Archive for May, 2011

Orange County DUI Checkpoint Locations

Friday, May 27th, 2011

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The Avoid the 26-Orange County DUI Campaign will be deploying officers this holiday weekend at DUI/Drivers License Checkpoints and DUI Saturation Patrols countywide to arrest drunk drivers.

The enforcement campaign begins Friday night with DUI/Drivers License checkpoints in the city of Anaheim, Buena Park and La Habra with special DUI Saturation Patrols deploying in the cities of Anaheim and La Habra.  The city of Seal Beach will host a DUI/Drivers License checkpoint in their city on Sunday night.  More local DUI Saturation Patrols will be out on Saturday and Sunday nights on the cities of Newport Beach, Brea, Buena Park, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Los Alamitos, Placentia, Santa Ana and the University of California, Irvine.  The California Highway Patrol is deploying all available officers Memorial Day weekend onto freeways and county roads in their jurisdiction.

Funding for the Avoid Campaign is through a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  The Avoid Campaign will deploy checkpoints and DUI patrols again during the Independence Day Holiday and for the August/Labor DUI Mobilization. If you have questions for our Orange County DUI Lawyers, call us, toll free, at (877) 568-2977.

Archive for May, 2011

Orange County DUI Checkpoint Locations

Friday, May 27th, 2011

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The lights are flashing, the officer comes over to your car, and you think about those two drinks you had.  If you even think you might have alcohol, and are stopped or arrested for DUI, the right thing to say isn’t “Officer, can you hold my beer?”, but instead follow these six things you should NEVER do.

1. Be Zen, and Don’t Admit anything.

Should you quickly pop mints, Listerine strips, gum, or even reach below the seat for that flask that you’ve kept concealed for just this situation (so that the police can not demonstrate when the alcohol was consumed)? Reaching all around frantically in your vehicle for anything at all, (specially something shiny and metal) as the officer approaches your automobile is a excellent way to increase your odds of getting shot. Roll down all your windows, (this also airs out the automobile), flip on your interior lights, put your hands at the “10 and 2″ position, high on the steering wheel, and don’t get out of the automobile.

Now is also not the time to go into particulars about nearly anything. Despite the fact that it’s hard, a refusal to respond to questions is legal.  More than that, it’s smart, as your answers can’t be used against you, underneath the US Constitution’s Fifth Amendment. So do what any judge or attorney would advise you to do – politely refuse to response any issues, and inform the police that a Newport Beach DUI lawyer (me) advised you not to respond any questions .

2. Politely refuse the Field Sobriety Exams (FSTs).

In California, the FSTs are optional, and voluntary. They are intended to give the police proof to assist a determination of probable cause that you had been under the influence, and can be refused without any consequence. Area sobriety assessments include the walk and turn examination, horizontal gaze nystagmus (watching a pen, flashlight, finger with your eyes), the one leg stand, and even a PAS (preliminary alcohol screening device) test.

Even so, make positive that you know that under California law, there are consequences for refusing an evidentiary test, which is different than a PAS test.  So, the smart thing to do is to politely refuse the field test, politely request a breath or blood test at the station, which offers you much more time to burn off off alcohol.

3. Do not, ever, at any time, miss your court date.

Do not ever before miss your court date, ever, ever, period.  It can lead to additional costs, and a warrant for your arrest, and just makes you look irresponsible to the court.

4. Don’t miss the DMV deadline.

The DMV has a sneaky 10 day deadline to request a hearing, or lose your license, and it’s buried in the fine print of your license.  They are very strict about this requirement, so don’t miss it.

5.  Don’t assume you can’t fight a DUI case, or that it’s helpless.

Make certain you go over ALL defenses in your case, during a free consultation with a DUI Specialist, to see if, and how, your DUI matter can be dismissed, or reduced to a charge that can end up saving countless dollars in fines and fees, and keep you from a criminal record, or points on your driving record. There are a lot of defenses to DUI cases, which include defenses specific to breath testing or blood testing.  The time to explore your defenses is now, not a year later, when you see how much pleading guilty in your DUI case hurt you.

6. Don’t Defend Your self

You may possibly be contemplating defending yourself in court, but that is definitely not a good idea. You’ve heard the saying that a man who defends himself has a fool for a client, and, well… it’s true.  It really is significantly better to have an attorney who is familiar with the law, and skilled with the court exactly where your case is in. Trying to tackle something as complex as DUI by your self is a bad, bad move.

If your circumstance is in Orange County, you really should strongly consult with one of the very best Orange County DUI Lawyers in the location, and get guidance from a DUI Specialist Orange County, to conserve your license and remain out of jail.

Archive for May, 2011

Orange County DUI Checkpoint Locations

Friday, May 27th, 2011

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Our Orange County DUI Lawyers have learned of yet another Orange County DUI Checkpoint, this time two of them, in Costa Mesa.  Costa Mesa Police will be conducting DUI/Drivers License checkpoints on Saturday, May 21 st  and Wednesday May 25 th , 2011 between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m., at a yet undisclosed location (usually they are on Newport Boulevard Northbound, near Triangle Square (17th to 19th streets).  The Costa Mesa Police Department believes, despite evidence, that DUI checkpoints are a proven enforcement tool effective in reducing the number of persons killed and injured in alcohol involved crashes.

Additional DUI saturation patrols have been scheduled for Monday, May 30th, and saturation patrols have proven to me much more effective in getting drunk drivers off the road.

Officers will be checking drivers through the checkpoint for signs of alcohol and or drug impairments.  Officers will check for proper licensing and make most of the money for the police department off of lengthy impounds for unlicensed drivers, not persons driving under the influence.

Statewide, overall traffic deaths declined by 23 percent, from 3,995 in 2007 to 3,081 in 2009.  Total traffic fatalities are at their lowest levels in six decades, when the federal government began compiling figures.  DUI deaths declined by 16 percent, from 1,132 in 2007 to 950 in 2009, according to federal statistics.
DUICheckpoints mean Money for police departments, usually for officer overtime, and funding for this and other DUI checkpoints is provided to Costa Mesa Police Department by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and with funds, contributions, and volunteer services from MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving).

If you have questions for our Newport Beach DUI Lawyers, call anytime at (949) 682-5316.

Archive for May, 2011

Orange County DUI Checkpoint Locations

Friday, May 27th, 2011

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Archive for May, 2011

Orange County DUI Checkpoint Locations

Friday, May 27th, 2011

Image via Wikipedia

Our Orange County DUI Lawyers have learned today that Dylan Morse, 18-year-old son of the Merced County, California District Attorney has been sentenced to 12 years and 4 months in prison, according to Lori A. Carter, a reporter who writes for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

Judge Ken Gnoss made what he called an “extremely difficult” decision last week when he sentenced Morse to what Carter calls one of the harshest DUI sentences in the past decade, in response to the crash that killed one man and left his best friend in a coma.

Morse will spend at least ten years in prison, following the recommendation of the county probation department, which reported that he was “well aware” of the risks posed by a DUI offense.

“This was grossly unfair and unjust,” says Morse’s lawyer, Chris Andrian, who said that Morse was “appropriately remorseful” and seeking alcohol treatment.

Morse pled guilty to three felonies and three misdemeanors connected to the February 14 collision that killed Berkeley art student and musician Alex Ruiz, 22, and left two others with significant injuries, including Ryne Spitzer, 19, who incurred permanent disabilities. Nonetheless, Spitzer’s family has protested the sentence.

“We are trying to intervene on the excessive confinement thrown at Dylan Morse,” said Mark Spitzer, Ryne’s father. “This is not to lessen the devastating effects of drinking and driving, but we are also talking about an 18-year-old young man who needs a chance after any incarceration to still salvage a productive and influential life. We will try to help.”

Gnoss said that he put himself in the position of Spitzer’s family, and felt that Morse deserved the maximum punishment. He believed that Morse knew his behavior was illegal and dangerous. In fact, just the day prior to the accident, Morse had driven Spitzer to a court-ordered class following his own DUI arrest.

Morse’s blood-alcohol level was 0.15% when he ran a red light and smashed into Ruiz at Highway 116 and Stony Point Road.

Lynn Darst, a Mothers Against Drunk Driving advocate who lost a daughter-in-law to a drunken driving accident in 2005 said she supported the sentence.

“I believe it was too harsh to have Alexander Ruiz lose his life as a result of two young men in a vehicle under the influence of alcohol. That was a harsh sentence for the Ruiz family.”

Over the past decade, sentences handed down by judges in Sonoma County have varied widely for DUI fatalities. Some defendants have received probation, while others have been sentenced to a year or less in county jail.

In cases where the defendants had prior DUIs or left the scene of the accident, they received sentences of up to nine years in prison. The Press Democrats report no cases with similar circumstances in a decade that received such a lengthy prison sentence. The maximum sentence for the offense is 15 years.

There are some concerns that the lengthy sentence factors in the reality that Morse’s father is an elected prosecutor, which may affect his treatment in prison and where he will be housed.  And our Newport Beach DUI Lawyers say that the Harbor Justice Center is the toughest courthouse for DUIs in the state – this sentence beats anything seen there.

Source: Santa Rosa Press Democrat

Archive for May, 2011

Orange County DUI Checkpoint Locations

Friday, May 27th, 2011

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The Irvine Police Department arrested two people on suspicion of driving under the influence and issued 10 citations during a DUI and driver’s license checkpoint Friday night at Campus Drive and Bridge Road, Lt. Henry Boggs said.

Officers stopped 545 vehicles and conducted nine sobriety tests as part of the project, which including state and federal funding and was staffed by sworn police officers, professional staff and community volunteers.

An Orange County Register article on the DUi checkpoint cited Mothers Against Drunk Driving, saying that they estimated that communities consistently using sobriety checkpoints experience as much as eight times the reduction in DUI incidents as communities that use roving patrols alone.  This statistic is cited in a 2005 webpage from MADD Orange County, with no supporting studies, statistics, or mention that Laguna Beach has severely cutting, almost eliminating, the ineffective checkpoints.

Archive for May, 2011

Orange County DUI Checkpoint Locations

Friday, May 27th, 2011

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Our Orange County DUI Lawyers have learned that seventy vehicles were impounded and 31 people were arrested at San Diego DUI checkpoints in Vista and Pacific Beach recently, according to a news report.

San Diego Sheriff’s deputies and San Diego police processed almost 1,800 vehicles through the two DUI checkpoints.  At the Vista DUI checkpoint, deputies arrested seven drivers for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, issued 47 citations for a number of violations and seized 41 vehicles.

At the Pacific Beach DUI checkpoint, police arrested 25 drivers for DUI; one driver was also arrested for felony possession of a controlled substance and another driver was arrested for being drunk in public.  Police impounded a total of 29 vehicles.

Archive for May, 2011

Orange County DUI Checkpoint Locations

Friday, May 27th, 2011

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Our Orange County DUI Lawyers have learned that the Irvine Police Department will be holding a sobriety checkpoint tonight at the intersection of Campus Drive and Bridge Road.

That’s at the center of where UC Irvine, University Town Center, the Mesa Court apartments and thousands of young adults meet, which is precisely why cops picked the spot.

“In 2009, drivers between the ages of 21 and 24 were responsible for 34% of fatal crashes with blood alcohol content (BAC) levels of .08 or higher (the same as 2008 and up from 31% in 2007),” reads an IPD statement.  Be safe out there.

Archive for May, 2011

Orange County DUI Checkpoint Locations

Friday, May 27th, 2011

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Our Orange County DUI Lawyers have learned that the Orange County “Avoid the 38” DUI Task Force will be deploying overtime patrols in the following cities: Anaheim, Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, La Habra Laguna Beach, La Palma, Placentia, Santa Ana and Westminster, as well as the Sheriff’s Department’s Contract Cities.  The Cal State University of Fullerton Police will also have patrols out.  These patrols
will be looking for the signs of a drunk driver to stop, test and arrest those who have had too much alcohol.

If you have questions for a DUI specialist Orange County, call us at (877) 568-2977, anytime.