Accident reconstruction is an important, but often overlooked tool, of a DUI defense. Where there has been an accident, the responding police officers and detectives write a traffic collision report. This is often the only means the prosecutor will be able to piece together the events leading up to the crash and its aftermath.
However, the defense should never rely solely on the often incomplete collision report, generated by an often untrained officer in the field. The defense’s case can be strengthened by critically assessing the reconstruction and doing follow-up investigation to close any gaps in the case. This is of particular importance where a person is being charged with California Vehicle Code Section 23153-DUI with injury. Cases such as these can even take a turn for the worse, where the injured party dies, and the defendant is charged with manslaughter.
Important areas of concern are:
?The current location of the vehicles involved in the crash. Have they been transported? Are they covered or indoors? The defense should conduct a thorough inspection, with pictures, of the vehicles.
?Are the locations of witnesses known and documented? These witnesses may prove valuable to the defense and they should be interviewed as soon as possible.
?Have all aspects of the scene been photographed: vehicle(s) at final resting position, evidence of the area of impact, witness perspectives, collision debris distribution, operator’s view approaching crash, road evidence, interiors of the vehicles, vehicle damage.
?Whether the vehicles, bodies, or evidence moved prior to being documented by police?
?Does the collision report contain a scale drawing? If so, check it out for reliability.
?Was the drag factor of the road measured at the scene? Drag factor relates to the estimated speed of the vehicle. This is often a fertile area for the defense, as the prosecutor will make their case on high or unsafe vehicle speeds, which the drag factor estimates may dispute.
?Check for documentation of all road evidence, such as tire marks.
?Recreating the conditions leading up to the crash, such as weather, ambient lighting, road topography, etc. that may have affected the defendant before and during the crash.
