There are times our clients come to us and believe based on the serious of an accident or injuries involved, there is very little an attorney can do for them. In this particular case, our client and a passenger on the scene were involved in an accident that resulted in the vehicle burning up and both people being rushed to the hospital (our client by med flight). When EMS arrived on scene and spoke with our client, she told EMS workers that another person was in the vehicle and that he was the driver. EMS checked the area and could not locate anyone. Law enforcement even brought out thermal imagining devices in an attempt to locate any change in temperature in the area. They found nothing.
Shortly thereafter police located the man that our client stated was the driver, he had no visible injuries and stated that he was not driving or even in the vehicle at the time of the crash. Law enforcement believed him since he had no marks on him and both other people involved in the crash were seriously injured. They ultimately charged our client with OWI-Causing Injury.
The client hired Chirafisi & Verhoff to help her with the situation and once the police reports were obtained, we went to work. We were able to file specific motions in order to get into background of the alleged driver and the fact he was on probation at the time. Once that motion was granted, everything started to fall apart for the government.
In reviewing the lengthy videos we were able to point out inconsistencies in one of the witness's stories that would have seriously damaged that person’s credibility. A review of the medical records and the photos also seemed to indicate that the client was not the driver of the vehicle.
About a week before trial the government moved to dismiss the entire case against the client.