This story comes from Pennsylvania where a judge threw out a sobriety test because of the age of defendant. According to the report, Danniel Weaver was able to pass three of the four sobriety tests the officer administered and was still arrested because the officer stated her eyes appeared glassy. Remember if you have been arrested for a DUI in Frisco call Kyle K. Shaw, Attorney at law.
"A judge near Pittsburgh has made a surprising decision in a drunk driving case. The judge is throwing out a D-U-I citation -- because of the driver's age.
Police gave 59-year-old Danniel Weaver the field sobriety test after she had an accident last year. Court records show Weaver passed three of the four tasks given by the officer, but failed one: standing on one leg for 30 seconds. The officer also said her eyes appeared a bit glassy, so she was charged with DUI.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration sets the standards for field sobriety tests. It says one leg stand tests should not be done on people over 60 years old.
"The feeling is, you know, if you get to a certain age, that's just simply not the same kind of indicator of intoxication as it was when you were younger," said an official for the agency.
In Weaver's case, judge Dominick Motto said, 'Since the tests were not designed for persons above the age of 60, and Ms. Weaver was 59 at the time, and she had just been in a violent automobile collision, the results of Ms. Weaver's single failed field sobriety test should be deemed unreliable.'
But law professor John Burkoff says the decision does not mean tipsy seniors are off the hook if they get behind the wheel. "The one impression you shouldn't get is that what the judge was doing was creating some kind of senior discount for DUI's doesn't exist," said Burkoff.
Weaver says she did not know that the one leg stand test was improper for someone her age. "
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