Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney Blog

Websites like RadarOnline, PopEater, and Perez Hilton’s blog constantly report on the latest celebrity Los Angeles DUI news. Over the past decade alone, we have seen some of our most beloved TV and movie stars -- including Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Nick Nolte, Stephanie Pratt and, perhaps most famously, Mel Gibson -- get arrested for DUI in Los Angeles (and elsewhere). But one DUI-related story that’s often not covered by the “mainstream” celebrity blog-press is the rash of lawnmower DUI arrests -- a crime that appears to be becoming increasingly common, however bizarre it may seem to most readers.

Consider the following stories that have broken just in the past month alone.

1. On April 6th, a 47-year-old Lancaster, New York resident named Joseph Simme was arrested after driving under the influence on his lawnmower on Walden Avenue. He nearly hit several vehicles. Fortunately, police pulled him over and found that he had many prior DWI charges as well as a revoked license. Upon testing, it was revealed that he had a BAC of 0.14% (remember, the legal limit for Southern California DUI is 0.08%). He was charged with multiple felony counts.

2. Just six days later -- on April 12th, a man named Martin McMurray of Blountville, Indiana was also busted for lawnmower DUI, after leading police on a low-speed chase for nearly half a mile (thus despite the fact that police loudspeakers were blaring and sirens were wailing). McMurray allegedly drove against traffic and nearly lost his balance after being pulled over.

3. Just two days after that, on April 14th, a 30-year-old man named Jimmy Graham Jr. was busted in Athens, Tennessee for DUI on a lawnmower. He allegedly stole some fishing poles from a local resident’s garage and then took off on his lawnmower. He is currently charged with theft and aggravated burglary as well as DUI.

Could a lawnmower DUI in Los Angeles be next?

Perhaps not. Remember, Los Angeles is an urban environment. All aforementioned arrests happened in the suburbs/rural areas. And fewer people ride lawnmowers here, so one might expect fewer lawnmower Los Angeles DUIs. Nevertheless, the prospect of a lawnmower Southern California DUI does loom large, particularly as spring blooms and we head into summer -- when the bulk of lawn maintenance is done in Southern California.

Of course, as intriguing as lawnmower DUI might be to the casual reader, the charge of a Long Beach DUI is no laughing matter, neither for defendants, nor for the victims of any DUI accident.

If you or a loved one has been tagged for driving under the influence in Long Beach, you may need legal representation.

Continue reading " More Bizarre than Even the Most Outlandish Celebrity Southern California DUI Charges -- Lawnmower DUIs! " »

Most Southern California DUI cases involve simple roadside stops or failures at sobriety checkpoints. These stops tend to be no-drama affairs -- perhaps involving someone driving under the influence in Burbank with a BAC of 0.09% following a night out at a bar in the town center.

But every once in a while, truly bizarre DUI arrests occur. The website TruTV.com recently put up an amusing catalog of notoriously strange DUI arrests. These include:

o Afredo Martinez of Reno, who allowed his 7-year old son to get behind the wheel;
o Tina Williams, who continued to drink beer in front of the police while being questioned about driving DUI -- all while a 16-month year old infant was in her car!
o Lynn Bailey, who got pulled over in Florida while wearing a shirt that read “I’m Not an Alcoholic. I’m a Drunk. Alcoholics go to meetings.”
o A Reno woman named April Westfall, who had been driving around with six feet of gas station hose sticking out of her tank when she got pulled over for suspicion of DUI.

Other bizarre stories of Southern California DUI (and DUI elsewhere in the US) include:

o A husband who pulled over his own wife for DUI;
o A father jacked up on cocaine who allowed a 10-year old boy to drive his vehicle -- the 10-year-old crashed the car at over 100 miles per hour;
o A woman named Terri Comer, who passed out behind the wheel of her Toyota with a BAC of a mind-boggling 0.72% (9 times the legal limit for a Southern California DUI) -- right next to a flashing road sign lit up with the words “don’t drink and drive.”

As amusing as these accounts of bizarre arrests may be, they demonstrate just how helpless many drivers are to control themselves and their behavior. When someone drives under the influence in Beverly Hills or Glendale, that person puts others at risk. What’s more, punishments for DUI with injury can be far more severe.

Consider that most DUI stops lead to charges under either California Vehicle Code Section 23152(a) or 23152(b) but that DUI injury is charged under two separate statutes, 23153(a) and 23153(b). These other statutes stipulate that standard misdemeanor DUI charges can be inflated to felony counts if a DUI driver hurts another person. The severe punishments could entail lengthy prison sentences, forced restitution to a victim (or a victim’s family), major court fines, loss of a right to vote, loss of a job, and so on.

That said, just because someone drives DUI in Glendale and gets into an injury accident doesn’t necessarily mean that he or she will be charged under 23153(a) or 23153(b). To make a case, prosecutors must show that the driver violated a traffic law or in some other way behaved with negligence -- and that this behavior caused an accident, which in turn caused an injury. In other words, say you were DUI in Glendale and you hit another car, causing injury. If the other driver was solely responsible for the accident -- for instance, if his vehicle suddenly swerved into your lane -- you likely will not be hit with the tougher charges, although you likely will still face charges under 23152(a) and/or 23152(b).

Continue reading " Completely Bizarre Southern California DUI Stories (and stories from elsewhere in the U.S.) " »

California Vehicle Code Section 23152(b) stipulates that anyone who drives a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) in excess of 0.08 percent is considered in violation of the law and can be arrested for Southern California DUI.

If you're convicted, you can go to jail, be forced to pay exorbitant fees and court costs, lose your California driver’s license for a whole year, be forced to install and maintain an interlock ignition device, and face other punishments as well as strict probation terms.

While 0.08 percent is a statewide standard, the rules are different -- and stricter -- for drivers under the age of 21 years. According to Section 23140 of the California Vehicle Code, anyone under 21 years who drives with a BAC of 0.05 percent or greater is breaking the law. Police can arrest you, and your license can be suspended for a full year.

The zero tolerance law is even stricter. According to California Vehicle Code Section 23136, anyone under 21 years who has a BAC of just 0.01 percent or greater can be penalized with a one to three year license suspension. A police officer can take away your driver’s license and give it back to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

According to official Los Angeles Police Department figures, as based on the US Department of Transportation’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System, California often leads the nation in the number of road-related traffic fatalities. This is partly due to the fact that the state has so many people and so many cars (and so few public transportation options, at least in Southern California).

Minors often do not realize the potency of the alcohol that they consume -- particularly as it relates to their driving prowess. Drinking alcohol has been shown to slow reaction times, impair concentration, reduce range of vision, and stoke reckless behavior.

Los Angeles DUI and Hollywood DUI crashes involving young people can lead to awful catastrophes -- affecting not only the lives of promising students, athletes, and citizens, but also the lives of other people in the community.

Myriad rules govern driving restrictions on minors. As we’ve discussed, CVC Sections 23136, 23140, 23152 can all be relevant, depending on the details of your Beverly Hills DUI charge. It makes sense to seek advice from a highly regarded, experienced Los Angeles DUI trial attorney.

Continue reading " Los Angeles DUI Rules for Drivers Under the Age of Twenty-One " »

Los Angeles DUI statisticians often chart the rise and fall of fortunes of local movie stars, politicians, and actors. But this post will examine something a little less personal but potentially pretty intriguing; namely, what is the record number of Los Angeles DUI arrests for a single person?

According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) statistics put out in 2009, nearly 400,000 people in the U.S. have at least five DUI convictions on their records. Extrapolating from the numbers, it is safe to say that several thousand people have ten DUI arrests or more. One online search reports that an individual in Illinois got a whopping 22 DUI convictions!

An AP story from April 12th has reported that a 49-year old man named Thaylin Shawn Pierce of Billings, Montana recently pled guilty to his 11th DUI. This comes on the heels of an arrest made back in November 2008, when Pierce was pulled over near a casino with a BAC in excess of 0.09%. (Remember that California’s legal limit, according to California Vehicle Code Section 23152 (b) is 0.08%).

If you drive with this much alcohol in your system or more, you can be subjected to arrest and penalties ranging from points on your license to loss of your license to jail time to mandatory installation of interlock ignition device (IID) on your vehicle, which you will have to pay for and maintain.

If you are arrested four or more times for DUI in Beverly Hills, for instance, within a span of 10 years of less, you can be subject to intense punishments. These include a minimum of 180 days in jail – that’s if the charge is only a misdemeanor – if it’s a felony, you can have significantly more jail time – up to three years. You’ll also see your California license suspended for three years, and you won’t be eligible for a restricted license for either work or school for four whole years. In addition, you will have to attend DUI alcohol school for 18 months and you will likely face huge court costs and fines along with strict terms of probation.

If you are arrested for driving under the influence in Beverly Hills in conjunction with a hit-and-run injury accident or any accident that results in injury to another person, your charges can be higher still. The state does not look fondly upon recidivist (repeat) Southern California DUI offenders.

If you or a family member has been tagged for multiple Beverly Hills DUI arrests, what should you do?

In addition to seeking treatment ASAP for alcohol related problems, it may behoove you to connect with an attorney who you can explain your rights and responsibilities under the law.

Continue reading " What is the Record Number of Los Angeles DUI Arrests Any Single Person has Received? " »