Ben Powers Interviewed by WKRN Nashville about DUI Case

Legal Powers Attorney interviewed about client charged for DUI, tests show client sober at time of arrest

Williamson County nurse and single mother, Katie Slayton, had a rare day off. Taking advantage of her chance to run some errands, she dropped off her five-year-old son at a daycare for a few hours. But that simple action led to her arrest — and the loss of her son to state custody for nine weeks.

Much to Slayton’s surprise, one of the daycare workers had called the police because Slayton seemed “off” and they worried she might be driving while impaired. But Slayton had not been drinking. Aside from a normal level of medication for her ADHD, there were no drugs or alcohol in her system. Her blood test would later confirm this.

Nashville ABC affiliate WKRN interviewed Ben Powers about this case. Click here to read and watch the story on WKRN.

Sober DUI – Is This Possible?

Sadly, in Tennessee, it is possible for the police to arrest and charge you with the criminal offense of driving under the influence (DUI) even if you are sober. It happened to one of Attorney Ben Powers’ clients; Katie Slayton. Ms. Slayton, a single mother who was a highly trained and specialized nurse in the emergency care unit of a Franklin-based hospital, went to pick her son up from daycare after working an especially hard twelve-hour shift in the emergency care unit. When she arrived to pick her son up, she was tired, stressed, and distracted because of an especially long and trying work day. An employee at the daycare felt that Ms. Slayton was acting erratically because of her fatigue and distracted demeanor.  That employee called the police.

The police arrived as Ms. Slayton was putting her child in her vehicle. Without making any observations of their own, the police stopped Ms. Slayton as she started her vehicle. The police did not stop her vehicle because of erratic driving and did not stop her because of any personal observations of impairment. Instead, only armed with an unqualified report by a daycare worker that Ms. Slayton was distracted when she picked up her son, the police ordered Ms. Slayton out of her vehicle, separated her from her child, and took custody of her child. From there, the police investigation immediately went into “DUI mode.” The police ordered Ms. Slayton to perform field sobriety tests while her scared child called out for her.  When she did not perform well on one of those tests, they arrested her. The police claimed that her inability to pay attention to their commands, her questions asking for clarification of the police officers’ orders, and her nervous shaking were all signs of DUI.

What is Driving Under the Influence?

Driving under the influence involves a person driving or being in “physical control” of a vehicle on any street or road with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.08% percent or more.  It applies to someone who is not only under the influence of alcohol but also to someone who operates a motor vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant, stimulant, controlled substance, or other substance that impacts the central nervous system to the extent that she or he cannot operate the vehicle safely.

There are many penalties and consequences that a person convicted of a DUI faces.  A conviction for a first offense DUI can carry a sentence from 48 hours in jail to a sentence of up to eleven (11) months and 29 days.   Jail time is not the only consequence or penalty for a first-time DUI conviction. Additional penalties include fines and mandatory attendance at a substance abuse program.  For a first offense, the fine ranges from between $350 to $1,500. The law also requires anyone convicted of DUI in Tennessee to pay restitution to any person who may have been injured or suffered property damage as a result of a DUI.  The law also gives the judge the option of ordering a person to a drug and alcohol treatment program as a form of probation. Perhaps most significantly for most first-time offenders, a first-time DUI offense requires a court in Tennessee to prohibit a person from driving for one year.    For many people, this is an incredibly onerous consequence of a DUI conviction. But, these are not the only consequences of a DUI conviction. Some people risk losing their jobs with a DUI conviction; this is especially true for anyone employed in positions of trust, employments that require special licenses or degrees, or any employment that requires a clean driving record.  Others face stigma and ostracizing from having their name in a public arrest database.

In Ms. Slayton’s case, she was not over 0.08%.  In fact, she did not have any alcohol in her system at all. The only substance in her system at the time of her arrest was lawfully prescribed medicine for her ADHD condition that she had taken as directed and was completely legal. She should not have been arrested. But, she had performed poorly on a field sobriety test because of her work fatigue, her stressful day, the stress of not knowing why she was being aggressively confronted by officers suspicious that she was DUI, and because she was nervous.

What are field sobriety tests?

Field sobriety tests are tests that the police often request someone they suspect of driving under the influence to perform; you are not required to perform field sobriety tests but officers are trained to make it sound like you are being commanded to perform them as opposed to being requested to perform them.  When the police pull you over and suspect that you may be operating your vehicle under the influence, it is standard practice that the police ask you to exit the vehicle and perform such tests.

The tests purportedly help the police determine whether or not you are under the influence.  For example, if a person cannot walk in a straight line and is unsteady on his or her feet, that may signify impairment.  Or, if someone is having a hard time following instructions, the police will interpret that difficulty as a sign of impairment. There are several different types of field sobriety tests, including the (1) the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus Test where police have the person follow the tip of a pen or the officer’s finger with just their eyes without turning their head; (2) the Walk and Turn Test where the officer gives hyper-technical directions for walking a straight line; and (3) the One Leg Stand Test which is just what is sounds like – stand on one leg.

There are often reasonable, innocent, explanations for why a person, like Ms. Slayton, performs poorly on a field sobriety test; such as stress, anxiousness, or having a long, hard, day at work.  Furthermore, the person may have poor balance, health conditions that impact their ability to perform the tests, or be stressed for some other reason. However, an officer conducting these tests will ignore all alternative possibilities and explanations in favor of claiming that such poor performance can, and only is, a sign of impairment to justify arresting the person of DUI.

What Happened to Ms. Slayton?

Ultimately, after mounting a hard-fought defense against the police and the State of Tennessee’s allegations that Ms. Slayton was DUI, she was cleared of the charges thanks to the diligent and steadfast representation provided by DUI Attorney Ben Powers.

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