San Fernando DUI Defense Attorney

January 20, 2014

Los Angeles DUI Demolition: MMA Fighter, Tito Ortiz, Whacked with DUI After Smashing Up his Porsche

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you’ve probably heard something about the big Los Angeles DUI news story of the week: MMA Champion, Tito Ortiz, smashed up his 2012 Porsche Panamera on the 405 at around 4:00 a.m. earlier this week.

The California Highway Patrol reports that the crash happened near Santa Monica Boulevard and Sepulveda – a notoriously confusing stretch of the 405.

According to some reports, that section of the 405 – near the freeway’s intersection with the 10 – is one of the most congested intersections on the entire continent… during the day, that is! During evenings and nights, the 405 can transform into almost dystopian landscape with seemingly endless stretches of barren freeways punctuated by drivers zipping along at breakneck speeds.

In any event… the 38-year-old Ortiz had been heading north, when he lost control over the Porsche and smashed into the center median strip. Two people in the car with him luckily survived without serious injury. Ortiz blew a 0.12% on a subsequence breathalyzer test. (As regular readers of this blog know, 0.12% is 1.5 times the legal limit for DUI in Los Angeles, West LA, or elsewhere in Southern California.)

Police booked Ortiz at 6:00 AM at a local station; he easily met his bond of $15,000. Reports say that Ortiz and his friends had been partying at the Playboy Mansion — a pre-party for the BCS National Championship. Ortizs holds the title of UFC light heavyweight champion.

He will face his misdemeanor DUI charge in court on January 27th.

Putting Ortiz’s Arrest in Context to Help You Make Sense of Your Los Angeles DUI Charge

One of the weirdest elements of the Los Angeles freeway and surface street system is the disconnect between what our roads are like during the day and what our roads are like during the evenings. Of course, there’s always a chance you’ll hit a sig alert on the 134 or the 101 at 4 a.m. But for the most part, the freeways clear off at night. During the day, however, they clog like arteries. As a result, traffic congeals, then freezes, then flows, much like how Antarctic ice floes operate. This peculiar process may be important to your defense, because different types of freeway conditions promote different types of driving behavior. (For instance, Ortiz would have had a difficult time careening wildly into the median on the 405 at 4:00 p.m. on a Monday because of the traffic congestion.)

To make sure that you understand exactly what happened, why, and what kind of Los Angeles DUI defense you may be able to construct, connect with an experienced attorney here at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers today for insightful, lucid, and strategic insight.

January 6, 2014

Will Your Burbank DUI Arrest Ruin Your Acting, Singing or Modeling Career?

by Michael Kraut

Maybe your Burbank DUI arrest came just a few months after you moved into the Oakwood Apartments complex to kick off what you’d hoped would be a wonderful, enduring acting career.

Or maybe police stopped you on Olive Boulevard, late at night, while you were driving back from your “best audition yet.” In either case, you’re worried about what your Burbank DUI charge might mean for your acting, modeling or singing career.

In Hollywood, brand management is crucial. You need to be able to sell yourself, not just so agents and managers will pay attention to your work (and casting directors will call you back), but also so that your audience will cheer you and look at you in a good light.

It’s one thing for an already established actor, like Lindsay Lohan, to collect a string of Los Angeles DUIs. That’s not necessarily good for her career, but she already had cache that she could afford to “burn off” and remain viable as an acting commodity.

But if your name is associated with a Burbank DUI arrest (or, worse, an injury accident punishable as a felony under California Vehicle Code Section 23153), your career can be stunted. (It’s not as if casting directors and executive producers don’t know how to use Google!)

Your carefully wrought (and expensive to edit) personal home page may come up as the top result in Google, when someone Googles your name? But do you really want result #2 to be along the lines of “24 year-old Janie McBanie was busted for Burbank DUI Thursday. The aspiring actress and comedian smashed her Toyota Corolla into a telephone poll on Olive and tried to scratch the arresting officer with her nails.”

Unfortunately, you can’t turn back the clock. What’s happened has happened.

But you can be judicious about how you defend against your Burbank DUI charge.

When you retain our Burbank DUI defense lawyer, we will immediately go to work for you to collect evidence and advise you strategically. For instance, we can represent you at your DMV hearing and help you deal with the suspension of your California driver’s license. (If you can’t drive, it’s hard to book auditions and jobs).

We can challenge evidence, such as your breath test results, and answer all of your questions and concerns throughout the process. You have so much potential. Don’t let your Burbank DUI charges threaten your ability to do good work. Let the team at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers help you.

December 25, 2013

Will You Lose Your Job After Your Glendale DUI Arrest?

by Michael Kraut

Perhaps police pulled you over on the 134, after noticing a missing taillight, and arrested you for Glendale DUI. Or maybe you got snagged at a checkpoint near the Galleria.

In either case, you face a slate of challenges. You’re worried about the jail time, fees and fines, and the embarrassment.

But most of all, you’re worried about your job.

After all, it’s a tough economy. You need to earn a fair wage to pay for your kid’s education, to save for retirement, to put food on the table and to pay your rent. If you lose your job, you could face quite an unpleasant financial picture.

A job loss is one of the most unpleasant, unexpected side effects of a Glendale DUI arrest/conviction.

Think about this way. Let’s say you committed a misdemeanor DUI in Glendale. Your fines and fees might total $1,000. That’s no small amount of money.

But what if your DUI leads to your getting fired? Let’s say you earn $2,000 a week. You then get fired and spend four months out of work. Without factoring in unemployment, if you’re out of work 16 weeks, and you miss out on that $2,000 a week income for 16 weeks, that’s a loss to your bottom line of about $32,000. That’s 32 times the DUI fines!

So what can you do?

Your options depend in a very sensitive way on the Glendale DUI charges you face, your past criminal history, if you have any, the nature of your job, the relationship you have with your employer, and so on.

To make a strategic plan to battle back against your Glendale DUI charges, get in touch with the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers today. Attorney Michael Kraut is a former prosecutor, who spent nearly 15 years in the Deputy District Attorney’s office, where he racked up a very impressive 99+% success rate at jury trials.

December 16, 2013

Glendale DUI Debacle: Did DUI Firefighter Nearly Kill a Motorcyclist?

by Michael Kraut

Picture in your mind someone who’s been charged with driving under the influence in Glendale. Odds are, you’ll conjure up a stereotype, like:

• A recidivist alcoholic;
• A college student at UCLA or USC who got busted after a night of partying;
• A debouched celebrity who’s been in and out of rehab.

Odds are, you did not picture a firefighter on a rescue mission.

But disturbing new reports from the San Francisco Chronicle suggest that DUI driving may actually be common among Bay Area firefighters.

Two fire chiefs and a battalion chief may be on the verge of suspension, after a firefighter drove DUI in a fire truck and slammed into a motorcyclist at the intersection of Howard Street and 5th Street. Michael Quinn, a lower level firefighter, allegedly had been drinking at a bar before he hopped into his truck to respond to what turned out to be a false alarm.

During the rescue mission, the fire truck smashed into motorcyclist, Jack Frazier, and catapulted him into a fire hydrant. Frazier broke many bones and suffered a collapsed lung. Amazingly (and fortunately) he survived the crash, but he’s still struggling and in pain from his injuries.

After the crash, the firefighter’s blood alcohol concentration level was measured; it came back at 0.13 percent. That’s just 0.03% percent shy of double the California (and Glendale DUI) limit of 0.08%. Other firefighters involved in the crash tested negative for DUI and drug consumption.

Frazier’s attorney pointed out that, while the firefighter “made an incredible … egregious mistake,” the problem of firefighter DUI driving appears to be “systematic.”

What can we take away from all this?

1. First of all, if you’ve been arrested for driving DUI in Glendale, appreciate that you’re not the only “ordinarily upstanding citizen” who’s ever been charged with a similar crime.
2. Secondly, use the incident as a wake up call. Strive to understand what’s going in your life that may have motivated you to act carelessly (if you did indeed act carelessly).
3. Third, if you have not already done so, take time to connect with a DUI defense attorney to construct your defense. Mr. Michael Kraut of the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers is an experienced, respected Glendale DUI defense lawyer; he and his team can help you put together a sound, results-focused case.

December 11, 2013

Too Injured And/Or Sick to Deal With Your Glendale DUI Charge?

by Michael Kraut

As a Glendale DUI offender — who caused an accident or suffered an illness or accident after the fact — you face a catch 22. You know that you need to build a sound defense. But you also have almost no energy to get the process started.

That you’re even able to surf the internet for advice about Glendale DUI is a pretty big accomplishment, given what you’ve been through. Unfortunately, as much as you’d love to be able to rest and recuperate, the longer you delay getting started with your DUI defense, the more difficult it may be to preserve your license, avoid jail time, and maximize your case.

• Maybe you hit a pole on Olive Blvd while driving DUI in Glendale, and you sustained a concussion, bruises, broken ribs, and worse.
• Maybe you don’t have any friends or family around to help you take care of matters.
• Perhaps you got a DUI at a checkpoint — police arrested you because you didn’t do well on your Glendale field sobriety test due to a previous injury. If your legs or knees hurt, it’s hard to walk a straight line, stand on one leg, et cetera.

The good news is that it doesn’t take that much effort and energy to lay the groundwork for an effective defense. A brief and confidential consultation with the team here at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers, for instance, can be all it takes. We can help you with “legal stuff,” so you can focus on healing from your injuries.

Recovering from a Glendale DUI accident or arrest is as much a psychological game as it is a physical one. Attorney Michael Kraut is an experienced, sensitive Burbank DUI criminal defense attorney. He’s worked with many clients who’ve been hurt in crashes; he understands the complex stresses that you’re under.

Just because you’re hurt, scared and under duress does not mean that you have to suffer in silence and accept unfair punishments.

December 4, 2013

No Two Burbank DUIs Arrests Are Alike

by Michael Kraut

Your Burbank DUI arrest might have been pretty “garden variety.”

Maybe you blew a 0.13% BAC on a breath test, after spending the night drinking and playing pool at Burbank Town Center. A sheriff saw you swerve on Hollywood Way, while you were driving to an after-party at an acquaintance’s house.

Or maybe you crashed into a sign while getting off the 134.

Your case is a huge deal to you. Depending on what happens with the charges, you could have to confront the loss of your California driver’s license, and you may face substantial jail time, fees and fines, hikes in your insurance rates, and other mayhem.

That said, odds are that your case is pretty “run of the mill.” In fact, you might be surprised by how similar your Burbank DUI case is to others. When you study large numbers of Burbank DUI cases, the results are stunning. People tend to misbehave in the same ways.

So is there anything new under the sun?

Definitively: yes! The details of each case ALWAYS matter.

• Tiny details can determine, for instance, whether the court accepts or rejects the results of a blood alcohol test that found that you had twice the legal limit for Burbank DUI, per CVC 23152(b);
• Tiny details can mean the difference between whether the court will let you off with or without jail time;
• Tiny details can mean the difference between whether this will be your one and only Burbank DUI arrest… or whether this event will signal a downward spiral in your life towards more criminal behavior.

Understand these two paradoxical truths about Burbank DUI:

1. Most DUIs are pretty similar to one another;
2. The details always matter in DUI cases.

So what should you do?

The answer is simple: sweat the details. Understand that no one can predict which small choices that you make (or fail to make) will affect your life. So to the extent that you can make good “little choices,” do so!

• Take time to be selective about your Burbank DUI criminal defense lawyer. Don’t just choose the first random name that you find on Google or choose an attorney that your third cousin recommended because he saw an advertisement several years ago.
• Choose a DUI defense law firm that has good values and credentials.
• Take action immediately to begin your defense. Don’t wait several days or weeks.
• Understand your arrest in context. Spend some time mulling over why you got in trouble. Address the root cause of your arrest, not just the superficial cause, so you can avoid trouble next time.

In life, if you get the “little things” moving in the right direction, the big things will often, spontaneously, move in that direction too. Connect with a Burbank DUI defense lawyer at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers today to build your effective defense.

November 20, 2013

Burbank DUI Sports News: Cautionary Tale of Seahawks Erstwhile Backup QB, Josh Portis

by Michael Kraut

Driving under the influence in Burbank (or anywhere else) can have immediate, awful consequences, even if you ultimately clear your name and your record.

For instance, you could lose your job, get dumped, get kicked out of school, or struggle with business or personal issues because of the DUI.

Case in point, consider the sad situation of the Seattle Seahawks’ (former) quarterback, Josh Portis, who was arrested in early May in Washington State, after police saw him driving 80 miles per hour in a 60 mile per hour zone. The backup QB — who’s known for his deep arm and tireless athleticism — did not exactly pass his field sobriety tests with blazing colors. He also struggled on the breath test. He blew a 0.078% and a 0.092% in two tries. That’s right below and right above the legal limit for Burbank DUI, as defined by California Vehicle Code Section 23152.

As regular readers of our Burbank DUI blog can tell you, the discrepancy between the two readings could actually be pretty important.

Especially when you are dealing with a liminal case (right around the legal limit), small errors can have a big effect. For instance, if Portis blew “harder than normal” into the machine, he might have registered a 0.092% BAC, even if, technically speaking, his BAC was below the 0.08% cutoff point.

Or his results could have been thrown off if he’s on a ketogenic diet, or if he had been swishing mouthwash. Chemicals on the breath can push a liminal BAC reading over the limit.

In any event, even if Portis manages to defend against the DUI misdemeanor charges, he’s out of a job. Portis scrambled to get resigned with the Seahawks in April, after he got released last November from the practice squad. But once news of the DUI hit, the Seahawks released him.

Sports watchers say that the club was at least partially motivated to “teach a lesson” to other players. The Several Seahawks have gotten in trouble recently for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy. Marshawn Lynch, for instance, also has a DUI case pending.

The Seahawks released Portis before the verdict even came in. That’s telling.

Fortunately, you may still have time to save your job, protect your relationships, avoid a license suspension and minimize/avoid jail time. But the clock is ticking. Your options may be dwindling by the hour.

 The good news is that a Burbank DUI criminal defense attorney at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers is standing by to talk to you about what happened and give you a sound, confidential, free consultation. The Harvard Law School educated Michael Kraut is a widely respected ex-prosecutor who has a deep sense of compassion and an encyclopedic knowledge of the practical aspects of Burbank DUI defense.

November 17, 2013

Burbank DUI Sports News: Saints WR Joe Morgan Busted in Jefferson Parish

by Michael Kraut

Joe Morgan, a wide receiver for the New Orleans Saints, was arrested recently for driving under the influence (not in Burbank) but in way out in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana.

The 25-year-old had been driving without a license on Earhart Expressway. when his vehicle became disabled. A state trooper found Morgan asleep in his car, near Causeway Boulevard. The trooper woke up the football star and asked him to get out of the vehicle. Police said that Morgan appeared intoxicated: he swayed on his feet, smelled of alcohol, and had bloodshot eyes. As regular readers of our Burbank DUI blog know, those are the precise symptoms that indicate that someone’s been driving under the influence in Burbank.

Other common symptoms include:

• Acting in an emotionally volatile manner;
• Telling contradictory stories;
• Failing field sobriety tests, like the stand on one leg test, the horizontal gaze test, the walk the line test, and the count backwards by 3s from a 100 test.

Police also use more “scientific” methods to determine whether you’re drivingDUI in Burbank. But even blood tests and breathalyzer tests are not fool-proof. Errors, mis-calibrations, misinterpretations, and misreporting can throw off results substantially.

Getting back to Morgan’s case…the trooper arrested him after finding that his blood alcohol concentration was 0.218%. That’s 2.5 times the Burbank DUI legal limit (as defined by CVC 23152(b)). Morgan was booked at Gretna Jail and released later after making a $1,150 bond.

When public figures, like professional football players, break Burbank DUI laws, they are often excoriated in the news. That’s understandable. Sports figures and celebrities are role models. When they break the law, it leaves a bad taste in the public’s mouth. Of course, there’s an incredibly diverse spectrum of DUI offenses, ranging from the obviously egregious and terrifying to the “innocent and just barely across the line.”

What to Do about Your DUI Defense in Burbank
First of all, no matter what happened, you’re entitled to a sound and fair defense. The team here at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers can help you effectively strategize to protect your rights and maximize your chances of a positive outcome. Attorney Kraut is by no means an apologist for DUI drivers. In fact, he worked for 14 years as a prosecutor, during which time he actively and passionately prosecuted crimes like DUI.

In fact, police officers often call on attorney Kraut at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers for help when their close family and friends need help with issues like Burbank DUI defense. Get in touch with the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers today. We can help you understand your rights and advocate for a successful outcome in your case.

November 13, 2013

DUI Glendale Drama: Carol Doda, Legendary Stripper, Busted in a DUI Crash

by Michael Kraut

Getting into a Glendale DUI accident is awful, whether you are a PA, a big film executive… or even a legendary stripper.

76-year-old Carol Doda – who falls into that third category – got arrested a few weeks ago, when she smashed her Acura into another vehicle on Jackson Street in Northern California, outside of 5A5 Steak Lounge.

Doda was a topless performer in the 1960’s at the Condor Club in North Beach — widely considered to be the “world’s first topless bar.” In one of her most famous acts, engineers lowered Doda topless onto a piano by guy wires, her 44D breasts available for the whole crowd to see. By the end of the 1960s, Doda also performed bottomless.

Her charm and silicon enhanced bustline made her the object of much conversation and heated debate. Today, she owns Champagne & Lace Lingerie Boutique on San Francisco’s Union Street.

Getting back to Doda’s DUI… according to police reports, the Condor Club star smelled like alcohol and confessed to drinking “a couple of drinks” at a local bar before getting behind the wheel. “Smelling like alcohol” is a hallmark symptom of DUI in Glendale (and elsewhere). Other common symptoms include bloodshot/glassy eyes, trouble following directions, sudden mood shifts, inability to understand or answer officer questions, and failure to perform to field sobriety tests, like the “stand on one leg,” “count backwards by 3’s,” and “finger to the nose” tests. Police wanted to give Doda a field sobriety test, but they feared that she might slip and get injured. At Mission Station, officers tried to administer DUI blood and breath tests; Doda could barely understand their questions!

(If you refuse a Glendale DUI breath test or blood test, your license automatically gets suspended.)

While celebrity DUI cases can be titillating – and certainly interesting to read about – they can also inform the way you think about your own Glendale DUI defense.

The truth is no one is above the law. Whether you are a famous stripper, a hugely influential politician, a sport star or a mega A list actress, the laws of human biology – and the laws of Southern California DUI – still apply to you.

The question is: what should you do now?

Whether you stand accused of a serious felony, pursuant to California Vehicle Code Section 23153, or you “just” got busted for weaving in and out of lanes on the 134, look to an experienced Glendale DUI defense lawyer at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers for smart, capable, and compassionate assistance. Mr. Kraut is a Harvard Law School educated former prosecutor, who won a 99+% success rate at jury trials while working as a prosecutor. He maintains strong relationships with colleagues throughout the Southern California criminal defense system.

November 4, 2013

Glendale DUI Quiz: Which of These Three DUI Stories are True, Which are False?

by Michael Kraut

Now for another Glendale DUI “true or false” quiz. Here’s how it works. You read the synopsis of six stories that may or may not have happened. Try to guess which three stories are made up and which actually occurred in real life.

Here we go:

1. Only in China: 10 employees shove their boss’s vehicle home, after he gets too inebriated to drive.

If you think punishments for Glendale DUI are harsh, they’re nothing compared to what the country of China metes out. Not only do convicted offenders get steep fines, but they also can spend six months or longer in jail for first misdemeanor DUI offenses. In any event… 10 Chinese workers and their boss partied too hard at a restaurant. Soon, no one was sober enough to drive. So the boss convinced his workers to push his car all the way home. The journey took 45 minutes!

2. Woman who did not like the results of her breathalyzer bites off cop’s thumb.

A woman in Louisiana was displeased with the results on her breathalyzer, which found her to be over 2.5 times the legal limit for Glendale DUI (0.08% BAC). She exhibited her displeasure by mangling the thumb of the arresting officer with her teeth. She later told authorities that she was “confused” and thought he had actually instructed her to bite him. Two years after her arrest, she was sadly institutionalized.

3. A woman arrested for DUI had 23 cats in the car with her!

A Meriden, Connecticut woman was pulled over on I-95, when an officer saw her veer suddenly across three lanes of traffic. During her subsequent field sobriety test, officers heard strange noises coming from the car. Upon inspection, they found 23 different cats in her car. Only 5 of them were in cages. The rest were freely moving through the vehicle. Obviously, the woman was arrested on animal cruelty charges. But the big kicker is that she blew a 0.23 on her breath test – the same as the number of cats in her vehicle!

4. Vladimir Putin often purposefully drove drunk to “sharpen his driving skills.”

Former Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, is famous for his rigorous self-discipline and eccentric forms of self-improvement. The ex-KGB op taught himself to drive under the influence “just in case” he ever needed that skill. The former Russian President even had advisers videotape his performances so he could improve his response times.

5. Man shows up for driving test while insanely under the influence.

A man in Romania had his license suspended for two years for driving under the influence. When he returned to the Romanian version of the DMV to retest, the organizers saw him stumbling around. Officers gave him an alcohol test, which he promptly failed.

6. Mother and her boyfriend force 13-year-old to drive, because both adults were DUI.

A 32-year-old woman and her boyfriend downed tons of wine at a local pizzeria. Since both the mom and her boyfriend had multiple DUIs on their record, they forced the woman’s 13-year-old son to drive them home. The young man became confused and disoriented and started driving in the wrong way. But his mom and her boyfriend were too busy making out in the back seat to pay any heed.

If you need help with your Glendale DUI case, connect with the team at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers today for an insightful, useful free consultation.

ANSWER KEY:

1 (true); 2 (false); 3 (false); 4 (false); 5 (true); 6 (true)