Criminal Law

Out of State Drivers & California DUI

Posted on July 06, 2009
The implications of a California DUI don?t differ significantly for residents versus out of state visitors. The legal standard is the same for both: a DUI can be charged for driving while intoxicated and/or with an excessive BAC. And the court-imposed penalties are the same for a DUI conviction...

DUI Plea Bargaining: Supply & Demand

Posted on July 03, 2009
As many court dockets get clogged with an ever-increasing number of DUI cases, more of them are getting plea bargained. Typically this means a reduction of the charge to a wet reckless, dry reckless, misdemeanor exhibition of speed or even traffic infractions...

DUI of Prescription Drugs in California

Posted on July 03, 2009
Most people think of California DUI cases as involving "drunk driving." But the state's DUI law prohibits more than just driving under the influence of alcohol. The Vehicle Code make sit illegal to drive while intoxicated by alcohol or drugs or any combination of the two...

Felony DUI in California

Posted on June 26, 2009
Although most California DUI cases get charged as misdemeanors--involving fines, DUI school and sometimes a short jail sentence--in certain instances prosecutors can charge a California felony DUI. The consequences for a person convicted of felony DUI are significantly more serious...

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California DUI and ?Drunk in Public?: Different Standards of Intoxication

Posted on May 21, 2009
DUI and ?drunk in public? are misdemeanor crimes in California designed to protect the suspect and the public from a suspect?s dangerous, substance-induced behavior. Both laws criminalize a suspect?s being intoxicated in certain settings. But the level of intoxication that must exist for each crime to take place differs significantly...

Riverside D.A. Now Asking For SCRAM For 1st Time DUI Cases

Posted on April 17, 2009
The Riverside District Attorney's Office is now asking for 90 days of SCRAM on first time DUI cases where the defendant's BAC measures more than .15. The SCRAM is a tamper-proof device that a person wears around his ankle. It measures alcohol from the wearer's sweat emitted throughout the day...

California DUI School

Posted on March 13, 2009
California's System of Mandatory DUI School: Does it Really Work? Most people know the routine that follows a California DUI conviction: probation, fines, a temporary drivers license suspension, and--of course--the infamous California DUI school. Indeed, California has developed an elaborate series of alcohol education programs for DUI offenders...

Camp Pendleton Marine Pleads Not Guilty To DUI Crash

Posted on March 04, 2009

Pulp Fiction, Beowulf Screenwriter Charged with DUI

Posted on February 25, 2009
The Los Angeles Times reports that on December 13, 2008, Ventura County prosecutors charged screenwriter Roger Avary with gross vehicular manslaughter. Avary pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and other charges which arose from a January 2008 single-car collision on a rural Ojai road...

Holiday DUI Arrests Down from Last Year

Posted on February 18, 2009
The Los Angeles Daily News reports a decline in the number of DUI arrests in Los Angeles and Orange Counties over the holiday season. This decrease comes in spite of the holiday maximum enforcement policies undertaken by the California Highway Patrol (CHP)?both in the metro area and statewide...

Anatomy of a California DUI Case: Heather Locklear

Posted on February 11, 2009
On January 2, 2009, actress Heather Locklear pleaded no contest to a charge of misdemeanor reckless driving, reports TMZ.com. Locklear?s no contest was delivered as part of a plea bargain which resulted in the dismissal of DUI of drugs charges against the 47-year-old actress...

Ventura County DUI Case Dismissed Because of Improper Traffic Stop

Posted on February 05, 2009
Ventura County DUI attorney Darrell York succeeded in getting a drunk driving case thrown out of court on Januray 30th after convincing the court that the original traffic stop was improper. The client was stopped for allegedly weaving. He subsequently took a roadside breath test with results of ...

Pomona City Official Charged With DUI

Posted on January 27, 2009
Elliott Rothman, a Pomona City Councilman, has been arrested recently by Pomona police and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. According to a recent October 8 Pasadena Star-News article 50-year-old Rothman was stopped by police late Tuesday and booked on misdemeanor charges shortly after...

Man Pleads No Contest To DUI Charges In Burbank Crash

Posted on January 20, 2009
A drunk driver accused of causing a single-car crash in Burbank that killed one passenger and injured three others last year, has pleaded no contest to the charges, according to this Los Angeles Daily News article. According to the report, 24-year-old Michael Scott Christenson pleaded no contest to one count of gross vehicular manslaughter and three counts of DUI causing injury...

Teenager Arrested On Suspicion of DUI, Assault

Posted on January 13, 2009
Ventura Sheriff?s deputies have arrested 18-year-old Matthew Kusmuk on suspicion of driving his vehicle under the influence of alcohol and dragging a woman behind a car, the Ventura County Star reports. Kusmuk has been charged with DUI and assault with a deadly weapon ? the weapon in this case being his vehicle...

Heather Locklear Arrested In Montecito For DUI

Posted on January 03, 2009
Heather Locklear, the actress and former star of television shows such as ?Melrose Place? and ?Spin City,? was recently arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of controlled substances, the Los Angeles Times reported in a recent article. California Highway Patrol spokesman Tom Marshall said CHP had taken Locklear into custody after responding to a 911 report of a woman driving erratically the afternoon of September, 28, 2008 in a Montecito parking lot...

Man Arrested On Suspicion of Drunk Driving in Santa Ana

Posted on December 20, 2008
A 27-year-old man was arrested on drunk driving charges in Santa Ana after he struck and injured a police officer, The Orange County Register reports. According to Santa Ana police officials, the officer was outside his squad car talking to victims of an unrelated crime in the early hours of October 19, when Francisco Jimenez, who was traveling north on Bristol Street lost control of his car and struck the officer...

Two Injured in Torrance DUI Crash

Posted on October 18, 2008
A man suspected of DUI in Torrance crashed into a tree injuring himself and his passenger, the Daily Breeze reports. A passenger?s thumb was cut off when the Ford Taurus overturned. The accident reportedly occurred near the intersection of Van Ness Avenue and Del Amo Boulevard...

San Diego DUI Suspect Attempts To Flee, Injures Sheriff's Deputy

Posted on October 15, 2008
A San Diego County Sheriff?s deputy was injured after his holster got caught on the door of a vehicle he had just pulled over and the driver tried to flee the scene, dragging the deputy. According to an article in the San Diego Union-Tribune, Deputy Robert Gibson had stopped the 46-year-old man on suspicion of drunk driving in San Diego County after seeing him drive his truck on the bike lane for several blocks...

DUI Suspect Flees Police, Kills Pedestrian

Posted on October 07, 2008
Los Angeles Police officers arrested 41-year-old Robert Palacios on suspicion of murder in Lincoln Heights after he struck and killed a pedestrian during a police pursuit, the Los Angeles Times reports. Police say it was not considered a ?pursuit? because officers did not turn on lights or sirens...

DUI Drug Test Could Be On The Way

Posted on October 01, 2008
A recent Los Angeles Times blog by Susan Brink talks about new tests just like a Breathalyzer that researchers hope will detect drivers operating under the influence of illegal drugs. The National Institutes of Health has reportedly released guidelines on possible ways to conduct these tests...

New Las Vegas DUI Website

Posted on July 24, 2008
A new website now provides the most comprehensive information on Nevada DUI law and the process of fighting a Las Vegas DUI charge: www.las-vegas-dui-defense.com. Among the site?s features: 20 Strategies for Beating a Las Vegas DUI . Discusses a variety of drunk driving defenses, from improper traffic stops to failure to give Miranda Warnings to GERD and mouth alcohol contaminating the breath test device...

Former Long Beach Prosecutor Joins Southern California DUI Defense

Posted on May 09, 2008
Former Deputy Long Beach City Prosecutor Shannon Wiezorek has joined Southern California DUI Defense, one of the area?s preeminent DUI law firms. Ms. Wiezorek will be representing clients with Orange County DUI cases, Long Beach DUI cases, and clients accused of drunk driving throughout South Los Angeles and the South Bay...

San Diego Man Will Face Trial for Police Dog Death

Posted on April 18, 2008
A San Diego man accused of leading police on a wild-goose chase that ended up in a jump off of San Diego?s largest bridge and the death of a police dog will face trial, authorities have confirmed. Among other things, Cory Byron is charged with evading officers, DUI, and harming a police animal...

Mischa Barton Faces the Music for DUI

Posted on April 14, 2008
She?s just the latest in a string of starlets facing trouble with the law after driving under the influence. Now Mischa Barton, a young actress who performed on the popular teen soap ?The O.C.,? has pleaded no contest to driving under the influence (DUI) after a December pullover...

DUI Leads to Palm Springs Power Outage

Posted on April 08, 2008
A Palm Springs man could be on the hook for more than just felony DUI ? his ill-fated driving spree cost 1,000 Southern California Edison customers their power when he crashed his Mustang into a power pole. Though Noel Hernandez Montes has not yet been convicted of felony DUI, he was suspected of driving under the influence when his car rolled over, downing a power pole and several power lines...

South Bay DUI Arrests Up 20 Percent During Holiday Season

Posted on April 01, 2008
A South Bay DUI crackdown resulted in 20 percent more DUI arrests, reports the Mercury News. In 2006, 716 arrests were made of drivers suspected to be operating their vehicles while under the influence of alcohol and drugs; the figure rose to 859 between December 14 and January 1...

DUI Leads to Racing License Revocation for Jockey

Posted on January 29, 2008
Patrick Valenzuela, a prominent horse racing jockey and the youngest jockey ever to win the Santa Anita Derby, has had his racing license revoked after a recent DUI arrest. The California Horse Racing Board revoked his license after the arrest and reported that it did so because the conditional racing license it had issued was only issued on condition of Valenzuela abstaining from alcohol altogether...

Murder Charges in DUI Crash

Posted on January 27, 2008
John Joseph Taskey, aged 46, has pleaded not guilty of second-degree murder, gross vehicular manslaughter, driving under the influence of alcohol and causing injury, and driving under the influence with prior DUI convictions. His trial will begin April 10 in San Diego Superior Court...

Michelle Rodriguez Released From Jail ? Served Time for DUI

Posted on January 23, 2008
Actress Michelle Rodriguez has been released from Lynchwood County Jail in California after serving only 18 of 180 sentenced days. Her release was due to overcrowded conditions at the jail, which allows female inmates who have not proven themselves to be violent to serve as little as ten percent of their sentence before release...

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