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Michigan Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog
How Long After a Michigan DUI Arrest Will Charges Be Filed?
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When Can a Michigan DUI Causing Death Become Second-Degree Murder?
A fatal intoxicated-driving crash can expose a driver to one of Michigan’s most serious felony prosecutions. But the fact that alcohol or drugs were involved, even when combined with a death, does not automatically transform an OWI causing death case into second-degree murder.
Can a Prosecutor Obtain Hospital Blood Results Without a Warrant in a Michigan DUI Case?
Michigan hospital blood results can become evidence in a DUI case even when medical personnel drew the blood for treatment before the driver was arrested. Michigan’s statutory term is operating while intoxicated, or OWI, although most people search for this issue as DUI. The prosecutor’s ability to obtain the result depends on why the blood was drawn, what happened before the hospital transport, who requested the result, and precisely what the hospital disclosed.
The controlling Michigan Supreme Court decision remains People v. Perlos. It upheld the statutory procedure in 1990. More recent Fourth Amendment law creates a principled basis for challenging the statute as unconstitutional as applied to the warrantless acquisition of private medical information and for asking the Michigan Supreme Court to reconsider Perlos. But no controlling decision has displaced Perlos. A careful defense must therefore develop the constitutional challenge while also testing whether the prosecution satisfied the statute in the first place.
Can Accidental or Involuntary Intoxication Be a Defense to a Michigan DUI?
What Is Involuntary Intoxication Under Michigan Law?
Michigan DUI Duress Defense: When Can It Apply?
The defense is much narrower than simply having a compelling reason to drive. Fear, inconvenience, being stranded, or even a serious argument will not necessarily be enough. The threat must be sufficiently serious and immediate, the defendant must actually have feared death or serious bodily harm, and the decision to drive must have been made because of that threat.
Can GLP-1 Medications Affect BAC Evidence in a Michigan DUI Case?
Why Could GLP-1 Medications Matter in an Alcohol-Related DUI Case?
When Can a Victim’s Intoxication Matter in a Michigan DUI Causing Death Case?
Short Answer
Victim intoxication can be relevant in a Michigan DUI causing death case, but not simply because alcohol, marijuana, or another drug was found in the victim’s system. The important question is whether the victim’s intoxication, considered together with the victim’s conduct and the other circumstances of the collision, tends to show gross negligence that could affect proximate causation. The Michigan Supreme Court’s 2026 decision in People v Morgan makes clear that courts should not evaluate intoxication, speed, acceleration, reaction time, and other relevant conduct in separate silos.
Victim intoxication can become an important issue in a Michigan DUI causing death prosecution when alcohol or drug evidence bears on the victim’s conduct and the causation analysis. But the legal significance of that evidence is more complicated than simply asking whether the victim was intoxicated or even by learning how intoxicated they were.
Federal Firearm Rights Restoration Returns After More Than 30 Years: What the New DOJ Rule Changes
Federal Firearm Rights Restoration Returns After More Than 30 Years: What the New DOJ Rule Changes
For more than three decades, federal law contained a procedure allowing some prohibited persons to seek restoration of their firearm rights, but the administrative process was effectively unavailable. That is now changing. On August 20, 2026, the Department of Justice published a final rule creating a functioning process for federal firearm rights restoration under 18 U.S.C. § 925(c) and new 28 C.F.R. Part 107.
The development is important for people with old felony convictions, but the new program is considerably broader and more complicated than a simple process for restoring the rights of people convicted of nonviolent felonies. The rule establishes detailed presumptions, extensive evidentiary requirements, and an individualized review focused on whether an applicant is likely to pose a danger to public safety and whether restoration would be contrary to the public interest.
Can Flock Cameras Be Used Against You in a Michigan Criminal Case?
Short Answer
Yes. Flock cameras and other automated license plate readers can become important evidence in a Michigan criminal case because they can record a vehicle at a particular place and time and make that information searchable by law enforcement. Police may use those records to develop a suspect, locate a vehicle, corroborate a timeline, establish operation, support a traffic stop, or build a circumstantial case.
But Flock evidence has an important limitation. A camera observation may establish where a particular vehicle was seen, but it does not necessarily establish who was driving. That distinction can matter in many criminal cases and can become especially important in a Michigan DUI case where the prosecution must prove that the accused actually operated the vehicle while intoxicated.
Michigan Firearm Rights Restoration After a Felony: What Changed in 2026