Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol

February 27, 2012

Are Glendale DUI Defendants Being Treated Fairly?

The typical Glendale DUI defendant often has a lot to complain about. Sketchy police behavior, a daunting bureaucracy, and less than sympathetic colleagues and family members can make your situation more complicated and fraught than it already is. However, the real problem may lie even deeper.

Say you have substance abuse issues. You might diagnose yourself as “addicted” to substances like alcohol, narcotics, pain killers, prescription drugs, et cetera. So the question of whether you’re being “treated fairly” has a double meaning. Are you being “treated fairly” by the Los Angeles DUI defense system? Are you being “treated fairly” for Glendale DUI rehab?

Addiction: Caused by Powerlessness… or a Misplaced Attempt to Empower?

As any Los Angeles DUI attorney will tell you, the dominant treatment for drug and alcohol addiction is the 12 step program. One animating principle behind this approach is that addicts must admit that they are “powerless” over drugs and alcohol to regain control. Most treatment approaches build off this assumption. We believe that behaviors like drinking too much or eating too much or doing anything else in excess stem from impulse control. Unless you acknowledge that you are “acting out” in a destructive way – and work towards suppressing that “acting out” – you’ll likely fail to get your problems under control.

The bottom line: you’re likely to become a Glendale DUI recidivist. As we have talked before on this blog, the more times you get arrested for Glendale DUI, the more trouble you can get into – a person who gets a third misdemeanor conviction within 10 years, for instance, can see their charges bumped from misdemeanor to felony.

An alternate point of view suggests that addictive behaviors are rooted in our need for empowerment. Think back to the last time you “craved” a drink or a smoke or even some time to play video games on the internet. Odds are, you probably had an unhappy or frustrating thought prior to that impulse. Maybe you fought with your boss or spouse. Or maybe you got cut off in traffic.

Once you make the decision to have a drink — to do the addictive behavior — you automatically start to feel better. Taking this action reestablishes your sense of power and control over your life. Think about what that means! You are inspired to take these destructive actions because you need MORE power over your life – not less! Thus, treatment approaches rooted in trying to strip you or your power are going to encounter resistance, since they’re approaching the situation backwards. You need better STRATEGIES for finding how to get/maintain control that don’t involve alcohol or dangerous substances or behaviors.

For help dealing with a charge like driving under the influence in Glendale, connect with a prominent Los Angeles DUI criminal defense attorney at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers (121 W Lexington Dr, Glendale, CA 91203 Phone: (818) 507-9123 ) now.

February 22, 2012

How Many Long Beach DUI Arrests Does It Take to Make the National News Headlines?

by Michael Kraut

If you’re tagged for driving under the influence in Long Beach one time or twice, your story likely won’t make the AP, TMZ.com, or any other high-profile media outlet. Unless, of course, there is something extravagant or strange about your arrest—you are a celebrity, a politician, you drove a lawnmower while DUI, you rode a horse on top of a camel on top of a pig while DUI, etc. Likewise, if this isn’t your first or second arrest but your 102nd, odds are great that you will make the national spotlight.

Consider the news last week. In Westport, Massachusetts, a driver from East Falmouth scored his sixth DUI, and the arrest made regional news. In Missoula, KPAX TV is reporting a parallel story—a man who had five DUI convictions under his belt notched his sixth charge the weekend before last on Brooks Street. In Tennessee, Kyle Brasher, 27, of Franklin, Tennessee posted a bond after he was arrested for his fourth DUI.

The intensity of the alleged crime, as well as its eccentricities, combine to make a Long Beach DUI story “newsworthy” or not.

As a Los Angeles DUI lawyer would tell you, any charge of DUI in Long Beach is serious—whether it’s on the front page or just the local police blotter. But if your story is fascinating in some way, or if you are charged with a serious crime, such as a hit and run or fatal DUI, or if your BAC level is extremely high (0.50 and or above), or if you did something crazy after your arrest like punch a police officer or spit a breathalyzer test back in an officer’s face, then your story might get picked up by the blogosphere and the major media.

What to do if your Long Beach DUI story “goes viral”

It’s challenging enough to deal with an arrest for a scary, embarrassing charge like DUI in Long Beach, even if your arrest is low profile.

If your case is on the road to becoming “famous,” the quality of your representation will play an enormous role, not only in determining whether or not you are cleared of the charges and can get “back to normal” quickly, but also in terms of whether you successfully deal with the media and the negative attention. If you make inappropriate public comments, you could ratchet up your challenges ten-fold.

Dealing in Reality
You may regret what happened on the night or day of your arrest/accident. That’s a normal feeling—that’s human. Some regret, in fact, is healthy. But regret, in and of itself, can’t help you plan your next steps. You need clarity. What’s your current reality? What are your challenges? What are the charges against you? What are you doing to prepare?

You also need clear goals: what’s the best-case outcome for your case? How can you recover emotionally, financially, and legally? Lastly, you need the right strategies and outside help to bridge the gap between your current reality and your vision for success.

Let Attorney Michael Kraut of the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers (444 West Ocean, Suite 800 Long Beach, California 90802 Phone: (562) 531-7454 ) help you discover an effective strategy for going forward. Attorney Kraut is a highly successful and well-respected Long Beach DUI criminal defense lawyer with a Harvard Law School background, and he served in the DA’s office as a prosecutor for more than 14 years.

February 20, 2012

Long Beach DUI News Blotter: Mel Gibson DUI Arresting Officer Settles Suit for 50K

by Michael Kraut

The Long Beach DUI news was rather pedestrian last week—but not the DUI news out of Malibu.

No, Mel Gibson did not get arrested yet again for driving under the influence on the PCH. However, the deputy who arrested him that fateful night back in 2006 has won a settlement of $50,000 in a religious discrimination lawsuit related to the Gibson stop.

Deputy Mee is Jewish. Allegedly, Gibson ripped into him with anti-Semitic comments, after Mee pulled him over. According to a Fox News report, “Mee… claims his superiors forced him to remove the anti-Semitic comments made by the actor at the time from a report… he later received negative performance reviews and was denied promotion opportunities.”

The settlement marks a victory for Mee. Earlier, a judge doubted that he would be able to prove his case. The judge had said that Gibson and Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca would not be called as witnesses.

Gibson expunged his Los Angeles DUI conviction in 2009, after he served his sentence. His public persona was damaged, particularly because of the alleged anti-semitic tirade. In 2011, Gibson again made national headlines when his taped rants against his ex-girlfriend were released on celebrity blog sites. Gibson sounded totally unhinged and scary on those tapes.

As the Gibson story illustrates, the quest to put your Long Beach DUI behind you can be an elusive one.

You may find success in the short-term only to relapse and be rearrested for DUI in Long Beach a month or a year or 5 years later. And every time you get arrested or get into trouble with the law, you are more likely to face steep fines and punishments.

As your Los Angeles DUI attorney will tell you, first-time offenders for misdemeanor DUI charges can face a large number of penalties (jail time, mandatory alcohol school, CA driver’s license suspension, major court costs and fines, etc). But these penalties pale in comparison to penalties for repeat offenders. For instance, if you commit three more DUIs within a 10-year period, your simple misdemeanor charge can get transformed into a felony charge. If convicted of that, you could face over a year in jail and other harsh punishments.

Long Beach DUI criminal defense attorney Michael Kraut of the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers (444 West Ocean, Suite 800 Long Beach, California 90802 Phone: (562) 531-7454) will help you work through your struggles and develop the most reasonable, most strategic defense based on the facts of your arrest, your history, and your values.

Attorney Kraut is a former prosecutor with a Harvard Law School education who is well known in the community as a compassionate, yet aggressive, legal representative.

February 16, 2012

The Whitney Houston Tragedy: Lessons for Los Angeles DUI Defendants?

by Michael Kraut

The death of pop icon Whitney Houston has vast cultural implication; whether you are a Los Angeles DUI defendant, recovering narcotics addict, or merely a fan of the great late star’s music. So it’s worth it to spend a bit of time reflecting on her legacy and discussing the implications of her tragic death at age 48.

Pundits and bloggers have been quick to speculate about Houston’s death, based on her public battles with drug and pill addiction. As anyone who has been pulled over for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol in Los Angeles can tell you, once you’ve developed a “reputation” as an addict – or simply as someone who has trouble controlling behavior – that reputation then colors people’s future judgments of you. Often unfairly.

It’s not that such speculation is necessarily groundless. It’s just… we often rush to conclusions. For instance, consider statements made by CNN anchor Nancy Grace on Monday. Although Grace admitted on air that the cause of pop singer’s death was not yet figured out, she began to speculate wildly, comparing her death to the deaths of Michael Jackson and Anna Nicole Smith. Grace wondered aloud on TV: “I’d like to know who was around her… who, if anyone, gave her drugs following alcohol and drugs. And who let her slip, or pushed her, underneath that water?”

As an LA Times blog article noted, CNN’s other anchors quickly did damage control and tried to reel Grace back from the speculation.

The moral here is: when we allow our speculation to get the best of us, we often overlook crucial information. When you idly chat about what happened to such and such celebrity, the consequences are negligible.

But as any Los Angeles DUI attorney will tell you, when you plan your defense against serious charges (such as charges of violating California Vehicle Code section 23152 (a) or 23152 (b)), your “rush to judgment” can have massively negative consequences.

For instance, you might assume that, since you had not been drinking or driving under the influence of medication, that you will be ultimately exonerated. But that’s not necessarily the case! The “truth” will not necessarily set you free, by itself. You might have blown a “false positive” on a breathalyzer – or the police may have arrested you just on the basis of your erratic driving and failed field sobriety test.

Although you experienced the arrest first hand, you may not be clear about the objective reality of what happened that day (or night). And you certainly likely do not understand the Los Angeles DUI process well enough to rest easy.

It’s okay to be confused. It’s okay to be scared.

But you have a critical next step: find a Los Angeles DUI lawyer who can take a clear headed, calculated look at the circumstances of your stop and arrest and construct a thorough and smart defense for you.

Attorney Michael Kraut of the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers (6255 Sunset Boulevard, Suite 1520, Los Angeles, California 90028) can provide a free consultation. Attorney Kraut is a very experienced Los Angeles DUI criminal defense attorney who spent years working as a prosecutor (racking up a very successful jury trial record) before switching to represent criminal defendants.

February 15, 2012

Pasadena DUI Football News: Stanford Linebacker’s Arrest Throws His NFL Prospects into Doubt

by Michael Kraut

A Pasadena DUI arrest can be a devastating blow not just to your freedom and your pocket book, but also to your potential career advancement.

Witness a sad and frustrating story reported in the Stanford Daily last week: College linebacker Shayne Skov got stopped and arrested Sunday morning for driving under the influence and taken to a San Jose jail.

Skov had been one of Stanford’s top players—an NFL prospect and a “team leader.” He suffered a serious knee injury in a game at the University of Arizona; this blow knocked him out for the season. Insiders believe that, had he been healthy, he would have been one of the top inside linebackers in all the PAC12.

But now what? With his knee hurt and a DUI under his belt, what will become of Skov’s future, both as a player (and potential NFLer) and as a California citizen?

A Los Angeles DUI lawyer often must act not only as legal counsel but also as a “listening machine” to understand what’s really at the root of a defendant’s crisis. A Pasadena DUI arrest, for instance, might have many deep root causes:

• A psychological or even physiological dependence on alcohol or controlled substances;
• A “lapse of reason” provoked by a very emotional event (including happy events);
• A temporary and tragic misjudgment (e.g., thinking you only had two drinks when in fact you had four);
• Deep-seated psychological issues, which can stretch all the way back to childhood;
• Peer pressure;
• And beyond.

To develop the most rigorous possible defense, your Los Angeles DUI attorney will need to examine the facts on the ground, as well as the psychology. Why did you fail the Pasadena DUI breathalyzer test? What symptoms of DUI did you exhibit? Did the police act Constitutionally? Did the police make any errors in terms of stopping you, arresting you, or booking you?

Potential holes in the prosecution’s case might abound. But you need an accurate and experienced Los Angeles DUI defense attorney to exploit those holes. Moreover, you need to act quickly. If you do nothing or move too slowly, the punishments and penalties can mount up, and you may automatically lose your California vehicle license for a long period of time. Evidence that could potentially exonerate you or challenge the prosecution’s case may disappear or be forgotten. The prosecution may use your “lag time” to build a more solid case against you.

Fighting back effectively
A Pasadena DUI criminal defense attorney with the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers (790 East Colorado Boulevard, 9th floor, Pasadena, California 91101 Phone: (626) 345-1899 ) will help you identify “best practices” for your defense situation. In some cases, this might mean fighting all the charges and demanding complete exoneration. In other cases, it might mean trying to settle with prosecutors for a lesser charge. Each case is filled with nuances and potentially tricky elements. So it’s very important to choose the right lawyer for your needs. Attorney Michael Kraut is a Harvard Law School-educated former prosecutor. As such, he understands what your prosecutors are thinking, and he can help you make the right choices to respond to what they are planning.

February 13, 2012

Burbank DUI Insanity—Like Father, Like Son

by Michael Kraut

It’s a theme this blog often covers: Someone gets stopped on suspicion of driving under the influence in Burbank (or elsewhere)… and that’s when the REAL trouble starts.

In other words, the suspect does something stupid after the police have already stopped him or her, and the net result is a hugely more problematic situation.

As an experienced Los Angeles DUI attorney will tell you, your Burbank DUI penalties can escalate wildly if you commit crimes after the fact, such as hitting a police officer, spitting a breathalyzer test back at the police officer, resisting arrest, committing a hit and run, etc.

A crazy case out of Central Pennsylvania illustrates how badly things can go wrong after the fact. Twenty-four year old David Peterson, Jr., was arrested after police found him passed out in his vehicle. The young man had a BAC of over twice the legal limit (the Burbank DUI legal limit, as defined by CVC Section 23152(b) is 0.08% BAC). No doubt scared and intimidated, Mr. Peterson called his father, 44 year old David Peterson, Sr., who promptly hopped in his vehicle and drove to the station to pick him up.

Surprise—the elder Mr. Peterson also had alcohol on his breath. After admitting to police that he had driven to the station, Mr. Peterson submitted to a breathalyzer test and was found to have a blood alcohol concentration of 1.5 times the state’s legal limit. So guess what? He, too, got arrested for DUI.

On some level, this father-son DUI arrest sounds amusing: We leave it to the reader to speculate on the potential Freudian issues at play. On another level, it speaks to the point we were talking about earlier about how Burbank DUI suspects often engage in, shall we say, less-than-strategic behavior after the police arrive.

The younger Mr. Peterson faces a preliminary hearing on February 15, while his father faces a hearing on February 22.

Here are some good rules of thumb to help you stay out of trouble AFTER you’ve been tagged for a Burbank DUI:

1. Speak with a Los Angeles DUI lawyer as quickly as possible.

A good attorney can help you collect and synthesize evidence and statements, challenge police reports and tests, and generally give you a strategic path to avoid things like significant jail time, massive fees and court costs, California drivers’ license-related punishments, etc.

2. Remember that the past is past.

Although you may regret consuming alcohol, narcotics, or medications and then getting behind the wheel, you can’t undo the past. If you get stuck ruminating over what went wrong, you won’t learn the appropriate lessons from what happened. Accept that what happened, happened. And move on by making smarter choices going forward.

3. Learn from what went wrong.

Even if the police wrongfully arrested you or messed up their investigative work or breathalyzer testing, you likely made some mistakes that put you in a position to become a criminal defendant. Spend some time thinking about and writing about what went wrong, and what you can do next time to circumvent that kind of problem.

For help with your defense needs, connect with an experienced Burbank DUI criminal defense attorney at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers (2600 West Olive Avenue, 5th Floor, Burbank, California 91505 Phone: (818) 563-9810). Michael Kraut is an experienced former prosecutor (Harvard Law School educated) who has won the respect of peers and delivered results time and again at jury trials.

February 8, 2012

Are All Pasadena DUI Defendants Treated Equal? Story Out of Denver Suggests…Maybe Not

by Michael Kraut

The law is the law. Driving under the influence in Pasadena (or elsewhere in the Southland) can be punished pursuant to California Vehicle Codes 23152(a) or 23152(b)…or, if you caused injury to someone, by the harsher CVC Codes 22153(a) and 22153(b).

No one wants to have to find a Los Angeles DUI lawyer to fight these charges and deal with the hassles of punishments like license suspension, mandatory alcohol school, mandatory interlock ignition device installation, fines, court costs, jail time, insurance hikes, destruction of personal reputation, etc.

But at the very least, if we’ve been accused of a DUI in Pasadena, we can take heart that the law will treat us just like it would treat any other citizen. After all, this is America.

Or is it?

Steven Colbert style humor aside, a news story out of Denver, Colorado has some observers scratching their heads: are some Pasadena defendants, in fact, more privileged than others?

The Scoop Out of Denver
In late January, Denver police nearly arrested Republican representative Laura Bradford for DUI. Nearly, but didn’t. Bradford was driving erratically, after she attended a “lobbyist happy hour” function. It’s unclear whether or not she was actually above the legal limit for DUI in Pasadena (or Colorado or wherever) of 0.08% BAC. But critics have accused the lawmaker of “invoking legislative immunity” to get out of her DUI charge.

A spokesperson for the Denver Police Department, Matt Murray, issued an apology for harassing Bradford. Curiously, Bradford reportedly told the sergeant who pulled her over that she had a firearm at her car. In Colorado, if you drive DUI with a firearm, you can be tagged with a significant misdemeanor.

Meanwhile, the political implications of this “DUI that wasn’t” could really stir the pot of Colorado’s politics.

Currently, Colorado’s house is almost totally divided between Republicans and Democrats: 33 to 32. Bradford now may face an ethics investigation. She’s apparently furious at the “lack of support” she’s received from Republican colleagues. She’s even hinted that she might switch parties. If she went from Republican to Independent, Colorado politics would be momentarily thrown into turmoil, since the House would have to elect a new speaker. If she flipped to the Democratic side, the Democrats would control the ball game.

Not every Pasadena DUI case is as dramatic and fraught with political implications, obviously.

That said, you want to connect to a Los Angeles DUI attorney who has the capacities, resources and experience to help you, if your case does become complicated or convoluted. So even if your situation seems simple now – perhaps you just got pulled over at a checkpoint and tagged for driving under the influence in Pasadena with a BAC of 0.10% or something (no injuries or vehicle damage, etc) – the seeming simplicity of your case may be misleading. When your Los Angeles DUI lawyer delves into your case, who knows what he or she might find? You need to be prepared to face anything the prosecutors will throw at you.

To that end, consider connecting today with Pasadena DUI criminal defense attorney Michael Kraut of Pasadena’s Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers (790 East Colorado Boulevard, 9th floor, Pasadena, California 91101 Phone: (626) 345-1899). For nearly a decade and a half, Mr. Kraut served as a city prosecutor (going after people for crimes like DUI) before switching over to become a criminal defendant. Connect with this well-established, highly reputable, Harvard Law School educated attorney today to solve your Pasadena DUI defense issues.

February 6, 2012

Los Angeles Dodger Dodges Los Angeles DUI Charge

by Michael Kraut

Last November 14th, LA Dodgers first baseman James Loney was busted and charged with driving under the influence in Los Angeles, after he crashed his Maserati into two other cars on the freeway.

The 27-year old apparently spat a breathalyzer mouthpiece at one of the police officers and demonstrated symptoms that any Los Angeles DUI lawyer would tell you could get you in serious trouble with the law. Per TMZ.com: “Loney’s behavior was incredibly bizarre…[he] exhibited eyelid tremors and his shirt was soiled and moist from perspiration, from his armpits down to his waistline.”

From the headlines, the case sounded cut and dry. But lo and behold, twists and turns have happened, as they often do, as any established Los Angeles DUI attorney will tell you.

The toxicology reports on Loney came back NEGATIVE. That means the prosecutors do not have evidence to pursue his case. The LA City’s Attorney’s Office has dropped the matter.

No drugs and no alcohol. Interesting.

Loney’s arrest obviously captured the city’s imagination. He plays for Dodgers. Also, it’s not every day that you see a Maserati spinning wildly out of control and crashing into vehicles on the freeway. Incidentally, Loney just inked a deal with the Dodgers for $6.4 million. Next year, he will be eligible to be a free agent.

But not every LA DUI arrest is as flashy. If you or someone you love was involved in a more pedestrian (meaning: “less dramatic” not “I was walking”) experience of Los Angeles DUI, you might wonder how this story could be relevant to your defense.

After all:

A) You’re not a first baseman for the Dodgers.

B) You do not (presumably) own a Maserati.

C) You know better than to spit a breathalyzer mouthpiece at a police officer (presumably).

Fair enough. Also, you have no way of telling, from the news reports alone, what actions Loney’s Los Angeles DUI attorney did (or did not) take to help him. Obviously, the negative toxicology reports certainly didn’t hurt his chances of getting exonerated.
But you should never count on good luck to get you out of a tight spot!

Instead, even if you’ve been accused of committing a relatively minor offense, like a misdemeanor Los Angeles DUI, in which no one was hurt and no damage was done, you can make a significant progress towards a better outcome simply by choosing your Los Angeles DUI criminal defense attorney carefully.

Michael Kraut of the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers (6255 Sunset Boulevard, Suite 1520, Los Angeles, California 90028) is a highly reputable former city prosecutor (14-plus years as a Senior Deputy District Attorney). He boasts a Harvard Law School education, wide respect from peers (and opponents) in the court system, and an excellent record – nearly immaculate, in fact – at jury trials.

February 1, 2012

Challenging the Burbank DUI Prevention Paradigm – Part #2: A Vision for the Future

by Michael Kraut

In a post earlier this week, we talked about how Burbank DUI prevention theory is stuck.

Law enforcement agents, politicians, and even defense attorneys and defendants in LA all often assume that they understand why DUIs occur and what needs to be done to prevent them. For instance, if you were recently stopped for Burbank DUI, your first thought might have been to blame yourself:

• Why did you “act out” and refuse to accept the ride from your designated driver?
• Why did you decide to get behind the wheel after consuming a prescription medication?
• Alternatively, perhaps you are ruminating over how “unfair” the stop was. You believe, for instance, that the Burbank DUI stop was Unconstitutional, or that the breathalyzer test was administrated poorly, or that the police made an error.

Odds are, however, that you have not stopped to contextualize your Burbank DUI stop outside of your own actions and the actions of police. It’s hard to have a 30,000 foot view when contemplating jail time.

Problem is, decoupling your experience from larger trends can be dangerous! (Ask any Burbank DUI lawyer.)

For instance, it’s well documented that Burbank DUIs occur disproportionately on holidays like New Year’s Eve, Super Bowl Sunday, etc. Clearly, events outside of an individual’s control cause or at least heighten the possibility that you will get stopped for driving under the influence in Burbank. Sure, your own misjudgments and the police’s actions might have been important as well. But a national holiday may have played a key, particularly decisive, role in your situation.

The point here is that we can probably make substantial progress in managing and even preventing many Burbank DUIs, if we consider different strategies and tactics to address the root problems. Sure, let’s definitely continue to focus on how to modify driver behavior and educate law enforcement agents about best practices.

But let’s ALSO consider how the engineering of Burbank’s freeways and surface streets might play a role in dangerous driving. And let’s ALSO consider how seemingly tangential, indirectly related factors might play a role in either incentivizing or disincentivizing DUI behavior.

For instance, perhaps drivers who drive on dirty freeways or who drive under stress are more likely to commit a DUI. A Burbank DUI attorny can only infer so much about causality from correlation. But we can at least look at different associations among seemingly unrelated factors.

The amount of trash you have in your car, for instance, hypothetically could be correlated with your likelihood to drive DUI. If so, it may turn out that doing something as simple as keeping your car clean reduces your likelihood of getting arrested for Burbank DUI.

The point is to illustrate that good solutions to your problems might be out there… and they might be unexpected. The way to find these solutions might be to conduct experiments, ideally in conjunction with law enforcement, to try to “out-think” ourselves and our own destructive instincts and impulses.

On a less theoretical note, if you or someone you love needs help with a Burbank DUI defense, connect immediately with the team at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers (2600 West Olive Avenue, 5th Floor, Burbank, California 91505 Phone: (818) 563-9810). Attorney Michael Kraut is a pre-eminent Burbank DUI criminal defense attorney. He was a successful prosecutor for over 14 years.

As a Burbank DUI lawyer, he remains a “go to” expert on Burbank DUI for media like the Los Angeles Times, KTLA, Fox News, The New York Times, etc. Attorney Kraut can give you a free consultation to help you figure out your strategy.

January 22, 2012

Was Your Pasadena DUI Arrest a Miracle in Disguise?

by Michael Kraut

You (or perhaps a close friend or a family member) recently got charged with driving under the influence in Pasadena. Perhaps the arrest was a standard misdemeanor, in which case you will likely be hit with charges per California Vehicle Code Section 23152 (a) or 23152 (b). Or maybe you slightly injured someone or caused property damage, in which case you may face more advanced charges per CVC 23153 (a) or 23153 (b). In any case, you are in hot water and desperate straits, even if you have a great Los Angeles DUI attorney.

How could things be worse?

That’s not just a rhetorical question. It’s an important question to ask. Indeed, if you’re alive to read these words, things could, indeed, have been worse! As Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, once observed, it’s important to pay attention to the “dog that didn’t bark.”

In other words, things have gone wrong. You have gotten into trouble. You have been arrested for Pasadena DUI, for instance. You may need a Los Angeles DUI lawyer. But it’s supremely useful to look at the counterfactuals – all the things that could have gone wrong, but didn’t.

Example of Pasadena DUI counterfactual: Seattle woman survives crazy DUI journey (17 miles of wrong-way driving at a 100 miles per hour!)

According to an Associated Press report, a 60-year-old female was stopped on Interstate 5 in Washington after driving 17 miles north in the southbound lanes. Officers said that her speed ranged from 38 miles per hour to 100 miles per hour, and she managed to evade multiple spike strips.

Amazingly, “while several drivers reported near-misses, there were no collisions and no injuries.”

Pamela Drawsby was eventually stopped when officers closed the freeway ahead of her, and troopers found her to be a “calm” woman who “had no idea where she was.” Her blood alcohol tests showed that she was above the 0.08% limit for Seattle DUI (as well as Pasadena DUI). Their early intuition was that the woman had been on some prescription medications in conjunction with the alcohol. In any event, the situation was miraculous. A local truck driver, Rick Ingraham, discussed his close encounter with the wrong way sedan on King TV “[I didn’t even realize the sedan] was on my side of the road until it almost hit me…I almost had a heart attack.”

The story is certainly terrifying, especially when you contemplate all the near misses. But it illustrates a profound fact about Pasadena DUI stops and even accidents: No matter what trouble you are in now or how bad the stop or accident was, odds are that the situation could have been worse, as your Los Angeles DUI lawyer will tell you.

Of course, if you are facing remorse, fear over your possible sentence, uncertainty, and other negative emotions right now, knowing that “it could have been worse” may not make you feel much better. A Los Angeles DUI attorney here at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers (790 East Colorado Boulevard, 9th floor, Pasadena, California 91101 Phone: (626) 345-1899 ) in Pasadena is here to help you. Attorney Michael Kraut is a widely respected, Harvard Law School-educated Pasadena DUI criminal defense attorney who will use his skills as a former prosecutor to help you navigate your best path forward.