DUI Charges Dropped after Summit Defense Attorney Rabin Nabizadeh Argues Lack of Probable Cause Following a Pretext Stop
Oakland, CA, July 09, 2009 --(
PR.com)-- In Contra Costa Superior Court today, Mr. Rabin Nabizadeh, a
Bay Area DUI defense attorney successfully moved to suppress evidence arguing that his client was improperly arrested for DUI or driving under the influence.
According to Mr. Nabizadeh, the client whose name is withheld to protect his privacy was pulled over by the police without probable cause. According to the officer, the driver had a hard-to-read registration tag along with a broken tail light. But following Mr. Nabizadeh’s argument in court, the judge found the officer’s testimony to be not credible and granted the motion to suppress causing the case to be dismissed.
Mr. Nabizadeh explained that police pull over drivers for improper reasons which may amount to racial profiling. When police are suspicious of a driver, but don’t have a concrete reason to pull them over they may initiate what’s called a “pretext stop” by inventing a minor violation like a hard-to-read registration tag or a broken light bulb.
An officer’s suspicion may be aroused when a car’s occupants are playing loud music. But unless there are behaviors such as speeding or weaving the police do not have the authority to make the traffic stop in the first place.
“Whether or not the driver’s BAC was over the legal limit is irrelevant if he or she was pulled over without probable cause.”
- Rabin Nabizadeh
Since the arrest was improper, the case was thrown out and Mr. Nabizadeh’s client avoided a second DUI conviction which could have resulted in up to one year in jail.
The client requires his driver’s license for his work, so he was ecstatic at the outcome. At Rabin’s suggestion he has started attending AA meetings. Says Rabin, “This is a win-win situation. This was a victimless crime and the client is keeping his job which he needs to support his family. He is being rehabilitated rather than facing a loss of job and pointless jail time.”
About Summit Defense
Summit Defense is a Northern California DUI and Criminal Defense Law Firm with offices in the Bay Area and Sacramento. Their accomplished team of trial attorneys includes two former prosecutors, a former police officer and attorneys who graduated from the country’s top law schools. Their criminal defense attorneys handle the full spectrum of criminal defense cases with a focus on serious felony defense.
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