Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol

December 3, 2012

Oh Man, Oh Man: Lindsay Lohan Arrested AGAIN: Not for Los Angeles DUI Charges This Time, But for Assaulting a Psychic in an NYC Club. Sheesh!

Back in 2007, when Lindsay Lohan collected her first and infamous Los Angeles DUI arrest, many in the Hollywood community were shocked. How could such a sweet and promising performer behave so recklessly and out of character. Alas, five years later, after racking up arrest after arrest in diverse circumstances, even Lohan’s most ardent fans are beginning to wonder whether there will ever be an end to the 26-year-old’s legal woes.

To wit, last Friday morning, Lohan got arrested yet AGAIN, this time at the New York City club Avenue, for allegedly punching psychic, Tiffany Mitchell, in the eye. The woman allegedly pursued Lohan to try to tell her fortune. Lohan first asked for space. When Mitchell kept pestering her, Lohan called the woman a “gypsy,” and the two exchanged other colorful words.

Mitchell has already “lawyered up” over the assault. She hired celebrity attorney Gloria Allred. Sensing the potential impending civil lawsuit, Lohan has gone on the offensive and hired a private detective to look into Mitchell’s history. Initial reports from celebrity gossips sites suggest that Mitchell may indeed have a checkered past: some of her psychic clients have allegedly come forward calling her a fraud, and she also may have had legal troubles with respect to non-payment of rent.

Lohan’s situation, however, is more diverse and more dire.

The actress earned huge notoriety over her struggles with her Los Angeles DUI probation revocation. That mini-drama ended with Lohan being compelled to serve a stint in jail and do community service work at a county morgue.

Lohan earned another dubious distinction: she faced four separate criminal charges on the same day, on both coasts, including charges that she resisted a police officer, gave false info to a police officer, and engaged in reckless driving. So Lohan’s legal plate is certainly full. She also received less than lackluster reviews for her performance in the made for TV movie, Liz and Dick.

A Los Angeles DUI charge is often just the tip of the iceberg
If you’ve been recently arrested on one or multiple or similar charges, you may be overly tempted to focus exclusively on your immediate defense and less on the long-term strategic ramifications for your life, career and health.

As a Harvard Law School educated former prosecutor who’s won high praise from peers and clients alike for his work as a Los Angeles DUI criminal defense attorney, Michael Kraut understands that defendants often need more than just “nuts and bolts” help. They also need to be listened to and to get educated about how to prevent recidivism.

This is particularly key, in that, if you get hit by multiple charges of Los Angeles DUI within a 10-year period, prosecutors can rapidly escalate your charges.

Connect with attorney Kraut and his team for incisive, insightful help with your L.A. DUI charge.

November 30, 2012

Two Different Men Each Rack Up Their Ninth DUIs: Are You Also on the Verge of Getting a Multiple Pasadena DUI Conviction?

by Michael Kraut

When you recently got pulled over and arrested for a Pasadena DUI, you cringed at the feeling of déjà vu. This was not your first arrest for such a crime, and you remember how emotionally fraught and exhausting the 1st rehabilitation was for you.

If you get arrested and convicted for driving under the influence in Southern California multiple times, a rapid and a terrifying escalation in your punishments can ensure. For instance, the first time you get a standard Pasadena DUI, you might face fines and fees, some jail time, forced alcohol classes, and a CA license suspension. All very unpleasant stuff, to be sure.

But if you collect 3 DUIs within 10 years, prosecutors can leverage the law to transform what would ordinarily be a misdemeanor into a felony count!

This means that you could go to jail for over a year — instead of for just a few days — for the same exact crime… just because you’re a recidivist.

Notwithstanding the consequences that can ensue if you break Pasadena DUI law multiple times, some drivers just can’t help themselves. In fact, last week not one but two different Montana men made national news over their ninth DUI charges.

Up in Billings, 51-year-old James Alan Tate, pled guilty to misdemeanor and felony DUI counts as well as charges of driving without a license and driving without insurance. Local police in Billings, Montana stopped him on October 10 at South 28th Street and gave him a breath test. He allegedly scored an incredibly high BAC of 0.361%. That’s over 4.5 times the legal limit for Pasadena DUI, per California Vehicle Code Section 23152, which makes it a crime to drive with a BAC of just 0.08% or above. Tate had been convicted of DUI eight times between 1985 and 2011. He will be sentenced on January 24.

Meanwhile, out in Polson, Montana, 45-year-old Todd Burland faces his ninth DUI charge, after he led local police on a car chase on US Highway 93. The “fun” ended when Burland drove into Flathead Lake. Amazingly, the suspect still had some fight in him — he tried swimming away from police officers, who had to don water gear to fish him out of the lake and arrest him. He faces not just a felony DUI charge (ninth offense) but also charges of violating his probation.

You obviously want to deal with your issues before they escalate any further. The team here at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers in Pasadena can help you understand your defense options and construct a strategic response not just to the present charges but also to the long-term crisis in your life that’s led you towards recidivism.

Attorney Kraut is a former prosecutor who is deeply sympathetic to the Pasadena DUI defense experience and who is well schooled in the methods and tactics of prosecutors. His unique vantage – combined with his Harvard Law School education – can give you an excellent chance of success.

November 26, 2012

Long Beach DUI News Blotter: State Rep (and DUI Attorney) Gets Clobbered with DUI Charge

by Michael Kraut

It’s painful to be arrested for DUI in Long Beach or elsewhere in Southern California. It would probably be doubly painful if you represented defendants charged with driving under the influence for a living. And triply humiliating if you also served as a lawmaker.

Poor David Burnell Smith of Arizona recently suffered these three ‘stings’ simultaneously after Scottsdale police arrested him near Westland Road and Pima Road. They hit Smith with two charges of driving under the influence for impairment and for having a BAC in excess of 0.08% (also the limit for Long Beach DUI, as defined by California Vehicle Code Section 23152).

According to the Arizona Republic, Representative Smith – who had recently lost a primary race – was seen swerving around in his Chrysler 300, endangering other people on the road. After the police stopped him, he ‘stumbled’ out of his vehicle and refused to participate in FSTs (Field Sobriety Tests). He also inhaled (instead of exhaling) into a breathalyzer test before finally complying – and blowing a 0.137% BAC. Again, the legal limit for both CA and AZ is 0.08%. That reading was nearly double what’s allowed.

This would all be pretty embarrassing for a state representative, but Smith is also a lawyer who makes a living ‘fighting for those who have been arrested and/or charged with DUI.’

Smith claimed that he had swigged mouthwash before getting behind the wheel. As we’ve discussed at length on this Long Beach DUI blog, it is true that substances like mouthwash can throw off your breathalyzer test readings. Indeed, these tests are often surprisingly poorly calibrated, poorly executed, and poorly interpreted. An experienced Long Beach DUI defense attorney may be able to help you challenge the results and either reduce your charges or get them eliminated completely.

That being said, it’s a mistake to assume that you will be able to easily eliminate your DUI charges – or even successfully challenge breathalyzer test results. DUI law is extremely nuanced, and prosecutors are neither dumb nor particularly overly accommodating.

Fortunately, you can turn to Long Beach DUI criminal defense lawyer Michael Kraut, and his team at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers here in Long Beach, for an insightful, thorough, and strategic defense. Attorney Kraut has delivered big successes for his clients in complex DUI cases. He also worked as a prosecutor for the city for nearly a decade and half. So he understands how prosecutors think and work, and he maintains excellent relationships, which he leverages to help his clients get good strategic outcomes.

November 19, 2012

Expect More Pasadena DUI Arrests: CA Office of Traffic Safety gets $450,000 Grant for 100 DUI Task Force

by Michael Kraut

The California Office of Traffic Safety recently received a grant of $450,000 to enforce DUI laws in Pasadena and elsewhere.

The 100 DUI Task Force, as it’s known, has been charged with a litany of tasks, including conducting DUI checkpoints and saturation patrols and running programs to target repeat offenders. The Task Force is very active during holidays known to be flashpoints for DUI activity in Pasadena and elsewhere, such as New Year’s Eve, Cinco de Mayo, Saint Patrick’s Day, and Super Bowl Sunday.

On the one hand, we should applaud the work of this Task Force and be grateful that police officers are out there, putting their lives on the line, searching for ways to improve public safety and get dangerous drivers off the road.

November 16, 2012

Lakers Ebanks Busted for Driving Under the Influence in Hollywood – More Woes for L.A. Basketball

by Michael Kraut

Devin Ebanks, a reserve forward for the L.A. Lakers, got busted for Hollywood DUI last week, according to CHP records.

The 23-year-old was stopped at Hollywood Boulevard and El Centro Avenue at around 2:30 in the morning, after an officer saw him commit a traffic violation. Ebanks was later released on $5,000 bail. Apparently, he had just been chilling out at a Roxbury night club to celebrate a woman’s birthday. (He told his followers on Twitter to join him at the club.)

Notwithstanding the arrest, Ebanks managed to play for the Lakers against the Golden State Warriors the very next day; he’s on contract with them for $1.4 million — an agreement he made back in August. Ebanks has only averaged an anemic 2.5 points in 2012, however, and he is still reeling from accusations that he sexually assaulted a woman in 2011.

DUI in Hollywood Defenses

How should someone like Ebanks build and follow through on a Los Angeles DUI defense? You need to take a look at the charges in context. For instance:

• Does the defendant have any prior criminal convictions, especially for past DUIs?

The more DUI convictions you rack up, the more ‘legal ammunition’ prosecutors have to throw at you. For instance, if you get convicted for two+ Hollywood DUIs within 10 years, prosecutors can try to transform a misdemeanor DUI charge into a felony charge;
• What happened during and after the stop/accident/arrest?

Were you stopped and booked at a checkpoint? Did you get into an accident before getting arrested? Did police put you through a field sobriety test and arrest you after seeing you exhibit symptoms of Hollywood DUI? How were the DUI tests calibrated and conducted? Were there police errors? Were there any factors that could have thrown off your breathalyzer reading?

• Did complicating or quirky factors play a role?

For instance, did someone else crash into your car or cause the accident somehow? Did your vehicle malfunction and cause you to swerve off the road, thus prompting the police attention that led to your Hollywood DUI arrest?

An efficient, smart DUI defense strategy

Hollywood DUI criminal defense lawyer, Michael Kraut, of the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers, and his team are standing by to help you understand your challenges and construct an intelligent response. Get in touch with Attorney Kraut today for a free consultation.

November 14, 2012

Scary Southern California DUI News: CHP SWAT Team Called in to Detonate Pipe Bomb Found in DUI Driver’s Van

by Michael Kraut

Southern California DUI events are dangerous, in and of themselves.

If you drive under the influence of drugs, alcohol, or even prescription medications, your ability to react to unexpected conditions on the road, emergency signals, strange weather conditions, etc can be horrifically impaired.

Usually, the DUI driving is the most scary ‘part’ of any DUI stop. However, that’s not always the case! Consider a seemingly routine DUI stop up in San Jose that got totally out of control, when local police discovered that the driver had a bomb in his van.

According to news reports, the San Jose Police Department stopped a 1998 Ford Windstar van near the 101 and First Street at around 8:45 p.m. last Wednesday. Police became suspicious while chatting with the driver; and they searched the van. They discovered significant evidence to bust 35-year-old James Magill and hit him with narcotics charges and a DUI.

They also discovered a live pipe bomb!

A SWAT team was summoned to the scene, and police shut down streets around the area. The SWAT team prepped for hours before detonating the pipe bomb in a controlled explosion. Local residents felt and heard the blast. One person living nearby said he felt his entire apartment shake from the controlled detonation. No damage or injuries resulted, fortunately, and the ‘uncooperative’ Magill got booked on a number of charges, including DUI and possession of a destructive device. He was held without bail at County jail.

An investigation into the situation is ongoing.

Hopefully, your Southern California DUI was less scary. The vast, vast majority of people who are arrested for driving under the influence intend no harm. They either misjudge their own ability to metabolize alcohol or make other poor judgment calls.

To manage the aftermath of your DUI arrest effectively, you likely need substantial help from an experienced Los Angeles DUI criminal defense attorney.

The Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers’s Michael Kraut has a wealth of resources, experience, and connections to inform you and help you fight back against the charges. The best defenses involve both a deep and realistic appreciation of exactly how much trouble you are in as well as a success focused vision of an ideal conclusion to your case. Attorney Kraut is an ex prosecutor with a Harvard Law School background. He has the common sense, intuition, and experience to help you maximize your likelihood of prevailing.

November 12, 2012

Police Trooper’s DUI Debacle: Could Something Similar Have Happened with Your Burbank DUI Case?

by Michael Kraut

When the police officer arrested you for driving under the influence in Burbank, you were perplexed – shocked, even. Perhaps you hadn’t been drinking that much. Perhaps you hadn’t been drinking at all! But the police officer said that you failed your field sobriety tests and/or that you registered positive for Burbank DUI per a breathalyzer test (BAC greater than 0.08%, as defined by California Vehicle Code Section 23152(b)).

Despite the seemingly incontrovertible evidence to the contrary, you maintain your innocence – or at least you believe that the arrest and/or the charges you face are not quite fair.

They may be, or they may not be. Only a thorough inspection of the evidence can determine the truth, either way. However, if you suspect that the arresting officer mistreated you or misbehaved in some fashion, you may not be delusional. Consider, for instance, some amazing – frankly, terrifying – news out of the state of Utah. A Utah Highway Patrol Trooper, Lisa Steed, is on the verge of being fired, after two separate judges found that she lied on the witness stand when testifying about drug possession and DUI cases.

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Steed’s trustworthiness has been under fire since April, when a Third District Judge concluded that she suppressed evidence and lied during a case. Another judge, in the Second District, also said that she suppressed evidence, prompting the prosecutor in that county to abandon prosecuting any DUI cases in which Steed had been a substantial witness.

The Salt Lake Tribune also reported on a memo from back in 2010, which found that Steed had provided conflicting info regarding lab results and arrest reports.

That memo also insinuated that Steed arrested four drivers with no drugs or alcohol in their system!

The story serves as a red flag: bad police behavior like this can happen in any city, under any circumstances. This obviously isn’t to say that the officers who arrested you acted inappropriately. That’s possible, but it’s not necessarily likely.

The bigger takeaway lesson is that Burbank DUI defendants can benefit from having a thorough, effective advocate examine evidence from multiple angles and probe to see whether an idiosyncratic factor – such as police incompetence or deliberate suppression of evidence – may have played a role.

Attorney Michael Kraut of Burbank’s Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers has spent years fighting Southern California DUI cases from both the prosecutorial and the defense side. His diverse background allows him to develop and execute powerful and highly effective defenses for his clients.

November 7, 2012

If Arrested for DUI in Glendale, Don’t Drive the Wrong Way Down a One Way Street and Then Knee the Arresting Officer in the Groin

by Michael Kraut

If you or a loved one or colleague recently got arrested for driving under the influence in Glendale, your situation is obviously intense, scary, and overwhelming. Unfortunately – as we’ve catalogued numerous times in this blog over the past several months – DUI suspects often engage in tremendously dangerous and dumb behavior during and after the arrest sequence that redounds to cripple their legal defensive options.

Ideally, your Glendale DUI arrest was significantly less drama filled than the arrest of 37-year-old Andrea Weber, a British woman arrested in the town of Beatrice on Highway 136 last Wednesday evening. According to The Daily Mail, a paper in the UK, Weber got busted for a variety of charges, such as felony child abuse, flight to avoid arrest, assault, and the UK equivalent of driving under the influence. (In England, they obviously have different DUI laws, but these in many ways run parallel to the standards for Glendale DUI, as defined by California Vehicle Code Section 23152(a) and 23152(b) – or, if you injure someone, the “upgraded” felony CVC laws – 23153(a) and 23153(b).)

The Daily Mail reports that police saw Weber driving on Highway 136; they followed her car as she zipped down a one way street. The police pursued and eventually got her to pull over in a middle school parking lot. The police found two kids in her back seat. As the police chatted with the children, Weber tried to get back into her car. When a officer tried to stop her, she kneed him in the groin. Unsurprisingly, she was then restrained and arrested and hit with a bevy of charges, some of which we described above.

The moral for you, if you’ve been charged with a Glendale DUI
As embarrassing as your arrest might have been, what’s past is past. You cannot undo the damage you’ve done to property, people, and your reputation. However, you don’t have to let the past be a prison, either. Everyone makes mistakes. Your ability to rebound from your bad decision making might even surprise you. In fact, many famous figures in both American and British history have rebounded from incidents like Glendale DUI to become powerful leaders, humanitarians, etc.

You can almost view this as a learning experience – hopefully one that won’t cost you too extravagantly and won’t lead to massive jail time – and hopefully one that did not involve serious injuries to anyone or loss of life.

Glendale DUI defense attorney Michael Kraut of the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers and his team are standing by to help you unpack your potential legal defense options and help you systematically defend against the charges. Attorney Kraut is a Harvard Law School educated ex-prosecutor. He’s a highly respected “maven” of Los Angeles DUI law, who is often called upon by the Los Angeles Times, KTLA News and New York Times to weigh in on important local DUI cases.

November 5, 2012

Pregnant Zombie Arrested for DUI: Hopefully Your Burbank DUI Mug Shot was Prettier

by Michael Kraut

Whether you got arrested for driving under the influence in Burbank on “All Hollow’s Eve” or not, odds are that the experience was spooky and disorienting, and not in a good way.

DUI stories have a way of becoming surreal and macabre – both for DUI suspects and for victims of the crash and investigators. Burbank DUI bloggers and national “News of the Weird” scouts from places like Huffington Post were riveted last week by a strange Halloween DUI story out of Birmingham Alabama.

Allegedly, a woman dressed as a pregnant-zombie-who-had-been-shot-in-the-head was found passed out in her car the morning after Halloween. Initially, passersby thought that she had actually been shot in the head. These people called the police, who found that the woman was just wearing a Halloween costume. The costume itself was amateurish, but when the frightened passersby saw it in context, it certainly looked gory and real. Plus, they found her on the morning after Halloween, not on Halloween itself. As one Birmingham police officer said, “you can see why someone thought she had been shot.”

Local officers woke the woman up, looked through her vehicle, and then arrested her on charges of DUI.

Obviously, getting a charge like driving under the influence in Burbank is not pleasant. But it’s certainly better than getting shot in the head and left to die in your car.

Nevertheless, you face a superabundance of challenges and questions that you will need to address in the days and weeks ahead. For instance, will your license get suspended? Will you have to spend significant time in jail? What should you be doing right now to prepare for your legal battle? Have you written down your own account of what happened – including quotes from officers or from any witnesses? Did you make any statements to authorities or to anyone investigating the case that could compromise your case or cause you potential legal problems?

Have you found and retained a Burbank DUI criminal defense attorney yet?

These and other questions are probably whirling around your head, even as you try to process what happened to you. It can be difficult to prioritize and strategize, since you’re not an expert in Burbank DUI law, and you’re also almost certainly dealing with emotional “blowback” from the arrest as well as “day-to-day” life concern re: your job, family, and relationship obligations.

The practiced and efficient team at Burbank’s Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers can assist you in developing a proper defense and making good sense of your options. Attorney Kraut is a highly respected, knowledgeable, and successful criminal defense lawyer who has the compassion and relationships to provide you excellent service.

October 31, 2012

How Not to “Tee Up” Your Pasadena DUI Defense: Drive 85 Miles Per Hour the Wrong Way on a One Way Street…

by Michael Kraut

We’ve said it before on our Pasadena DUI defense blog, and we will say it again: many DUI defendants dig themselves a very deep hole, legally speaking, even after they’ve been stopped and interrogated by police.

Driving under the influence in Pasadena, in and of itself, can indeed lead to tremendous penalties. Even a misdemeanor conviction pursuant to California Vehicle Code Section 23152(a) or 23152(b) can set you up for punishments ranging from big fines and fees to insurance rate spikes to jail time. However, when you make additional “bad decisions” after your stop, such as fleeing from the scene, committing hit and run, or driving the wrong way down a one way street to escape a checkpoint or detection by police, you may make your defense massively more complicated.

Consider, for instance, the case of an underage driver pulled over on October 10th for DUI in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania… after clocking nearly 110 miles per hour on a street with a 35 miles per hour speed limit!

The underage driver had been zooming along Penn Avenue in her Audi at 109 miles per hour (as clocked by local law enforcement) before pivoting on to Pennwood Avenue, Hay Street and Walls Avenue. She then gunned it the wrong way down on one way street before police finally caught up. The driver now faces a litany of seven charges, including DUI as a minor (first offense), driving without a license, exceeding the speed limit by 80 miles per hour (!!), reckless driving, providing false ID to law enforcement, and driving under the influence with general impairment.

The driver initially gave the police a false name, then she recanted and agreed to participate in field sobriety tests, which she allegedly failed. She also blew a breathalyzer test twice, which showed that she had a BAC of 0.13% and 0.14%, respectively. The legal limit for Pasadena DUI, as you probably know if you’re a long time reader, is just 0.08%. So this woman tested at nearly double that amount.

One bad decision spiraling into many bad decisions – a common story in Pasadena DUI cases

Many defendants wind up “kicking themselves” the days and weeks after their arrest because they obviously “should have known better.”

In reality, you may have only made one really bad decision – i.e. to get behind the wheel while not quite sober. But prosecutors may ultimately hit you with multiple charges, each of which can carry heavy punishments, like jail sentences and costly fines.

To respond effectively, you need both a practical and deep theoretical understanding of relevant case law. Attorney Michael Kraut of Pasadena’s Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers has helped many people in similar situations to yours come up with powerful, solid, and inventive legal defenses. As a former prosecutor, Attorney Kraut understands how prosecutors like to approach cases like yours, and he can craft and pivot your defense accordingly.