Attorney Leon Matchin's Legal Cases

DUI and DWI

DUI Dismissed

May 14, 2015

OUTCOME: Dismissed

Last week I just had a court dismiss a drug charge which occurred after an accident that caused severe injuries to a pedestrian. The police took my client to the hospital for blood testing, believing ... that she was under the influence (remember that a DUI is more than just alcohol—it encompasses anything that alters your sobriety). After the testing they determined that she was impaired at which time they brought her to the police station where she was read her Miranda warning and advised of her right to remain silent and that she was entitled to hire an attorney. During the police interrogation, she admitted to using CDS (controlled dangerous substances—which can include anything from marijuana to cocaine and heroin). Based on that admission, they charged her. In court I played up the inherent contradiction and obvious inconsistency of the State trying to prove that she was under the influence of drugs while at same time administering Miranda warnings to her, asking her to waive her rights when she was clearly unable to do so knowingly and voluntarily. If she was under the influence, the State must decide a) whether was she was—and in which case the Miranda rights that she waived are involuntary, or b) if she was not under the influence, there shouldn’t be any charges. The prosecutor and judge eventually agreed and dismissed the charges based on this inconsistency.

Criminal defense

Results Count

Mar 25, 2015

OUTCOME: Dismissed

The client (for ethical reasons I may not name) happens to be an old school rap artist who still performs. As it happens, he was driving through New Jersey to a concert when the police pulled him over ... for a traffic infraction. During the stop, they smelled CDS and searched his vehicle. The police arrested him for possession. At the time he was polite and cooperative, explaining that he was in rush for a show. They processed him quickly out of courtesy and released him ROR (release own recognizance, meaning no bail money was necessary). I immediately demanded to see discovery and prepared an Order with lists of demands—including the labs, chain of custody, etc. The court promptly signed off for it and when the State failed to provide everything I demanded the Court granted my request to dismiss all the charges after I raised hell about my client’s rights being abused. You see, it is my belief that the State should be held to the highest standards if they wish to search, seize, and arrest citizens. I went on and on about this and finally after I finished saying everything that I had to say, I pulled out the Order to show the Judge (who signed it only two months prior) and the case got dismissed—notwithstanding the prosecutor’s objection and pleas with the court to grant the State more time. And this is the difference in hiring a seasoned defense attorney: I knew the State might get jammed up if I press an issue like this. I also knew how to create the record I needed to in order to show the court a paper trail—in writing—from the arrest date to date I request discovery, the date I had the court sign the order, to the demand of dismissal court date. This was necessary in order to make a successful argument to the court as to why the case must get dismissed. So in other words, I was able to get this case tossed on procedural grounds, and this is just as effective a tool as getting a case dismissed on substantive legal grounds. All that is available as effective tools to defense counsel, assuming one knows how to apply such tools in practice, which is exactly what I did in this case. And to top it off: all this was accomplished in just under four months! When results count, you want the best.

Criminal defense

Drug Charge Dismissed

Mar 25, 2015

OUTCOME: Dismissed

During what started off as a routine traffic stop, the police officer searched my client’s vehicle without a warrant. The officer claimed the client gave him permission to do so, though there was no v ... ideo and he did not obtain written and signed consent either. While performing this undocumented search, drugs were discovered in the car and my client was arrested and charged with possession. I motioned the court to dismiss the charges based on the fact that the search was warrantless and there was no evidence of verbal consent. Because I had made a strong, clear case for this, the Judge granted it.

DUI and DWI

DUI

Feb 11, 2015

OUTCOME: High BAC Reading Downgraded Lower Tier

Recently, I achieved a good result for a client on a DUI case. After rear-ending and side swiping another vehicle, my client was arrested for DUI and blew .18 on the Alcotest—which is more than double ... the legal limit of .08. As a first offense, he was facing a 7 month to a year loss of license and mandatory installation of an ignition interlock device in his vehicle because the reading was above .14. I was able to convince the Prosecutor and the Judge to throw out the Alcotest results—and without a reading, the worst that the Judge can do under the law is suspend the license for 3 months instead of the minimum of 7 months. That also meant that the Judge could not order the ignition interlock device to be installed. How did I get this accomplished? After careful review of the evidence provided, I discovered that the police took three hours to administer the Alcotest to my client after arresting him. In addition, the officer who administered the Alcotest was not the officer who arrested my client. I researched the issue and found two previous cases that explicitly stated that the Alcotest must be administered to an arrested driver for DUI “without unreasonable delay”. I argued that 3 hours was an unreasonable delay according to the set standards. After I kept repeating my arguments over and over again, on the fourth appearance the prosecutor finally realized I was serious about defending the case to the end. He offered my client a deal of a lesser license suspension, which the client took. In my business, this is considered a good result. Instead of facing much harsher penalties, my client will answer for a lesser offense, thanks to my dogged persistence. Because of having his charges downgraded, my client won’t face the possible jail time or the installation of the ignition interlock device he would have otherwise, and the fines he will have to pay are not as expensive either. He will be able to drive again much sooner than the initial consequences would have allowed.

DUI and DWI

DUI Dismissed

Sep 05, 2014

OUTCOME: Dimissed

Client charged with Third DUI. I filed Motion to Suppress the Stop because the Police Pulled my Car over based on an annonymous tip. They were unable to corroborate the tip so the Court had to dismis ... s the charge. Client was saved from six months of jail and 10 years loss of license.

Criminal defense

Case Dismissed

Jul 10, 2014

OUTCOME: Dismissed

My client was one of three co-defendants charged with theft, in this instance an automobile. There was also a second charge of eluding police. The responding officers said that he was the one driving ... the car, despite my client continually insisting that he was not. Over the course of a year, I was able to persuade the prosecutor, police department and the court to dismiss all charges against my client. He couldn’t be happier and is now able to live worry-free without fear of the repercussions of a conviction.

Criminal defense

Shoplifting

Mar 17, 2014

OUTCOME: Shoplifting Charge Dismissed

Client charged with third misdemeanor shoplifting was facing 90 days in jail. Case dismissed based on successful chain of custody defense and lack of prosecution defense.

Leon Matchin's Legal Cases (7)

DUI Dismissed

Results Count

Drug Charge Dismissed

DUI

DUI Dismissed

Case Dismissed

Shoplifting