Double jeopardy is the legal term that is used for the concept that an individual cannot be charged twice for the same offense. This can get a little confusing when readers hear about a fraud case in which someone is charged with four counts of check fraud. This is because, while the charges may relate to one overall situation, each check that is signed is considered a separate offense.
A drunk driving situation involves a single car and a single driver, so how could there possibly be an instance in which two separate citations are written for the same time and the same day? In a very rare set of circumstances, this was in fact possible. Daylight savings made the whole crazy incident feasible.
At 1:08 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 4, an officer observed an individual turn the wrong direction on a street. When the officer pulled the individual over, the officer asked him to submit to a Breathalyzer. The individual consented and their blood alcohol content registered over the legal limit of .08. The driver was taken into custody and then released with a summons to appear at a later date.
Then, the clocks reset at 2 a.m. an hour back. On his way past a nearby car park, the officer observed an individual pull out of a parking spot too quickly, presumably without looking carefully both ways. The vehicle came close to the officer’s cruiser and the officer noticed that it was the same man he had just arrested. He again arrested the man, filling in Nov. 4 and 1:08 a.m. once again on a new citation.
Source: Daily Mail, “Man arrested for DUI at 1:08am TWICE on same day due to daylight savings time,” James Nye, Nov. 8, 2012
Weird things can happen, but no matter how unusual the circumstances our law firm helps individuals examine the basis for the drunk driving stop and help them defend against the charges at every step.