Loading ...Manatee County DUI Case Heads Back to Court Even After Lost Evidence
Back in 2007, a Manatee County Sheriff’s deputy arrested John Bennett on a DUI charge, claiming that Bennett showed signs of impairment like slurred speech and failure to perform roadside sobriety tests after being pulled over on his motorcycle.
Bennett disputes that version of the account, saying he spoke clearly, balanced well on one foot and walked a straight line that night. The entire event was captured by a squad car video camera, but the deputy inadvertently erased the video while trying to convert it to DVD before the case could come to trial.
A Manatee County trial judge eventually dismissed the case because of the lost evidence. Two years of appeals over the dismissal followed. Last week, the 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled that the case be remanded to the trial court. Bennett will have to once again fight the DUI charge in county court.
Bennett did not submit to a breath test, so there was no blood-alcohol reading for him. While there may be no video evidence, the officer is still available to testify as to his recollection of the incident and of Bennett’s behavior and performance that night. The deputy is expected to tell the jury he observed Bennett weave in his lane, stumble off his motorcycle and fail sobriety tests.
Although the dash cam recordings are becoming more common, many people are convicted of DUI on the testimony of the officer alone or along with breathalyzer results. In this case, though, there was a camera and a recording. The trial judge originally felt that the lost video could possibly have supported Bennett’s defense and its loss violated Bennett’s rights.
Bennett’s DUI defense attorney obviously agrees. “Once you’ve taken the evidence, there’s got to be a sanction for when you lose it,” he told the Sarasota newspaper. “The best piece of evidence in this case is gone.”