Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol

November 6, 2013

Hollywood DUI Update: Happy Gilmore Star, Christopher McDonald (a.k.a. Shooter McGavin), Busted in North Carolina for DUI

Some late breaking Hollywood DUI news: 50-year-old actor, Christopher McDonald, was just arrested for DUI in North Carolina, after he blew 0.15% on a breathalyzer test.

0.15% BAC is nearly twice the legal limit, as stipulated by California Vehicle Code Section 23152 (b). McDonald, who’s been a working actor for decades (168 separate credits), is perhaps best known for his role as Shooter McGavin in Adam Sandler’s epic golf comedy, Happy Gilmore.

WECT in North Carolina reports that police pulled McDonald over in Wilmington at 4:30 a.m. The actor cooperated with the officer and blew into a breathalyzer test, where he registered that 0.15% BAC number. He was arrested and later released on $1,000 bond.

This incident was McDonald’s first brush with the law. He is married, and he has four children. Not exactly your typical, tabloid-y Hollywood DUI story.

Case analysts believe that McDonald will likely get off with a light sentence and a plea bargain… although you never can tell with Hollywood DUI cases.

In fact, it’s really important not to assume that your case will be easy and simple. Subtle details about your Hollywood DUI arrest can make an enormous difference. These include:

• Your criminal history, if you have one;
• The police work done on your DUI arrest;
• Whether or not you caused any collateral damage. (For instance, did you leave the scene of an accident; get into an altercation with a police officer; or otherwise engage in any illegal or unethical behavior?)

Fortunately, no matter what you did (or allegedly did), you are entitled to a fair and thorough Hollywood DUI defense per California law.

The team here at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers in Hollywood can help you deal with your charges in a sound, ethical, and thorough way. Mr. Kraut is a former prosecutor who spent 14 years on the other side of the law, helping to put DUI defendants behind bars. He uses his detailed knowledge and relationships with ex-colleagues to deliver excellent service to his defense clients.

October 25, 2013

Beverly Hills DUI Update: Amanda Bynes Not Fit To Stand Trial for Her Arrest, Claims Lawyer

by Michael Kraut

Many Beverly Hills DUI stories are tragic-comic tales of celebrities upstaged by their own hubris and overreach.

Millions of Americans like to ponder the odd behavior of divas like Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears – as well as the atrocious rants and acts committed by the likes of celebrities like Mel Gibson.

But sometimes Hollywood DUI stories aren’t funny. They aren’t object lessons. They’re just plain tragic.

Such appears to be the case with actress Amanda Bynes, who was arrested last April in West Hollywood for driving under the influence. As our Beverly Hills DUI law blog (and many other sources) reported at the time, Bynes tweeted to President Obama asking for lenience in her case: “Hey, @BarackObama…please fire the cop who arrested me. I also don’t hit and run. The end.”

At the time, many chided Bynes for her behavior — they considered it just another example of a bubble gum actress/pop star gone bad. However, Bynes’s behavior continued to deteriorate – but not in a “normal” celebrity meltdown kind of way.

Earlier in the year, she was found lighting a fire in the driveway of Los Angeles home, and she was admitted to a psychiatric ward in July for treatment. The 27-year-old was due in court at the end of September for her DUI, but her lawyer said that she was mentally unfit to go to trial for her DUI, per California Penal Code 1368, which states “If counsel informs the court that he or she believes the defendant is, or may be, mentally incompetent, the court shall order that the question of the defendant’s mental competence is to be determined in a hearing.”

Bynes’ mother, Lynn, has applied to be her conservator, which would give her some legal rights over the actress. The Beverly Hills DUI criminal procedure against Bynes has been paused, while the justice system deliberates to determine whether she is competent to go to trial.

Can Bynes’ case teach us something about how to defend against Beverly Hills DUIs?

One of the interesting lessons here is that a DUI is often a symptom of larger and more complex problems in the life of the defendant.

Many Beverly Hills DUI defendants don’t really look at their DUIs in context. They just want to get out of trouble and get back to their regularly scheduled lives. But really they should see the DUI as a wake up call to get much needed help.

Fortunately, you can start the process effectively today by connecting with Beverly Hills DUI criminal defense lawyer, Michael Kraut, of the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers. Mr. Kraut is an experienced ex-prosecutor who has the wherewithal and experience to get results for you.

October 23, 2013

Arrested for DUI near USC or UCLA and Underage?

by Michael Kraut

Whether you’re a budding filmmaker at USC – hoping to become your generation’s next “George Lucas” — or you’re a UCLA grad student barely able to afford rent in Westwood, your recent UCLA DUI or USC DUI has been a catastrophe.

You’re afraid things are going to get worse, probably because you’re not yet 21-years-old.

It’s bad enough to get stopped for DUI “normally” – as someone who’s over 21, driving with a BAC of 0.08%. Even if you don’t hurt anybody, you can face license suspension, fees, fines, insurance rate spikes, jail time, tough probation terms, and beyond. (If you did hurt someone or did commit other crimes while DUI near USC or UCLA, prosecutors can have that much more to “throw at you.”)

If you’re a minor, your situation is actually even more complicated and fraught. According to CVC Section 23136 – the so-called “Zero Tolerance” Policy Section — if you’re younger than 21, and an officer stops you and tests your BAC at just 0.01%, you can lose your license for a full year, or suffer a full year delay in getting your license, if you haven’t passed your test yet.

0.01% is actually just one-eighth the limit of normal DUI in Los Angeles, as CVC 23152(b) defines it. An overly ambitious swig of mouthwash, a ketogenic (low carb) diet, or even a big helping of cough syrup can put you over this threshold.

Violating CVC 23136 is an infraction rather than a misdemeanor, but you can still lose your license.

Fortunately, you can talk to a UCLA or USC DUI defense attorney, like Michael Kraut of the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers, to represent you at your DMV hearing and help you challenge the suspension.

(You only have 10 days to do so, so get busy!)

If you are under 21, and you get caught with a BAC between 0.05% and 0.07%, you can be hit with an infraction, per California Vehicle Code 23140. This leads to fines as opposed to jail, but it still triggers the Golden State Zero Tolerance Policy and can lead to a full year of suspension of driving privileges.

Lastly, if you are under 21 and you tip over the legal limit of 0.08%, not only can you face the standard charges that an adult driver might face – such as $2,000 in fines, a year behind bars, up to five years of summary probation, etc – but you also face a zero tolerance suspension.

The loss of driver’s license means a ton, if you’re a college or grad student. At an East Coast university campus, perhaps you could just “walk everywhere.” But it’s devilishly difficult to get around Los Angeles – to attend classes, have a social life, do your job, etc – if you have no vehicle.

Fortunately, you do not need to stand helplessly by as events unfold. An experienced, intelligent, compassionate UCLA and USC DUI defense lawyer with the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers can help you meet your challenges and rebound from unfortunate events.

October 21, 2013

Glendale DUI Cautionary Tale: Aldon Smith’s DUI Arrest and Legal Trouble

by Michael Kraut

Whether you got arrested for DUI in Glendale, after police stopped you for speeding on the 134, or police snagged you at a Pasadena DUI checkpoint near Old Town Pasadena, you’re facing a serious legal crisis.

Join the club.

Aldon Smith of the San Francisco 49ers also just got busted for driving under the influence in California, after he smashed his truck into a tree. While such an event would render many people unable to walk or engage in vigorous activity, Smith took to the field against the Colts just two days later… and made five tackles on the way to a 27 to 7 defeat.

Jed York, the CEO of the 49ers, said that the team had the right to play him, despite his DUI: “our opinion is, if you’re sitting someone down and paying them to sit down when they’re going to seek treatment in the future, we didn’t feel like that was an appropriate punishment. We’re not trying to circumvent what the NFL will do. This is about making sure that Aldon has the opportunity to work on something, to get better…”

Last season Smith had 19 1/2 sacks – a record for the 49ers, and the second most sacks in NFL. But he’s apparently equally aggressive on and off the gridiron.

• In 2012, Smith got into a car accident in Santa Clara County, and he sustained a deep cut on his face.
• In June 2012, Smith and Delanie Walker (also on the 49ers squad) allegedly got intoxicated at Smith’s house and shot guns into the air to stop their party. Unsurprisingly, in shooting off their guns in a crowded area, they allegedly hit a man, who later filed a lawsuit against Smith.

The NFL’s personal conduct policy takes a Glendale DUI violation (or DUI violation anywhere) extremely seriously. But since Smith’s case had not been adjudicated, he was allowed to play against the Colts. Following that game, however, he was put on the non-football-injury leave of absence list.

As we reported in a separate post on Jacoby Jones and Pacman Jones, NFL players have gotten into some horrendous legal turmoil recently. (To refresh your memory, Jacoby Jones got smashed over the head with a bottle of champion (by a stripper, no less!) on a party bus. Pacman Jones, meanwhile, got hit with DUI charges and mouthed off to the officer arresting him.)

But the mayhem is not restricted to the NFL. Taylor Olander, a UConn basketball hero, recently also got suspended, after police busted him for driving under the influence without a license.

If you or someone you love has been arrested for driving under the influence in Glendale (or elsewhere in Southern California), consider getting in touch immediately with an experienced Glendale DUI defense lawyer at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers. Mr. Kraut is a very experienced Harvard Law School educated ex-prosecutor. He is known for his excellent relationships with judges, prosecutors and other members of the Southern California legal system.

October 16, 2013

Long Beach DUI Blotter: A Tale of Two Joneses

by Michael Kraut

As someone who has recently been stopped for DUI in Long Beach, you may or may not be a football fan. But before you construct your defense, you might be well served to stop and consider the fate of two NFL Players named Jones, both of whom recently got into serious legal hot water. Their tales can instruct and inform your own defense.

First, we have the sad situation of Adam Bernard “Pacman” Jones, who was arrested at 2:30 a.m. on September 24th, after police stopped him for driving 60 miles per hour in a 45 miles per hour zone in Cincinnati. The star cornerback for the Cincinnati Bengals was busted on charges of OVI (operating a vehicle impaired – similar to a Long Beach DUI charge) and also hit with a disorderly conduct citation for making “offensive comments” to police officers. Per Ohio Law, that means that Jones probably said something during his DUI stop that was “likely to be offensive or to cause inconvenience, annoyance or alarm to persons of ordinary sensibilities.”

This is not the first time that cornerback has gotten into brouhahas with the law. In July 2011, he was hit with a disorderly conduct at a Cincinnati bar, and he yelled profanities to police officers who arrested him. In June, he got busted on an assault charges – he allegedly hit a woman at a nightclub. He pled not guilty to that charge. Perhaps most disturbing is this report from ESPN: “last year, Jones was ordered to pay $11 million to two Las Vegas strip club employees injured in 2007, when a gunman who claimed that he was doing Jones’ bidding, opened fire outside a club after Jones and his entourage were kicked out. A club manager who was paralyzed from the waist down, and a bouncer was wounded. Jones said he had no role in the shootings and pleaded an equivalent of no contest to misdemeanor and conspiracy to commit disorderly conduct. The gunman is serving 4 to 10 years in prison.”

It should go without saying — but it is worth restating and emphasizing — that the more you complicate your Long Beach DUI charges by mouthing off to police officers or engaging in illegal activities, like leaving the scene of an accident, the more complicated your defense will be, and the more likely you are to wind up with severe punishments, like jail time, long license suspensions, and the like.

Meanwhile, similarly disturbing news came from the camp of the Bengals’ rivals — the defending Super Bowl Champions, the Baltimore Ravens. Jacoby Jones – one of the Ravens’ star receivers – got into a fight on a party bus, following the Ravens victory over Houston. And… wait for it… he got hit over the head by a stripper with a champion bottle.

Coach John Harbaugh had this to say: “in our household…nothing good happens after midnight.” He rhetorically asked his players “what you want to be known for? Do you want to be known as a football player or do you want to be known for that? I don’t think it’s anything to be proud of.”

So what do with all these celebrity arrests and brawls with strippers have to do with your Long Beach DUI charge?

The frank answer is that it may not. Perhaps you were just at the wrong place at the wrong time, and your DUI was a fluke on an otherwise unbesmirchable record. But one thing that the Jones’ saga indicates is that Long Beach DUI trouble – and trouble with the law in general – is not as “random” as many people would like to believe.

Fortunately, if you or your loved one has been arrested for driving under the influence in Burbank or elsewhere, the experienced team at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers can help. Connect with former prosecutor and Harvard Law School educated Attorney Mr. Michael Kraut for incisive, insightful, and compassionate assistance.

October 11, 2013

Pasadena DUI Celebrity News Update: Dina Lohan (Lindsay’s Mom) Pleads Not Guilty to DUI Charges

by Michael Kraut

As someone who’s been arrested for Pasadena DUI, you were probably more sympathetic than most when you learned that 50-year-old Dina Lohan (mother of actress, Lindsay Lohan) got arrested on September 12th for driving under the influence in Long Island, New York.

Police pulled Dina Lohan over, after they saw her speeding. Based on her Field Sobriety Test performance (and other measures), they figured that she over the influence, and they arrested her just a few miles from her home in Merrick, New York. The bust came only a few months after 27-year-old Lindsay finished her 6th rehab stint connected to her Los Angeles DUI arrest.

On September 24, the elder Lohan entered a not guilty plea at New York’s Nassau County District to charges that she had been driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Judge Joy Watson did suspend her driver’s license. But that apparently wasn’t a problem: Dina returned home in a chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce, and she is schedule to appear in court again on October 23.

Police said that Dina had been doing 77 miles per hour in a 55 miles per hour zone, and that she had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.20%. For those of you keeping score, that’s two and half times the legal limit for driving under the influence in Southern California.

A Family in Trouble
Lindsay and Dina are not the only members of the family to run a foul of the law. As this Pasadena DUI blog (and other sources) reported months ago, Lindsay’s father — Michael Lohan — has also been tormented by drug and alcohol issues, and he ALSO faces criminal charges.

What’s the Takeaway?

One salient takeaway from all the Lohan DUI drama is that dealing with addiction is complicated, emotionally challenging stuff. Fortunately, you don’t have to fight this battle on your own. An experienced, widely respected Pasadena DUI criminal defense lawyer with the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers can help you develop a sound strategy to deal with your charges.

October 9, 2013

Uncommon Facts about Los Angeles DUI

by Michael Kraut

As someone who’s hoping to defend against a Los Angeles DUI charge, you need solid, objective facts.

According to one survey from 10 years ago, 1.4 million drivers on U.S. roads get busted for DUI annually, and crashes that are “alcohol related” lead to $45 billon of damages a year.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) reports that over 100,000 people died in alcohol related crashes between 2000 and 2005. Of course, the definition of “alcohol related” is somewhat misleading. A crash can be considered “alcohol related,” even if the driver who caused the accident had not been drinking. For instance, let’s say you consumed a few drinks (not enough to be over the legal limit for DUI in Los Angeles of 0.08%). Then a sober driver blew through a stop sign and hit your car. That would be an “alcohol related” accident, even though the sober driver caused it, and you weren’t over the limit.

Of course, unsurprisingly, drivers who are under the influence are much more likely to cause these crashes – one large study found that fewer than 70% of sober drivers caused their collisions, while 94% DUI drivers were deemed responsible.

If you drive at more than twice the legal limit (say, 0.16% BAC), you’re 300 times more likely to get into a crash that kills someone that you’d be if you were sober. A “sobering statistic,” if there ever was one.

Alcohol is not the only factor that can lead to dangerous driving.

A lack of sleep, distraction, drugs, prescription medications, and even negative volatile emotions scan all radically escalate your likelihood of getting into a serious collision. Some studies even suggest that certain common activities may be way worse than driving under the influence.

For instance, one Virginia Tech study from several years ago found that truckers who texted were something like 21 more times likely than non-texting truckers to get into collisions. That means, perhaps, the texting while driving is even more dangerous than DUI driving.

Of course, the stigma against texting is nothing compared to the stigma against DUI driving.

Even though it’s not legal to text while behind the wheel in L.A., look around the next time you come to a stoplight on the corner of Wilshire and Fairfax (for instance). You will likely see at least one driver buried in his or her phone.

Technically speaking, why does DUI create such risk? Alcohol does multiple things to your capacities, none of them good:

• It inhibits co-ordination. If you see a deer or bike rider dart in front of you, you need to coordinate your body to avoid hitting that animal or person. But if you’re under the influence, your coordination is more slack, so you’re at greater risk for a collision;
• Alcohol damages your judgment. How fast is too fast on the road? It is that a stop sign or a yield sign? Your ability to make judgments like these are mission critical. Unfortunately, alcohol can deeply impair these abilities.
• Alcohol can affect your vision. We don’t let blind people drive for a reason – you need acute visual senses to navigate safely. Drinking a lot of alcohol can effectively render you — if not blind, than certainly less than 20/20 sighted –and thus make you more dangerous.

After Your Los Angeles DUI – What to Do Next?

The team at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers can help you appreciate the charges against you and build a strong defensive case. Mr. Kraut is an ex-prosecutor, who retains robust and friendly relationships with his former prosecutorial colleagues. He is well-known and respected by judges, police officers, and other important players in the Southern California legal defense community.

October 7, 2013

DUI and Burbank Sports News: Bernie Kosar, ex-Browns QB, Busted for DUI in Cleveland

by Michael Kraut

If you think that your DUI in Burbank has been a depressing turn of events, try being a Cleveland Browns fan.

All kidding aside, Cleveland sports fans received some pretty harsh news last Sunday, tempered only slightly by a victory against AFC rivals, Cincinnati Bengals. Police in Solon, Ohio arrested 49-year-old Bernie Kosar, an ex-Browns quarterback, for driving under the influence. Police stopped him for speeding around 2:45 am, and officers noted a smell of alcohol on him. As regular readers know, that’s a key symptom of Burbank DUI. (Other common symptoms include: bloodshot eyes, inability to balance, strange/awkward behavior towards officers; slurred words; emotional outbursts. When combined with other evidence – such as failures on field sobriety tests and DUI Burbank positive breath or blood tests, it can be enough to put you behind bars!)

Kosar has been an outspoken advocate of retired NFL players who’ve struggled with brain injuries incurred while playing. But his public troubles are well known. He’s struggled financially, gone through a divorce and gotten addicted to painkillers. Kosur claims that his NFL-induced brain injuries have caused him to slur his words.

While QB’ing for the Browns, Kosar took his team to the AFC Championship game three different times. But he got in trouble with the Browns’ organization earlier this year, when he lashed into the St. Louis Rams during a pre-season broadcast. He called Tavon Austin, a wide receiver for the Rams, “horrible,” and he also said “Bless me Father for I have sinned. I have to watch [backup quarterback Kellen Clemens] the whole fourth quarter.”

What You Can Learn from Kosar’s Saga about Your Burbank DUI

Kosar’s story indicates how vulnerable we all are to periods of despondency, dependence, and just bad luck. It takes a single act of careless judgment on one particular day to create terrible circumstances that can alter your life and damage other people.

Kosar’s story also suggest that head injuries may indeed be capable of inducing serious behavioral changes, such as loss of impulse control. If you know someone who has gotten arrested for DUI in Burbank — and that person has been sick or recently injured — you may need medical help as well as legal assistance.

For help with the legal piece, consider turning to experienced former prosecutor, Michael Kraut, of the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers, for a free and thorough DUI defense consultation. Mr. Kraut is an ex-prosecutor with excellent connections with the Los Angeles legal community.

October 2, 2013

Got a Los Angeles DUI After Something GOOD Happened to You? You’re Not Alone. Look What Happened to Armonty Bryant…

by Michael Kraut

Your Los Angeles DUI came at a strange time. After years of struggling to achieve some goal – perhaps a raise at your job, a successful relationship, or the conception of a child – you finally “broke through” and “made it.” For instance, maybe after sweating away, writing spec screenplays for 10 years, you finally optioned an original creative work to a big studio.

Given the great news in your personal or business life, an outsider might think that you’d be at minimal risk for doing something dangerous and destructive, like driving under the influence in Los Angeles.

But sometimes, rapid positive change can stimulate destructive behavior, just like unexpected negative change can do.

That sounds paradoxical, so let’s take a look at example.

In early May, Armonty Bryant, a new defensive end drafted by the Cleveland Browns, got arrested near East Central University in Oklahoma and charged with DUI. Per the police report, he made a left without signaling, attracting the attention of a police officer. The officer tried to get Bryant to take a breathalyzer test 10 separate times before the athlete agreed. Both Bryant and his passenger got arrested.

Bryant is no stranger to legal trouble. In 2012, police arrested him for felony distribution of marijuana in a school zone, a charge to which he pleaded no contest. Cleveland nevertheless chose him in the seventh round (217th pick overall) because, as the Browns coach put it “[he has moved] passed the mistakes that he has made and he’s ready to move on. He has matured.”

Bryant even released a statement about his past activities, shortly after the draft: “I feel like it was just a stupid move on my part. I should have been more mature about the situation and more focused on football, which is something I really want to do with my life. Now that I’ve gotten that second chance, I feel like I won’t let anyone down.”

Given that Bryant had turned his life around – he went from nearly-going-to-jail to playing-in-the-NFL – why on Earth would he have jeopardized everything by driving DUI?

This brings us back to the earlier point, which is that stressful events (even positive, exciting events) can lead us to take dangerous actions.

It’s not necessarily that we “get lost in the celebration of the moment” but rather that the wrenching changes caused by big life events (positive and negative) can make us feel helpless and out of control.

So what can you do, now that you’ve been hit with a Los Angeles DUI?

The team here at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers in Los Angeles has extensive experience helping people like you move beyond their mistakes and fight charges vigorously.

Mr. Kraut is a former very high level prosecutor. He rose to the ranks of Senior Deputy District Attorney for L.A. He can help you figure out exactly what to do next, so you can start the process of putting your arrest behind you.

September 30, 2013

Bishop’s DUI Arrest Puts Your Own Glendale DUI Charge in Perspective

by Michael Kraut

As someone arrested for DUI in Glendale, you’ve been beating yourself up pretty badly.

You’re not the only one showering you with negative emotions. Odds are high that you’ve encountered at least one friend or relative who responded to the news of your arrest in a less than congenial or compassionate manner – either judging you outright for “being a bad person who can’t get it together” or by making subtle but still painful digs.

The Glendale DUI experience is more diverse — and more human — than many people realize, however.

For instance, did you know that a Roman Catholic bishop from Rhode Island recently got arrested for DUI, after he consumed wine at dinner and then hopped in his car? It’s true. Out in South Kingston, Rhode Island, Robert McManus, a bishop for Worcester, got arrested for DUI and for leaving the scene of an accident. The 61-year-old bishop admitted that he “made a terrible error in judgment.” William Murphy, the former Speaker of the Rhode Island House, is representing McManus in court.

When most people think about Glendale DUI arrests, they conjure up caricatures.

They might picture a wastrel — a no-goodnik whose “life is a mess.” An irredeemable “criminal” who’s not at all like normal, law-abiding people. Or they think of “hot messes,” like Lindsay Lohan or presumptuous pols or narcissistic sports stars.

Does a 60-something high priest from Rhode Island fit your mental profile of “DUI driver”? Probably not! The reality is that the diversity of people arrested for this crime is astonishing, but that diversity is just not reflected in news stories or in tabloids.

Changing How You Think about And Reflect on Your Glendale DUI

We live in a society that emphasizes the judging, shaming and punishment of “wrongdoers.” This moralizing is built into the very fiber of our legal system. But this kind of thinking is not particularly resourceful. It can be downright destructive.

As we discussed above, Glendale DUIs are often the surface manifestations of deeper issues.

For instance, a person who loses his job might feel helpless and thus drawn down into a spiral of destructive behavior (including driving DUI). To turn things around, he will need not only to face down the charges but also to address the root issues making him feel helpless.

Of course, in some cases, DUIs really are “random.”

For instance, Bishop McManus may, indeed, have just “had a bad night.” You never know.

In any case, it’s useful to at least probe your DUI to try to understand its root cause, so you can address it and save yourself hassle in the future.

Connect with Attorney Michael Kraut of Glendale’s Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers today for assistance with your case. A Harvard Law School educated ex-Deputy District Attorney, Mr. Kraut can offer powerful and comprehensive help with your Glendale DUI defense.