HGN Denied Again, Cops Just Can't Remember How to Perform the Test

In a recent felony dui case, I was able to convince the prosecutor that the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus test was performed incorrectly, thus it was not admissible in the case.  It seems like every drunk driving case I handle, the cops never know how to perform the horizontal gaze nystagmus test correctly.  Because of this, according to the People v Berger case, the test cannot be brought into evidence. 

Specifically, the HGN test requires that the officer checks for many different things, yet they always seem to put in their reports that the Defendant moved their head, therefore they failed the test.  I can't stress enough how moving of the head has absolutely nothing to do with whether somebody passes or fails the HGN test.  Actually, what the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicates is that if the test subject moves their head, the cop is supposed to instruct the test subject to hold their head still with their hand. 

I think that a major reason why the police never do the test properly is because the usual amount of training is an eight hour class.  During this class, it is my understanding that they get a ninty minute lunch break.  That takes us down to 6 and 1/2 hours of class.  Of that time, I have had cops testify that two to three hours of the class is learning how to testify in court about the HGN test!!!!!  So that leaves the cop with about three hours of training, in a building with lights, in the daylight, without actually doing the test on somebody intoxicated.  Oh and did I mention that the cop usually took the class ten or more years before they find themselves on the stand before me.  Needlesstosay, guess who knows the test inside and out!!!

The challanging of the HGN test is something that is necessary in every drunk driving case.  If you don't do this or your lawyer doesn't understand how HGN works, you need to really think about where you want to go with your case.  Unfortunately for many innocent people unjustly charged with drunk driving in Oakland County, they will have a lawyer who will actually tell them that they don't have a chance of winning their case because they allegedly failed the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus test.  I see this all the time when I end up taking over a case.

The bottom line is that when dealing with any sobriety test in a drunk driving case, you need to have the understanding that these tests are nothing more than some activity made up by an academic who convinced the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that you can tell who is drunk by waiving your finger past somebody's eyeballs.  Give me a break, fingers and eyeballs!!!!  i'll take my eyeballs watching you acting sober on the police video any day over some garbage test.  And I'll let the jury know that too!!!!!