{"id":446258,"date":"2026-05-13T06:37:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T06:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/446258\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T06:37:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T06:37:08","slug":"bertram-allen-seeks-to-quash-interrogation-with-us-police-in-drink-driving-case-as-he-was-impaired-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/446258\/","title":{"rendered":"Bertram Allen seeks to quash interrogation with US police in drink-driving case as he was \u2018impaired\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Irish showjumping star Bertram Allen is seeking to \u201csuppress\u201d any incriminating admissions made to police in Florida<\/a> after he was arrested for drink-driving.<\/p>\n

His lawyer argued in a submission in a Florida state court in Palm Beach that Allen was too \u201cimpaired\u201d from alcohol following a car crash in January to properly waive his right to silence. <\/p>\n

Allen\u2019s lawyer is seeking a court order to prevent details from his police interrogation from being entered into evidence in a jury trial over a charge of drink-driving causing damage.<\/p>\n

He has pleaded not guilty to the charge.<\/p>\n

Allen (30) represented Ireland at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics<\/a> and was on the Irish team that finished second in a five-star Nations League showjumping competition in March in Florida. <\/p>\n

He is the son of Bert Allen, the multimillionaire whose family formerly owned Slaney Foods.<\/p>\n

Allen was arrested on January 13th last after Palm Beach police responded to a car crash involving two vehicles. <\/p>\n

The police\u2019s arrest report said Allen was found in the driver\u2019s seat of one of the cars with \u201cglassy watery eyes\u201d and an odour of alcohol coming from his car. <\/p>\n

Allen was alleged to have failed sobriety tests at the scene before being arrested and taken to jail, where he failed two breathalyser tests. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Irish man in late 30s dies in Ibiza after fall from cliffOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

A hearing on his case later this month will decide on an application from Allen\u2019s attorney, Julian M \u00adKessel, to suppress evidence from the interrogation on the grounds that Allen did not properly waive his Miranda rights \u2013 the warnings police must give suspects before interrogation.<\/p>\n

US police are required to warn suspects under arrest that they have the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney during questioning.<\/p>\n

Kessel argued Allen was too impaired to understand his rights and to waive them properly, as the blood alcohol test results showed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not reasonable to say that he understood his rights and that he properly waived them after considering his position and making an intelligent waiver,\u201d the lawyer argued.<\/p>\n

He said any confession was \u201cnot the product of a free intellect\u201d and should be rendered \u201cinadmissible\u201d. <\/p>\n

He said Allen was \u201csemi-coherent and mumbled an affirmation\u201d to police, which indicated he did not have \u201ca full understanding of his legal position\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Public safety \u2018clearly at risk\u2019 as ambulance strike continues, says patient groupOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

He claimed the police video made clear that Allen did not understand what he was being told.<\/p>\n

Kessel also claimed the manner of Allen\u2019s interrogation was cavalier, arguing that he was arrested and interrogated to elicit incriminating evidence in a \u201cpaper-white room made from cement block with a plastic chair in it\u201d. <\/p>\n

In his submission, Kessell said Allen was arrested for an \u201cenhanced DUI [driving under the influence]\u201d due to a crash.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvidence of Mr Allen\u2019s guilt was, quite literally, right in front of him after he crashed his car,\u201d he argued. \u201cLikewise, his performance on the field sobriety exercises were fresh in his mind and constitute evidence of his guilt. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs a result, it is apparent that Mr Allen was confronted by evidence of his guilt by his own actions on the night in question. Additionally, Mr Allen was confronted with the fact that his BAC was .228 and .242 \u2013 three times the legal limit. Hence, this factor weighs heavily in the defence\u2019s favour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kessel told The Irish Times he could not speak about the case. \u201cI wish I was able to speak publicly about this as Mr Allen is a good, skilled and fair young man \u2013 one whom I am proud to represent,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

He described him as \u201can accomplished equestrian player\u201d. \u201cI will continue to fight for this young man to ensure he has a bright future,\u201d the lawyer said.<\/p>\n

The Irish Times sought comment from Allen via his personal email but received no response. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Irish showjumping star Bertram Allen is seeking to \u201csuppress\u201d any incriminating admissions made to police in Florida after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446259,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2195,61,60,112,194070,90],"class_list":["post-446258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-florida","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports","tag-tokyo-2020","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}