Allandale, FL DUI Law Firms & Lawyers

A motion to suppress is a motion filed by an attorney in an ongoing case in which the attorney alleges that certain evidence should be excluded from consideration by the court at trial. Examples include improperly obtained evidence, statements made when no Miranda warning was given, details of an improper traffic stop, etc.  Filing of the motion is only the first step. The attorney must then schedule a hearing on the motion and present his argument before the judge who will then make a ruling upon the motion. The Judge may grant,  deny, or grant part of the motion to suppress.  If a motion to suppress is granted, then the evidence that was suppressed cannot be used at trial.  Often winning a motion to suppress will encourage the State to offer a better plea agreement, or may give you an advantage at trial if key evidence cannot be presented by the State attorney.

Many folks wrongly but reasonably believe that a police officer must immediately inform an arrested person that he or she has the right to remain silent and other rights.  They are referring to "Miranda" rights, or warnings, which in fact must be provided to an individual by a police officer if two conditions exist: First, the individual must be "in custody."  That doesn't necessarily require handcuffing or the actual restraint of one's physical liberty.  A person is "in custody" if, given all of the attendant circumstances, a reasonable person in the given situation would believe that he or she is not free to leave the presence of the officer.  Secondly, the officer must intend to ask questions of the person who is "in custody." Standard procedure by police in DUI investigations is to not provide Miranda warnings until after "non-testimonial" aspects of the investigation have occurred.  Those would include roadside sobriety tasking and breath, blood or urine gathering.  That is because they know that Miranda warnings may cause an arrested person to not cooperate with that part of the investigation. If a person, without Miranda warnings being provided, at any time during any investigation, states to a police officer that he or she wants to consult with a lawyer, or is unwilling to answer any questions, there can be no interrogation.   So, during the investigation when you mentioned your desire to speak to an attorney, you were then invoking your Constitutional rights to an attorney and to silence.