Archive for the ‘DUI advice’ Category

Orange County DUI accident results in 15 to life sentence

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

Orange County Man Receives 15 Year Sentence for Killing Bicyclist

Our Orange County DUI lawyers have learned that a Garden Grove man was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for killing a bicyclist for a drunk driving crash that occurred in 2008.

The man already had a DUI conviction from 2002 and had attended nine months of alcohol awareness crashes. In October 2008, the individual had taken two different types of painkillers, an anti-anxiety drug, a muscle relaxant and alcohol before he went out one evening to run some errands. He was on his way home when his truck ran over a curb and hit and killed a 45 year old mother bicycling with her son. His blood-alcohol level was measured at .09 over an hour after the crash. The legal limit in California is .08. His alcohol level at the time of his 2002 DUI was 0.25.

The driver was convicted of second-degree murder after the District Attorney argued that he showed a “conscious disregard for life” when he killed the bicyclist. The judge ruled before trial that the jury would not be allowed to consider a lesser charge of vehicular manslaughter. The judge found that he was not completely remorseful and was an alcoholic with drug issues.

The driver will be eligible for parole in about 13 years because he has already served almost two years in prison before the conviction. His lawyer, who is one of the better known Orange County DUI Lawyers in this area, are planning an appeal.

Archive for the ‘DUI advice’ Category

Orange County DUI accident results in 15 to life sentence

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

Huntington Beach Considering Posting Names of Suspected Drunk Drivers on Website

Our Orange County DUI lawyers have learned that the Huntington Beach Police Department may soon post the names of drunk drivers on its website, as part of its attempt to cut down on DUIs.

The Huntington Beach Police Department submitted a report to the City Council which outlined proposed tactics for reducing DUIs. Among the proposed tactics are posting the names of those arrested for DUIs online, in order to send a message that the city is serious about enforcing its DUI laws. However, critics of the proposal point out that suspected drunk drivers should be considered innocent until proven guilty.

The city typically makes 1,700 DUI arrests each year, which is the third-highest in California for cities with similar populations. Huntington also has the fourth-highest number of alcohol-related traffic accidents for its population. According to officials, Huntington Beach’s DUI problems are concentrated in the downtown area, which is very popular with tourists. About 19 percent of the city’s liquor licenses are issued to businesses downtown.

In March, the Police Department began keeping records of where individuals arrested for DUIs have had their last drink, and notifying those businesses’ managers that they may have served their customers too much. The Police Department located two particular restaurants in the downtown area that are suspected of over-serving customers, although both restaurants deny the charges and claim they take measures to prevent drunk driving.

Our Orange County DUI lawyers can help if you have been arrested for a DUI in Orange County.  Call us at (714) 568-1560 anytime, 24 hours a day.

Archive for the ‘DUI advice’ Category

Orange County DUI accident results in 15 to life sentence

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

Lawrence Taylor, in his excellent duiblog (duiblog.com), points out that “breathalyzers” do not measure alcohol: they actually measure the presence of a molecular group in chemical compounds. Ethyl alcohol (aka ethanol) contains the group, and so when the machine detects its presence (or, more accurately, infrared energy is absorbed by it), it simply assumes that the detected compound must be ethyl alcohol.

Problem: there are thousands of compounds containing the molecular group — of which well over one hundred have been found on the human breath.

Breathing gasoline or paint fumes, for example, or merely absorbing the fumes through the skin, can create false breath test results for days afterwards. And as Dean taylor has posted in the past, the problem is particularly acute when the suspect happens to be a diabetic, as diabetics often have high levels of acetone in their breath — a compound which contains the group in its molecular structure.

However, you do not need to be a diabetic to have high levels of acetone. Scientific research has established that acetone can exist in perfectly normal individuals at levels sufficient to cause false high breath-alcohol test readings.  See “Excretion of Low-Molecular Weight Volatile Substances in Human Breath: Focus on Endogenous Ethanol”, 9 Journal of Analytical Toxicology 246 (1985).

Fasting or radical dieting, such as with the Atkins diet, can also cause significantly elevated acetone. Studies have concluded that fasting, for example, can increase acetone in the body sufficient to obtain breathalyzer readings of .06%.  This is cumulative — that is, the .06% will be added by the machine to any levels actually caused by alcohol or other compounds.  Thus, a true breath alcohol of .03%, for example, would be reported by the machine as .09%. “The Likelihood of Acetone Interference in Breath Alcohol Measurement”, 3 Alcohol, Drugs and Driving 1 (1987).  And low-carbohydrate diets have long been associated with high levels of acetone production.

Of course, for many years law enforcement denied that any such problem existed.

How reliable are breathalyzers? Not very.

Archive for the ‘DUI advice’ Category

Orange County DUI accident results in 15 to life sentence

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

In what can only be called “guilty until proven innocent”, California defense attorney Jon W. Woolsey got a court order requiring the California Highway Patrol to turn over any templates or forms used by the officer who arrested his client for DUI.  The following is the template that was used:

FIELD SOBRIETY TESTS

All FST’s were explained and demonstrated.  I asked Name if he/she understood each test completely and he/she stated that he did.  All tests were performed on a Location dirt/asphalt Parking lot/Shoulder that was free of debris.  The weather was cool, clear/cloudy, and daylight/dark.

1)Horizontal Gaze Nystagamus:

Name eyes showed lack of smooth pursuit, distinct nystagmus at the extremes and an onset prior to 45 degrees.  Name’s eyes showed vertical gaze nystagmus.

2)One leg stand:Name lifted his/her right/left foot and dropped it immediately on the count of 1000.

3)Romberg:Name estimated 30 seconds in 0000 seconds.  Name body swayed in a circular motion 1 to 2 inches from center of mass.

4)Finger Count:I explained the test to Name

5)Preliminary Alcohol Screening Device:

I admonished Name regarding the Preliminary Alcohol Screening Device (PAS) and he/she agreed/refused to take the test.  I administered the PAS to Name at 0000 and 0000 hours with BAC results of .000% and .000%.

Other Factual Information:

All times are approximate and may vary from the times on the Preliminary Alcohol Screening Device, the breath test and times provided to me by dispatch.

First Observations:

On 0-00-07 I was on routine patrol in a fully marked CHP patrol vehicle, with my partner officer nnn.  I was traveling

Observations After Stop:I contacted the driver and advised him/her the reason for the stop.  As I spoke with the driver I smelled the strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emitting from his/her breath.  I noticed that the driver had red watery eyes, as well as slow and slurred speech.  I asked the driver for his/her driver’s license, which he/she provided me.  I identified the driver using his/her CaliforniaDriver’s License as John Doe 00-00-00. I asked the driver if he/she had anything to drink and he stated, “–.”  I asked the driver to exithis/her vehicle and meet me at the right front of my patrol vehicle.  I noticed that as the driver walked he had an unsteady gate.  As I spoke with the driver I noticed that he/she had an odor of an alcoholic beverage emitting from his/her breath and person.  I also noticed that the driver was unsteady on his/her feet swaying in a circular motion 1 to 2 inches from center of mass, he/she had slow slurred speech, and red and watery eyes.  I advised the driver that I smelled a strong odor of alcohol emitting from his/her breath and askedhim/her how much he/she had to drink and he/she stated, “—-.”  I explained and demonstrated several FST’s to Name, which he/shecould not complete as explained and demonstrated.  

Arrest: Based on my observations of Name’s driving, Name’s objective signs of alcohol intoxication, and his/her performance on the FST’s, I formed the opinion that Name was driving under the influence of an alcoholic beverage and unable to safely operate a motor vehicle.  I placed Name under arrest for 23152 (a) CVC at 0000 hours.  I advised Name of implied consent and he/she chose theblood/breath test.  I booked Name into the Sonoma County Jail.

Recommendations:

I recommend a copy of this report be forwarded to the Sonoma County District Attorney’s for review, and that Name be prosecuted for violation of 23152 (a) CVC driving under the influence of an alcoholic beverage, and _____

Basically, the report tells the officer what he should have seen — not what he actually saw.   And as any honest cop will tell you, drunk driving cases rarely follow such a neat, pre-described script.  But it is convenient.  And avoids messy complications – like the actual facts.

One size fits all.  Our Newport Beach DUI Lawyers have seen this, unfortunately, way too often.

Archive for the ‘DUI advice’ Category

Orange County DUI accident results in 15 to life sentence

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

NEWPORT BEACH – After arresting a woman for driving under the influence, a Newport Beach police officer cited a broken license plate light as justification for the traffic stop, but the patrol car video “clearly demonstrated” the light was working, meaning the motorist was “not lawfully arrested,” according to public documents.

Drunken-driving charges against Dana Point resident Patricia M. Power, 54, were dropped, and the Department of Motor Vehicles, in reinstating her driver’s license, found there was not “reasonable cause” for her arrest.

The city earlier this year agreed to pay $1,670 for her attorney’s fees and towing costs, according to documents released to The Orange County Register as part of a public-records request.

“I don’t think it’s right, what he did,” Power said of the traffic stop by officer Michael Moore.

City officials had no comment as of press time and had not replied to a request for a copy of the video recording. Power says she had just dropped off a friend in a popular nightlife area near John Wayne Airport on May 30, 2009, when the traffic stop took place.

In a police report, Moore wrote: “I observed the vehicle … did not have a functioning license plate light. … I activated my vehicle’s overhead red and blue lights … to conduct a traffic stop on the driver of the vehicle for the violation.”

“While speaking with (Power), I smelled a moderate odor of an alcohol beverage emitting from her breath and person. I also noticed her eyes were bloodshot,” wrote Moore, who was accompanied in the patrol car by Officer Paul Sarris.

A subsequent breath test detected a 0.12 percent blood-alcohol level, and Power was arrested and charged with DUI.

In October, however, DMV officials said the patrol car video “clearly demonstrated that the rear license plate light was lit and functioning well.”

Therefore, she “was not lawfully arrested for a violation of driving under the influence of alcohol,” the DMV report says.

Farrah Emami, spokesman for the Orange County district attorney, would provide only limited comment on the case, saying charges were dropped because prosecutors “could not prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.”

In late March, the city agreed to cover Power’s attorney’s fees and towing costs. The payment was disclosed recently when the Register requested details on the city’s legal bills.

Of the arrest, Power says, “I’m embarrassed that it happened, especially at my age.”

As for why the stop happened to begin with, Power notes it was prom time and she was near several bars. “I think I was pulled over because I was in that area, and he was more or less cherry picking,” she said.

There is considerable nuance in the laws surrounding traffic stops – checkpoints are generally legal under federal law, for example, but probable cause is generally required before individual motorists can be pulled over.

Ronald D. Rotunda, a constitutional law professor at Chapman University, said police typically cannot stop individual motorists if there is no suggestion they have done something wrong.

“They’ve got to have a reason,” Rotunda said. “You can’t just stop people on the road.”

Archive for the ‘DUI advice’ Category

Orange County DUI accident results in 15 to life sentence

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

Image via Wikipedia

Our Orange County DUI Lawyers have received a request from the OC Sheriff’s Department to help spread the word about their Memorial Day Weekend Schedule of Operations, including both DUI checkpoints and Roving Patrols.

DUI Checkpoints:

FRIDAY, May 28:

Orange County Sheriff’s Department (City of Laguna Woods)

Brea Police Department

La Habra Police Department

In addition, the Huntington Beach PD is conducting their own DUI Checkpoint, at Pacific Coast Highway at Huntington Street, City of Huntington Beach on  May 29, 2010, starting at 9pm.

Saturation Patrols:

FRIDAY – MONDAY, May 28-31:  The Orange County Sheriff’s Department will conduct DUI Roving Patrols in their south contract cities.

DUI Roving Patrols will also be conducted by police in the following cities:

Anaheim,

Buena Park,

Fountain Valley,

Fullerton,

Irvine,

La Habra,

Orange,

Placentia,

Seal Beach,

Tustin,

Westminster

UCI Campus police.

Contact:     For more information contact the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Public Affairs Office at (714) 647-7042.  And, if you have questions for a DUI Specialist Orange County, call me at (714) 568-1560.

Archive for the ‘DUI advice’ Category

Orange County DUI accident results in 15 to life sentence

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

Monday, April 12, 2010 | As Orange County DUI Lawyers, we get asked all the time about how effective DUI checkpoints are.  The answer is: Not Very.  For all of the effort expended by police departments on DUI checkpoints, they’re not the best way to catch drunks behind the wheel.

In 2008, just more than 5,000 drunk drivers were nabbed at 1,740 checkpoints statewide. That number represents about 2.3 percent of all California drunk driving arrests in 2008, according to statistics compiled by the state’s Office of Traffic Safety.

Meanwhile, nearly 215,000 DUI arrests were made by regular police and California Highway Patrol officers on their daily patrols, the Department of Motor Vehicles reported.

But despite these statistics, the checkpoints are here to stay. While they may not be good at catching drunk drivers, they have proven quite effective in capturing something else very important to local police agencies: federal dollars.

Roughly $14 million in federal grant money was spent statewide in 2008 on checkpoints. Orange County law enforcement agencies will receive at least $2.5 million in federal grants this fiscal year for checkpoints.

Grants cover virtually all costs for the checkpoints including overtime for officers so inspections don’t interfere with regular police work.

“If you see a check point, the chances are extremely good that that’s grant funded,” said Chris Cochran, spokesman for the California Office of Traffic Safety which administers federal safe driving grants.

Federal grants for checkpoints jumped nationally in fiscal 2006 from $40 million the previous year to $120 million. For fiscal 2009, grant funding was $139 million, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Both Cochran and Mothers Against Drunk Driving Orange County Interim Director Mary Beth Griffith say there is clear evidence that checkpoints are a deterrent.

They point to the fact that drunk driving fatalities have decreased in recent years and say the drop is at least partly attributable to checkpoints being an effective way to educate the public about drunk driving.

Cochran cited the Office of Traffic Safety’s 2009 performance report which said alcohol-related deaths from driving accidents dropped 9.1 percent from 2007 to 2008 and, since 2005, fatalities have gone down “a staggering 20.1 percent.”

And MADD’s Griffith noted a U.S. Transportation Department report in March that said preliminary statistics show national traffic fatalities in 2009 were at their lowest level since 1954. And the rate has been steadily going down for more than three years.

Griffith said she would “like to believe it’s because more people are being arrested before they could cause a crash.”

However, when the government released the 2009 fatality numbers last month, one of the nations top auto safety watchdogs attributed the drop in fatalities primarily to the Great Recession.

“It’s a consistent pattern that the silver lining in any recession is a dip – and sometimes a significant dip – in highway deaths,” Russ Rader, spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, told the Baltimore Sun.

The government report, according to the Sun’s reporting, shows a downward trend in fatalities that increased as the national economy went into recession and Americans began driving fewer miles. The number of deaths on the nation’s roads prior to 2008 routinely surpassed 40,000.

Nonetheless, Cochran insists that “checkpoints are the best deterrent for DUI (driving under the influence) fatalities.”

One reason for their success, he said, is that they reach both drinkers and non-drinkers, helping educate both groups about the dangers of drinking and driving and, hopefully, inspiring non-drinking family and friends to get behind the wheel when they’re with someone who has been drinking.

“One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Stop!” Shouts a voice from the dark as officers begin their inspection at a recent checkpoint in Fullerton.

The police check for a valid driver’s license and then chat with (and sniff) drivers to see if they seem impaired by alcohol or drugs. Officers also give each driver they stop anti-drinking and driving literature from MADD.

But a recent investigation by the investigative news website California Watch revealed that police agencies do more than just sniff for booze and hand out pamphlets at checkpoints.

They also impounded the cars of unlicensed drivers whether they’ve been drinking or not. And the agencies make big money doing it, according to California Watch’s reporting. The website also found that minority motorists — and often illegal immigrants — were often the most likely to have their cars impounded.

Even with such revelations, Cochran said federal dollars for the checkpoints will keep coming. “It’s a trend more than a spike,” he said.

Archive for the ‘DUI advice’ Category

Orange County DUI accident results in 15 to life sentence

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

Law enforcement agencies should be encouraged to employ the most effective means for getting drunk drivers off of the road. Unfortunately, ineffective tactics widely used today, including roadblocks and PR campaigns, target responsible adults while they ignore the root cause of today’s drunk driving problem — hard core product abusers and repeat offenders.

Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) show that the average blood alcohol content (BAC) of a drunk driver in a fatal car crash is 0.19% — more than twice the legal limit. The NHTSA administrator has said that today’s problem is “by far and away” made up of “those who have alcohol use disorders.” And a NHTSA study found that “specific deterrence strategies, like roving patrols that ‘hunt down’ DWIs, might be the optimum means for targeting the hard core drinking driver.”

“[T]he number of DWI arrests made by the roving patrol program was nearly three times the average number of DWIs made by the checkpoint programs,” NHTSA reported. “If making a large number of DWI arrests is an objective of a program, [the data] clearly suggests that roving patrols would be the preferred option.”

“Roadblocks, lower arrest thresholds, and red-ribbon campaigns are not going to change the behavior of the alcohol abusers who are the source of today’s drunk driving problem,” said ABI executive director John Doyle. “In fact, these efforts divert funds and attention away from the real problem. We need to use the most effective law enforcement methods we have to get drunk drivers off the road.”

However, DUI checkpoints exist as a marketing tool for MADD, and because substantial state and federal monies go to police for DUI checkpoints, keeping officers off the road and thus not finding persons drunk driving.

Related articles

• Drive Safe Not Buzzed This St. Patrick’s Day!* (theplussizemommy.com)
• Buzzed Driving is Drunk Driving (anneonlife.com)
• U.S. Traffic Fatalities Hit Historic Lows (thecarconnection.com)

Archive for the ‘DUI advice’ Category

Orange County DUI accident results in 15 to life sentence

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

If you were unfortunate enough to have a DUI in Newport Beach – watch out.  Newport Beach is infamous for a police department dedicated to catching and arresting DUI offenders, a prosecutor, the Orange County District Attorney’s office, that has higher penalties for Newport Beach DUIs than other courts in the same county, and judges that don’t want to be known for being soft or easy on DUI offenders – especially in an area with as many political connections as Newport Beach.

Newport Beach DUI Checkpoints

Orange County DUI checkpoint locations are often found in Newport Beach, and DUI checkpoints are one of the most common ways the police find individuals to arrest for DUI. Unfortunately, DUI checkpoints are not truly effective ways of catching criminals. Their most useful purpose is for providing money to the city of Newport Beach, especially through impounded motor vehicles. An individual will still have to pay to have his vehicle back, even if he has been found innocent of DUI in a court of law.

Handling DMV Issues

The best thing you can do is to have one of the specialized Newport Beach DUI lawyers in the area handle the DMV issues for you. You’ll have only 10 days and could face having a suspended license for a year or more if you don’t act. It’s very important that the attorney has the chance to schedule a hearing to stop the DMV from removing your privileges because they can then subpoena witnesses and evidence that can help convey your innocence.

If you schedule the hearing yourself, you risk losing witnesses who may be unable to attend on the date you’ve scheduled, and it may be an inopportune time for your Newport Beach DUI lawyers too. Be sure to let the attorney know right away that you haven’t scheduled the hearing but that it needs to be done. They are experts at handling the situation and can potentially keep you from losing your license privileges.

Defending a DUI Charge

There are many different factors that contribute to the defense of a DUI charge. Not only will your attorney go over the details of the arrest with a fine-tooth comb, but he or she will ensure that all proper procedures were followed during your arrest. For instance, if the arresting police officer did not follow proper protocol, there’s a chance that all charges could be dropped. If your Miranda rights were not read to you, or if the breathalyzer machine was not calibrated correctly, the attorney can work to have the charges dismissed. Your blood alcohol level and toxicology reports will be gone over as well, as attorneys know exactly what to look for.

By quickly contacting an attorney as soon as you’ve been arrested and charged, you increase your chances of having competent representation and ensuring that your rights are protected.  Our Newport Beach office is located at 5020 Campus Drive, Newport Beach, CA 92660 — steps away from the front door of the courthouse in Newport Beach, and you can reach us at (949) 682-5316.

Related articles

• Seal Beach: March DUI Checkpoint (cehwiedel.com)
• DUI Miranda Rights – The Miranda Warning is Not Mandatory for a DUI Arrest (slideshare.net)
• Cypress: DUI Checkpoint On Saturday (cehwiedel.com)
• Seal Beach: DUI Checkpoint On February 13th (cehwiedel.com)
• DUI Checkpoint in the Universal City Area Tonight (laist.com)

Archive for the ‘DUI advice’ Category

Orange County DUI accident results in 15 to life sentence

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

The Lake Elsinore Police Department Targets Impaired Drivers with Checkpoint

Our Criminal Lawyers Riverside have learned that the Lake Elsinore Police Department will be conducting a DUI / Driver’s License Checkpoint on Saturday March 06, at an undisclosed location within the city.

A DUI checkpoint is not a proven effective method for achieving the goal of getting drunk drivers off the street, but by publicizing these enforcement and education efforts, The Lake Elsinore Police Department believes motorists can be deterred from drinking and driving.

Traffic volume and weather permitting, all vehicles may be checked and drivers who are under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs will be arrested.

Funding for this operation is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Related articles

• Seal Beach: March DUI Checkpoint (cehwiedel.com)
• Cypress: DUI Checkpoint On Saturday (cehwiedel.com)
• DUI Checkpoints Are Cash Cow For Cops, Cities (themoderatevoice.com)
• Police: Twitter used to avoid DUI checkpoints (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• CA Sobriety Checkpoints Snare Illegals, Pad Tow Companies? (thecarconnection.com)