Jacksonville Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog
A Jacksonville, Florida, Duval County Court was confronted with a Jacksonville DUI case that involved refusal and recantation of DUI field sobriety exercises. In STATE OF FLORIDA vs. JESSICA MOON. County Court, 4th Judicial Circuit (Case No. 2009-CT-15139), Officer Waldrep of the Neptune Beach Police Department requested that Moon perform Jacksonville DUI field sobriety exercises. She refused and was immediately arrested. “Immediately thereafter, while being handcuffed, defendant agreed to perform the FSEs and begged Officer Waldrep to allow her to do so. He refused to let her do them. Though defendant continuously and repeatedly requested to be allowed to perform the FSEs, Officer Waldrep continuously refused to allow her to do them.”
The Jacksonville court found that Moon’s “retraction of her initial refusal came moments after her refusal, that she was continuously in the presence of the arresting officer, that no inconvenience resulted, and that the results of any FSEs would not have been affected had she been allowed to perform them upon her request to do so.” Since the officer did not, Moon’s refusal could not be used against her in this Jacksonville DUI case. Therefore, the evidence would be suppressed.