DUI Consequences

October 9, 2013

Uncommon Facts about Los Angeles DUI

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 4, 2013

Did You Really Say/Do That? (Your Pasadena DUI Symptoms)

by Michael Kraut

The night that you were arrested for DUI in Pasadena is a night that you would love to forget.

Unfortunately, the police officers who booked you likely kept a detailed, objective log of what happened – including what you said and did before, during, and after the arrest.

The so-called symptoms of DUI are in some sense universal. When a person consumes too much alcohol, he or she can develop “tell tale signs” of being under the influence, such as:

• Bloodshot eyes;
• Inhibited motor skills;
• Slow response to stimuli;
• Slower pupil reaction time (as measured by something called the horizontal gaze nystagmus test);
• Odor of alcohol on your person;
• Falling, stumbling and general clumsiness;
• Tendency to react emotionally and inappropriately to questions or circumstances.

Of course, there are more objective ways you can measure Pasadena DUI, such as a breathalyzer or blood test. But when you really examine this list of particulars, you might notice something peculiar: Barring the BAC numbers, any other “symptom” can be caused by numerous other things.

For instance, you can get bloodshot eyes if you hang upside down on a bar in gymnastics practice, spend too much time in a smoky room, get sick, get fatigued, or have an allergic reaction to food, medication, or pet dander. In other words, in and of itself, the Pasadena DUI “symptom” of bloodshot eyes doesn’t tell you that much.

You can go down the list!

There are many reasons why people stumble and fumble and get clumsy. Consuming alcohol can obviously cause this problem, but so can fatigue, a medical problem, muscular dysfunction, a seizure, etc. Maybe you’re just not very coordinated – even while sober!

This doesn’t mean that what you said or did following an arrest can all be “explained away” through exotic explanations. But it does mean that the court will want to see the totality of the evidence against you.

You can even exude the odor of alcohol, if you’ve been drinking mouthwash or cough syrup or working at a chemistry lab.

So what can you do now?

Your Pasadena DUI charge weighs heavily. You want to resolve the situation efficiently and legally, so you can get back to your “regularly scheduled” life. Connect with a Pasadena DUI criminal defense attorney with the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers to plan your strategy. Mr. Kraut is an ex-prosecutor (educated at Harvard Law School) who retains fantastic relationships with police officers and judges and other officials in the Southern California law community.

September 25, 2013

Beverly Hills DUI Sports News Update – Todd Helton of the Colorado Rockies Pleads Guilty to DUI charges

by Michael Kraut

Time for your Beverly Hills DUI celebrity arrest fix…

Back in February, Rockies star Todd Helton whacked into a curve with his black Ford F-150 truck. Witnesses called police to report the likely-DUI driver.

In early May, Helton wound up in court and pled guilty to DUI charges stemming from that night. He told the judge: “I am very regretful to be here… I’ve taken many steps to prevent this from happening again.” The judge gave the major leaguer a minor league sentence: 24 hours of community service, a year probation, $1224 in fees, and a fine of $400.

Here’s how the events of Helton’s arrest unfolded, according to reports.

A witness saw Helton’s Ford weaving all over the road and called police at around 2 a.m. While officers were on their way, Helton hit a median and stopped at a Conoco Gas Station on the corner of Colorado Boulevard and 128th avenue. When police arrived to a strange sight: the truck was idling, empty, with the driver’s door open.

The baseball great soon emerged from the gas station with chewing tobacco and Lotto tickets… and dressed in camouflage. Officer Ty Deichert described the scene: “I could immediately smell a strong odor of an unknown alcoholic beverage coming from this person, and he was unsteady on his feet. The male’s eyes were also bloodshot and watery…I asked the male where he was coming from, and he stated something about getting his truck washed.”

Helton later tested to have a BAC of 0.12% – that’s 1.5 times the Beverly Hills DUI limit of 0.08%, per California vehicle Code Section 23152.

Was Your Beverly Hills DUI Arrest One of the Most Embarrassing Moments of Your Life?

That Helton was dressed in camouflage seems absurd. The detail humanizes him, but it was probably a hugely embarrassing moment. When you’re a celebrity, you need to protect your brand. That logic applies to all of us, in a sense. You want to be seen in a certain light by your colleagues, by your family, by your friends, by society. When you got arrested for Beverly Hills DUI, odds are that you were “at your worst” — or at least close to that.

To deal with this complex issue strategically, get in touch with a Beverly Hills DUI attorney at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers. Attorney Kraut is an ex-prosecutor, who spent over 14 years at the service of the city, putting criminal defendants behind bars. He’s also roundly liked and respected in the local legal community.

September 20, 2013

Drug DUI in Los Angeles: Does New Colorado Law Portend Our Future?

by Michael Kraut

Drug DUIs in Los Angeles are filed according to California Vehicle Code Section 23152(a), which makes it a crime if you operate a motor vehicle while under the influence of marijuana, alcohol, or any other type of drug, both illegal and prescription.

Marijuana law is changing at a rapid place, here in California and in other states. As you may be aware, Colorado recently became the first state in the nation to legalize marijuana, and the CO state legislature just passed two historic marijuana bills to regulate and tax the substance.

The Colorado Senate approved House Bill 13-1325 by a margin of 24 to 11 and sent the law to Governor John Hickenlooper, a Democrat who supports the initiative. HB 13-1325 creates a testable, objective legal limit for DUI for marijuana of 5 nanograms (or more) of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol per liter of blood. That substance is marijuana’s major psychoactive ingredient.

For years, Colorado lawmakers debated this bill fiercely. Advocates say that police officers need to measure marijuana DUI impairment objectively, to keep the state’s road safer. Opponents respond that the 5 nanogram standard is inappropriate because different people process marijuana differently. Someone who is effectively totally sober may still have a positive or near positive reading on this type of blood test, for instance, because of their biochemistry; whereas another person who’s actually legitimately under the influence might not even test positive.

In any event, the bill will almost certainly have reverberations throughout the nation, as more and more states push forward with efforts to legalize the drug. And the Golden State is almost certainly likely to proceed with legalization before, say, Georgia or Louisiana.

Los Angeles DUI drug testing
There are no breathalyzer tests for marijuana in Los Angeles. Instead, police officers can have you do a urine or blood test. Drug DUI cases are more difficult for prosecutors to win because many police lack the training to look for and catalog the objective signs of drug DUI. This lack of rigor gives an opportunity for an experienced Los Angeles DUI drug defense attorney to rip into the so-called science that prosecutors want to try to use against you.

Of course, if you fail in your efforts, the consequences can be pretty severe.

Not only can you earn jail time, fines, fees, and license suspension, but you also might be required to register as a narcotics offender with local police. You can lose your job or special security clearance, if you work in a classified job. And you can suffer tremendously due to the “downstream” effects of the conviction. For instance, if you lose your license and your job, you might not have money to support your family, which can add stress to your relationships and health.

Get in touch with Southern California drug DUI defense attorney Michael Kraut today for assistance with your case. Mr. Kraut has cultivated great relationships with law officials throughout the Southland, and he can provide a free and confidential consultation.

September 18, 2013

Los Angeles DUI Crackdown Nets Over 1,500 Arrests in Two-Week Period

by Michael Kraut

Over 100 anti-Los Angeles DUI operations throughout the county led to over 1,500 arrests in a 13 day span stretching from August 16th through Labor Day weekend.

The Sheriff’s Department said that the total number of arrestees – 1,546 – was up over last year’s numbers (1418). Police coordinated 100 different agencies throughout the Southland to deal with the problem of late summer DUI driving.

Per the Sheriff’s Department: “this Labor Day holiday weekend, extra DUI saturation patrols and DUI checkpoints were deployed in multiple cities in Los Angeles County.” Some of the cities where these DUI checkpoints took place include: Inglewood, Pasadena, Redondo Beach, Vernon, East Los Angeles, Santa Fe Springs, West Valley Area, 77 Street Area, Malibu, Norwalk, Pomona, St. Gabriel, Whittier, El Monte, Long Beach, Torrance, Antelope Valley, West Los Angeles, Rampart Area, Northeast Area, Devonshire.

September 11, 2013

Man Loses Control of Bowels After DUI Arrest: Los Angeles Blogosphere Weighs In

by Michael Kraut

What’s a Burbank DUI worst-case scenario?

Your Burbank DUI arrest was probably pretty rough. In fact, it’s hard to imagine how it could have gone any worse. Whether police pulled you over on Olive, after you attended a cast party of a WB show; or you crashed into a cop car on the 101, your situation was pretty embarrassing and possibly painful and scary.

But could it have been worse?

Consider your Burbank DUI arrest in light of what happened to a 21-year-old man from Boulder, who was recently arrested on 11th Street near an area called University Hill. Police found the man vomiting all over himself at around 2 in the morning. But that’s not all. Apparently, he also defecated on himself. The officers’ report said: “he told [the officers] it was because he was scared.” The 21-year-old faces a variety of unpleasant charges, including obstructing a police officer, violating a protection order, DUI, and DUI per se.

Hopefully, that puts your Burbank DUI charge in context.

For more context, let’s look to the town of York, Pennsylvania, where a woman from Newberry Township just got arrested for DUI – her second of the week and third DUI since July 5th!

24 year-old Anna Elizabeth Spittler hit a car on Interstate 83 and left the scene. According to reports, two people suffered injuries in the crash. Ms. Spittler faces a variety of citations and charges, including violating the controlled substances law, hit and run and DUI. According to one of the victims, Spittler’s car approached rapidly from behind. It swerved at the last second and smashed into the rear of his driver side, forcing his vehicle into a spin that sent it down an embankment.

A local newspaper report details the rest of the story “the [Pennsylvania] trooper found a Volvo parked in the right shoulder of I-83 about a mile away … police found a card with Spittler’s name on it, an unmarked pill bottle and open bottle of Smirnoff in the car.”

Spittler later confessed to driving under the influence and hitting the vehicle and leaving. She said that she thought she hit a guardrail.

It sounds like a very unfortunate situation, although Spittler was very lucky that no one got seriously hurt or killed in the crash (or in her previous two DUI incidences).

What You Can Learn from These Stories about Your Burbank DUI Defense
No driver is perfect. For every crazy/sad/unbelievable DUI story out there, there’s always one that’s crazier/sadder/weirder.

The key is not to dwell on the past but rather to acknowledge the present and look forward to the future. An experienced Burbank DUI defense attorney, like Michael Kraut of the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers, can help you make an effective plan of action. Mr. Kraut is an ex-prosecutor who amassed a 99-plus percent success rate at jury trials as a prosecutor. He has the connections and wherewithal to create excellent defenses.

September 6, 2013

Long Beach DUI Sports News: Terrence Mitchell and Geno Smith, 2 Promising College Football Players, Busted in Separate DUI Incidents.

by Michael Kraut

As someone who was recently stopped and arrested for DUI in Long Beach, you’re probably more sympathetic than most people when you read about sports figures and celebrities busted for DUI and driving without a license. These tabloid-like stories can teach good lessons, if you take the time to understand what happened and why.

Consider two recent DUI arrests that have shaken up the college football world.

The first involves Geno Smith, a cornerback for Alabama, who was arrested on August 18 for DUI and later released on $1,000 bond. Smith’s coach, Nick Saban, put out a statement the next day: “this is obviously not the kind of behavior we expect from our players… I don’t have all of the details at this point and will handle it appropriately once I’ve had a chance to review the information.”

Smith was a four star recruit for Alabama.

Meanwhile, more serious news out of University of South Florida, where 23-year-old Terrence Mitchell was busted by Tampa police for DUI at North 30th Street and Bougainvillea Avenue. News sources report that he blew a 0.165% and 0.171% on two breathalyzer tests – more than twice the legal limit for Long Beach DUI or DUI in Florida. On top of that, he was driving with a bad license, and he faces charges that he assaulted a firefighter (bit the man! – more on that in our next post!).

This has been difficult year, legally speaking, for the 23-year-old, who was arrested for possession of marijuana (a misdemeanor) back in March. Mitchell once had a promising career. In 2010, The Tampa Tribune named him “male athlete of the year.” As a freshman, he was an All-American.

Mitchell had been in a six-month intervention program, after his misdemeanor offense.

Lessons for Your Long Beach DUI Arrests

Fortunately for both of these young men, their DUIs did not involve serious injuries to themselves or other people – or serious property damage. Unfortunately, early DUIs can be signs of future problems.

Even if you construct an effective defense to DUI in Long Beach charges – and avoid serious jail time, intense probation, an interlocking ignition device (IID) in your vehicle, and so forth – you still face longer term issues. Recidivist offenders (repeat offenders) can be charged quite harshly, per Long Beach DUI law. For instance, if you’re convicted three times within 10 years – and your third offense would normally just be a misdemeanor – prosecutors can automatically elevate your charge to a felony. That could mean a jail sentence of over a year.

For help planning what to do next, get in touch with the team at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers. Mr. Kraut racked up a 99%+ record at jury trials as a prosecutor, and he maintains excellent relationships with judges, prosecutors and police officers in the Los Angeles court system.

August 30, 2013

Los Angeles DUI for Lamar Odom: Career Ender for Former Lakers and Clippers Star?

by Michael Kraut

At 3:56am this morning, Lamar Odom was stopped and arrested in the Valley for driving under the influence in Los Angeles. Odom spent over 31 hours in jail before he was released on a $14,000 bond. His court date has been set for September 27.

Police stopped the 6’10” forward — who played pro ball for 14 years for the L.A. Lakers and the Clippers — after officers saw his white Mercedes weaving all over the 101. Cops tried to pull him over, but he kept driving past Van Nuys and Woodman Ave. He finally stopped at Coldwater Canyon and submitted to field sobriety tests. (The “FSTs” can include balancing tests, like the stand on one leg test, as well as tests of mental acuity, like the count backwards from 100 by 3s test).

Per a CHP report, Odom didn’t exactly pass his exams with flying colors:

“[Odom showed] objective signs of intoxication and was unable to perform field sobriety tests as explained and demonstrated.”

Sometimes factors such as fatigue, nervousness and general lack of coordination can explain why people fail FSTs. As a pro athlete, Odom would have a hard case to make that “general lack of coordination” screwed him up on the FSTs. Of course, he HAS been struggling on the court recently. One anonymous NBA executive told the Los Angeles Times “Lamar can’t play anymore.” The once highly celebrated forward put up lousy numbers (for him) last year with the Clippers, “averag[ing] career lows in points (4.0), assists (1.7) and minutes (19.7).”

Since Odom refused to take a DUI breath test or DUI blood test, his CA driver’s license was automatically stripped from him for a full year. If he’s convicted of Los Angeles DUI, he’ll face more than just the “standard” punishments for misdemeanor DUI, which can include jail time, fees and fines, mandatory DUI alcohol classes, probation, and license suspension. He’ll also face possible disciplinary action from the NBA… assuming he’ll be signed as a free agent, which is not guaranteed.

Days before his Los Angeles DUI stop, Odom got into a fender bender on the 101 with Adolfo Flores, a sports reporter for the L.A. Times, in the car with him.

Several months ago, he got into a major fight with a paparazzo, who had been pestering Odom about rumors that the b-ball star had been cheating on his celebrity wife, Khloe Kardashian Odom. Enraged, Odom allegedly threw a bag of the photographer’s stuff onto Hollywood Blvd. (The D.A. didn’t have enough evidence to file charges in this case.)

In the wake of the arrest and other off-the-field shenanigans, Odom’s high profile pals from the basketball world weighed in with words (and tweets) of concerned support.

Magic Johnson, the most famous Laker of all time, tweeted: “I hope my man and former Laker, Lamar Odom is doing okay,” to which Phil Jackson tweeted” “Double ditto, LO.”

If you’ve recently been arrested for driving under the influence in Los Angeles, you probably need smart, effective legal representation to protect you against dire legal consequences (only some of which are described above.) Trust Harvard Law School educated attorney, Michael Kraut, to construct a powerful and savvy defense for you. Mr. Kraut is a former Deputy District attorney for Los Angeles (14+ years as a prosecutor) who has racked up a stellar record as a Los Angeles DUI defense lawyer. He’s also a regular DUI commentator on national news programs, such as Good Morning America.

August 26, 2013

Could You Get Arrested for DUI in Burbank with a 0.00% BAC, Like This Guy Did?

by Michael Kraut

Every effective Burbank DUI defense lawyer worth his or her salt knows the standard legal limit for BAC (blood alcohol concentration) is 0.08%. In other words, if you have this amount of alcohol or more in your system, you’re automatically DUI, per California Vehicle Code Section 23152. Of course, you can also be charged with DUI if you have less alcohol in your system (e.g. if you’re a minor and never should have been drinking in the first place). But the point is: everyone knows the 0.08% number. 0.00%20BAC.jpg

Consider that, as we discuss the sad story of a 61-year-old man in Arizona, who just got arrested for having a blood alcohol level of…0.00%.

That might look like a typo. But it’s not. The number once again: 0.00%.

The arrest of Jessie Thornton, a retiree living in the appropriately named community of “Surprise” Arizona, sparked a vitriolic conversation in the blogosphere about racial profiling. According to reports, the retired firefighter was on his way home at around 11 pm, when a police officer saw him cross a white line.

The officer allegedly told Thornton: “I can tell you’re driving DUI by looking in your eyes.”

Thornton had just been swimming in an L.A. Fitness gym nearby, and his eyes were bloodshot from the chlorine. But the officer thought that the bloodshot eyes indicated potential DUI (in his defense, bloodshot eyes are a classic symptom of Burbank DUI). So he had Thornton do a sobriety test. Thornton warned the officer that he had bad knees and a bad hip, and that he was about to go in for surgery. Understandably, he didn’t perform perfectly on the balance tests. Afterwards, officers placed him in handcuffs and asked him to sit down on the side of the road.

Thornton told a local ABC News affiliate “I couldn’t even sit on the ground like that, and they knew it and I was laying on the ground. Then they put me in the back of an SUV, and when I asked the officer to move her seat up because my hip hurt, she told me to stop whining.”

The police took the man to local station and gave him a breath test. He blew a 0.00% — not even a trace of alcohol in the system. But it didn’t stop officers from impounding Thornton’s car, suspending his license, and ordering him to take an alcohol education class. Thornton later managed to get the DUI charge dropped, unsurprisingly — a local drug and alcohol recognition expert told him “I would never have arrested you” — but he’s obviously outraged by the situation, and he’s since launched a claim against the City of Surprise for $500,000.

His attorney put it bluntly: “this is a case of D-W-B – driving while black.” Thornton told local reporters about his reasons for the suit: “it’s not totally about the money, although I already have [paid] more than $5,000 and that’s $5,000 that I don’t have.”

Your Burbank DUI charges may be less clear-cut. You may have actually been under the influence of alcohol – maybe significantly above the legal limit. But the case indicates an important point, which many prospective Burbank DUI defendants fail to realize. And that’s this: despite their best intentions, officers can and do make serious mistakes with respect to procedure and reporting and testing.

The good news is that attorney Michael Kraut of Burbank’s Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers and his support team are just a phone call or a click away. Connect with a Harvard Law School educated lawyer at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers to construct your defense.

August 21, 2013

Your Los Angeles DUI Versus the First Ever DUI in Human History

by Michael Kraut

As someone who just got pulled over for DUI in Los Angeles, you’re intensely aware of the serious trouble that faces you. Whether you got “just” a misdemeanor DUI by violating California Vehicle Code Section 23152(a) or 23152(b) – or you caused injury and face a felony per California Vehicle Code Section 23153(a) or 23153(b) – you face a litany of a scary penalties, such as:

• Mandatory alcohol school;
• Big fines and fees;
• Jail time;
• The court can force you to install an ignition interlock device in your car, which means that you cannot drive your car unless you “blow a sober breath” into a machine that you pay to install and maintain;
• High insurance rates (almost inevitable after you get a Los Angeles DUI conviction);
• Driver’s license suspension;
• Massive additional penalties, if you ever get convicted again for a DUI or anything else – the court does not take recidivism lightly;
• Indirect problems regarding your social life, your relationships, your job, your self-esteem, and your long-term future.

That’s all for a first time DUI, mind you.

So how does your situation stack up against the first ever DUI driver’s? That honor belongs to George Smith, a taxi driver from London, who was busted at the age of 25, after he crashed his cab into a building on September 10, 1897. His penalty? A fine of just 25 shillings.

The first DUI laws here in the United States didn’t go into effect until 13 years later, in 1910. The earliest prototype of the modern breathalyzer — called the Drunkometer (which is kind of a cool name) — was patented in 1936 by Dr. Rolla Harger, a toxicologist and biochemist. The Drunkometer wasn’t a particularly useful piece of equipment, and it took nearly 20 years – until 1953 – for a professor and police captain from Indiana, Robert Borkenstein, to modify the Drunkometer into the breathalyzer.

Borkenstein’s device was capable of being used in the field to (somewhat) gauge whether or not a driver was under the influence and to quantify that DUI on an objective scale.

Over the next six decades, the breathalyzer evolved, and other types of tests, including the DUI blood test, came into vogue. On our Los Angeles DUI blog, we’ve discussed many times how and why even the most sophisticated DUI tests can fail. These reasons range from officer errors to machine/calibration errors to data analysis flubs to peculiar, idiosyncratic “stuff” — such as the fact that diabetics can exhale compounds that fool breathalyzers into thinking that they are under the influence of alcohol.

The point is that DUI law in Los Angeles and beyond has gotten more sophisticated since 1897. But DUI science is still a very imperfect science.
Connect with the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers today for assistance with your DUI case. Attorney Kraut is a very experienced and highly regarded Los Angeles DUI defense attorney. He also served as a prosecutor for many years, and his prosecutorial knowledge and connections can help inform your defense.