Posted on February 26, 2020 in Breath Test Refusal
Shawn Fuller was fired as Scottsdale City Prosecutor in the first week of February. He says he was terminated because he had been investigating the improper handling of DUI cases by a former city prosecutor.
Fuller’s lawyer told The Republic that Fuller was shown the door because he had uncovered an unfair practice in drunk driving cases that the City Attorney wanted kept secret.
A statement from the Scottsdale city government disputed the claims that Fuller’s firing was related to his audit of past DUI cases. Instead, the dismissal was “related to workplace behaviors and misconduct which multiple employees brought forward following a workplace and public dressing-down of a female employee.”
Fuller took over as City Prosecutor at the end of September of last year. That same day, he says an assistant city prosecutor told him of a rumor that Scottsdale had been mishandling DUI cases by failing to properly disclose evidence in them.
The rumor was that in DUI cases In which breath-test evidence was unavailable, the city was withholding evidence that was favorable to defendants.
In a claim Fuller filed with the city, he cited an example in which someone refuses a breath test after they’ve been pulled over on suspicion of drunk driving. In those cases in which a warrant for a blood sample was obtained, and the lab work came back with no evidence of alcohol or drugs in the driver’s system, the city allegedly failed to share that information.
It should be noted that in 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Brady v Maryland that the prosecution must disclose to the defense, when asked, material evidence favorable to the defendant. In subsequent cases, the court ruled that the prosecution must disclose the evidence even when it is not specifically asked to do so.
We will have more on Fuller and his claims about Scottsdale’s mishandling of DUI cases.
If you have been charged with DUI in Scottsdale or anywhere else in the Valley, please contact our office to discuss the evidence and how we can protect your rights, driving privileges and freedom.
