People v. Profitt
Annotate this CaseProfitt was charged with felony driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) and misdemeanor driving with a license suspended for prior DUI convictions. The trial court bifurcated trial on three prior DUI convictions that were alleged as sentence enhancements for the felony charges, but rejected Profitt‘s request to also bifurcate trial of the misdemeanor charges with prior DUI conviction elements. During closing arguments, defense counsel made certain concessions, stating: The only reason we’re hearing about the DUIs is because, amongst other things, Mr. Profitt is too much of a fool to plead guilty to them and keep it out of court. The court of appeals affirmed his convictions, rejecting Profitt‘s claims that the trial court abused its discretion in refusing to bifurcate trial on the misdemeanors and that he received ineffective assistance of counsel based on defense counsel‘s demeaning statements in closing argument and failure to seek dismissal of the case based on the failure to videotape the field sobriety tests. The trial court reasonably found counsel‘s apparently dismissive comment was an attempt to portray Profitt as unsophisticated and thereby engender some sympathy.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.