Michigan Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

Michigan DUI Duress Defense: When Can It Apply?

Patrick Barone — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 14:14:37 +0000

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.

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Can GLP-1 Medications Affect BAC Evidence in a Michigan DUI Case?

Patrick Barone — Sun, 06 Sep 2026 18:14:45 +0000

Why Could GLP-1 Medications Matter in an Alcohol-Related DUI Case?

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When Can a Victim’s Intoxication Matter in a Michigan DUI Causing Death Case?

Patrick Barone — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 13:42:41 +0000

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.

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Federal Firearm Rights Restoration Returns After More Than 30 Years: What the New DOJ Rule Changes

Barone Defense Firm — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 19:16:50 +0000

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.

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Can Flock Cameras Be Used Against You in a Michigan Criminal Case?

Patrick Barone — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 18:38:19 +0000

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.

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Michigan Firearm Rights Restoration After a Felony: What Changed in 2026

Patrick Barone — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 16:49:00 +0000

For the first time in more than three decades, the federal government has created a functioning process through which certain people prohibited from possessing firearms may apply to have their federal firearm rights restored. That development is particularly important in Michigan because restoring firearm rights under Michigan law does not necessarily answer the separate federal question.The Department of Justice published its final Federal Firearm Rights Restoration Program rule on August 20, 2026. The rule implements the application process authorized by 18 U.S.C. § 925(c) and establishes detailed standards for deciding who may regain federal firearm rights.

What Changed in Federal Firearm Rights Restoration in 2026?

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Proximate Cause in a Michigan DUI Causing Death Case

Patrick Barone — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 20:33:17 +0000

Short Answer

In a Michigan DUI causing death case, the prosecution must prove more than intoxication and a fatal collision. Michigan law formally calls the offense OWI causing death, but DUI is the term most people use to describe impaired-driving charges. The prosecution must prove that the defendant’s operation of the vehicle was both a factual and a proximate cause of the death. When another driver’s conduct, excessive speed, intoxication, road conditions, mechanical failure, or another intervening event materially contributed to the collision, proximate cause can become a central issue.

Proximate cause in a Michigan DUI causing death case is a separate legal issue from whether the accused was intoxicated. A blood or breath result may bear on the DUI allegation, but it does not by itself establish how a fatal collision occurred or whether the defendant’s operation legally caused the death.

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Retrograde Extrapolation in DUI Cases: Science, Strategy, and Cross-Examination

Barone Defense Firm — Tue, 26 May 2026 15:09:46 +0000

Retrograde extrapolation is the process of estimating a driver’s earlier blood alcohol concentration from a later test. In DUI and Michigan OWI cases, the calculation can appear precise, but its reliability depends on facts that are often missing.

Short Answer: Retrograde extrapolation in DUI cases is not a direct measurement of a driver’s BAC at the time of driving. It is an estimate built from a later blood or breath test, an assumed elimination rate, and assumptions about whether alcohol absorption was complete. Michigan courts generally allow delayed alcohol test results into evidence, but the scientific reliability of any back-calculation depends on the quality of the facts available to the expert, including drinking pattern, food intake, timing, body composition, and whether the person was still absorbing alcohol.

What Is Retrograde Extrapolation in a DUI Case?

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Understanding the Disconnect Defense in a Michigan DUI Case

Patrick Barone — Mon, 25 May 2026 16:44:24 +0000

The disconnect defense in a Michigan OWI case applies when the chemical test result does not match the defendant’s observable behavior. If a breath or blood test reports a high BAC but the officer’s observations, police video, driving evidence, and field sobriety performance show little or no meaningful impairment, that inconsistency may create reasonable doubt.

This defense is especially important in high-BAC and Michigan Super Drunk cases, where the reported number is 0.17 or higher. At that level, prosecutors often expect a jury to assume serious impairment. But a high BAC number also creates a higher evidentiary expectation. If the person on the video does not look, speak, walk, or perform like someone at the reported BAC, the number itself may become vulnerable.

The disconnect defense does not prove that the driver was sober. It asks a more precise trial question: does the chemical result fit the person the officer actually observed?

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Michigan Rape Shield Law: What MCL 750.520j Prohibits and What Masi Changed

Patrick Barone — Mon, 18 May 2026 20:45:56 +0000

Short Answer

Michigan rape shield law, MCL 750.520j, generally prevents prosecutors and defendants from introducing evidence of a complainant’s prior sexual conduct, opinion evidence about sexual conduct, or reputation evidence about sexual conduct in criminal sexual conduct cases. The statute recognizes two narrow statutory categories of potentially admissible evidence: prior sexual conduct with the accused and specific sexual activity showing the source or origin of semen, pregnancy, or disease. Other evidence may be admitted only when exclusion would violate the accused person’s constitutional right to confrontation or right to present a defense.

Michigan rape shield law is one of the most important evidentiary rules in a criminal sexual conduct case. It affects what the jury may hear, what the defense may investigate, how cross-examination is limited, and whether evidence of prior third-party abuse, sexual knowledge, or prior false allegations can be used at trial.

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