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Holcomb Law, LLLC, a limited liability law corporation, is owned and operated by Honolulu DUI attorney, criminal defense lawyer, and personal injury lawyer, Richard L. Holcomb. In addition to serving all of Honolulu City and County, including the entire island of Oahu and appearing in all courts on Oahu, including the District Courts at Kaneohe and Ewa, Mr. Holcomb is a Hawaii DUI attorney, criminal defense lawyer, and personal injury lawyer. Mr. Holcomb serves the islands (counties) of Hawaii, including Kona and Hilo, Maui (Lanai), and Kauai.
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Limited Liability Law Corporation
Richard L. Holcomb Attorney At Law
DEDICATED HAWAII CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYER
Holcomb Law, LLLC
HONOLULU DUI / OVUII DEFENSE ATTORNEY
808.545.4040
1136 Union Mall Suite 808 Honolulu, HI 96813
Holcomb Law, LLLC © 2012 All rights reserved.
DUI Defense Attorney in Honolulu
Field Sobriety Tests
Field Sobriety Tests are one of the most commonly known (and misunderstood) indicators of sobriety. Historically, the limits of which field sobriety “tests” would be administered and of what those “tests” consist were defined solely by the police officer’s imagination. Due to the obvious lack of uniformity and questionable results of such “tests” the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (the NHTSA) standardized Field Sobriety Tests in an effort to ensure reliable results.
Only three tests were standardized by the NHTSA. The NHTSA concluded that the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus, Walk-and-Turn, and One-Leg Stand would serve as reliable indicators of intoxication. The NHTSA then tested the effectiveness of these tests to determine whether: the tests were reliable indicators of intoxication, the tests could be used to estimate a suspect’s blood alcohol content (BAC), and “failing” the tests could identify suspects whose blood alcohol content (BAC) is above the legal limit.
The NHTSA also studied the feasibility of employing these tests in the field and regulates the procedures, instructions, and scoring of the tests in an attempt to ensure reliability.
Honolulu DUI Defense Lawyer
Because of the standardization of these three tests and because law enforcement receives training from the NHTSA, the three tests are almost always administered at every DUI or OVUII traffic stop. Because they are nationally-standardized and the procedures, instructions, clues and scoring must be performed and interpreted accurately and correctly in order to ensure reliability, those tests may prove to be a very important aspect of defending your case.
Additionally, law enforcement officers continue to use non-standardized field sobriety tests. Those tests include the finger to nose test, the finger count test, the hand pat test, the alphabet test, the reverse counting test, and the coin pickup test. Many of those tests have been approved by law enforcement organizations such as the National Park Service and the International Association of Chiefs of Police (I.A.C.P.). Obviously, the procedures, instructions, clues and scoring are also vitally important in the administration of those tests.
Mr. Holcomb is well-prepared to litigate whether your Field Sobriety Tests were administered and the results interpreted properly.
