Brian Sloan: I am Attorney Brian Sloan, discussing DUI and vehicular-related cases.
Interviewer: How long have you been practicing, first of all?
Brian Sloan: I’ve been practicing a little more than nine years now. Actually, I’ve defended over 2,100 DUI clients, and there’s a difference between defending and representing. They’ve all been felony or misdemeanor DUI charges.
Interviewer: What would be the difference between defending and representing in a DUI case?
Brian Sloan: It’s, in a way, an advertising point. I have defended DUI clients my entire career for the entire nine-plus years. All I’ve done is defend DUI cases. There are a lot of former prosecutors that will indicate that they have, quote, unquote, “represented” over 2,100 DUI cases or however many DUI cases they’ve done.
However, the problem is when they have represented on DUI cases, they have represented the prosecutor, they have prosecuted DUI clients, and they have done a number of trials and convicted those DUI clients, but that isn’t defending a DUI client.
Defending DUI clients is much different than prosecuting or representing DUI clients.
When Considering Retaining an Attorney, Don’t Be Misled by Claims of Experience
Interviewer: Do you think some people get that confused as far as when they’re looking for an attorney?
Brian Sloan: Absolutely. That’s what the former prosecutors rely on. A lot of former prosecutors will indicate that they’re former prosecutors to try and use it as a selling point, but when they have been on the side of prosecuting DUI clients for years and have only been defending DUI clients for maybe a couple months, they don’t want to advertise that point, so they will use the term “representing” rather than “defending.”
I have represented and have defended.
Is DUI a Selective Charge or Are All Drivers Susceptible to Being Charged?
Interviewer: Is there a typical DUI defendant that you deal with as far as age or background?
Brian Sloan: It really spans all ages, all ethnicities, all races; all different types of people. We are seeing more clients that are over the age of 50, simply because the types of DUIs that are being charged have seemed to flourish.
The Number of Prescription Medication Related DUIs Are Rising
We are seeing a lot more people that are charged with DUI prescription medication because the medication that they’ve been taking for years or sometimes decades all of a sudden is blamed for the reason someone has run a red light or failed to fully stop for a stop sign or failed to use a turn signal.
If someone is taking their prescription medications, even if they’re taking them as prescribed and even if they’ve been taking them for years, they are still in a position to possibly be charged with a DUI.
Drug-Related DUIs Have Increased Since Arizona Passed the Medical Marijuana Laws
Interviewer: When did that law become a little bit more relevant?
Brian Sloan: It’s been on the books for years. Probably the last five years or so, we’ve been seeing more and more of those, and we’ve been seeing more DUI drug charges when Arizona passed the medical marijuana laws.
Interviewer: People are still generally unaware about their prescription medications when they’re getting pulled over. They’re just generally unaware; is that correct?
Some Drivers Are Unaware That Their Prescribed Medication Can Impair Their Driving Skills
Brian Sloan: Yes. People take medications to help them. They’re not taking them recreationally. Most people take medications not to impair them but to make their daily lives easier. Unfortunately, if you take this medication and you do any sort of traffic violation, you open yourself up to a possible DUI charge.
Occasionally, those do end in convictions, sometimes to people who have never been in trouble with the law before and all they’ve done is be a law-abiding citizen and taken their medication, and one day it just catches up with them and the state decides to prosecute.
