los angeles DUI defense

Published on: March 14, 2016

DUI Driver Carries Unusual Hood Ornament

LAPD police officers undoubtedly have their own stories about the unusual cases of DUI in Los Angeles that they’ve handled over the years. But officers in any jurisdiction would have to go a long way to top this recent DUI arrest in Roselle, Illinois.

On January 23 around 11 p.m., motorists called the police department to report a car that was traveling along Roselle Road with an unusual hood ornament. The responding officer soon saw that the caller hadn’t been exaggerating–there actually was a 2004 Lincoln moving down the highway with a 15-foot tall tree embedded in its front grill. (If you watch the video of the incident, you get a rather disconcerting view of the car moving down the road with the tree instead of passing by it.)

Published on: February 27, 2016

Seven Flee Vehicle After California DUI Accident; One Man Dies While Running from the Crash

by Michael Kraut

Fleeing the scene of an accident involving a DUI in Los Angeles is never a good idea. But for one California man the decision to run instead of remaining with the vehicle had deadly consequences.

In the early morning hours of Monday, February 22, police responded to reports that a vehicle had overturned and landed on its roof on the connector ramp from I-280 northbound to southbound Highway 87. According to the Fremont Patch, instead of waiting for help to arrive, the driver and her six passengers managed to get out of the SUV and started running away.

The California Highway Patrol officers who arrived on the scene quickly corralled four of the passengers and other police officers got hold of the driver and another passenger. But an as-yet-unidentified vehicle struck the remaining passenger, a 20-year-old man from San Jose, who ran into the northbound lanes of Highway 87. That man died, and the driver that hit him fled the scene of the accident.

Published on: February 23, 2016

DUI Arrest Challenge: Was Driver’s Right to Due Process Per the 14th Amendment Violated?

by Michael Kraut

Over the past year or so, anecdotal evidence suggests that lawyers who represent DUI drivers in states across the U.S. have been getting more aggressive in contesting their clients’ convictions. Now there’s another lawsuit–this time filed in Florida–which anyone who has lost a driver’s license because of a DUI in Los Angeles might want to watch closely.

According to the Orlando Sentinel and other media reports, lawyers for Alfredo Crespin, a 58-year old man from Winter Gardens, Florida, are bringing a lawsuit against the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV). Arrested for DUI on November 20, 2015, Crespin lost his license when police confiscated it after his arrest. Following the regular procedures, DHSMV then suspended his driving privileges for a year. On February 12th, 2016, the court found Crespin guilty of the DUI charges, and his driver’s license suspension remains in place.
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Published on: February 1, 2016

Dashing–DUI–Through The Snow

by Michael Kraut

Residents of Southern California may have to worry about drought, but there’s one problem we’re not going to face. Even in these times of climate change, police won’t be charging any drivers for a DUI in Los Angeles while a blizzard is going on.

That’s not the case in the northeast and mid-Atlantic, however. The snow that those regions received during at the end of January apparently didn’t deter drivers from getting behind the wheel while they were under the influence. Considering the amount of snow that came down in a short time, they were lucky (or maybe unlucky) to be able to get out onto the streets.

In Delaware, police had parked an official vehicle in the roadway at the scene of a domestic dispute. (With more than a foot of snow on the ground already, they didn’t have a choice of parking areas.) That’s when Daryl Holcomb, age 33, allegedly plowed his sports utility vehicle right into their patrol car. Fortunately, the officers suffered no injuries. Holcomb, on the other hand, is looking at charges for driving under the influence, failure to have insurance identification and operating a motor vehicle during a declared emergency.

Published on: January 11, 2016

Illinois DUI Drivers Get License Back Faster

by Michael Kraut

If the court convicts you of DUI in Los Angeles three or more times in 12 months, California’s Vehicle Code Section 13351 requires that the DMV suspend your license for three years. Illinois used to have similar license suspension laws for multiple DUI offenders, but a new state law has made it easier for drivers to retain their licenses or to get them back.

As of January 1, 2016, Illinois drivers who have lost their licenses for five years or more due to multiple DUI convictions may apply for a restricted driving permit. The Chicago Tribune reports that elected officials, law enforcement professionals and public safety activists “reluctantly” came to the conclusion that giving these individuals limited driving privileges may actually be beneficial for other drivers. The new law also does away with the mandatory 30-day license suspension for those arrested on DUI charges.

Published on: January 6, 2016

Driver Cites Body Chemistry to Beat DUI Charge

by Michael Kraut

An unusual medical condition enabled a woman in Albany, New York, to avoid conviction for driving under the influence. It makes you wonder whether people will start making appointments with their doctors as well as their lawyers after police charge them with DUI in Los Angeles.

ABC 7 News in San Francisco reported that the unnamed woman had a blood alcohol content of 0.33 (as measured by a breathalyzer) when police pulled her over in October 2014 for erratic driving. But the woman (unnamed because of medical confidentiality laws) said she had not had more than three drinks in six hours.

The woman’s lawyer, Joseph Marusak, first contacted Barbara Cordell of Penola College in Texas, who had published a study of a man who had “auto-brewery syndrome.” In this condition, the body’s digestive system converts ordinary foods—those with high carbohydrate content—into alcohol. (The intestines literally ferment them into alcohol.) In the case that Cordell studied, a 61-year-old man had suffered periods of drunkenness, despite the fact that he had not been drinking.

Published on: January 4, 2016

California Lawmakers Extend DUI Driver Mandates

by Michael Kraut

A law that went into effect on January 1, 2016, will impact—at least for another year—all drivers convicted of a DUI in Los Angeles.

The California legislature has extended for the next 12 months a pilot program in four counties (Alameda, Los Angeles, Sacramento and Tulare) that requires installation of an ignition interlock device (IID) for anyone convicted of a DUI under California Vehicle Code (CVC) 23152 or 23153, or California Penal Code (CPC) 191.5(b). According to the California DMV, the driver must install the device on any vehicle that he/she owns or operates, and the restriction can last anywhere from five months to four years, depending on how many previous DUI convictions the driver has.

Published on: December 30, 2015

Three of 2015’s Craziest DUI Stories

by Michael Kraut

Every year, crazy driving under the influence stories go viral because of their shock value. As the year draws to a close, some pretty interesting stories come to mind. Here are three of the craziest DUI stories 2015 has to offer:

1. A young woman uses Periscope to live stream DUI driving. We covered this ridiculous incident shortly after it happened. 23-year-old Whitney Beall made national headlines when she live-streamed herself driving DUI in Lakeland, Florida, in October. Police officers learned about the incident when social media users contacted them with the details. The woman said she was driving DUI repeatedly on the live-streaming app before officers finally located and arrested her. Social media is not the place to broadcast any illegal behaviors, but her live stream that night may have saved her life and the lives of others.

Published on: December 28, 2015

Fiery Crash Demonstrates the Dangers of DUI in Los Angeles

by Michael Kraut

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: 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.