Long Beach DUI Defense Attorney

July 27, 2015

Would You Buy a Popsicle From This Man? [Ice Cream Man DUI]

It’s hard to imagine police arresting your friendly neighborhood ice cream man for a DUI in Los Angeles. However, police officers in one Oregon city had to perform that not-so-sweet duty one day in early July.

Residents of the Corneilus community had been accustomed to buying ice cream cones, popsicles and other frozen treats from Noe Andrade-Silva, age 38. They knew him by his distinctive ice cream sales vehicle, a 1994 Plymouth Voyager with a sliding door covered in colorful pictures of his products.

While neighborhood kids might have been keeping a hopeful eye out for Andrade-Silva on Friday, July 10th, adults in the area didn’t like what they saw his Voyager doing on the road. They called police, reporting that the colorful van had turned into oncoming traffic and had hit a curb twice.

Police pulled Andrade-Silva over, and the ice cream man allegedly failed several sobriety tests. Officers then took him to Washington County Jail after charging him with a DUI. Fortunately, the police did permit Andrade-Silva’s wife to take the van home, so that she could save the stock of ice cream treats that the vehicle carried.

In a related article on KATU.com, neighbors expressed concern about the ice cream driver operating under the influence in an area where so many children play. They thanked officers for responding so quickly and worried that, had Andrade-Silva’s truck gone out of control, neighborhood kids might have suffered injury.

It’s unlikely that Andrade-Silva will find many customers if he decides to return to that neighborhood. As one resident commented, “Nobody wants any DUI ice cream.”

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.

January 2, 2014

Seeing the Forest for the Trees Re: Your Beverly Hills DUI Arrest

by Michael Kraut

Taken out of context, your Beverly Hills DUI arrest – whether you got pulled over on the 405 after partying with friends or stopped at a checkpoint on Sepulveda – is a “100% negative.”

In other words, there is no silver lining to what happened, other than the fact that you survived the stop and/or accident and that, theoretically, the situation could have been even worse. While that attitude can be technically justified, it’s grim.

It may also be misleading, because it prevents you from seeing the forest for the trees.

Most people who get stopped and charged with a crime like Beverly Hills DUI, for whatever reason, refuse to consider the charges in a broader context. They see it as a “fluke” – either an out of character one-time mistake or an injustice perpetrated by a biased or irresponsible police force.

It’s certainly true that the police can make mistakes. For instance, we’ve spilled a great deal of digital ink cataloguing the whys and wherefores of DUI breath test failures.

But the Beverly Hills DUI criminal defense lawyers at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers also believe that defendants should spend time introspecting — trying to figure out what, if anything, the DUI crisis means for them. For instance:

• Perhaps you only started getting in trouble (e.g. collecting DUIs) after you started to hanging out with certain friends. Upon reflection, maybe you should stop hanging out with those people!
• Perhaps you turned to alcohol and prescription medications after you hit a slump with your career. Perhaps you need to restrategize with respect your business, so you can deal with the helplessness and thus feel less seduced by the need to use the substances;
• Perhaps the police pulled you over multiple times because your car is missing a tail light and looks like a hunk of junk. Perhaps if you just fixed up your car, you would be less of a target for authorities (and you would be a safer driver, as well)

The point of this article is not to blame you, unnecessarily, for your Beverly Hills DUI arrest. As discussed above, you might be completely innocent – just like the 60-year-old Surprise, Arizona man who was arrested for DUI, despite blowing a 0.000 % BAC on his breath test!

But no matter what happened, by drilling down to figure out what went wrong in your case, you can feel more empowered and more excited to move on with your life. To start making progress, talk to the thorough, sensitive Beverly Hills DUI defense lawyers at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers now to schedule a free evaluation of your case.

October 16, 2013

Long Beach DUI Blotter: A Tale of Two Joneses

by Michael Kraut

As someone who has recently been stopped for DUI in Long Beach, you may or may not be a football fan. But before you construct your defense, you might be well served to stop and consider the fate of two NFL Players named Jones, both of whom recently got into serious legal hot water. Their tales can instruct and inform your own defense.

First, we have the sad situation of Adam Bernard “Pacman” Jones, who was arrested at 2:30 a.m. on September 24th, after police stopped him for driving 60 miles per hour in a 45 miles per hour zone in Cincinnati. The star cornerback for the Cincinnati Bengals was busted on charges of OVI (operating a vehicle impaired – similar to a Long Beach DUI charge) and also hit with a disorderly conduct citation for making “offensive comments” to police officers. Per Ohio Law, that means that Jones probably said something during his DUI stop that was “likely to be offensive or to cause inconvenience, annoyance or alarm to persons of ordinary sensibilities.”

This is not the first time that cornerback has gotten into brouhahas with the law. In July 2011, he was hit with a disorderly conduct at a Cincinnati bar, and he yelled profanities to police officers who arrested him. In June, he got busted on an assault charges – he allegedly hit a woman at a nightclub. He pled not guilty to that charge. Perhaps most disturbing is this report from ESPN: “last year, Jones was ordered to pay $11 million to two Las Vegas strip club employees injured in 2007, when a gunman who claimed that he was doing Jones’ bidding, opened fire outside a club after Jones and his entourage were kicked out. A club manager who was paralyzed from the waist down, and a bouncer was wounded. Jones said he had no role in the shootings and pleaded an equivalent of no contest to misdemeanor and conspiracy to commit disorderly conduct. The gunman is serving 4 to 10 years in prison.”

It should go without saying — but it is worth restating and emphasizing — that the more you complicate your Long Beach DUI charges by mouthing off to police officers or engaging in illegal activities, like leaving the scene of an accident, the more complicated your defense will be, and the more likely you are to wind up with severe punishments, like jail time, long license suspensions, and the like.

Meanwhile, similarly disturbing news came from the camp of the Bengals’ rivals — the defending Super Bowl Champions, the Baltimore Ravens. Jacoby Jones – one of the Ravens’ star receivers – got into a fight on a party bus, following the Ravens victory over Houston. And… wait for it… he got hit over the head by a stripper with a champion bottle.

Coach John Harbaugh had this to say: “in our household…nothing good happens after midnight.” He rhetorically asked his players “what you want to be known for? Do you want to be known as a football player or do you want to be known for that? I don’t think it’s anything to be proud of.”

So what do with all these celebrity arrests and brawls with strippers have to do with your Long Beach DUI charge?

The frank answer is that it may not. Perhaps you were just at the wrong place at the wrong time, and your DUI was a fluke on an otherwise unbesmirchable record. But one thing that the Jones’ saga indicates is that Long Beach DUI trouble – and trouble with the law in general – is not as “random” as many people would like to believe.

Fortunately, if you or your loved one has been arrested for driving under the influence in Burbank or elsewhere, the experienced team at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers can help. Connect with former prosecutor and Harvard Law School educated Attorney Mr. Michael Kraut for incisive, insightful, and compassionate assistance.

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 23, 2013

Boating DUI in Marina Del Rey News: Erin Brockovich Busted for Boating DUI out in Las Vegas

by Michael Kraut

Some disappointing Marina Del Rey boating DUI news. Erin Brockovich — the clean water activist, whose life story inspired Julia Roberts’ 2000 movie “Erin Brockovich” — has been arrested for DUI on Lake Mead near Las Vegas.

According to news outlets, the law clerk struggled to dock her boat, calling attention to local authorities. Police tested her blood alcohol concentration at over twice the legal limit of 0.08%.

A spokesperson from the Nevada Department of Wildlife discussed the case: “she was obviously struggling to put the boat in the slip, and if you’ve had any experience, it’s a simple enough operation.”

August 5, 2013

Long Beach DUI Celebrity News: Rapper DMX Arrested for DUI

by Michael Kraut

As someone who’s been recently charged with DUI in Long Beach – or who knows a friend or family member recently charged – you might be inclined to be sympathetic to rapper DMX, who was busted for DUI recently in South Carolina.

According to reports, the 42-year-old rapper, who goes by DMX but whose given name is Earl Simmons, was busted near Greenville, South Carolina at around 3 AM Friday morning.

TMZ published dash cam footage of X in the car. The police officer who stopped X inquired about his drinking behavior. X originally said he only had single drink but later apparently confessed to having had four or five.

Confusion reigned after the DUI stop as well.

At first, X’s publicist fervently denied the charges. Dominic Niti told the press: “allegations about DMX being arrested for drunk driving are false … he was arrested early this morning but quickly released. X was given a breathalyzer test and he easily passed it.”

But that’s not what the Southern Carolina Highway Patrol said.

The rapper faces a DUI charge on top of charges that he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and that he didn’t have a driver’s license with him. X has faced a variety of legal challenges recently. In 2008, he was busted in Phoenix for reckless driving and for cruelty to animals. Last year, he got arrested in South Carolina for driving sans a driver’s license.

So how might DMX’s tale of woe influence your quest to deal with your own (or your family member’s) Long Beach DUI charges?

First of all, appreciate that no one is above the law. Even famous rappers, artists, business people, and politicians must follow the law of the land or face unpleasant consequences.

Second of all, appreciate that just because things seem bad right now doesn’t mean that you’re doomed to an unfair sentence or a life of struggle from here on out. The reality is that life is long. You should have opportunities to repair and apologize for the damage that you did and to rebuild your life.

If you haven’t yet connected with a Long Beach DUI defense attorney, like Mr. Kraut of the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers, consider doing so, ASAP. While no attorney can guarantee results, you might be surprised by how much better you’ll feel after getting clear about your potential punishments and options. Mr. Kraut and his team are sensitive and compassionate. They’re also well-known for their aggressive, intelligent approaches to complex Long Beach DUI cases. Connect today to schedule a free and thorough consultation.

July 10, 2013

Talking to Your Kids about Your Long Beach DUI Arrest

by Michael Kraut

You just got arrested for DUI in Long Beach. You’re not happy about it. But you’re brave enough to acknowledge the difficulty of your reality.

Although you fear going to jail, losing your license, paying thousands of dollars in court costs and fees, and having to attend alcohol classes for weeks and months, what you fear most of all is talking to your children about what happened to you and why.

How do you broach the subject in an intelligent way that doesn’t make your kids too uncomfortable?

The answer obviously depends on the state of your relationship with your kids, their ages, and your own feelings of comfort about disclosing personal information. There is no one size fits all recipe here.

In some sense, you’re caught between a rock and a hard place:

“The rock” = you’re embarrassed.

Your children may be embarrassed. Your wife/partner/co-parent may be embarrassed. In an ideal world, no one would say anything, and you’d just clear the Long Beach DUI off your record and move on with your lives, as if nothing ever happened.

“The hard place” = lessons must be learned.

On the other hand, you need address reality. Your family needs to plan. If you lose your license or go to jail, your spouse or co-parent will need to pick up responsibilities. Your kids may need to fend for themselves a little more. You might need to call in friends and relatives to help with child care and other household business.

Before you engage in any momentous conversations with your kids, sit down and think through – and even write out – how you’d like the conversation to go. It might seem unnatural to “prescript” an emotional conversation like this. But just like you’d prepare to have an intense business conversation with a prospective client or boss; so, too, can you benefit from preparing to have an intense personal conversation.

Begin with purpose. WHY are you disclosing this information? What is the point in talking about your Long Beach DUI.

For instance, you might need to have this conversation just because the kids’ lives will be radically altered if/when you go to jail. Or you just might want to have the conversation because you fundamentally believe in being honest and open with your kids.

Next, derive the principles that you use to have the conversation. Here is an easy “hack” to derive these. Think about all the ways the conversation could “go wrong.” The opposite elements would make up your principles. For instance, if everyone started yelling and screaming, that would be unpleasant and would violate your principles. So one rule for the conversation would be “keep as calm and emotionally balanced as possible.” You might have 6 to 10 principles that you derive during this exercise.

Finally, imagine the conversation from a place of “best outcome.” In other words, if this conversation went as well as it could go, what would that look like? What would you feel like? What would you do afterwards? Really try to be positive (yes, it’s hard considering your Long Beach DUI arrest!) and imagine a wildly successful result. For instance, maybe your kids would give you a hug, and they would step up in the wake of your trial or license suspension to help out around the house, and you would all grow from the experience.

Of course, you also want to give serious consideration to the next steps in your case. A Long Beach DUI defense attorney with the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers can help you appreciate the charges and challenges ahead and guide you resourcefully and compassionately.

July 3, 2013

Repairing Your Relationship with Your Spouse After Your Long Beach DUI

by Michael Kraut

Things were already rocky between you and your spouse, before you got arrested for driving under the influence in Long Beach. Now things are worse.

What can you do?

First of all, you need to address the realities of your arrest and all the legal implications. According to California Vehicle Code Section 23152 (a) or 23152 (b), even a misdemeanor DUI in Long Beach (or elsewhere) can lead to jail time, annoying court costs and fees, mandatory installation of an Interlock Ignition Device (IID) in your car, strict probation terms, mandatory alcohol school, and loss of your CA driver’s license. And that’s just for starters! On top of that, your insurance rates can go up and you can lose your job.

That’s brought up not to spook you, but rather to help you focus on what’s truly important right now, which is your Long Beach DUI defense.

In other words, the “practical stuff” regarding your defense needs to take priority. Otherwise, you run needless risks. The longer you delay getting good representation, for instance, the more difficult it will be to take care of/prevent other bad events. For instance, right now you might be able to contest the driver’s license suspension, find evidence to challenge the Long Beach breathalyzer test results, and anticipate what prosecutors may throw at you.

This isn’t to say that you should neglect your relationship. At some point, you DO want to circle back to address pivotal emotional issues. After all, you’re going to need support not only to manage the logistics of your life – e.g. who’s going to drive you and your children places, if you have a suspended license? – but also to keep you from recidivism and boost your confidence.

Obviously, this is a Long Beach DUI defense blog, not a relationship counseling blog. But you might find it useful to treat the “Long Beach DUI conversation” with your spouse (or partner or girlfriend/boyfriend) as you would treat an important business meeting. In other words, prepare for it! Spend time writing down the stuff you want to stay and imaging the conversation going as well as it could go.

If you haven’t yet broken the news to him or her, prepare. If you’ve broken the news, and the “first round” didn’t go over well, you need to go from there. Acknowledge your starting point – don’t lie to yourself or pretend your problems aren’t as bad as they really are. But retain hope and faith that you can get through this — that you will rebound from your DUI in Long Beach stronger, more compassionate, safer, and more resilient than before.

Step one is to understand your current playing field. What’s true now about your arrest, your charges, and your possibilities? Get insightful, confidential answers by connecting with the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers today. Attorney Kraut is not just a very highly regarded and well connected Long Beach DUI defense attorney, but he is also an ex-prosecutor, so he knows what prosecutors will want out of your case.

May 3, 2013

Long Beach DUI Sports News: Trumaine Johnson of St. Louis Rams Busted for Misdemeanor DUI in Missoula

by Michael Kraut

Although this blog focuses on Long Beach DUI cases, we’ve been covering a surprisingly sizable number of cases out of the Big Sky State of Montana recently.

To wit, The Associated Press is reporting that Trumaine Johnson, a cornerback with the St. Louis Rams, got arrested for a misdemeanor DUI, after police saw him driving without his headlights.

Like many Long Beach DUI defendants do, he refused a breath test. Police booked him into jail. He later secured his released on a $700 bond. The former University of Montana star had a great first year with the Rams, racking up 31 tackles and 2 interceptions as a first year player. Not bad.

Obviously, without knowing any more details, we can only speculate on what happened — why he got the DUI. Perhaps, for instance, he would have passed the breath test had he chosen to take it. As we’ve reported in multiple posts, DUI breath tests are surprisingly unreliable – in both directions. For instance, if you exhale very lightly into a machine — or if the machine isn’t calibrated — you can blow a negative, when really you’re technically positive for Long Beach DUI. On the other hand, if you blow a very deep breath — or if you’re on an intense ketogenic diet, or if you have diabetes — you can easily blow a false positive.

It’s easy to get lost in technical details.

To that end, consider investigating your Long Beach DUI charges with the help of a qualified, respected attorney. You might also aim to focus on the deeper reasons for your Long Beach DUI stop. Perhaps the police treated you unfairly. Perhaps you weren’t even under the influence – or just barely under the influence.

In an ideal world, you want not only to beat the charges but also to prevent similarly embarrassing/danger situations from happening again.

To protect yourself (and others), you need to be very honest with yourself (and with your attorney) about what exactly happened, why, and what you can do to avoid trouble in the future.

These questions can touch on deep, troubling topics.

That’s why the most respected Long Beach DUI defense attorneys are excellent listeners – they often need to do both the “nuts and bolts” work of executing a defense and the “softer” work of counseling clients to help them become safer, more conscientious drivers.

For help managing your Long Beach DUI case, connect with the astute, thorough team at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers. Attorney Michael Kraut is a former prosecutor (Senior Deputy District Attorney) who has tremendous experience on both sides of high level DUI cases.

April 29, 2013

Long Beach DUI Sports News Update: Josiah Turner Nets Two Days Behind Bars for April 2012 DUI Arrest

by Michael Kraut

Getting stopped and arrested for driving under the influence in Long Beach (or anywhere else) can have profound, long-lasting implications, even if you manage to reduce your charges.

Consider, for instance, the highly publicized ordeal of Josiah Turner.

The former guard for Arizona just received a two-day jail sentence in connection with an April 26, 2012 DUI arrest. The ex-Wildcat managed to get six other charges dismissed in his plea arrangement, but the court still fined him $1,529 and told him to go through a MADD program and alcohol evaluation.

Turner had been a solid performer for the Cats – he averaged nearly 7 points a game along with 3.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists before he transferred to SMU. After college, he pursued professional basketball both in Hungary and in Canada. He lost his slot on the Halifax Rainmen in mid-season and declared for the NBA draft last week.

A Justice of the Peace, Anne Segal, told the basketball star, “I hope this [the DUI and plea arrangement] was the lowest point in your life.”

If you’ve recently been arrested – or if you’re close to someone who’s been arrested for Long Beach DUI recently – you can probably relate to the sentiment.

Turner’s attorney, Jeffery Rogers, spoke highly of the plea agreement: “it’s pretty much what you could expect in this case…what’s important is that Josiah got what everyone else would get. There is no special treatment.”

The 20-year-old (he was 19 when he was arrested) got pulled over for going through a red light at around 1.30 in the morning in his 1993 Infiniti sedan. Police saw that Turner had no license plate on his car, and he didn’t have a driver’s license, insurance, or registration with him. In addition to charges for blowing through the red light, failing to have a driver’s license, and DUI (for having BAC of over 0.08%), he was charged with driving a vehicle while under the influence and being under 21 with alcohol in his system.

According to sports reports, Turner has had a challenging last few years. He was one of the top U of A basketball recruits in 2011, but he got suspended twice for unpublished reasons. The second suspension happened during the crucial Pac-12 Tournament. His lawyer summed up the situation “he is an extreme talent…I just hope he learned a lesson and uses this as a building block.”

Often, a Long Beach DUI charge is the tip of a much larger iceberg – a sign of more deeply rooted problems. To milk the lessons from your arrest, you need to confront the charges strategically, introspect and get appropriate help to avoid recidivism or other future problems. Fortunately, the astute, connected team here at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers can help you get on a smart path. Connect with Mr. Kraut and his associates today to begin building your Long Beach DUI defense.