Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney Blog

What are the consequences of driving under the influence in Glendale?

The short answer is: they depend on the intimate, specific details of your case. In general, however, they can be surprisingly profound and long-term, even if you successfully “beat the charges.”

Witness the recent high profile DUI arrest of Tennessee republican representative Curry Todd, who was stopped in Nashville on October 11th and charged with DUI, after he failed a roadside sobriety test. What made Rep Todd’s case so newsworthy? Two things:

1. He had a loaded 38-caliber gun in his car.

2. As a state lawmaker, he sponsored legislation designed to loosen laws that prevent people from bringing handguns into bars. So the “hypocracy factor” clearly played a role in the media blitz surrounding his arrest.

So what are the long-term consequences for Representative Todd?

Hard to say at this point. Last week, he surrendered his chairmanship of the Tennessee House State and Local Government Committee, which dealt with most of Tennessee’s alcohol bills and a huge variety of other proposals. Representative Todd stopped short of resigning his legislative seat. And he did not address his arrest, while attending a meeting of the Physical Review Committee, nor did he talk to reporters about the arrest after the session.

Representative Todd’s ordeal is not over. But his experience already can teach us some crucial lessons about the consequences of driving under the influence in Glendale and elsewhere.

On the one hand, the law spells out some scary and real punishments for convicted DUI drivers. These include: jail time, driver’s license suspension, mandatory alcohol education classes, strict probation terms, mandatory installation of a device called an IID (Interlock Ignition Device), which prevents you from driving if you’ve consumed any alcohol recently, and other sundry penalties such as court costs and fines. These penalties should be more than enough to scare drivers into avoiding driving under the influence in Glendale. But more insidious costs may lurk under these primary punishments.

For instance, your insurance rates may spike in the wake of your DUI arrest/conviction. If your premiums go up several hundred dollars and stay elevated for several years, you are talking about several thousand dollars of fallout from the DUI. And then, you must consider the smaller term “stuff” that can complicate your life, frustrate your career and erode your support even from friends and loved ones.

The best way to respond is to build a smart and strategically focused defense ASAP. Glendale’s Kraut Law Group (450 North Brand Boulevard, Suite 600, Glendale, California 91203 Phone: (818) 507-9123) can help. Managing Attorney Michael Kraut is a former prosecutor (Senior Deputy DA) with a Harvard Law School education and a compassionate, strategic perspective on Glendale DUI defense law.

Continue reading " Glendale DUI Consequences – The Fall Out Can Haunt You: Just Ask TN State Rep Curry Todd. " »

Last Thursday, 14 people were indicted on federal charges of Los Angeles Medicare fraud, after billing Medical and Medicare for over $6 million in medical services that were either never performed or completely unnecessary.

The five-count indictment is against Lake Medical Group (based here in LA). The scam artists allegedly bilked insurance companies out of over $2.7 million in Oxycontin-related sub-scam. According to a Thursday report in the San Francisco Chronicle, so far 10 people have either surrendered or been placed under arrest. Pharmacist Theodore Yoon, as well as two doctors – Dr. Morris Halfon and Dr. Eleanor Santiago – were among those who allegedly conceived of and perpetuated this Los Angeles Medicare scam.

Here are the gory details, courtesy the San Francisco Chronicle article: "Investigators said the scam between August 2008 and February 2010 involved the clinic using recruiters known as “cappers” who brought in Medicare and Medical patients who were often issued a prescription for Oxycontin. They were offered up to $500 to get the prescriptions filled… Runners took the patients to pharmacies, including some run by Yoon… the clinic’s administrator was given the pills that were then sold on the street for roughly $25 a piece [the pills usually sell for around $6 each].”

In 2009, members of the scam sold 2,000 Oxycontin pills to a confidential informant. Prosecutors alleged that approximately 900,000 Oxycontin pills might have been diverted into the scam.

Here is another interesting line from the article: “The clinic and some of its staff also are accused of generating prescriptions for people whose identities were stolen and never made a visit.” The so-called “runners” were vital conduits for getting the Oxycontin into the black market.

Obviously, there are multiple aspects of the story that are viscerally disturbing. Our state faces a fiscal crisis, our entitlement systems could be charitably described as “in tatters” and we have more than enough people already addicted to painkillers and other narcotics.

All that said, it’s important not to rush to judgment here.

If you've recently been charged with a Southern California white collar crime, like Los Angeles credit card fraud or Pasadena insurance fraud, you deserve a fair, comprehensive, and strategic defense. Moreover, even if you did participate in a scheme or conspiracy, the actions you take from this point forward can profoundly affect not only your potential sentencing but also your ability to practice medicine and your professional reputation.

In other words, even if the charges you face are extremely serious – and jail time seems inevitable at this point – don’t abandon hope. Los Angeles’ Kraut Law Group can provide a systematic, clear, and compassionate assessment of your defensive resources and help you identify precisely what you need to do (and perhaps more importantly, what you should NOT do) to pick up the pieces of your life and put them back together again.

If you have been charged with a Southern California white collar crime, like insurance fraud, medical fraud, bribery, etc, you may ultimately have to face a jury trial, depending on an array of factors, including what you allegedly did, how much harm ensued, who was involved, the scope of the scheme, etc.

Jury selections can be a tricky business, however, particularly in high profile cases.

To wit, consider the brouhaha surrounding jury selection for the trial of Michael Jackson’s doctor, Conrad Murray. The Thursday before last, Judge Michael Pastor gathered 160 prospective jurors to see whether attorneys could find candidate jurors to hear Murray’s involuntary manslaughter trial. All 160 prospective jurors had heard about the trial.

Pretty interesting! Although not particularly surprising.

Judge Pastor cautioned the jurors to avoid searching the internet or posting messages outside about the case, as they could face fines as well as jail time for acting in contempt of court. A Los Angeles Times blog post reported that Pastor did not order the jury sequestered. That said, the jury will be “bussed to the court from a secret location each morning, and escorted away every night. Jurors will not be allowed to leave the court house during the day, and will be served lunch at the court.”

Last week, even before the trial began, the ever astute and timely reporters at TMZ.com published information about jurors obtained from questionnaires. Many of the jurors were self-declared Michael Jackson fans, including juror #127, juror #70, juror #44, juror #52, juror #99, juror #38, and juror #108. It’s obviously impossible to tell whether their appreciation for the late pop star’s artistic contributions will disrupt their ability to think clearly and single-mindedly about the allegations against Murray.

The public typically only tunes into the subtleties and nuances (and occasional injustices) of jury trials during big celebrity "trial extravaganzas" like the Murray affair. But if you or someone you care about is facing a criminal charge, such as Southern California medical or chiropractic fraud, Medicaid or Medi-Cal fraud, or some other significant charge, you and your Los Angeles criminal defense attorney will need to strategize very carefully about how to approach every aspect of your legal challenge, including how you select and interact with the jury.

Michael E. Kraut, the Managing Attorney of the Kraut Law Group, has tried over 80 felony trials in his career with an unbelievable 99% success rate at jury trials. He is the recipient of numerous courtroom awards. He lectures to prosecutors and police on criminal investigative techniques, and he enjoys a terrific reputation among prosecutors, judges, and fellow defense attorneys alike as one of the most respected trial attorneys in the city.

The Obama administration and California state officials are passionately bent on stamping out Southern California Medicare/Medical fraud, and their quest makes a good deal of sense.

Our national and state coffers are challenged by a sluggish economy that shows no signs of long-term stabilization, and the California state budget debacles have made the Golden State something of a laughing stock.

Stories in the news about doctors, dentists, chiropractors, and other health care providers perpetrating schemes to defraud public programs out of much-needed funds have awakened righteous ire, not only in public officials but also in the public at large. The search for justice is understandable, at least from a psychological perspective, but the passion can be dangerous.

As our public officials attempt to destroy Southern California Medicare fraud and punish perpetrators, they might arrest innocent people, hold certain people responsible who really shouldn’t be, and do a lot of posturing without making any real progress on the root causes of our fiscal or Medicare program problems.

Pundits, analysts, and news commentators might do well to step back and spend less time thinking about the right solution to Southern California healthcare fraud, insurance fraud, credit card fraud, and identity theft fraud and instead attend to the bigger picture:

What drives people to commit these crimes? Why now? Why here? Why under XYZ circumstances?

Crimes are never motivated arbitrarily. There are always root drivers. And until we can figure those out – perform a collective brainstorming session – our solutions for Medicare fraud are going to fall short of the mark, sweep up innocents into the dragnet, and lead to outrageous and ultimately ineffectual punishments that might make prosecutors feel good but ultimately won’t relieve the burden on the public.

Having said all that, it’s a huge challenge to identify these root drivers.

For instance, officials are going after more people for Medicare fraud than they have in the past. More crimes are being committed. But why? Maybe the spike is just an artifact of how the problem is framed. More money is going into the medical system than ever -- perhaps this “bigger pot” is simply attracting more attention from criminals.

In other words, the root cause may not be that criminals have somehow gotten smarter or developed better schemes. Rather, maybe there is just more potential money to steal, so people who might have attempted different criminal schemes are becoming more attracted to Medicare schemes because of the bigger payoff.

This is obviously speculation. But it goes to show how complicated the underlying issues and causes are.

All theorizing aside, if you are a defendant or someone close to a defendant, you need actionable, practical advice about how to protect your rights and build the best defense. Los Angeles white collar criminal defense attorney Michael Kraut can answer your questions and help you feel more in control of your life and case.