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A 41-year-old veteran San Diego Police Officer, David Hall, committed suicide.  He had been battling alcoholism and was depressed because he believed he would lose his job for a DUI hit and run crash he was involved in earlier this year.

In the report, investigators say Officer Hall was specifically worried about an upcoming hearing regarding his DUI case.

And before his suicide he didnt leave behind a note. In fact, he didnt give his wife Michelle or three kids any indication he was about to shoot himself in the backyard.

Which he did at about 9:40 in the morning, as his kids slept inside their Linda Vista home.

He was found by his wife who heard the gunshot as she was about to drive off to work.

The report also shows Officer Hall had quit drinking for five months following his DUI crash, but for some reason he relapsed shortly before his suicide.

“More people commit suicide after a DUI arrest than any other kind of arrest including rape-murder, said Psychiatrist Dr. Clark Smith, who believes Officer Halls relapse played a big role in his suicide.

“Often people who are very depressed drink a lot more and both factors increase suicide risk, Clark said.

Michelle agreed that the DUI played a major role in her husbands suicide.

“We went through such a tremendous ordeal in the last seven months, she said. “He knew what he did was wrong with the DUI and he was trying to fix his life by going to Alcoholics Anonymous, and in the end he felt like he had no other option.

Michelle also blames her husbands suicide on certain members of the media who she says hounded her family about the DUI case.

And she blames the D-As office saying, “I think the District Attorney was out to make an example of him. Sad.  But as a Los Angeles DUI lawyer, I see this too often.

Related articles

• News links: Philadelphia woman gets $12,000 gas bill; Pennsylvania liquor enforcement officer charged with DUI in Pittsburgh (pennlive.com)
• San Diego Police Officer Commits Suicide After Being Charged with Hit-And-Run (laist.com)
• Liquor Board Enforcement Agent Arrested For DUI (inquisitr.com)

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• Celebrity DUI Review (ocduiblog.com)
• Former major leaguer Curtis Leskanic arrested for DUI with daughter in car (hardballtalk.nbcsports.com)
• Celebrity DUI – Jamie Pressly settles her DUI case (ocduiblog.com)

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Our Long Beach DUI Lawyers have learned that Long Beach Fire Department Capt. John David Hines pleaded guilty this morning to a DUI and hit-and-run felony case that severely injured a bicyclist, officials said.

Hines, 38, faces a sentence ranging from probation to six years and eight months in prison. He’ll return to court Dec. 2, after undergoing a 90-day diagnostic evaluation in state prison to “determine his suitability for state prison,” according to a press release from the Orange County district attorney’s office.

As part of a court-offered deal, Hines pleaded guilty to one felony count each of driving under the influence of alcohol causing bodily injury, driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.08 percent or more causing injury, hit and run with injury, and sentencing enhancements and allegations for causing great bodily injury and having a blood alcohol level over 0.20 percent.

According to prosecutors, Hines spent the morning of April 1 boozing it up at a Long Beach restaurant called Schooner or Later, then drove his truck east along Westminster Avenue in Seal Beach, where he swerved off the road and crashed into 47-year-old bicyclist Jeffrey Gordon.

Gordon was thrown more than 70 feet and landed on the shoulder of the street, according to prosecutors. The impact of the high-speed collision broke the windshield and nearly disabled Hines’ Chevy Silverado, according to witnesses who chased him, honking and screaming at him to pull over, as he drove several blocks from the crash scene to his house in Huntington Beach.

When police from Seal Beach and Huntington Beach arrived at his home, Hines reeked of alcohol, his eyes were bloodshot and the odor of urine wafted from his clothing, authorities said. The front end of his truck was spattered with blood.

His blood-alcohol level at the time was .24, three times the legal limit, authorities said. After he was booked, Hines was released on $50,000 bail and reportedly checked himself into alcohol rehab.

Gordon spent two weeks in the hospital with head trauma, severe lacerations and bruising to his head and body, internal injuries and spinal and vertebrae injuries. He continues to suffer limited physical mobility and speech and memory loss, prosecutors said.

Related articles

• Rottman pleads not guilty to DUI (hollywood.com)
• Santa Ana man charged in crash that killed nephew (latimesblogs.latimes.com)

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In Los Angeles DUI news, actress Jamie Pressly has successfully avoided jail time for her drunk driving arrest.

The “My Name is Earl” babe pled no contest to her charges in court yesterday and was sentenced to three years of informal probation.

Additionally, Ms. Pressly will be required to complete a six-month alcohol education class and will have to have an ignition locking device on her car.

Back in January, Jaime was pulled over in Santa Monica and arrested for DUI following her split with ex-husband Simran Singh.  Another Celebrity DUI case that ends up with a hollywood ending!

Related articles

• ‘My Name Is Earl’ Star Jamie Pressly Avoids Jail in DUI Case (foxnews.com)
• Jaime Pressly Gets Probation For Drunk Driving (khmx.radio.com)
• Celebrity DUI Review (ocduiblog.com)

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As a DUI specialist Orange County, I get asked a lot whether or not it’s better to take a breath test, or a blood test, and I usually give the advice to choose breath.  (Although there is a split of opinion on that, and some attorneys recommend blood).  The presence of mouth alcohol, temperature, partition ratios, and the math effort used to convert breath to a blood alcohol level gives some room for argument.

One of the best ways to lower a breath test, however, is to hyperventilate, which cools the airways and, as breathalyzers are temperature dependent, makes for a lower test.  The academic studies seem to bear this out:

“…a group of men drank moderate doses of alcohol and their blood-alcohol levels were then measured by gas chromatographic analysis of their breath. The breathing techniques were then varied.The results indicated that holding your breath for 30 seconds before exhaling increased the blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) by 15.7%. Hyperventilating for 20 seconds immediately before the analyses of breath, on the other hand, decreased the blood-alcohol level by 10.6%. Keeping the mouth closed for five minutes and using shallow nasal breathing resulted in increasing the BAC by 7.3%, and testing after a slow, 20-second exhalation increased levels by 2%. “How Breathing Techniques Can Influence the Results of Breath-Alcohol Analyses”, 22(4) Medical Science and the Law275.For another study with similar findings, see “Accurate Measurement of Blood Alcohol Concentration with Isothermal Breathing”, 51(1) Journal of Studies on Alcohol 6.

Dr. Michael Hlastala, Professor of Physiology, Biophysics and Medicine at the University of Washington has gone farther and concluded:

“By far, the most overlooked error in breath testing for alcohol is the pattern of breathing….The concentration of alcohol changes considerably during the breath…The first part of the breath, after discarding the dead space, has an alcohol concentration much lower than the equivalent BAC. Whereas, the last part of the breath has an alcohol concentration that is much higher than the equivalent BAC. The last part of the breath can be over 50% above the alcohol level….Thus, a breath tester reading of 0.14% taken from the last part of the breath may indicate that the blood level is only 0.09%.” 9(6) The Champion 16 (1985).

The one thing that seems pretty clear is that holding your breath (which police sometimes ask you to do) results in a much higher test.  That can make the difference between being over the limit and under the limit.  Be careful out there, and if you need an attorney, my number is (877) 568-2977.

Related articles

• Alcohol levels can make a big difference (sfgate.com)
• Who Gets Drunk and Why (online.wsj.com)
• New Alcohol Management Feature on the LifeGuard Personal Breathalyzer Helps People Manage their BAC (prweb.com)

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Our Newport Beach DUI Lawyers have learned that Flo Rida was arrested for DUI, making him the newest Celebrity DUI arrest.

He was pulled over by police at 3:30am driving his 1.7 million dollar Bugatti.  The officer noticed that he smelled like booze and administered a sobriety test.  When he was asked to walk a straight line Flo Rida said “I don’t feel like I can do this, I’ve had a few drinks.  Let’s try another test,”  and tried to convince them that he was cool to drive home.   Not so much.  He ended up blowing over by twice the legal limit.

No word yet on if he was swerving so bad that his car went “right round.”

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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

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As Los Angeles DUI lawyers, We see celebrity DUI cases play out in the media, often with seemingly light or no criminal penalties. You may wonder what the potential criminal penalties for a DUI in California and what is the likelihood of such charges being brought?

Driving under the influence (DUI) sentencing occurs primarily within an alternative sentencing scheme under which offenders receive progressively more severe penalties for each successive DUI-related conviction.

Absent special circumstances, anyone arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or both is charged with violating Veh C §23152(a), commonly referred to as the “DUI count,” and is prosecuted for a misdemeanor. Veh C §§23536-23552. If the arrestee submitted to a blood-alcohol test and the results show a blood-alcohol content (BAC) of 0.08 percent or more, he or she will also be charged with violating Veh C §23152(b), commonly called the “0.08 per se count.”

Depending on the circumstances, other potential charges include:

• Driving a commercial vehicle by a person with a BAC of 0.04 percent or more. Veh C §23152(d). See Veh C §23153(d).
• Driving while addicted to any drug other than methadone. Veh C §23152(c). See Health & S C §11550 (being under influence of narcotic).
• Illegally or negligently causing bodily injury to others while DUI. Veh C §23153(a)-(b). This section is a “wobbler,” i.e., chargeable, at the prosecuting agency’s discretion, as either a misdemeanor or a felony.
• Child endangerment if a child was in the vehicle. See Pen C §273a.
• Driving with.01 or greater BAC if on probation for a DUI-related offense; the arrest will trigger an administrative hearing and possible suspension of license. Veh C §23154.

When a DUI results in a homicide, other statutes may come into play, with obviously much more serious penalties, including:

• Pen C §192(c)(1)-(3) (vehicular manslaughter), a wobbler, when death resulted from gross or ordinary negligence;
• Pen C §191.5(a) (vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence), a felony, when death resulted from criminal negligence; or
• Pen C §§187-189 (second degree murder), a felony with an indeterminate life sentence, when the defendant acted with implied malice. (note that second degree murder is normally not charged in DUI cases because it is difficult to establish implied malice; however, when the defendant has prior DUI convictions, they can be used to show that the defendant knew the dangers of drunk driving. See People v Marlin (2004) 124 CA4th 559, 21 CR3d 470).

Don’t think that kids can get away with a DUI. In fact, juveniles who drive while under the influence are subject to prosecution, as are adults who lend their cars to such juveniles. See Veh C §23140; Pen C §193.8. The minimum required BAC for a person under age 21 to be DUI is even lower — at only 0.05. Veh C §23140.

Law enforcement officials earlier this year declared 2010 to be the “Year of the DUI Checkpoint.”

College students are of the many participants in growing DUI statistics in California.

Cal State Fullerton student Brandon Salgado, business major, is just one of many students to experience receiving a DUI.

On the night of his DUI, Brandon had met with one of his friends for dinner. He drank five margaritas and one shot of tequila before he left the restaurant.

“I realized that I was buzzed, but I had never really taken a breathalyzer and didn’t really understand what .08 felt like,” Salgado said.

He was pulled over by police when he was driving through Irvine on his way home to Ladera Ranch. When the police officer asked if Salgado had been drinking he said no. The officer pulled out a light and ran it back and forth across his eyes. Salgado was asked to get out of the car.

“He explained that my eyes ‘fluttered’ and that was a sign of being under the influence. When he brought out the breathalyzer, I blew into it, and soon after he put the cuffs on my hand,” Salgado said. “He was frustrated with me because I had not been honest, but was being a little more sympathetic once he had me in cuffs.”

Salgado was taken to Santa Ana jail, where he was given a blood test. But the amount of alcohol in his blood stream was too high, he was going to receive a DUI.

“Then I was placed in a holding cell with the rest of the people that had been admitted,” Salgado said. “The rest of the night was spent moving me into different cells, usually with people who also had been brought in for DUI.”

Consequences for DUI offenders persists even after jail time.

“I had to attend (Alcoholics Anonymous) classes once a week for about a month and a half and the classes lasted about seven hours,” Salgado said. “In the end, it ended up costing thousands, between actual DUI fines, classes and towing fees.”

The $10,000 ride home is usually a lesson learned for many people who have received a DUI.

“It’s a very sobering experience. You can’t drive for six months and it’s very job limiting because you can’t get a job outside of the neighborhood. It’s depressing,” said Damon Laguna, 32.

Tom Lavelle, 20, said he knows 30 people that will not drink and drive when they hear about his DUI experience.

“I feel like the whole thing was a learning experience,” Salgado said. “I have driven at times that I know I was more intoxicated than this unfortunate night. Also, I believe that after this experience, I have been more responsible about letting my friends drive. It was an expensive learning experience.”