James Nesci, retired, is the Fellow of the National College for DUI Defense. He served as the College’s Dean during the 2016-2017 academic year and was a regent of the College from 2006 to 2017. Board-certified in 2001, Mr. Nesci has been board-certified longer than anyone in the State of Arizona. James has been such an incredible part of our team, but he has recently retired. We wish him the best as he continues to receive accolades for his life's work, and as he continues to speak at legal seminars and write books on DUI defense.
Mr. Nesci often defended cases well into the .30 blood-alcohol range. He has caught more than one police officer lying during cross-examination and some police officers even refused to grant pretrial interviews to him without a prosecutor or their own counsel present. He was one of the lead attorneys on the Intoximeters® RBT-IV breath-testing issue in Southern Arizona which resulted in the suppression of breath tests in over 7,000 cases and the removal of the RBT-IV from the streets of Arizona. He also spearheaded the effort to obtain the manufacturer’s source code and software for the CMI Intoxilyzer 8000. Although the source code was never obtained, he almost single-handedly ground 90% of all DUI prosecutions within the City of Tucson to a halt for nearly three years and obtained breath test suppressions and dismissals in hundreds of DUI cases.
In addition to “traditional” DUI cases involving alcohol, Mr. Nesci is a recognized expert on the defense of DUI/Drugs cases. Whether they are legal-over-the-counter-medications, prescription medications, or illicit drugs, such DUI cases are far more complex and present cutting-edge issues for the courts.
Mr. Nesci was always a team-player within the Southern Arizona DUI Defense Community. He was often involved in large-scale challenges to DUI investigative methods and chemical testing. His opinion is still sought by DUI Attorneys across the nation on various issues.
He is one of only a handful of attorneys in the country who has ever held a DOT-Compliant Permit to operate an Intoxilyzer® 8000. He owns both an Intoxilyzer® 8000 & 8000 which are used for in-court demonstrations and for research purposes. He is qualified to administer Standardized Field Sobriety Tests under the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration & International Association of Chiefs of Police Guidelines.
He has taught seminars on the subjects of:
- Ethics
- 4th Amendment Law,
- Drug Recognition Evaluations (DUI-Drugs/DRE)
- Cross-Examination
- Trial Tactics
- Jury Selection
- Field Sobriety Testing
- Driving Behavior
- Blood Alcohol Calculations
- Opening & Closing Arguments
- Source Code Litigation
- Frye & Daubert Challenges
- Intoxilyzer 8000 Operator’s Course
- Headspace Gas Chromatography
- Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry
- Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assays
- Blood and Breath Testing
He was a frequent guest of the John C. Scott radio program in Tucson. The Tucson Weekly named Mr. Nesci the "King of the DUI Defense" (December 19, 2002). He has appeared on CNN, Inside Edition, Celebrity Justice, Fox News, Access Hollywood, Court TV, and National Public Radio.
Mr. Nesci lives in Tucson with his wife and twin daughters. He is an honorably discharged veteran of the U.S. Navy where he spent much of his time working as an electrician in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyards. His interests are traveling, fine wines, vintage port, and fast cars. He is an amateur race-car driver, an accomplished mechanic, and a Corvette fanatic.
Proven Defense Attorney & Profound Author 
Nesci Literally Wrote the Book on "DUI"
Among Mr. Nesci's many accomplishments in the field of law, which continue in his retirement, is his recognition as a renowned published author. His written works can be found in law firms throughout the country, and even in the households of non-lawyers nationwide. In addition to authoring the legal treatise Nesci's Arizona DUI Defense: The Law & Practice, 5th Edition, designed for defense lawyers and allied professionals, he has co-authored many state-specific criminal defense-related books for Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin justice systems. Mr. Nesci also served as a contributing author to Medicolegal Aspects of Alcohol, writing chapters for both the 5th and 6th editions. Consumers can also gain a wealth of knowledge about the DUI process by following the advice in his book, How to Beat a DUI.
Many of Mr. Nesci's publications are available online at Lawyers & Judges Publishing.