The systematic Florida DUI defense audit.

The four-part audit at a glance

The audit works in four parts. Here is the whole set, one line each. Part 1 is worked in full below as a sample; Parts 2 through 4 are worked in full in the Florida DUI Defense Audit Pack.

• Part 1. The elements the State must prove · Worked in full below

  Each statutory element is a point to audit, because every element the State cannot prove is a defense; this part is worked in full below as the sample.

• Part 2. The constitutional touchpoints · In the pack

  The stop, the arrest, and any statements are the recurring suppression fronts, raised through a motion to suppress and stated as general Fourth and Fifth Amendment doctrine.

• Part 3. The breath-test and field-test foundation · In the pack

  A breath result is admissible only on a foundation: the observation period, the two-sample agreement, the approved instrument, the inspections, and the operator permit are each a discrete predicate to confirm.

• Part 4. The procedural and discovery clock · In the pack

  The speedy-trial, discovery, disclosure, and pretrial-motion deadlines run from the start, so the audit calendars them at intake.

Sample: Part 1. The elements the State must prove, worked in full

To show what the audit looks like worked in full, here is Part 1 taken past the one-line description. Every element in Fla. Stat. § 316.193 is a point to audit, because each one the State cannot prove is a defense. The statutory language below is quoted from the controlling statute; the audit note is where the leverage tends to sit. The other three parts are worked to this depth in the pack.

• “driving or in actual physical control of a vehicle” Fla. Stat. § 316.193(1)

  Whether the client was driving or in actual physical control is a fact question; test the articulated basis in the report against the case record.

• “within this state” Fla. Stat. § 316.193(1)

  Jurisdiction and venue are elements, not assumptions; confirm the location against the charging instrument and the evidence.

• “under the influence of alcoholic beverages, any chemical substance set forth in s. 877.111, or any substance controlled under chapter 893, when affected to the extent that the person's normal faculties are impaired” Fla. Stat. § 316.193(1)(a)

  The impairment theory turns on the observations and their reliability; test what the normal-faculties finding actually rests on.

• “a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 or more grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood” Fla. Stat. § 316.193(1)(b)

  The per-se blood theory turns on the sample and the analysis; the foundation is audited in the evidentiary-foundation section.

• “a breath-alcohol level of 0.08 or more grams of alcohol per 210 liters of breath” Fla. Stat. § 316.193(1)(c)

  The per-se breath theory turns on the instrument and the procedure; the foundation is audited in the evidentiary-foundation section.

Elements quoted from Fla. Stat. § 316.193 (Florida Legislature, Online Sunshine). The per-se level is 0.08. The statute controls; confirm the current text before relying on any phrasing.

That is one part worked in full. The constitutional touchpoints raised through a motion to suppress under Rule 3.190 (Pretrial Motions), the FAC 11D-8 breath-test foundation stated predicate by predicate, and the procedural and discovery clock are worked to this depth in the Florida DUI Defense Audit Pack.

Run the stop and arrest audit on the officer

Part 2 of the audit, the constitutional touchpoints, starts with the arresting officer. That part is worked in full in the pack; the officer record it runs on is free here.

Mitigation: prepare against the exposure

Prepare against the statutory penalty structure and the county sentencing context: the fine ranges, jail ceilings, and mandatory minimums the statute sets, read alongside the aggregate, descriptive county sentencing data.

For the statutory penalty structure, quoted figure by figure from Fla. Stat. § 316.193, see the Florida DUI penalties guide. For how sentences actually landed across the state, the Florida sentencing-outcomes data study is a free, aggregate, descriptive reference by county and charge, source-backed and read as a floor, not a prediction for any one case.

The full audit, worked and formatted

This checklist is the free sample. The Florida DUI Defense Audit Pack is the same four-part audit worked in full in one document: the Fla. Stat. § 316.193 elements pre-drafted, the FAC 11D-8 breath-test foundation stated predicate by predicate, the constitutional touchpoints and the Rule 3.190 (Pretrial Motions) vehicle, the procedural and discovery clock, a reply-brief framework anticipating the prosecution, and a fill-in-the-blank audit worksheet. Every statute, rule, and regulation is quoted verbatim with its source URL. It is a preparation aid for licensed counsel, not legal advice.

Reference

For the statutory penalties in full, see the Florida DUI penalties guide. For the arresting-officer record, use Officer Lookup. For the county sentencing context, see the Florida sentencing-outcomes data study. For the full set of Florida references, start at the Florida criminal-defense references hub.