DUI Crime and Punishment

December 7, 2015

November’s High Profile Los Angeles DUI Cases

The City of Angels attracts a fair number of celebrities who party too hard and end up facing charges of DUI in Los Angeles. The most recent case was Michael Weatherly, a longtime actor on the television show NCIS. He spent 15 hours in jail in early November after police pulled him over for speeding. Since Weatherly’s reported blood alcohol content measured above the legal limit of .08, he is now looking at two counts of DUI. Since Weatherly is a first-time offender, however, he’s not likely to face jail time.

Let’s also quickly survey two big out of state celebrity DUI cases.

November 30, 2015

The Worst Time to Get a Los Angeles DUI Charge: Christmas Eve

by Michael Kraut

As Black Friday recedes and Christmas rapidly approaches, Los Angeles DUI attorneys and law enforcement are bracing for a predictable but tragic escalation in the number of DUI arrests here in the southland.

Every year, as we’ve discussed numerous times, Angelinos (and others) find themselves arrested disproportionately during the holiday season. The best theory suggests that this uptick in arrests has to do with holiday revelry.

Here in Los Angeles, we are at least fortunate and that the roads don’t get covered with snow, ice and sleet during the holidays, although forecasters say that we might find ourselves doused with a rain shower or ten thanks to El Nino, and that can certainly make driving more treacherous.

October 30, 2015

Warning: El Niño’s Rains May Make Los Angeles DUI Events That Much More Dangerous

by Michael Kraut

Everyone knows that driving under the influence in Los Angeles (or anywhere, frankly) puts drivers at an elevated risk of getting into accidents, hurting themselves and others, and causing property damage. However, to understand the true risks associated with dangerous driving of any kind, you need context.

Someone just barely overly the legal limit (as established by California Vehicle Code Section 23152) of 0.08% BAC — who is otherwise alert, driving on a sunny, clear road and at a stable, slow speed — is probably far less likely to get into a crash than someone driving with the same BAC level at night, while blasting music and chatting with a girlfriend on a cellphone.

Driving risk factors stack up.

To maximize your safety on the road, be aware not just of your alcohol consumption but also of other elements that could make driving less safe. For instance:

• Your level of distraction – are you fully attentive behind the wheel?
• Are you listening to music or eating?
• Are you chatting with someone on a cellphone? (Even talking on a hands free headset can lead to driving errors comparable to the errors you’d make while DUI, according to research from the University of Utah.)
• How tired are you? (Fatigue is a major factor in auto accidents. One study out of Australia found that someone who stays up 24 hours in a row exhibits a level of impairment commensurate with DUI level of impairment.)
• What are the road conditions like? Are the roads potholed and bumpy or smooth and well-marked?
• Weather – is it dry? Or is it raining? (The first 45 minutes after a rain following a long period of dryness can be quite treacherous.)

As El Niño stirs up trouble in the Pacific, weather forecasters expect serious rain here in the Southland this winter. These bouts of rain will be dispersed with periods of dryness, so we can expect the weather to ratchet up the level of treacherousness on the Los Angeles roads and complicate car accident cases. (For instance, was your wreck caused by DUI driving or by slick conditions or both?)

Call the strategic, respected Los Angeles DUI defense attorneys here at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers, and recover peace of mind and clarity about your situation.

October 21, 2015

Unusual Los Angeles DUIs Make Headlines… Including DUI in a Wheelchair

by Michael Kraut

Arrests for DUI in Los Angeles aren’t usually big news unless the person arrested is some sort of celebrity. But sometimes a story about a DUI arrest—in any part of the country–is so unusual that online news outlets and social media provide widespread coverage. Here are two crazy breaking stories:

Wheelchair DUI for Florida Man

In Palm Bay, Florida, police just arrested 54-year-old Ronny Hicks on DUI charges. Nothing extraordinary about them—except that Hicks has been driving an electric wheelchair at the time. Visitors to a city park called police, complaining that Hicks was blocking a pedestrian path. When police arrived, they allegedly smelled alcohol on Hicks’ breath and said that he appeared to be highly intoxicated.

Hicks tallied not his first but rather his third DUI arrest in 10 years. Under Florida law, that could mean a fine of $2,000 and mandatory imprisonment for at least 30 days. (Three Los Angeles DUI convictions within 10 years leads to felony counts.) But Hicks’ attorney doesn’t seem to think that the most recent charge of DUI in a wheelchair will stick.

Alleged DUI Driver Hides in Church, Claims Dog Did It

Another Florida motorist, this time from Manatee County, came up with an unusual excuse when police finally caught up with him to question him about his driving. TV station WFTS reported that sheriff’s deputies spotted Reliford Cooper speeding and tried to pull him over. Instead of obeying, the 26-year-old took off, leaving the road and driving through two ditches before crashing into a house. But even that act didn’t slow Cooper down; he took off on foot and tried to hide in a church. The churchgoers, however, had none of it, and they chased Cooper out of their building.

The deputies finally got Cooper into handcuffs, which is when he allegedly told them that he wasn’t responsible for the erratic driving because his dog was driving the car. (The dog must have been invisible, because nobody has seen a trace of it.) The officers didn’t buy his story, since Cooper smelled like alcohol and marijuana. They charged him with DUI.

How should you respond to your recent and disarming charges? Call a qualified Los Angeles DUI defense lawyer (and ex-prosecutor) with nearly two decades of relevant legal experience.

October 14, 2015

How Much Marijuana Before It’s a DUI?

by Michael Kraut

Eleven U.S. states have now legalized or decriminalized marijuana. California, which approved of the use of the drug for medical purposes, also seeks to legalize the drug completely in the next few years. But the move to legalization raises the question of how marijuana impacts a driver. How much THC (the active ingredient in marijuana) would have to be in the bloodstream before police could charge someone with a DUI in Los Angeles?

A Florida state legislator, Dave Kerner of Lake Worth, believes that there should be a standard for determining marijuana intoxication when it comes to driving, just as there is a blood alcohol content for people who drink. He thinks that at 5 nanograms of active THC in the bloodstream, the courts should presume that the person is driving under the influence of cannabis.

Kerner introduced a bill into the Florida Legislature to make this standard the law in the Sunshine State. He named the bill the Naomi Pomerance Victim Safety Act in honor of a 16-year-old girl killed in a crash caused by a person high on marijuana. Kerner isn’t a marijuana opponent, however; he supports medical marijuana.

Other states are addressing this issue as well. Colorado, where marijuana is legal, already has a law that presumes that someone is operating under the influence if the THC level in the bloodstream is 5 nanograms or higher.

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration says that data from road traffic arrests and fatalities indicate that after alcohol, marijuana is the most frequently detected psychoactive substance among drivers. Marijuana has been shown to impair performance on driving simulator tasks and on open and closed driving courses for up to approximately 3 hours.
“Decreased car handling performance, increased reaction times, impaired time and distance estimation, inability to maintain headway, lateral travel, subjective sleepiness, motor incoordination, and impaired sustained vigilance have all been reported,” according to the NHTSA. The organization has not taken a position, however on the use of THC levels to measure driver impairment.

Los Angeles DUI defense lawyer, Michael Kraut, of the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers is standing by to offer critical insight into your case and potential defense options. Call him and his team today to begin regaining control over your case and your life.

October 5, 2015

Five Times the Legal Limit for DUI Driver (a Police Officer): What Happens Next?

by Michael Kraut

Police officers see all kinds of BAC numbers when they arrest people for DUI in Los Angeles. But officers don’t often come across a person whose BAC measures five times the legal limit–especially when the driver turns out to be another policeman.
Newspaper accounts say that Officer John Finley of the New York Police Department is lucky to be alive after an accident in which alcohol contributed. Back on August 8th, Finley slammed into a guardrail on the West Shore Expressway on Staten Island. He suffered head injuries, but they weren’t life-threatening. He was even conscious enough to talk, although witnesses reported that Finley—perhaps unsurprisingly, given his charges–slurred his words.

John Finley From: https://www.facebook.com/search/str/John%20Finley%20nypd/keywords_top

The police officers who worked the scene deferred DUI charges against Finley pending a review of his blood alcohol content levels. While they must have suspected something out of the ordinary, they probably didn’t expect that Finley’s BAC would measure at 0.43–more than five times the legal limit for driving. According to the New York Post, a 200-pound man would have to drink 23 beers (or the equivalent in other types of alcoholic beverages) in two hours to achieve that high a BAC score.

Just how impaired was Finley? The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has a chart on its website listing the different effects of various levels of alcohol in the bloodstream. In the range of 0.31 to 0.45 percent the impairments include loss of consciousness, danger of life-threatening alcohol poisoning and significant risk of death in most drinkers due to the suppression of vital life functions. In other words–Finley was fortunate not only to have survived his encounter with a guardrail but also to be alive at all.

Police eventually arrested Finley, a 25-year veteran on the force, on a charge of aggravated DUI.

If you need to develop a sound, systematic defense to a Los Angeles DUI charge, call experienced Los Angeles DUI defense lawyer, Michael Kraut, of the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers.

September 28, 2015

The Very First Time You Get Behind the Wheel After a Los Angeles DUI Arrest

by Michael Kraut

Before your arrest for Los Angeles DUI, you probably never gave much thought to getting behind the wheel – what it would be like to pull out of your driveway, tool down Olympic Blvd., and park your car in a parking garage after muscling through traffic on the 405.

But whether police stopped you hours ago on Sawtelle at a checkpoint, or you crashed on the 10 and hurt yourself and a passenger, you now have a very new perspective. So what might it be like the next time you get behind the wheel? And what can you do to make that experience better? Here are some things to think about.

1. It might be a long, long time before you get the chance.

An automatic license suspension, pursuant to California Vehicle Code Section 23152 or 23153 (if you injured someone), could prevent you from driving for six months, a year or even longer.

2. You might need to blow into an ignition device to start the car.

Several years ago, Los Angeles and other jurisdictions imposed a mandatory interlock ignition device (IID) element, which compels those convicted for even first time DUIs to install one of these devices. You can’t start your car without blowing a sober breath into the machine (like a breathalyzer device). IIDs can also be expensive to install and maintain.

3. You may have strange feelings, such as anxiety or fear, even if you are driving perfectly normally, and you are totally sober.

Standard DUI stops are known to cause post-traumatic stress syndrome. That said, the moment of your arrest is probably seared into your brain. It’s not uncommon for drivers convicted of DUI (or just arrested for DUI who later get the charges dismissed) to experience awkwardness and strange moments of depression and anxiety behind the wheel.

To understand what to do to fight back against your charges, call Los Angeles DUI defense lawyer, Michael Kraut of Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers. As a former (and highly successful) Deputy District Attorney, Mr. Kraut has fought on behalf of defendants like you for nearly 20 years.

September 21, 2015

Missing Tires Result in DUI Arrests

by Michael Kraut

Note to drivers who want to avoid an arrest for a DUI in Los Angeles: Try to make sure that your vehicle has all its parts before you get on the road. A lack of important features—like tires–are a dead giveaway that you may not be operating at peak performance.

In Libertyville, Illinois, on September 5th, police arrested 20-year-old Lizette Diaz, who was driving a vehicle with no front tires. According to the Libertyville Patch, Diaz was making a U-turn and the wheel wells of her vehicle were dragging on the ground. Charges against Diaz included DUI, operating a vehicle with unsafe equipment, improper lane usage and driving an uninsured motor vehicle.

September was a busy month for driving under the influence and without tires. In San Antonio, Texas, Flor Rios headed to the nearby drive-through lane of a Whataburger fast food restaurant. But she had apparently forgotten that her SUV was missing a front tire. Police pulled her over and discovered an open container of beer in the vehicle. When they took her to the hospital to get a BAC blood test, Rios attacked the person trying to draw her blood. Officers eventually charged her with DUI and harassment of a public officer.

Police in Owatonna, Minnesota probably did a double-take before they picked up 33-year-old Bethany Brogan on DUI charges. Brogan was traveling in her car on Cedar Avenue with the right front tire detached and rolling alongside. When officers caught up with her, they discovered she smelled like alcohol and found an open alcohol container inside her car. Her blood alcohol content came back at .283, more than three times the legal limit.

In Levittown, Pennsylvania, it took several police cars to catch up with Rodney Kolison, whose Mitsubishi Gallant had only three tires. Officers said Kolison admitted that he had smoked marijuana earlier in the day.

How should you respond to your recent and disarming charges? Call a qualified Los Angeles DUI defense lawyer (and ex-prosecutor) with nearly two decades of relevant legal experience.

September 7, 2015

DUI-Related Accidents Take Grisly Toll – Harrowing Statistics and Stories

by Michael Kraut

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Controls, almost 30 people the U.S. die every day due to crashes that involve alcohol-impaired drivers. That works out to one death every 51 minutes. If you narrow the statistics down to cases of DUI in Los Angeles and other areas of California, 29 percent of the state’s 867 fatal car crashes in 2013 involved a DUI driver.

Online news sources carry reports of deadly DUI accidents every day. They serve as a sad reminder of the real cost of people driving while intoxicated:

• A woman in Queens, New York, lost her entire family in a crash on August 23rd. As Lucie Bouaz-Ostane watched in horror, her husband, eight-year-old son and four-year-old daughter died when fire engulfed their vehicle. Bouaz-Ostane had freed herself but wasn’t able to rescue any of her family members. Oniel Sharpe, a 24-year-old man, had rear-ended their car and then sped away from the scene.

• In San Diego, Antony Schoenele, age 20, had drunk alcohol, smoked marijuana and consumed cocaine before getting behind the wheel. Guadalupe Amado and Lizette Garcia, both in their early 20s, were passengers. Schoenele ended up driving off Friars Road near the Pacific Highway overpass, struck a curb and went airborne. His vehicle hit a pillar and caught fire; then Schoenele climbed over one of his passengers to escape. Prosecutors charged him with gross vehicular manslaughter and held his arraignment hearing at his hospital bed in UC San Diego Medical Center.

• In Western Pennsylvania, firefighter Mathew Poston admitted to drinking four or five beers and at least one tequila shot before driving off with his colleague, 33-year-old Gary Moore. The two never made it to their destination, because Poston stuck a guard rale and a utility pole. Moore, an 18-year veteran of the Yukon Fire Department, died at the accident scene.

To respond effectively to your charges, call a qualified Los Angeles DUI lawyer with the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers today to schedule a free consultation.

August 31, 2015

Identifying the Trigger that Sparked the Decision That Landed You with a Los Angeles DUI Arrest

by Michael Kraut

As you ruminate about your recent Los Angeles DUI arrest, you might be tempted to “beat yourself up” or get angry with the police who stopped you. But in the interest of being constructive – you want to solve your current problems and prevent future ones as opposed to just wringing your hands – consider doing this following exercise.

First of all, identify the moment in time where you made the mistake that landed you in hot water.

Even if you believe that the police stopped you in error and that you “did nothing wrong,” replay the events of the day or evening. Aim to figure out what, if anything, you could have done better. For instance, maybe you made an impulsive decision to drive home instead of taking an Uber. Maybe you had a fourth glass of wine because everyone else was drinking, too. Try to get as specific as possible, and then write that moment down.

Next, try to figure out what triggered that mistake.

Perhaps, for instance, you wanted to drive your car instead of taking an Uber because you didn’t want to face the inconvenience of having to take a cab to work the next day. Perhaps you had the fourth glass of wine because you really wanted to fit in.

Finally, fix the root cause of your behavior, so you won’t get in trouble again.

For instance, if you didn’t call Uber because of the inconvenience; the next time you go out, plan ahead before you party.

To respond effectively to your charges, call a qualified Los Angeles DUI lawyer with the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers today to schedule a free consultation.