NCJ Number
102488
Date Published
1985
Length
2245 pages
Annotation
This four-volume treatise reviews criminal and civil, legal, and scientific issues surrounding the use of the automobile following the consumption of alcoholic beverages.
Abstract
Focus is on both drunk driving and legal liability offenses. Volume 1, concerned with criminal aspects of drunk driving, defines the elements of the offense, aggravating circumstances, case preparation, and pretrial motions. A typical trial case also is reviewed. Legal issues in such cases deal with challenging arrest, right to counsel, search and seizure, roadblocks, rights to speedy and jury trial, double jeopardy, jury instructions, and chemical test evidence. Evidentiary and testimony issues in the State's and the defense's cases also are covered. Volume 2 examines sentencing and appeal procedures. Also covered are issues of relevance to the chemical test system, including the notion of implied consent, concepts of chemical analysis, the effects of alcohol (alone or with other drugs), and absorption and elimination of alcohol in the individual. Following a review of lung physiology, commonly used blood alcohol content tests are reviewed in volume 3. These include breathalyzer, intoxilyzer and intoximeter, and blood and urine testing. Civil liability of the drunk driver and of third parties (e.g., vendors) also is examined. The final volume discusses dram shop acts in terms of eligible defendants and plaintiffs, damages, and defenses. (A dram shop act imposes civil liability on providers of intoxicating beverages.) Other statutes in liquor liability and additional trial issues also are discussed. Glossary, index, and an extensive 285-page bibliography.