NH Legal Resource | Personal Injury | DWI | Criminal Law | New Hampshire Lawyer

Many states, including New Hampshire, are implementing new techniques for discouraging drunk driving. If you have had a prior DUI conviction or conviction for driving on a revoked license, or have been presently convicted of an aggravated DUI in New Hampshire, you will be required to install an ignition interlock device (IID) on your vehicles as a condition for maintaining your driving privileges.

IIDs are breath machines attached to the ignition that will not start the vehicle until the driver blows into the device and registers a blood alcohol content (BAC) below 0.02 percent. Should the device register at least 0.02 percent, the result is reported to law enforcement, which can result in revocation of your driver’s license and criminal DUI charges.

A BAC of 0.02 is equivalent to one 12 oz. can of beer, or less, depending on the size, weight and gender of the drinker, which is close to a zero tolerance level. Although the standard legal BAC limit for driving a vehicle is 0.08 percent, the law sets a much lower level for those with prior or serious DUI convictions.

According to Ryan Russman, a DUI specialist from Exeter, New Hampshire, he has serious concerns about the validity of the test results and the inability of the accused to challenge the results. Because the IID is operated by relatively new technology, called cell fuel technology, it is not yet subject to evidentiary challenge. Consequently, the accused is tried and convicted by a machine, hardly what the US Constitution would sanction.

Russman acknowledges that the IID works well most of the time and for most people, but it may not be a valid indicator for others. Russman contends that any person’s metabolism could react differently under certain conditions and trigger a false positive reading. Certain medications or medical conditions, such as diabetes or those with acid reflux disease, can also produce false positives. Further, like any machine, it may just malfunction at times for no reason at all.

In a typical DUI case with a chemical test result, defense attorneys can challenge the validity of the results by any number of means. In a IID case, however, defense attorneys like Ryan Russman have no opportunity in court to challenge the data that supports the machine.

New Hampshire does not permit provisional or restricted driver’s licenses for work or for medical purposes only, so an individual who loses her or her license from a false IID reading faces substantial collateral consequences, including loss of employment. Also, a false positive subjects the person to criminal sanctions, including jail time.

These and other DUI and criminal law issues are constantly questioned and challenged by Ryan Russman, one of New Hampshire’s premiere DUI attorneys. Mr. Russman is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and has been board certified as a specialist in DUI defense by the National College of DUI Defense. He has also been recognized by AVVO, an independent attorney rating service, as one of the nation’s top DUI defense attorneys.

Mr. Russman, a graduate of American University in Washington, D.C., and of Suffolk University Law School of Boston, Massachusetts, has written and published manuals, books and articles on DUI defense that are widely read by DUI defense practitioners. He has also created informational videos on DUI issues and has appeared on radio and television to address DUI topics.

If you are charged with a DUI, you should immediately contact NH DWI Attorney Ryan Russman at (603) 772-3433 for a free, no obligation consultation.

Apps, or application software, are designed to enable the user to perform tasks such as playing games, compose music, educate special needs children, generate print media like newspapers, create documents, conduct business, or to stay in touch with friends and families through social media sites.

Businesses have seized on this opportunity to advertise and to secure customers for whatever service or products they are selling by providing apps to process credit cards or provide links to their products. One innovative individual, however, who was apparently fed up with having been the victim of a number of crimes, has come up with a crime reporting application that some see as a positive change in reporting illegal criminal law activity.

Eman Pahlavani of Manchester, New Hampshire has created the Crime Push that users can employ to alert police of criminal activity. A person witnessing or who is the victim of a crime, or who has been involved in an accident, can use his or her smartphone or Android tablet to alert police by sending a text, photos, sound or video to law enforcement agencies who have signed up for the service.

According to Pahlavani, a law student, you can type in information about the crime, record a video, or take a photo and then send this all at once. He claims that about 1,000 law enforcement agencies and college campuses have signed up for this free service.

The usual method of calling for emergency law enforcement or medical help is by calling 911, but there are numerous examples of callers who have been unable to quickly get through to an operator or to effectively communicate their emergency. Some operators are ill-trained or have ignored distress calls. The Crime Push app may solve some of these problems by having law enforcement immediately view a crime scene, read a distress text, or hear within seconds the sounds of a crime scene or of its victims or perpetrators.

The application displays a number of icons representing a category of crime or a reason to contact law enforcement. It apparently is not as fast as 911, but critics of 911 may say that the application makes for better communication of what crime is being committed.

Civil libertarians and criminal defense attorneys are not as enthusiastic about the application and worry about its potential for abuse. People may not be coherent and the message may be incomprehensible, especially if the person is under stress or unable to communicate well in English and their text may be misconstrued. Other concerns are that messages and videos can be sent anonymously, may misidentify a perpetrator, or may be sent to implicate someone for a crime they did not commit.

Some law enforcement officials also wonder if evidence gathered in this manner is admissible under criminal law. Statements could be unlawfully elicited without a person’s knowledge. Most states require that consent be given before recording another person’s statement and may hold the person recording it criminally liable if they do not obtain express consent. Photos and videos may not be under the same constraint, however, although a skilled New Hampshire criminal defense attorney may be able to persuade a court to suppress such evidence under certain circumstances.

Still, with over 10,000 users reportedly having downloaded the application, some police agencies are happy that with more crimes being reported, their jobs may get easier and streets and neighborhoods a little safer.