Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney Blog

Published on: December 28, 2015

Fiery Crash Demonstrates the Dangers of DUI in Los Angeles

Occasionally, a DUI in Los Angeles and its surrounding areas impacts the local community in ways that have permanent ripple effects. Cases in which someone loses his or her life, in particular, can change the contours of families or entire communities. It’s cliché to say things like “a bad decision to drink or do drugs and drive can change someone’s life forever,” but it’s cliché because it’s very true.

In a recent case, one young man changed his own fate and that of two passengers in a single-car DUI accident.

In San Diego, 20-year-old Antony Schoenle pleaded guilty to multiple criminal charges, including a charge of gross vehicular manslaughter while under the influence on Saturday, August 22. His decision to drive after drinking alcohol and using cocaine and marijuana allegedly led to the crash that killed his two of his passengers, Lupe Acosta and Lizzy Garcia. Schoenle escaped, but his two friends, still trapped in the vehicle, died in the resulting fire. A trapped puppy also died in the incident.

Firefighters arrived on the scene first, thinking they were responding to a brush fire, and then they saw the burning wreckage. When officers arrived and measured Schoenle’s BAC two hours after the incident, he was still legally intoxicated. The young man will spend 13 years in prison for his actions.

Published on: December 23, 2015

Close Calls In School Bus and Truck DUIs

by Michael Kraut

Driving a school bus full of kids and/or a truck full of flammable liquid should be challenge enough for anyone. But some drivers with commercial licenses apparently like to take risks with their lives and the lives of others. How else can you explain the fact that they drive with enough alcohol in their bloodstream to be liable for arrest for DUI in Los Angeles?

The California Highway Patrol calls the arrest of 46-year-old Charles Foster a “disaster averted.” Foster was behind the wheel of a truck pulling two tankers of gasoline on Highway 101 near the Citrus Fair ramp when the CHP responded to calls from motorists concerned about the way his truck was veering from lane to lane. When Officer Mike Phennicie caught up with Foster and signaled him to stop, the trucker pulled his vehicle onto the sidewalk instead of the shoulder of the road.

After observing the trucker and talking with him, Officer Phennicie determined that Foster was operating the vehicle under the combined influence of methamphetamine, prescription pain killers and a muscle relaxer. Imagine the damage that the 8,500 gallons of gasoline could have done if Foster had hit another vehicle or run into some structure!

Published on: December 21, 2015

No Automatic DUI Defense for Arizona Pot Users

by Michael Kraut

With the recent passage of a law permitting the use of medical marijuana in California, police officers will soon be dealing with its effects on arrests for DUI in Los Angeles. Will someone using cannabis for medical reasons be able to avoid DUI charges? A recent ruling by Arizona’s Supreme Court has denied medical marijuana users in that state an automatic out on DUI charges.
The Arizona court case stems from an appeal by two women, Kristina Dobson and Marvelle Anderson, arrested for DUI in separate incidents. Police originally charged them under two of Arizona’s DUI statutes. An A1 refers to operating a motor vehicle under the influence of a drug—in other words, when impaired. An A3 charge concerns the operation of a motor vehicle when a person has a detectable amount of a drug in their system.

Prosecutors eventually threw out the A1 charges against each woman but won convictions on the A3 charges. The women contested their convictions in Arizona’s appeals court, saying that the medical marijuana statute permitted them to have the drug in their systems. The appeals court ruled against them.

Published on: December 14, 2015

State Supreme Court DUI Ruling Puts Drivers At Greater Risk of Losing License

by Michael Kraut

Can the DMV penalize someone for a DUI in Los Angeles based upon a police officer’s observation of their behavior? Can you lose your license even if your blood alcohol content is borderline for a DUI charge?

A ruling earlier this year by the California State Supreme Court in the case of Ashley Coffey vs. Shiomoto permits the use of circumstantial evidence to support the finding of DUI when the DMV is ruling on a license suspension.

The case involved Ashley Jourdan Coffey’s appeal of her loss of license after a DUI conviction. Police officers stopped her after observing her weaving in and out of traffic lanes around 1:30 a.m. in the morning of November 13, 2011. Coffey claimed that she had been in a bar celebrating her birthday—but not drinking. The officers who spoke with her observed several behaviors that suggested otherwise. Her breath smelled like alcohol, her eyes were red and watery and she failed several roadside sobriety tests.

Police gave Coffey a breathalyzer test about an hour after pulling her over. It measured .08—just at the legal limit. A test three minutes later showed a BAC of 0.09.

Published on: December 9, 2015

Loopholes in DUI Law

by Michael Kraut

When motorists get pulled over for a DUI in Los Angeles pursuant to Section 23612, their first thoughts are often along the lines of “How can I get out of this?” or “What can I do to lessen the penalties that I now face?” While Los Angeles drivers might have trouble avoiding the consequences of a DUI, motorists (and their lawyers) in some other states have definitely found some large loopholes they can slip through.

For example, Washington State law requires some drivers convicted of DUI to install an ignition interlock device (IID) in their personal vehicles. They can’t start their cars until they breathe into the device, which measures whether or not they have alcohol in their bloodstream. (Those convicted of the same crime in L.A. also frequently must pay to install IIDs.)

But what happens if they have to drive a company vehicle for work? In many cases, they drive without the interlock. A recent report from KOMO News in Seattle says employers frequently request waivers from the state, allowing their employees to drive company cars that are not equipped with interlock ignition devices. The state’s Department of Licensing has issued 5,000 such waivers since 2009. Per many critics, these acts are defeating the intent of the law.

Published on: December 7, 2015

School Kids Injured in Crash Caused By Allegedly DUI Driver

by Michael Kraut

What kind of lessons do children learn when they watch a police officer arrest their mom, dad or even a complete stranger on a Los Angeles DUI 23572 charge? Do they shrug it off, thinking it’s no big deal? Or does it make a lasting impression and influence their driving habits in the years to come?

Teenagers taking the bus home from school in Charleston, South Carolina, aren’t likely to forget their encounter with a likely DUI driver on November 30th. That’s when Robert Long, age 61, rear-ended their stopped school bus. Five students suffered injuries, although none were seriously hurt. Officers charged Long with DUI.

Students in Hamilton Township in Pennsylvania got an even closer look at the dangers of DUI driving. They were riding around with a driver allegedly under the influence of a double whammy: pain killers and anti-anxiety medication.

Published on: December 4, 2015

DUI Driver Speeds To Jail

by Michael Kraut

Motorists picked up for DUI in Los Angeles often face additional charges of speeding and/or reckless driving. While they may exceed the speed limits by 10, 20, or even 30 miles per hour, few reach the speeds achieved by DUI drivers in Lyndonville, Vermont, and Kershaw County, South Carolina.

Kershaw County deputies picked up 28-year-old John Edward Hannah over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend and charged him with DUI for the second time in five months. He allegedly attracted their attention by traveling 115 miles per hour on Interstate 20. Hannah perhaps confused the Interstate with a raceway; at the time of his arrest last June, he was also speeding along on I-20. He was a little slower that time, however, moving “only” at 114 mph.

Published on: December 2, 2015

Does New York Law Encourage DUI Drivers to Flee Accident Scene?

by Michael Kraut

People who cause an accident because of DUI in Los Angeles understand that it’s better to stay at the scene and talk with police officers. If they take off before the police arrive, they could compound their legal troubles with additional charges of fleeing the scene.

The New York State legislature, however, has apparently actually created a loophole that encourages motorists who have been drinking to leave a serious accident scene. According to an online report in Newsday, lawmakers inadvertently caused this problem when they toughened the penalties for DUI drivers but not for motorists who flee. Prosecutors say this has actually given drivers under the influence of alcohol or drugs an incentive to take off.

The problem is not only that these drivers are getting away with DUI; they’re also neglecting to get prompt medical treatment for people they’ve injured in other cars or even for passengers in their own vehicles.

Newsday said that under current New York law, the penalty for an impaired driver felony can be as high as 15 years in prison. A driver who flees an accident scene, however, would face considerably less time–up to seven years in prison–if the accident killed someone and up to four years in prison if people suffered injuries.

The state legislature tried to address the problem in its 2015 session and unanimously passed a bill created a new crime of “aggravated leaving the scene of an incident without reporting.” But prosecutors object to the bill because it places too many restrictions on them. A charge of aggravated leaving would require the accident to cause injury or death to more than one person. The suspect would have to have a prior DUI conviction (within the last 10 years), be driving on a suspended or invalid license because of a previous DUI conviction, or have a prior conviction of leaving the scene of an accident that caused death or injury.
Lawmakers are trying to negotiate amendments to the bill so it can get the governor’s signature before a December 31, 2015 deadline.

To understand what to do to fight back against your charges, call Los Angeles DUI defense lawyer, Michael Kraut of Kraut Law Group Criminal & DUI Lawyers, Inc.. As a former (and highly successful) Deputy District Attorney, Mr. Kraut has fought on behalf of defendants like you for nearly 20 years.

Published on: November 30, 2015

Young Officer and Mother Killed by DUI Driver

by Michael Kraut

Police officers on patrol in their vehicles are all too often at risk of serious injury or death when they’re dealing with DUIs in Los Angeles and the surrounding counties. It’s an occupational hazard for law enforcement personnel all over the country, who stop by the side of a road to make traffic stops or assist motorists having trouble and end up losing their lives when impaired drivers swerve and slam into them.

In Denver, Colorado State Patrol Trooper Jamie Jursevics suffered fatal injuries when investigating a minor crash on the interstate near the city. Eric Peter Henderson, 52, a retired Army colonel and Legion of Merit award winner, was allegedly driving home intoxicated from a Denver Broncos game when he struck Jursevics and then fled the scene. Motorists had already alerted the state police to Henderson’s driving; Jursevics had heard the reports and was trying to pull him over to the side of the road with her flashlight when his truck hit her.

Published on: November 27, 2015

Too Drunk For DUI Charges?

by Michael Kraut

Imagine someone charged with DUI in Los Angeles arriving in a courtroom and pleading not guilty. Not because he didn’t commit the crime, but because he was too intoxicated to really understand what was going on at the time of the arrest and to consent to a test measuring blood alcohol content.

Georgia Supreme Court building in downtown Atlanta. Photo by Jason R. Bennitt/Daily Report (5/14/2012).

It’s happening in Georgia, thanks to a Supreme Court ruling in that state that has created a loophole in the state’s DUI law.

A report on website AJC.com said that DUI attorneys have been using this argument in court ever since John Williams won an appeal of a ruling in his DUI case before the state’s highest court. Lance Tyler, who represented Williams, said that his client could not have given his consent “knowingly and intelligently” for voluntary blood tests, since he was too intoxicated to understand what was happening and the implications of BAC testing.

The Supreme Court ruled in Williams’ favor in March 2012 and asked the trial judge to reconsider his decision not to suppress the BAC evidence. The judge, Gwinett State Court Judge Joseph Iannazzone, not only threw out the BAC evidence in Williams’ case but also excluded it as evidence in the cases of five other drivers.