DUI Consequences

April 4, 2012

Busted for DUI in UCLA or USC? The Consequences May Not Be Pretty…

Getting arrested for DUI in UCLA or USC – or any other local Log Angeles school – can be an exquisitely unpleasant experience, whether you are a student or not. As any Los Angeles DUI attorney will tell you, if you’re convicted for a standard misdemeanor DUI — a violation of California Vehicle Code Section 23152(a), for instance — your possible penalties could pack a wallop: mandatory jail time, mandatory alcohol school, mandatory installation of an IID device in your car, strict probation, one year driver’s license suspension, heaping fees and court costs, long-term spikes on your insurance rates, and a big fat logistical headache. And that’s if you are an adult who didn’t hurt anyone while driving DUI and you had no prior criminal record!

If you’re underage and you get convicted for DUI near UCLA as well as possession of a fraudulent ID, your legal crisis can be escalated. And if you caused property damage or injuries (even minor ones) to other drivers, passengers, or pedestrians… let’s just say the punishments could be life-changing. An injury DUI in Los Angeles, for instance, might be charged per California Vehicle Code Section 23153 instead of CVC 23152. That may not be seen like a big switch. But the change empowers prosecutors to charge what would normally be a misdemeanor DUI as a felony. This means that, if you are convicted, you could face more than a year behind bars – and that’s for starters.

A UCLA DUI can also, unsurprisingly, cause you horrific academic fallout. If you’re on an athletic team, you could be kicked off the squad. You could also get into serious trouble with the school itself, depending on the nature of your crime. And even if you manage to sort everything out correctly, it wasn’t like you had “nothing to do” before the DUI. You could face time and money consuming headaches for weeks or months or even years to come. For instance, UCLA is pretty “get aroundable” for pedestrians. But what if you have a job or internship off campus? You used to drive to the job, but now what will you do? Will you take the bus? What if the bus doesn’t go to where you want to go? These questions and hundreds more like them can plague you and cause you uncertainty, stress, and anxiety.

Fortunately, the team here at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers (6255 Sunset Boulevard, Suite 1520, Los Angeles, California 90028) can help you understand what you are up against and deal resourcefully and strategically with the charges. Attorney Michael Kraut is a Harvard Law School educated former prosecutor (he spent 14 plus years as one of the city’s top district attorneys). He has been a featured Los Angeles DUI expert for KTLA News, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times.

March 26, 2012

Glendale DUI Lessons: Recognizing Your Patterns

by Michael Kraut

Getting stopped, arrested and prosecuted for driving under the influence in Glendale is no picnic. Even if you emerge successfully from the experience – you manage to get the charges dropped or manage to get a favorable plea bargain – you likely you will have to spend significant time, money, effort and worry to right your ship. It’s easy to think of the experience as an ordeal – as a horrible thing you have to go through. And it may be. But you could also look at the challenges before you in a different light – think of them as opportunities to learn more about yourself, to grow, and to surface and eliminate negative beliefs and bad habits that have been holding you back from living a satisfying, fulfilling, productive life.

As any Los Angeles DUI attorney will tell you, the consequences of failing to surface and rectify these fundamental bad habits or misplaced beliefs can be pretty dire. If you’re arrested and convicted multiple times for Glendale DUI, for instance, your fines, fees, jail time, alcohol school penalties, probation terms, and et cetera can escalate wildly. If you’re convicted of a misdemeanor like DUI three times or more within ten years, prosecutors may be able to leverage California law to transmute what an ordinarily might be a misdemeanor into a felony. The difference between a felony and a misdemeanor is huge – it could mean a massively longer jail sentence, for instance.

Given all that, it certainly makes sense to try to fix your bad habits or proclivities before they cause you future problems. This is a challenge that’s aside and apart from the specific challenges that your Glendale DUI criminal defense attorney will help you work out. So how do you surface the fundamental causes of your troubles? And once you do surface them, what can you do to eliminate them or get beyond them somehow?

These are tough questions, and obviously there is no one size fits all answer here. But here’s one interesting exercise you can try. Get out a piece of paper and write down one behavior or act that you’ve committed in the past two weeks that you regret — that you believe might have caused you significant trouble. You can pick your Glendale DUI arrest, if you want. And then ask yourself a simple question: Why did you do it? What was the reason you drove DUI or got arrested or did whatever it was that you did that you now regret?

You might contrive an answer to the effect of: “I don’t know. I just wasn’t thinking and I was tired and I wanted to get home.” The next step is to ask yourself why you did that. Why did you “stop thinking” when you got so tired? Your answer will hopefully get you closer to the root cause. You might say something to the effect of “I don’t know. When I party, my judgment goes out the window a little bit.” So you would ask yourself “why” to that – drilling down deeper and deeper to get at your root proclivity. You might eventually get down to something to the effect of “I have a difficult time controlling my impulses.”

By drilling down like this – asking why and why and why over and over again – we’re often able to surface the root of a behavior that we would like to change. Once you know that you have impulse control problems, for instance, you can seek help for those problems, using therapy, hypnosis, meditation, or whatever, to change your fundamental beliefs and come more in line with how you want to be.

Of course, this “drilling down” exercise aside, you probably want immediate and actual advice about what to do regarding your Glendale DUI. Los Angeles DUI attorney Michael Kraut of Glendale’s Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers (121 W Lexington Dr, Glendale, CA 91203 Phone: (818) 507-9123) is here to take your call, provide a free consultation, and to help you build a compelling, aggressive, systematic strategy to get results.

March 23, 2012

The Burbank DUI Ripple Effect: A Moment of Indiscretion, Diverse Results

by Michael Kraut

If you or a family member recently got stopped for a DUI in Burbank or elsewhere in Southern California, you might be tempted to think of the event as a kind of independent occurrence—a hiccup in your life.

If you face penalties for a DUI conviction in Burbank (e.g., jail time, fees and fines, forced probation, mandatory installation of interlock ignition device, etc.) you probably want to make this hiccup go away as soon as possible, which is understandable. But to leverage your best defense possibilities, it is critical to view the DUI in a larger context, both in terms of your life and in terms of society. As any experienced Los Angeles DUI attorney will tell you, there are patterns involved in DUI behavior. If you can identify the negative patterns in your own life that lead you to get into trouble, you can act to avoid becoming a recidivist (a repeat DUI offender) and fix other areas of your life that you didn’t even know were a mess until you examined them with a clear mind and open heart.

After all, the actions that you take (or do not take) will have ripple effects not only for you and your family but also for society as a whole. Consider, for instance, a story out of Concord, California. Last week, a 27-year-old trucker crashed into a utility pole and caused a power outage that affected thousands of local residents. The woman driver left the scene of the accident and took a cab back to her apartment. She was later arrested on multiple charges—not only for DUI, but also for child endangerment and hit and run.

As a good Los Angeles DUI lawyer will tell you, leaving the scene of an accident is never a good idea—and the bad actions and poor decisions that you make after your DUI arrest or accident can actually vastly complicate your case. The key is to avoid doing the metaphorical equivalent of throwing good money after bad—that is, making your situation worse and worse by continuing to break laws and behave irresponsibly.

In the case mentioned above, the ripple effect was clear—the woman hit a telephone pole, damaging it and causing a massive power outage and inconvenience for thousands. But any time a DUI stop or accident like this happens, there is a ripple effect. Even if you are the only one who is inconvenienced or punished, your problems will almost inevitably affect other people: your spouse, your employer, your customers, etc.

Connecting with a Burbank DUI criminal defense attorney such the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers’s Michael Kraut (2600 West Olive Avenue, 5th Floor, Burbank, California 91505 Phone: (818) 563-9810) does not guarantee that you will solve all your problems. But Mr. Kraut has a stellar track record at jury trials, the respect of his judicial and lawyer peers, and a reputation in the community as someone who is extremely knowledgeable about DUI law, in theory and practice.

March 21, 2012

Beverly Hills DUI Education: Should Our Educators Take a Hint From Folks Up In Sacramento?

by Michael Kraut

Getting caught for driving under the influence (DUI) in Beverly Hills can be a big, big deal, not only because it can lead to life-changing legal repercussions, like prison time and loss of your driver’s license, but also to massive spikes in your insurance rates that can persist for years and cost you thousands of dollars. And that’s if you are convicted of a standard misdemeanor as opposed to a more severe charge, like a felony. But how can we, as a community, figure out why people tend to drive under the influence and what we might be able to do to collectively to change the behaviors and minimize the risks involved.

It’s easy to take a casual glance at the problem and begin moralizing. It’s easy to fall into an “us versus them” mentality:

• “That DUI driver is a careless or negligent individual.”
• “What really needs to happen is we need to punish people more”
• “The person who drove DUI was (insert label or judgment here: lazy, uncaring, selfish, etc)”

As any Los Angeles DUI attorney will tell you, the pool of defendants is far more diverse than many people realize. It’s not just “irresponsible teenagers” or “club-hopping twenty-somethings” that get nabbed for this crime.

Rather than focus just on punishing, dissuading, or stopping individuals from driving under the influence, it might be useful to address some of the underlying social causes.

To change the mentality, we may need different and more sophisticated educational tools. In Sacramento, students at Kennedy High School recently witnessed the real life sentencing of a DUI offender. The defendant, 25-year old Kristyna Robinson, got caught driving with a BAC level of 0.13%. The legal limit for DUI in Beverly Hills is 0.08%, as defined by California Vehicle Code Section 20152 (b). After drinking four beers and some whisky, she got pulled over and spent hours in jail. Her sentence included two more days in jail, informal probation, and fines totaling $2,300. The students witnessed her being led off in handcuffs with her head lowered. A sobering and emotionally-charged portrait of the potential consequences of DUI in Beverly Hills.

If we can make DUI more unacceptable to groups (as opposed to targeting individuals only), we might be able to find new points of leverage that will aid us in keeping our city and our streets safer… and in treating offenders with more compassion and respect.

If you or someone else needs the services of a Beverly Hills DUI criminal defense attorney, consider connecting today with the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers (9107 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 450, Beverly Hills, California 90210 Phone: (310) 550-6935). As a graduate of Harvard Law School and a former senior deputy district attorney for Los Angeles, Mr. Kraut has a wealth of experience, a terrific record at jury trials, and the resources and investigative tools to get you results.

March 14, 2012

Pasadena DUI Breathalyzer News: Hundreds of San Francisco DUIs Could Be Tossed Due to Breathalyzer Test Issues

by Michael Kraut

If you’ve recently been arrested and convicted of a Pasadena DUI due to a breathalyzer test, some breaking news should be of profound interest for you. This knowledge could be crucial, if you want to understand what defenses might be available to protect you from penalties like jail, alcohol school, driver’s license suspension, and the rest of the works.

San Francisco police are investigating up to 1,000 local DUI convictions due to problems revealed with 20 local breathalyzer machines. For about a decade, these machines were poorly calibrated and maintained. Police did not test these machines effectively. According to a local public defender, the breath tests needed to be inspected every 10 days, “and that wasn’t happening.”

As a Los Angeles DUI attorney will tell you, breath tests work by measuring the alcohol exhaled from the lungs. Even under the best of conditions, breath tests can be problematic. Different people process alcohol differently. A heavy set man on a diabetes medication might absorb alcohol vastly differently than might a healthy slim 20 something year old woman. The amount of air you exhale into your Pasadena DUI breathalyzer test can radically affect your reading, too. This is the reason why police tell you to take a “deep breath” before you blow into one. We could (and in previous blog posts, have) go on and on and on about all the different possible problems with breath tests. And that’s IF the tests function perfectly.

So what’s happening in San Francisco? How might it impact you?

First off, the 20 bad breath test machines have been taken off out of operation. The consequences of the police negligence could linger, however. In some cases, massive damage may have already been done. As Trent Copeland, a legal analyst for CBS News, put it “when [a breathalyzer] fails, when the computer-generated technology simply isn’t maintained properly, then suddenly the whole system is thrown into chaos and we can’t rely on anything in terms of the results.”

An amazing situation, isn’t it? But here is what’s even MORE amazing…
According to another legal analyst for CBS News, Jack Ford, the San Francisco case may inspire other police departments across the United States – including here in Southern California – to reassess how their breath systems work (or do not work). That’s crucial. If it turns out that your Pasadena DUI breathalyzer was flawed, you might have extra leverage to defend yourself.

Of course, your choice of Los Angeles DUI lawyer can make a huge impact — either positive or negative — for your case. An inexperienced attorney – or someone who doesn’t really understand the diversity and magnitude of potential breathalyzer test flaws – may not be able to develop the most strategic case for you.

Fortunately, you can turn to the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers (790 East Colorado Boulevard, 9th floor, Pasadena, California 91101 Phone: (626) 345-1899 ) for guidance. Attorney Michael Kraut is a Harvard Law School educated Pasadena DUI criminal lawyer who served as a prosecutor before becoming a criminal defense attorney. As such, he understands what prosecutors look for, and he knows how to poke holes in the cases that they build against defendants.

March 12, 2012

Interlock Ignition Device after Los Angeles DUI? Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Jumps into the Fray

by Michael Kraut

Should someone who has been convicted of a Los Angeles DUI be forced to install an interlock ignition device on his (or her) vehicle?

This seems like a straightforward question. But the debate over the effectiveness and ethics of IIDs is roiling the blogosphere. Last week, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), a national group dedicated to improving road safety, weighed in on the matter. Based on studies that suggest that interlock devices can reduce crimes like Los Angeles DUI by up to 12%, the IIHS now recommends that ALL DUI offenders be compelled to install these devices. As the Vice President of Research for the IIHS put it “we found that the higher the rate of interlock installations, the lower recidivism would be.”

That interlock devices can prevent recidivism is pretty well established. But, as an advocate for the American Beverage Institute recently put it, “as soon as you take [the IID] off, recidivism goes back up.” Unsurprisingly, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) supported the IIHS position. The American Probation and Parole Association, on the other hand, argued that mandating IIDs for all offenders is not necessary and could cost nearly $500 million to states to supervise people. In many cases, a DUI offender only suffers the IID consequence if he or she tests at a very high BAC level (0.015% or above) or demonstrates recidivism – that is, gets convicted more than once for DUI within a decade.

Thanks to a 2010 law, even misdemeanor first time Los Angeles DUI offenders can be burdened with the IID requirement. As anyone who ever dealt with one of these devices can tell you, keeping an IID in your car can be unpleasant, embarrassing, inconvenient, and a constant reminder of your past failings.

Can a Los Angeles DUI defense attorney build you a strategic case to help you escape punishments like a mandatory IID (as well as even more scary penalties like jail time and huge fines and fees and probation)? The answer obviously depends on the details of your case.

An effective response can be the difference between jail time/harsh penalties and a more favorable plea bargain or even a dismissal of the charges. Even if you did make a mistake (perhaps a significant mistake) on the night of your DUI arrest, you don’t have to KEEP making mistakes that jeopardize your rights, your freedom, and your capacity to rebuild your life.

Connect with a Los Angeles DUI lawyer at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers (6255 Sunset Boulevard, Suite 1520, Los Angeles, California 90028) right now to discover the best strategy for your situation. Attorney Michael Kraut is a Harvard Law School educated former district attorney (prosecutor) who has terrific relationships in the legal community and a long and diverse track record of success – even in tough cases.

March 7, 2012

Long Beach DUI Multiple Offender? Not Necessarily a Problem: Ask Rodney King

by Michael Kraut

If you got arrested and convicted more than once for a crime like DUI in Long Beach, your prospects may be grim, indeed. Prosecutors like to “throw the book” at so called recidivists – people who commit the same crimes more than one time.

As any Los Angeles DUI attorney will tell you, if you are convicted for this crime more than once within a 10-year period, your penalties start to escalate in terms of:

• length of your jail sentence
• amount of alcohol school you need to attend
• duration of your license suspension
• strictness of your probation
• fees and court costs
• and more
But just because you have a DUI on your record does not necessarily mean that you are going to get raked over the coals. For instance, take a look at Rodney King’s situation.

Mr. King, whose videotaped beating touched off the notorious early 1990s Los Angeles riots, was arrested last July in Riverside County for DUI. He was also convicted for DUI in 2004. Police reports suggested that King’s BAC level was 0.06% — just shy of the Long Beach DUI cutoff of 0.08%, as defined by California Vehicle Code 23152(b).

That being said, officers say that they found marijuana in his system as well. All those factors – coupled with his 2004 conviction – could have spelled big trouble for the man famous for his remark “Can’t We All Just Get Along?” But – miracle of miracles (at least as far as King was concerned) – he managed to strike a plea deal with prosecutors that allowed him to escape serving jail time. This wasn’t to say that he got off scot free. In addition to pleading guilty, King agreed to pay court costs and a $500 fine, attend alcohol classes for nine months, endure three years of summary probation, and spend 20 days under house arrest. Given the alternatives for recidivist Long Beach DUI violators, King got a pretty square deal.

Your options change depending on innumerable factors. Did you hurt someone while DUI? Did you cause property damage? Did you resist police arrest? Are you prepared to accept culpability for what happened (if indeed you were to blame)? Do you have prior convictions on you record? If so, what were they for?

Only a qualified Los Angeles DUI lawyer can really help you sort out the best strategies and methods for dealing with prosecutors. In some cases, it makes more sense to fight your charges. In another cases, it might make more sense to aim for a plea deal. To really unpack your best solutions, connect with an experienced Long Beach DUI criminal defense attorney with the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers (444 West Ocean, Suite 800 Long Beach, California 90802 Phone: (562) 531-7454). Mr. Kraut is one of the most widely known and respected Los Angles DUI lawyers. He served as a Senior Deputy District Attorney for 14 plus years (after attending Harvard Law School, no less) before switching roles to become an advocate of defendants. His experience fighting on both sides gives him a unique advantage that he can bring to bear to help you.

March 5, 2012

Burbank Drug DUI News: Cloud from Colorado Bill Debate Spreads to Southern California

by Michael Kraut

As regular readers know, driving under the influence of drugs like marijuana in Burbank is a crime punishable with penalties like jail time, mandatory substance abuse education classes, license suspension, and other penalties. Those direct consequences probably don’t even paint a full enough picture. If you lose your license, you will find it very difficult to get around Burbank –go to your job, attend classes, etc. If convicted of a Burbank drug DUI, your car insurance rates will almost certainly spike, which means that you may pay thousands of dollars extra over the next several years.

In other words, if you’ve been stopped, it’s a big, big deal.

But while the science of how alcohol impairs driving is pretty well established, the science of how marijuana use changes driving is far younger.

The latest battle field over drugged driving is the Rocky Mountains, where Colorado lawmakers are vigorously debating Senate Bill 117. On the surface, 117 is a pretty straight forward law. If it passes, then drivers in Colorado who test to have five nanograms or more of the active substance in marijuana (THC) in a blood sample will be subject to penalties. The five nanograms cut off is not novel. Pennsylvania uses a similar limit. Ohio actually has a stricter limit – two nanograms. Certain states, such as Rhode Island and Illinois, have a zero-tolerance rule for THC.

Colorado might not be as “progressive” in its attitude towards marijuana as is California (or at least certain parts of California). But it’s definitely a “purple state” in terms of the marijuana debate. It’s home to a lively and robust conversation about marijuana’s dangers and benefits.

On Monday, a Senate panel in Colorado voted in favor of sending Senate Bill 117 to the full chamber for a vote. If it passes, it will cost around $500,000 to implement. This law could have ramifications for other states considering similar measures. Marijuana advocates, such as Dr. Paul Bergman, argued that the recommended blood test should not be used: “nobody…wants to have drug driving policies, but there is a disagreement of per se limits in chronic users.” People who use medicinal marijuana regularly may have elevated THC levels due to the fact that THC is stored in fat tissue, for instance.

A different expert from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Cynthia Burbach, pushed the other way. She pointed out that law enforcement officers are requesting more and more THC tests every year.

This short blog post obviously cannot examine, parse and weigh in on the fundamental science behind the recommendations, arguments and counter-arguments. But the debate is certainly lively.

Of course, if you are searching for a Los Angeles drug DUI lawyer, you are probably less concerned about what’s going on remotely in Colorado and more concerned about what’s going on in your case. Will you have to serve jail time? What should you do to be preparing for your case? Were the tests used on you valid? If so, what do you do next? If not, how can you refute the results?

For help with all these questions and more, turn to Burbank drug DUI criminal defense attorney Michael Kraut. Attorney Kraut served for nearly a decade and a half as a LA prosecutor – going after people who committed crimes like drug DUI – before becoming a criminal defense attorney and founding the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers (2600 West Olive Avenue, 5th Floor, Burbank, California 91505 Phone: (818) 563-9810). He is an extremely respected lawyer and thinker with a great record at jury trials and history of getting results in difficult circumstances.

March 2, 2012

The Root Cause of Your Pasadena DUI Arrest?

by Michael Kraut

You recently got stopped for driving under the influence in Pasadena. Whether you got tagged at a checkpoint or pulled over on the 5 or 210, the arrest has thrown your life into chaos. It wasn’t as if your life was “perfectly in order” before. But now, you’re faced with challenges like a potential driver license suspension, jail time, huge court costs and other fees, spiked insurance rates, trouble at work, and the pain and embarrassment of having to explain what happened to your friends, colleagues, and family.

As any experienced Los Angeles DUI lawyer will tell you, putting out all these fires can be a complex and emotionally difficult business. However, in your rush to put out the fires, you may forget to do the deep, penetrating analysis that you need to do to prevent additional troubles, including future Pasadena DUI arrests.

You probably don’t need to be reminded that Pasadena DUI “recidivists” get punished more than first timers do. Each time you get rearrested, you face stricter punishments with respect to license suspension, alcohol school, fines and fees, jail time, and beyond. To get at the root cause of what created your situation, you need to be honest and objective – you need to be able to think and do some introspection.

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.