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Court documents reportedly say that Wilmington Police took two vials of blood from a New Hanover County Commissioner during a drunk driving investigation. Recent reports in the media say that a toxicology test shows that the commissioner’s blood alcohol concentration registered 0.08 percent.

However, the man accused of DWI says that he intends to fight the North Carolina DWI charges in court. He says that it is his understanding that one of the blood test results measured under the state per se legal limit of 0.08 percent, according to WWAY NewsChannel 3.

The man was arrested on suspicion of DWI December 18 in Wilmington, North Carolina around 2:00 in the morning. Police claim that the man was pulled over for allegedly making an abrupt turn in downtown Wilmington.

Law enforcement says that additional officers were called in to the traffic stop to conduct field sobriety tests. Later that morning, around 4:00 a.m., law enforcement reportedly obtained the two vials of blood. One of the vials was reportedly taken for a DWI blood kit, while the second vial was obtained for additional testing.

The man accused of DWI maintains that he was not drunk the night of his arrest. WWAY says that the commissioner admitted to drinking that night, and also admitted to taking an unidentified anti-depressant medication.

Generally, North Carolina DWI laws are rather broad in their application. As this blog has discussed a breath or blood test can be used as evidence under the so-called per se impaired driving avenue that the law affords authorities.

Most drivers know that North Carolina law sets the legal limit to drive for people age 21 and over at 0.08 percent BAC. However, authorities may also rely on other evidence in a DWI case. Drivers accused of drunk driving in North Carolina are entitled to representation by a criminal defense lawyer when facing criminal charges in the state.

Source: WWAY NewsChannel3, “FIRST ON 3: Berger says he wasn’t drunk despite 0.08 blood alcohol content,” Jan. 3, 2013

Greenville DUI Attorney Blog | North Carolina Underage Drinking Lawyer | Pitt County First DUI Law Firm

College students all across the country can be brought up on charges related to underage drinking and other types of student offenses. From time to time, the national media gets its hooks into allegations that arise in college dorms or at frat houses. Recently, allegations out of Tennessee grabbed such headlines after a 20-year-old male student was hospitalized with a blood alcohol level measuring over 0.40 percent.

News reports suggested that a group of students at a fraternity at the University of Tennessee had used an enema containing alcohol. Law enforcement claims that their investigation revealed some suspicion that fraternity members had sought to ingest alcohol through the use of a rubber tube.

Authorities cited twelve members of the fraternity with underage drinking. And one student reportedly is facing a disorderly conduct offense as a result of the police investigation.

But the student who reportedly was hospitalized says that the national media frenzy about the alleged use of the rubber tube as a form of an alcohol enema is simply not true. He says that the false accusations have harmed him.

The young man’s lawyer says that some members of the fraternity may have participated in what is called a “Tour de Franzia,” a game of drinking from several bags of wine, according to CNN. The student at the focus of media reports says that the claims that students used rubber tubes as a form of an alcohol enema are completely untrue.

Ingesting alcohol in such a fashion can be extremely dangerous. The idea is discouraged as it can easily lead to death. Alcohol molecules are absorbed quickly –without the protection of enzymes in the stomach that protect humans. The enzymes reduce the toxicity of the alcohol, an Atlanta doctor told CNN.

Source: News Channel WCTI 12, “UT student denies using alcohol enema,” CNN News, Oct. 2, 2012

Greenville DUI Attorney Blog | North Carolina Underage Drinking Lawyer | Pitt County First DUI Law Firm

A North Carolina man who was convicted of driving while impaired sought review in the North Carolina Court of Appeals, arguing that his encounter with police on the night of his arrest unconstitutionally violated his rights. The appellate court recently denied the appeal.

This blog has frequently reported stories of routine traffic stops that are later expended into alleged DWI investigations. Generally, law enforcement needs to have a legal basis to conduct a traffic stop and when the basis of the stop is resolved or dispelled, the legal basis evaporates, unless additional suspicion arises before the original matter is resolved. Cops cannot reasonably detain someone indefinitely without a reason.

That was the issue in the recent appeal-that the arresting officer remained after the original alleged legal basis for the encounter had been resolved. The incident did not involve the usual traffic stop. A state trooper says that a pickup truck, with its lights on stopped along the side of a road had drawn his attention in April 2011. A man was standing next to the stopped truck. The trooper claims that he pulled over to see if the man standing near the truck needed assistance.

After stepping out of the patrol car, the trooper asked if the man needed assistance. The man said no and the trooper continued to question the man. The trooper inquired if the man owned the truck. He did not. It was then that the trooper approached the man sitting in the driver’s seat and asked the second man if everything was okay and if anyone needed assistance.

The trooper received the same answers from the driver as he had received from the man standing outside the truck. Nonetheless, the trooper claims that he smelled alcohol on the breath of the driver. Ultimately the driver was arrested and charged with DWI. The driver sought to have the field sobriety tests and evidence of DWI thrown out, arguing that the officer had no legal basis to continue the encounter after first learning that no one needed assistance-the claimed basis for the encounter.

The Superior Court judge disagreed. The man was ultimately placed on probation for one year, with a 30 day suspended jail sentence. The appellate court says that even though the man outside the truck had said that no one needed assistance, the trooper “still had not definitively determined whether assistance was needed by the two other occupants of the truck.” The court upheld the DWI conviction.

Source: The Herald-Sun, “Court denies DWI appeal,” Beth Velliquette, May 15, 2012

Greenville DUI Attorney Blog | North Carolina Underage Drinking Lawyer | Pitt County First DUI Law Firm

Underage drinking on college campuses in North Carolina and every other state in the union is an issue for the colleges, students and law enforcement. States, including North Carolina, have laws controlling alcohol possession and consumption by minors. Colleges often have their own drug and alcohol policies to control substance use on campus.

In 2008, a federal district court struck down a Virginia law that bans alcohol related advertising in college newspapers throughout that state. The trial judge found the state provided no evidence that the advertising ban served to reduce underage drinking.

The judge further found that the state had legitimate alternative methods to curtail underage drinking. The 4^th Circuit U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which also includes North Carolina, concluded differently.

The appellate court found a “common sense” link exists between alcohol advertising and consumption. The court said that even in the absence of evidence to support the assumption that a ban on alcohol advertising in college newspapers would reduce underage consumption on campus; the law utilizes common sense and therefore does not unconstitutionally infringe freedom of the press.

The matter was appealed to the United States Supreme Court. On Monday the high court refused to review the appellate decision, the 4^th circuit decision remains the law. While the decision focuses on a law imposed by the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board in Virginia, similar restrictions can be imposed in any jurisdiction covered by the 4^th circuit ruling.

Underage drinking and possession laws are not influenced by the decision. In North Carolina, a conviction for underage alcohol related crimes are entered on an individual’s record.

Source: Augusta Free Press, “Supreme Court declines to intervene in college free-press case,” 30 Nov 2010

Greenville DUI Attorney Blog | North Carolina Underage Drinking Lawyer | Pitt County First DUI Law Firm