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The Arrest Report in Your DUI Case May Have Been Written by Software. California Now Makes Them Say So.
DUI/DWIAug 28

The Arrest Report in Your DUI Case May Have Been Written by Software. California Now Makes Them Say So.

California's SB 524 took effect January 1, 2026, and it forces police reports to disclose when artificial intelligence drafted them, preserve the first AI draft, and log who ran the tool. In DUI cases, where the officer's narrative of odor, slurred speech, and field sobriety performance often is the case, that retained draft is new impeachment material. Utah requires disclosure and certification but no draft retention. Roughly 48 states require nothing at all.

DUI/DWIAug 23

A Jacksonville Panel Threw Out a Breath Test Over Five Rubber Rings. The Window to Use That Argument Is Closing.

A three judge Duval County panel suppressed an Intoxilyzer 8000 result this month because FDLE and the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office replaced O-rings inside the machine without being an authorized repair facility. The order is not the first ruling of its kind, and it is not the blank slate the coverage suggests. It follows binding appellate precedent from 2025, and it lands weeks after FDLE amended the very rule the argument depends on.

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DUI/DWIAug 22

An Illinois Lab's Cannabis DUI Tests Couldn't Separate Delta-8 From Delta-9. Roughly 2,000 Cases Are Now in Question.

For eight years, Illinois courts treated delta-9 THC numbers from a University of Illinois Chicago lab as fact. On March 11, 2026, the state's forensic oversight commission rejected the university's own defense of those numbers as 'insufficient.' Here is how to find out whether your case is in the pool, and what remedy fits.

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DUI/DWIAug 18

California's DUI Overhaul Has Two Weeks Left, and Most of It Is Already Dead

The Legislature must pass every bill by Aug. 31, and the Governor has until Sept. 30 to sign. But the headline bill in California's 2026 impaired-driving package, a first-offense ignition interlock mandate, is stalled on the suspense file and would not operate until 2031 even if it passes. Here is what actually survived, what died in the spring, and what a Jan. 1, 2027 effective date would really mean for a pending case.

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DUI/DWIAug 15

Oklahoma Can Now Turn Two Unproven DUIs Into One Felony: SB 1543 Drops the Conviction Requirement on November 1

Starting November 1, 2026, Oklahoma prosecutors can aggregate two DUI violations committed within one year and charge them as a single Class C2 felony, with no prior conviction required. Here is what the statute says, what it leaves undefined, and why severance under 22 O.S. § 439 becomes the central defense tool.

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DUI/DWIAug 14

Louisiana's New Twelve-Year DWI Minimum Took Effect August 1. It Reaches Far Fewer Drivers Than the Headlines Suggest.

Act 117 added a twelve-year mandatory minimum to Louisiana's DWI statute effective August 1, 2026. It fires only when the driver already has a vehicular homicide, third degree feticide, or first degree vehicular negligent injuring conviction. The baseline penalties for a second, third, or fourth DWI did not change. Here is what actually moved, and why a decades-old conviction can still trigger the new floor.

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DUI/DWIJul 20

'They Catch Everybody': A New National Investigation Says Roadside Sobriety Tests Fail Sober Drivers, and Courts Are Listening

A multi-year, 22-state investigation and a 2023 randomized trial reach the same uncomfortable conclusion: roadside sobriety tests are good enough to justify an arrest but too unreliable to prove impairment in court. Here is what the tests measure, why sober people fail, and how defense lawyers are fighting the results.

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DUI/DWIJul 16

Pennsylvania Just Invented a New DUI Crime That Turns Your Old ARD Into a Prior Offense

A 2025 win for Pennsylvania DUI defendants lasted less than seven months. After the state Supreme Court ruled in Commonwealth v. Shifflett that a prior ARD acceptance could not be used to enhance a DUI sentence, lawmakers responded with Act 58 of 2025, creating a brand-new offense at 75 Pa.C.S. 3802(h) that charges a fresh DUI as a second offense if you completed ARD within the past 10 years.

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DUI/DWIJul 9

The .05 Blood-Alcohol Line Is Spreading: Washington Eyed a July Cutover, and Utah Is No Longer the Only Bill on the Table

Washington's Senate voted to drop the DUI threshold from .08 to .05 before the 2026 bill died in the House. Utah still stands alone in enforcement, but a growing list of states is pushing the same number. Here is what a .05 limit actually means for drivers and their defense.

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DUI/DWIJul 6

Half of Sober Drivers Fail the Roadside Marijuana Test: Why Courts Are Starting to Throw Out Cannabis DUI Field Evidence

A UC San Diego clinical trial found trained officers rated nearly half of sober placebo participants as impaired on roadside sobriety tests. Defense attorneys are now using that number to challenge cannabis DUI arrests.

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DUI/DWIJul 4

Two DUIs and You Lose Your Guns: Washington's Top Court Upholds Recidivist Disarmament Law 5-4 in McLellan v. Brown

In a 5-4 decision, the Washington Supreme Court upheld RCW 9.41.040, which bars firearm possession for people with two or more DUI-type convictions within seven years. The court held the state can categorically disarm repeat DUI offenders without any individualized finding of dangerousness. A four-justice dissent called it preemptive disarmament.

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