Titan avoids DUI conviction over lack of prosecution
When someone is charged with drunk driving, it can feel like it’s inevitable that he will be convicted of the offense. But that isn’t necessarily so in many DUI cases in Tennessee. Titans player Brandon Barden’s case proves that there is hope after a drunk driving arrest in Tennessee, and sometimes that hope is satisfied when the prosecution drops the ball.
As the result of a car accident that Barden was involved in in February, he was investigated and then arrested for suspicion of DUI. His arrest directly followed Barden’s refusal to submit to a breath test during the traffic stop. In Tennessee, a breath test refusal can lose someone his driver’s license. Still, it can also preserve a defendant’s chance at avoiding a false allegation or conviction of drunk driving.
Reports of Barden’s DUI charge don’t make mention of any BAC level connected to the case. Courts love that sort of evidence. It isn’t just lack of that specific evidence that has saved Barden from a drunk driving conviction; rather, it is the complete lack of officer testimony that has helped him avoid any further prosecution.
The arresting officer failed to show up in court last week, which ultimately supported the DUI defense team’s request to have the entire matter dismissed. Barden can now move on with his life, as a Tennessee Titan tight end or whatever he chooses to pursue. Unless he runs into further legal hiccups, he is a free man with this DUI incident behind him.
Source: ESPN, “Report: Brandon Barden case ‘closed’,” May 23, 2013