DUI Against HCSO Department Head Challenged

The lawyer defending the sheriff's finance director is asking prosecutors to show proof his client was driving under the influence.

Emily Vernon is charged with DUI with property damage in connection with a July 11 collision between her pickup and a road sign. Deputies arriving to the scene of the crash on Lake Lindsey Road said Vernon "appeared intoxicated" and had trouble pronouncing her own name.

Vernon, 39, was not arrested at that time because no one could place her behind the wheel of the truck. For that reason, there were no field sobriety tests taken and, without an arrest, there was no blood alcohol testing, either.

Four days later, new witnesses came forward and said they saw Vernon climb out of the truck and inspect the damage to the grill of her truck, a report shows.

One witness, Natasha Duncan, told a Hernando Today reporter in July "you could tell from a hundred yards away that she was drunk."

Now Vernon's attorney, Declan Mansfield, is challenging the charge after several months of discovery between his office and the prosecution.

In a motion filed Friday, Mansfield writes there is "no admissible evidence" to show what substance Vernon was supposedly under at the time of the alleged crime.

The charging document isn't specific; it just repeats the DUI law, stating that Vernon's "normal faculties" were impaired by "alcoholic beverages, model glue or a (controlled substance)."

Without tests to show impairment, the charge is based on witness statements. Vernon admitted to the investigating deputy, Giselle Mulverhill, that she had drunk a half bottle of wine and taken a few sleeping pills, according to an incident report.

Mulverhill took the accident report, but she had not "changed hats" and begun a criminal investigation so the statements are protected by the Florida Accident Report Privilege, the motion states.

The basis for the charge is the statements of four witnesses, who told deputies they saw Vernon drive off the shoulder and into the sign post. Two of them picked out Vernon from a group of photos, an arrest affidavit states.

Vernon's attorney, Mansfield, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Assistant State Attorney Matthew Pila said he was amenable to changing the charging document to specifically stating that Vernon was under the influence of alcohol.

The motion for statement of particulars is a "good trick for the defense," but changing the charging document is the extent of what it will accomplish, Pila said.

Eliminating evidence would have to be proposed under a motion to suppress, he said.