persons is purely happenstance. 

Matt Stiller is the Delaware DUI Defender. If you have been arrested for drunk driving in Delaware, call Matt today for a free consultation. Matt handles DUI cases in New Castle County, Kent County and Sussex County, Delaware.

Continue reading …]]> A recent DelawareOnline article details the State’s attempt to expand the Delaware DUI laws to include driving off-highway vehicles while under the influence.

Off-highway vehicles are things like off-road four wheel motorcycles or “four-wheelers”, lawn mowers and hovercraft. Maybe even a Zamboni machine would qualify (we do have several ice rinks in Delaware).

The Delaware DUI statute, 21 Del.C. Section 4177 makes it illegal to drive “a vehicle” while under the influence. Title 21 Del.C. Section 4177(c)(4) defines “Vehicle” to include off-highway vehicles.

But cases interpreting the statute actually bar its application to off-highway vehicles. The problem is that there is another statute, 21 Del.C. Section 6816, which also makes it illegal to operate an off-highway vehicle under the influence. 6816 does not have the strong penalties that are found in 21 Del.C. Section 2118. In fact, the penalties are weak. But the Courts have to follow the weaker law. The following paragraph from the Court of Common Pleas opinion in State v. Larry Cole explains:

§6816 provides a DUI offense specific to those who are operating an OHV.  It states that “[a] person shall not operate an OHV while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or controlled substances as defined in §4177 of this title.”  21 Del. C. §6816.  Furthermore, the chapter of Title 21 containing this section includes another section that provides that “[s]hould any provision of this chapter conflict with other statutes, the provisions or requirements of this chapter shall apply.”  21 Del. C. §6833. The main difference between §4177 and §6816, and the reason for the dispute on the State’s appeal, is the penalty for their violation.  While a person convicted of violating §4177 faces a fine, the mandatory loss of their driver’s license and jail time, which is mandatory for second and subsequent offenses, a person violating §6816 only faces a fine and the possible impoundment of their OHV for a period of thirty days.

The Delaware legislature plans to modify the laws so that the prosecutors and police are free to charge people with DUI who are operating off-highway vehicles on the roads while allegedly under the influence of alcohol. To see a copy of the proposed legislation, House Bill 259, click here.

The question I have is, do we really need more DUI laws?  Is this change in legislation really designed to solve a serious problem that society faces, or is it just one more law that will rarely be applied? I mean, honestly, how often does the State of Delaware miss an opportunity to prosecute someone for driving their lawnmower drunk? Aren’t the police busy enough already that they don’t need to go out looking for folks on off-highway vehicles to prosecute?

Continue reading …]]> The Delaware Office of Highway Safety announced earlier this month that it will be coordinating stepped-up statewide St. Patrick’s Day weekend DUI enforcement March 16 and 17. DUI saturation patrols will be conducted by police in Clayton, Dover, Felton, Georgetown, Harrington,  Laurel, Middletown, Milford, Millsboro, New Castle County, Newark, Newport, Seaford, Smyrna and by the Delaware State Police.  We do not have any information about checkpoints as of the time of this post.

Don't drink and drive this St Patty's Day!

In 2011, there were 66 DUI arrests resulting from St. Patrick’s Day enforcement activities. That’s 66 people whose ‘Luck of the Irish’ failed them. How can you avoid being one of those people who will get arrested for DUI this weekend? The short answer to that question is Don’t Drive. Here are some thoughts on how to avoid driving:

First, you can designate a driver. This is easier and takes less planning than you would imagine. Just get a ride to wherever you plan to party rather than driving there yourself. Make sure that the person who drops you off knows you will be calling later for a ride back home.

Second, another option is to call a cab. There are taxi companies all over Delaware. Here is a list of every taxi company in Delaware with locations and phone numbers, which we copied from the DMV Office of Public Carrier Regulations website:

Dan’s Taxi, Claymont DE, 302-883-8826

Champion Transportation Services, Newark DE 302-383-4706

City Cab, Dover DE, 302-678-8200

Beach Ride Taxi, Milton DE, 302-645-6800

Charles Taxi, Newark DE, 302-981-8767

Checker Transportation, Newark DE 302-883-9330

D&G Taxi, Warwick MD, 410-755-6455

Yellow Cab, Wilmington DE, (302) 656-8151

Delaware Concierge Taxi, Wilmington DE, (302) 602-2222

Eagle Taxi Cab, Inc., Newark DE, (302) 397-1568

Eastern Shore Transport, Inc., Milton DE, (302) 448-5590

Abe Taxi, Newark DE, (302) 419-8222

Quality Ride, Newark DE, (302) 252-7931

Elite Taxi Cab, Inc., Newark DE, (302) 438-4673

Family Taxi, Inc., New Castle DE, (302) 256-0674

Georges Car and Business Services, Kenton DE, (302) 223-5000

Emerald Taxi Co., Newark DE, (302) 442-0876

1st Choice Taxi, Newark DE, (302) 230-1895

The Date Taxi, Bear DE, (302) 668-4379

Hope Taxi, New Castle DE, (302) 723-1398

Ivory Taxi, Bear DE, (302)983-8359

Johns Cab Company, Wilmington, DE      (302)521-9877

Newark Express Taxi, Newark, DE (302)384-2448

Galaxy Cab, Newark, DE (302)252-8882

Zizo Taxi Cab, Newark, DE (302)528-5663

302 Taxi Service, Newark DE, (302)897-4943

Nadal Taxi, New Castle DE, (302) 528-4153

Del Taxi, Claymont DE, (302) 354-9190

Noni Taxi Cab, Newark DE, (302)897-8915

Orville McFarlane t/a Fastest Kid On The Block, New Castle, DE (302)743-5016

First State Taxi Service, Wilmington, DE (302)897-2829

Diamond State Taxi, New Castle, DE (302)444-1703

Saferide Taxi Co., Newark, DE (302)252-5771

Sams Transportation, Claymont, DE (302)442-1421

Apple Car, Newark, DE (302)743-0831

Shamrock Taxi, Lewes, DE (302)360-8360

Maani Taxi Cab, Newark, DE (302)607-1031

Always Ready Taxi, New Castle, DE (302)753-5747

Seacoast Cab Co., Wilmington DE, (302) 834-7575

Willy Cab, Wilmington, (302)465-1252

Whatever you do, don’t let this weekend be the last weekend you have a driver’s license. A DUI now could ruin your who summer.

Matt Stiller

The “Delaware DUI Defender”

Matt Stiller is the Delaware DUI Defender. He represents the accused in all criminal cases in Delaware, and focuses his practice on defense of driving under the influence charges in the Justice of the Peace Courts, Court of Common Pleas in New Castle County, Delaware, Court of Common Pleas in Kent County, and Court of Common Pleas in Sussex County. Matt also handles Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) drivers' license revocation hearings resulting from DUI arrests. If you need a DUI attorney in Delaware, please contact Matt at (302) 654-4930 in Wilmington or (302) 678-8700 in Dover. There is no charge to speak to Matt about your case.

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Mets bullpen catcher, Eric Langill, 32 years old, was arrested on suspicion of Driving Under the Influence (DUI) this past Sunday in Lakeland, Florida.

Mets bullpen catcher Eric Langill Mug Shot

According to news reports, Langill was operating a Honda. He lost control of the vehicle. It rolled over a curb, struck a street sign, hit a fountain and rolled over.

After exiting the car, he failed field sobriety tests and was arrested for DUI by the St. Lucie Sheriff’s office.

The DUI came hours after the Mets’ bowling night. GM Sandy Alderson was quoted by the NY Daily News as saying, “It does raise some concern. However, I was at bowling night. I was there when it concluded, substantially concluded at approximately 8:45. This incident occurred at approximately 11:30, 11:20, something of that sort. So from that standpoint, a significant amount of time [transpired] between when this official event ended, and when this incident occurred.”

Read more by clicking here.

Matt Stiller is the Delaware DUI Defender. He represents the accused in all criminal cases in Delaware, and focuses his practice on defense of driving under the influence charges in the Justice of the Peace Courts, Court of Common Pleas in New Castle County, Delaware, Court of Common Pleas in Kent County, and Court of Common Pleas in Sussex County. Matt also handles Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) drivers' license revocation hearings resulting from DUI arrests. If you need a DUI attorney in Delaware, please contact Matt at (302) 654-4930 in Wilmington or (302) 678-8700 in Dover. There is no charge to speak to Matt about your case.

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According to a press release on news.delaware.gov, there is one DUI checkpoint planned for this weekend. It is scheduled for Friday, February 24^th.  It will be conducted by New Castle County DUI Checkpoint Strikeforce in Wilmington.

No further specific information was available about the planned DUI checkpoint.

The press release indicates that there will be two DUI checkpoints each month until June, at which point weekly DUI checkpoints will resume.

The problem with DUI checkpoints is that they ensnare all drivers, not just the guilty. Stopping all drivers in an attempt to find the law breakers violates everyone’s rights. I am not in favor of drunk driving or impaired driving, but there are more effective and more Constitutional ways to find the law breakers that don’t involve stopping and detaining innocent people. Hopefully the day will come soon when the State of Delaware puts an end to DUI checkpoints and focuses its efforts on more reasonable measures such as roving patrols. 

Continue reading …]]> In Delaware on Superbowl Sunday 2012, we had two very unpatriotic DUI checkpoints. They are unpatriotic because in America, we are supposed to have freedoms guaranteed by the US Constitution. One such freedom is the right to be free from unnecessary searches and seizures by police. DUI checkpoints violate that right because at DUI checkpoints, law enforcement stops everyone without cause, without reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing, without probable cause. How much more unpatriotic can you get than to completely disregard the Bill of Rights?
In any event, the DUI checkpoints and other increased patrols resulted in some giant results, at least by Delaware drunk driving arrest standards. Twenty one were arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.
Compare that to the number of DUI arrests in Delaware on New Years 2012. Thirty nine were busted that weekend using twice the checkpoints. So it appears that the frequency of drunk driving arrests are approximately the same.
Now that I have made my point about how these Delaware drunken driving checkpoints violate all of our rights, let me say this: please don’t drink and drive. Designate a driver. Call a ride. I am not advocating drinking and driving.

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I published a blog article yesterday stating that there will be one DUI checkpoint in Wilmington on Superbowl Sunday. According to an article on DelawareOnline this morning, there are now two DUI checkpoints scheduled for Superbowl Sunday. One will be in Wilmington, Delaware and there will be an additional drunk driving checkpoint in Bear, Delaware.

I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea. I am not a proponent of driving while intoxicated. Don't drink and drive! If you do go to a bar or party, arrange for transportation BEFORE you crack open a beer. 

I am, however, a proponent of police following the Constitution, and I am a proponent of limiting government involvement in peoples’ lives unless there’s a good reason for it. DUI checkpoints should be declared unconstitutional and outlawed because they stop and harass innocent drivers and passengers in a dragnet approach to detecting crime.

The 4^th Amendment to the US Constitution prohibits stops of citizens absent reasonable suspicion of some wrongdoing. For example, the police are not allowed to stop you as you are walking down the street and stick their hands in your pockets to see if you have any drugs. The police are not allowed to come over to your house, turn on your computer and search it to make sure you don’t have any child porn. Why then are the police allowed to stop you in your vehicle, examine you and ask you questions in an attempt to determine if you could be driving under the influence? 

Continue reading …]]> The good news is that, according to the press release by the Delaware Office of Highway Safety, there will only be one unconstitutional DUI checkpoint in Wilmington on Sunday. It will be conducted by New Castle County DUI Taskforce. As many of you are aware, I believe that DUI checkpoints are unconstitutional and should be declared illegal. They use a dragnet approach to ensnare hundreds of motorists, the vast majority of whom are doing nothing wrong. After stopping and harassing those motorists, the innocent are let go. Those who are suspected of drunk driving and those who are wanted on existing arrest warrants are hauled in and arrested.  There will be roving DUI patrols as well.  There will be 38 saturation patrols.

Please note that as I stated above, I found this information in a press release issued by the Delaware Office of Highway Safety about “Safety Down Day” on Dover Air Force Base. Hidden at the bottom of the press release is information about this Sunday’s DUI checkpoint and roving saturation patrols. Why is the Office of Highway Safety hiding information about checkpoints? The purpose of advertising the checkpoints is so that the general public will be aware that enforcement activity exists, which should reduce drinking and driving generally. Why would this information be hidden at the bottom of a press release about an event on a different day on Dover Air Force Base? Furthermore, the press release actually states that the checkpoints will be held on Friday rather than Sunday. This is misleading. I wonder if this is merely an innocent typo, or if there is something nefarious going on.

Continue reading …]]> Today, Governor Markell signed into law a bill making bath salts a schedule 1 controlled substance. Now, it is illegal to possess them. The bill, Senate Bill 160, amends 16 Del.C. section 4701 to add drugs commonly called or marketed as bath salts. These drugs include synthetic cannabinoids, Mephedrone, MDPV and other substances.

Of course, by adding these items to the lists of controlled substances, driving with any amount of “bath salts” in one’s system is now a potential DUI. The Delaware DUI law, 21 Del.C. Section 4177(a), makes it illegal to drive under the influence of any drug. Any amount of the drug found in a driver’s system within four hours after driving is considered under the influence.

If you find yourself in need of a defense attorney for a bath salts criminal arrest or bath salts DUI case in Wilmington DE, Newark DE, Dover DE, Rehoboth DE or anywhere in the First State, please call for your free consultation.

Matt Stiller

Continue reading …]]> The United States Supreme Court today ruled that warrantless use of GPS tracking devices is a violation of the US Constitution. The ruling was handed down by an unanimous Court, which invalidated the conviction of an alleged drug dealer whose movements were tracked through the use of a GPS device planted on his car.
The reversal of the conviction was unanimous, but the reasoning behind the reversal was not. The majority of the Court declared in an opinion authored by Justice Scalia that placing the tracking device was a physical intrusion upon a private area, and therefore constituted a “search”. The opinion of the Court was joined by Thomas, Sotomayor, Kennedy and Roberts.

Bill of Rights 1, Tyranny of Big Government 0.

Matt

James M. “Matt” Stiller, Jr. represents the accused in all manner of criminal arrests and prosecutions, including Delaware DUI cases, Delaware drug crimes, sex crimes and (his favorite) DUI cases in Dover, Wilmington, Georgetown and other areas od the First State. Mr. Stiller is admitted to practice before all Delaware Courts as well as the Supreme Court of the United States of America.

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Don't fall asleep at the wheel!

Answer:  He can be arrested for that. Whether or not he will be found guilty after trial depends on a lot of factors, but you do not have to be actually driving down the road to get arrested for DUI. You could be asleep in the car with the engine running and that would be enough for them to arrest you. Here’s why:

The Delaware DUI law is found at Title 21 of the Delaware Code, in Section 4177. Subsection (c)(3) says DUI means driving, operating, or having actual physical control of a vehicle while under the influence.

The Delaware Supreme Court, in a 2000 opinion in a case called Bodner v. State*, wrote that, “A person can have actual physical control . . . without either operating or driving the vehicle. [P]hysical control is meant to cover situations where an inebriated person is found in a parked vehicle under circumstances where the car, without too much difficulty, might again be started and become a source of danger to the operator, to others, or to property.”

In fact, the Bodner Court developed a jury instruction on the actual physical control requirement. If your husband were to fight his charge at trial in the Delaware Court of Common Pleas or Delaware Superior Court, the Judge would instruct the jury that they have to decide if he was in “actual physical control” of the car while under the influence. The judge would probably read the following instruction to the jury:

In considering whether or not the defendant was in physical control of the motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, you may consider:

a. defendant's location in or by the vehicle,

b. the location of the ignition keys,

c. whether the defendant had been a passenger in the vehicle before it came to rest,

d. who owned the vehicle,

e. the extent to which the vehicle was operable, and

f. if inoperable, whether the vehicle might have been rendered operable without too much difficulty so as to be a danger to persons or property, any other facts or circumstances bearing on whether or not the defendant was then in physical control of a motor vehicle which was or reasonably could become a danger to persons or property while the defendant was under the influence of alcohol.

So we would need to look at all the facts and circumstances of the case to determine whether your husband really was in actual physical control of the car at the time of the arrest.

Matt Stiller

Matt Stiller is the Delaware DUI Defender. He represents the accused in all criminal cases in DE. He handles cases from traffic tickets to death penalty capital murder, and he has a special interest in defending Delaware drunk driving charges. If you or a family member has been arrested or charged with DUI, please contact Matt for a free consultation today.

*Bodner v. State, 752 A.2d 1169 (Del.2000).

Continue reading …]]> Matt Stiller, the "Delaware DUI Defender" and his firm Schwartz & Schwartz, Attorneys at Law are providing on call legal services to anyone arrested and charged with a DUI offense in Delaware this New Years weekend.

It is free to speak to one of our Delaware attorneys about your drunk driving, dui, dwi or underage consumption charge. We have attorneys on call and available to speak to you by phone between the hours of 9 am and 9 pm on Friday December 30, and Saturday December 31st, 2011. Attorneys are also available by phone on Sunday, January 1 and Monday January 2, 2012 between 9 am and 9 pm.

Our on call attorney's number this holiday weekend is 302-423-5761.  You can also submit a consultation request using the web form here.  Please allow two hours for the on call attorney to respond.  Before we can speak to you, our staff must perform a conflict of interest screen, which takes time, and this is a busy weekend for DUI defense attorneys.

Don't let a DUI arrest this holiday weekend ruin your life... speak to a Delaware criminal defense attorney today

Mr. Stiller and the attorneys at Schwartz & Schwartz have substantial experience defending cases such as: first offense DUI, second offense DUI, third offense DUI, fourth offense DUI, underage drinking, driving under the influence of drugs, driving while license suspended or revoked, and other criminal and traffic offenses. Mr. Stiller and his team defend all criminal charges in Delaware, from simple drug possession to death penalty capital murder cases. With offices in Wilmington and Dover, we are equipped to handle your case, whether it is in New Castle County, Kent County or Sussex County, Delaware.

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Delaware DUI roadblocks interfere with the freedom of sober, lawful motorists

Friday, December 30 there will be DUI checkpoints in Rehoboth Beach, Clayton and Dover, Delaware.

Saturday, December 31 there will be Delaware DWI / DUI checkpoints in Dover, Millsboro, Newport and Wilmington, Delaware.

This information was gleaned from an article published by WGMD.

Continue reading …]]> There are many things to avoid when you are arrested on suspicion of DUI in Delaware. One of those things not to do is turn your misdemeanor DUI arrest into a felony bribery case. That’s exactly what happened Thursday night when Dana Rich of Tennessee was arrested for DUI. She was sitting in the back seat of the police cruiser when she told the officer that she would write him a check for a thousand dollars if he would drop the DUI charges. She stated it twice, according to news reports, before realizing that camera and video recorders were rolling in the police car, at which point she stated she was only kidding. Now, Ms. Rich has been arrested and charged not only with DUI, but with felony bribery as well. To read the news report, click here.

Many people don’t realize that they have a Constitutional right to remain silent. If you are dealing with law enforcement, it is often wise to invoke that right at the earliest possible opportunity.

Matt Stiller

James M. “Matt” Stiller defends DUIs as well as felony criminal charges in all courts in the State of Delaware, including those that require a Delaware JP Court attorney, a DE Court of Common Pleas attorney, and a Delaware Superior Court lawyer.

Continue reading …]]> There is no better feeling that I have had the pleasure to discover in the practice of law than to see the wheels of justice turn out a fair, equitable and accurate result with the help of twelve brave citizens sitting as a Superior Court jury.

I started a trial last week for my client, a Dover man, who was charged with the following crimes:
Possession with intent to deliver marijuana (a serious felony),
Maintaining a vehicle for storage, use or consumption of drugs (another felony),
Conspiracy 2nd degree (felony),
Possession of drug paraphernalia (misdemeanor), and
Driving over a median (traffic violation).

The jury returned it’s verdict today: Not Guilty on all charges.

I truly believe my client was actually innocent. He was riding in a vehicle with a woman who had the drugs in her possession. They clearly were not my client’s drugs, and I am just very grateful to the jurors who had the gumption to stand up for truth and justice and who refused to convict an innocent man.

Lesson: make sure you know who and what is in the car with you. You could be arrested and charged with someone else’s illegal drugs, guns or other possessions, just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Matt

James M. (“Matt”) Stiller, Jr., Esq. represents the accused in all courts in Delaware in all manner of criminal cases, including drug cases and DUI.

Continue reading …]]> A one car accident involving a Honda Pilot temporarily closed all lanes of northbound I-95 in Wilmington, Delaware shortly after 7:00 pm yesterday. Police arrested 49 year old Melissa Megee of Garnet Valley, PA with DUI and other offenses. She was trapped in the vehicle. After extrication, she was transported to Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware. For more information, go to http://www.wgmd.com/?p=41866.

Continue reading …]]> Miss USA 2010 was arrested on DUI charges According to people dot com. Twenty-six year old Rima Fakih was arrested and charged with drunk driving in Highland Park, MI over the weekend. Ms. Fakih is the first Arab-American to win the Miss USA competition. Michigan police have not offered any details concerning the arrest.

At this time, it would be good to remember that an arrest is just that — an arrest. And all citizens are entitled to the presumption of innocence, unless and until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt.

Matt Stiller
Delaware DUI Defender

Matt Stiller defends people charged with driving under the influence in Kent County, DE, New Castle County, DE and Sussex County, DE from his offices in Wilmington and Dover.

Continue reading …]]> A DUI checkpoint has been scheduled for today/tonight in Newark, Delaware, according to the News Journal's website Delawareonline.

Also scheduled are 113 DUI saturation patrols and 20 aggressive driving saturation patrols throughout the state this weekend.

As many of you are aware, I consider DUI Checkpoints to be an unconstitutional use of the State's power. The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. Stopping a motorist for no reason other than that they are on the road is inherently unreasonable. DUI Checkpoints should be banned as unconstitutional.

Matt Stiller
 

Matt Stiller represents the accused in DUI cases in all areas of Delaware, from Claymont to Seaford. If you need help with your DUI case or with your Delaware DMV license revocation hearing, call 1-855-TIPTHESCALES or email Matt directly at matt.stiller@schwartzandschwartz.com .