San Fernando DUI Defense Attorney

June 15, 2012

The Fallout of Justin Blackmon’s DUI: Urgent Lessons, If You’ve Been Booked for Burbank DUI

Getting arrested for DUI in Burbank (or anywhere else in California) can feel terrible.

But the legal and logistical “hangover” from the arrest can often feel worse. The sense of uncertainty — the diverse and severe threats hanging over your head — can make you wish that Marty McFly’s “flux capacitor” existed in real life, so you could go back in time and prevent your DUI from ever happening.

It’s possible that ex-Oklahoma State football player, Justin Blackmon, feels this way, too.

Last weekend, Blackmon — who had just been drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars — got busted for driving under the influence in Stillwater, Oklahoma, after police saw him driving nearly twice the speed limit and swerving into oncoming cars. The officer who pulled Blackmon over reported noticing an odor of alcohol. He said that Blackmon had watery, red eyes, and that he admitted to consuming alcohol prior to driving. If you were recently put through the paces of a Burbank DUI field sobriety test, you probably could relate to the helplessness he likely felt.

After getting arrested, Blackmon blew a staggering 0.24% BAC on a breathalyzer test – that’s thrice the limit for Southern California DUI, as defined by California Vehicle Code Section 23152(b). What’s worse, Blackmon reportedly argued with the police. Aside from his legal trouble, he now faces potential career trouble. Sports reports suggested that the Jaguars may now present with him with a lowball offer during his contract negotiations. An official with the Jaguars told a sports network that “[Blackmon is] going to have to fess up, take ownership of the situation, and lay out a course for dealing with this thing “head on” or potentially risk serious trouble with the Jags.”

In the wake of his misdemeanor DUI arrest, he was also asked to meet with the GM and head coach of the team.

The potential punishments for your Burbank DUI conviction – even if you did not aggravate the DUI by harassing an officer, hitting someone, hurting someone, or doing something else flagrant and, in retrospect, dumb – can be terrifying and scary. It’s not just that you can face jail time, even if this is your first DUI, and you did nothing else wrong.

It’s that the long-term consequences for your license, your freedom, your insurance rates, your reputation, and your career prospects can dog you for years.

While a Burbank criminal defense DUI attorney at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers (2600 West Olive Avenue, 5th Floor, Burbank, California 91505 Phone: (818) 563-9810) obviously cannot promise solutions, Attorney Kraut has a reputation for being able to deliver fantastic, aggressive, and empathetic service. As a former Deputy District Attorney (city prosecutor) and regular contributor to well-known media, like the Los Angeles Times, Fox News, KTLA News – Attorney Kraut has the knowledge and understanding to help you put up the stiffest possible defense.

June 1, 2012

Glendale DUI News Of The Weird: Did Driver Busted in Iowa Really Let Zebra and Parrot Drive His Truck?

by Michael Kraut

Occasionally, stories of DUI in Glendale and elsewhere get pretty weird.

Last week, the zany action took place not here at Southern California but rather in the generally staid Midwest – Dubuque, Iowa, to be more specific. 56-year old Jerald Reiter was arrested in the parking lot of a bar called “Dog House” (appropriate) after police saw him driving around with a parrot and a baby zebra in his truck.

Officers saw the circus-like situation and made Reiter go through the paces of a field sobriety test. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the FST came back positive, and he was arrested and booked. One report said that Reiter had a habit of taking the Macaw Parrot and baby Zebra into the bar – a situation which no doubt caused quite a scene in the Dog House. In any event, Reiter is claiming that he is innocent.

If you’ve been put through the paces of a field sobriety test in Glendale, Iowa, or anywhere else, you know it can be a scary experience, even if you are used to being around wild, loud animals — and even if you have enough courage and bombast to make something of a spectacle of yourself at a public bar.

Field sobriety tests are no fun. It’s not that the actual test themselves are that physically demanding – balancing tests, walk the line tests, stand on one leg tests, finger to nose tests, and other FSTs are pretty basic stuff. But the emotional aspect of doing these tasks is difficult to metabolize. You realize that one small incorrect movement could mean a Glendale DUI arrest, followed by penalties such as jail time, driver’s license suspension, compulsory alcohol school, probation, points on your license, skyrocketing car insurance premiums, and on and on and on.

You might not be consciously aware of all those potential problems when you’re in the midst of an FST, but you are almost certainly subconsciously aware of what’s going on.

It’s difficult to enumerate all the factors that can make a sobriety test “go wrong” – nervousness, general lack of coordination, the whims of an officer, a legitimate stumble, fatigue, medications that are legal to use but which might interfere with your performance, etc.

All that said, the past is past.

If you or someone you care about has been arrested for DUI in Glendale, you almost certainly need the services of a professional, highly competent, and respected Glendale DUI criminal defense attorney. Look to the team here at The Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers for guidance. Attorney Michael Kraut has a fantastic track record of helping defendants like you not only get results for their defense but also understand their rights, so they feel a degree of certainty and optimism throughout the whole process.

May 23, 2012

Got A Marijuana DUI in Long Beach? If So, Check Out What’s Happening in Colorado…

by Michael Kraut

If you’ve been arrested for driving under the influence of marijuana or alcohol in Burbank, you are probably wondering how you’ll be charged, whether you’ll go to jail, and what you can do, if anything, to battle back. The law regarding marijuana DUI is rapidly evolving. And it’s evolving not just here in California but also in other states.

Last week, Colorado lawmakers scuttled a bill that would have created a “BAC-like” level for marijuana DUI. Colorado house bill 12S-1005 was defeated by a razor thin margin; had it passed, then Colorado drivers who drove with a THC level of more than 5 nanograms per milliliter of blood could be charged and convicted of a serious crime. The District Attorney for Boulder County told lawmakers that 15% of the impaired driving cases he sees involve marijuana, and that the vast majority of these cases require a lot of work and time to manage.

The D.A. and others argued that there need to be some standards. Law enforcement officials – and drivers and citizens – need to know what’s allowed and what’s not allowed, so they can make safer decisions and more efficient law enforcement decisions.

Opponents of the measure argued that the 5 nanogram THC level is an unfair standard, for a variety of reasons:

• Some marijuana users have a higher tolerance to the drug than others – thus one could have a high THC level in the blood and still be perfectly sober and capable of driving;
• The chemical THC gets stored in the people’s fat cells, so there is a latency effect. You can be stone sober, but the residual marijuana in the fat cells could screw up your reading and lead to unfair convictions;
• There is no clear method by which marijuana users can test themselves to know whether they are sober enough to drive – like there is with (admittedly flawed) devices like Burbank DUI breathalyzer tests.

If you or someone you care about has been arrested and charged with a marijuana DUI in Burbank or elsewhere in the Southland, Southern California criminal defense attorney Michael Kraut of the Burbank’s Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers (2600 West Olive Avenue, 5th Floor, Burbank, California 91505 Phone: (818) 563-9810) can advise you and help you build a responsible, effective strategy to win back your freedom, protect your privileges, and move on with your life.

May 14, 2012

Driving Under the Influence in Burbank (or Oregon): Can “Lost” Star Find His Way Out of This?

by Michael Kraut

It’s more typical for celebrities to get arrested for driving under the influence in Burbank than to get tagged for DUI in some far-flung region like Oregon. But life can be peculiar. In the case of “Lost” actor Matthew Fox, that’s exactly what happened.

Last Friday, police pulled Fox over in Bend, OR, after he failed to signal and remain in his lane. The gossip site TMZ.com reports that Fox had been on his way to a fast food joint. Fortunately for Fox’s publicist, the mugshot machine at the local Oregon station was out of order, so there will not be a Nick Nolte or Mel Gibson style Los Angeles DUI celebrity mugshot to follow him around. Fox’s career also seems to be pretty solid: even though Lost is wrapped, he’s still getting work. He will be appearing in WORLD WAR Z, an epic zombie film produced by Brad Pitt.

Not too shabby.

Fox’s celebrity DUI is not his first – but he does have a small history of legal problems. Last August, he got into an altercation with a bus driver in Los Angeles; he allegedly punched her in the face. The bus driver then sued Fox, who countersued, saying that she hit him first. It sounds a bit like grade school – but with higher stakes for the winners and losers.

Celebrities and non-celebrities alike must obey the Burbank DUI laws. The most critical laws to know – whether you’ve personally been stopped for DUI, or someone you love or care about has been arrested – are California Vehicle Code 23152(a) and 23152(b). These govern the so-called “standard” Burbank misdemeanor DUIs. For instance, if you got stopped at a checkpoint on Victory Boulevard or pulled over on the 5 after a night partying downtown, the odds are that you will be facing a CVC 23152(a) or 23152(b) charge.

But if you cause injury to someone else, prosecutors have a special trick up their sleeves – they can elevate your charge and try to get you convicted of violating 23153(a) and/or 23153(b). You will have to look twice the difference between these two codes – thery’re just one number different! But the difference for you could be dramatic. Instead of a misdemeanor Burbank DUI, you could face a felony Burbank DUI. That means that, instead of facing just a few days or weeks in jail, you could face over a year behind bars… as well as the loss to the right to vote and massive “post-felony conviction” problems that can trail you for years, decades, or perhaps the rest of your life.

To get a handle on your challenges, and to make the most appropriate, strategic steps towards protecting your rights and eliminating uncertainty, connect with a tested Burbank DUI criminal defense attorney of the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers (2600 West Olive Avenue, 5th Floor, Burbank, California 91505 Phone: (818) 563-9810). Mr. Kraut served honorably as a prosecutor of Los Angeles DUI crimes for more than 14-years in the capacity of a Senior Deputy District Attorney. Since he has experience as both the criminal defense attorney and a prosecutor, he understands the criminal justice landscape from different perspectives.

May 7, 2012

Glendale DUI Ridiculousness – East Haven CT Women Crashes into Liquor Store for Possibly DUI

by Michael Kraut

The typical Glendale DUI stop is pretty tame by objective measures. An outside observer might, for instance, see you get stopped at a check point and pass through an array of field sobriety tests and then get cuffed and taken away. Not that much excitement.

But some examples of DUI are shocking, unusual, and packed with coincidences.

Last week, for instance, a 63-year old woman, Sharon Brooks, careened into a local liquor store (which she frequented!) and smashed the shop up in a major way. The accident occurred at 2:30 p.m. in East Haven at the Yankee Discount Liquor on Foxon Road. According to local reports, the car drove “halfway into the store” and caused not only property damage but also injury to a store worker that was significant enough to require his hospitalization.

As regular readers of this blog know, if you injure someone while driving DUI in Glendale, you can be subjected to charges under California Vehicle Code 23153(a) or 23153(b) – charges which carry significantly more “heft” than do standard misdemeanor Glendale DUI charges per CVC 23152 (a) or 23152(b).

In any event, Ms. Brooks said that she had “a cold” and had taken Nyquil prior to the accident. She also said that she just gotten her car detailed and that her foot slipped off the brake due to the slippery Armor All treatment. Brooks told the reporters “I never had the whole inside of my car cleaned before and this time I did so it would look really nice, and my foot slipped off the brake.”

Will Brooks’ various defenses hold water? That remains to be seen. But before you judge either way, understand that most charges of driving under the influence in Glendale (or wherever) often hold subtle secrets – evidence that can help/hurt both sides.

The point is that, if you have been charged with the crime like this, you really put yourself at a huge disadvantage if you fail to connect with a Glendale DUI defense attorney, such as the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers’ Michael Kraut (121 W Lexington Dr, Glendale, CA 91203 Phone: (818) 507-9123). A great attorney can explain your charges in context, help you construct an appropriate response, and deal with the nagging questions and concerns you have along the way. You can feel more focused, put up a stiff defense to the charges, and feel less anxiety about what’s going to happen to your car, your driver license, and your future.

April 25, 2012

Odds Are, Your Burbank DUI Arrest Didn’t Have This Much Drama (or At Least, Let’s Hope Not!)

by Michael Kraut

You recently got stopped for driving under the influence in Burbank – perhaps while thoughtlessly cruising on Olive after partying in Burbank Center.

Your life has been higgledy-piggledy ever since.

You are scared about possibly losing your license, serving jail time, paying fines and fees that you can barely afford, even though you live in the Valley and get a discounted rent (compared with what folks pay down in Westwood and Beverly Hills). You face a ton of drama.

Fortunately, your Burbank DUI drama almost certainly pales in comparison to an insane story out of the Washington D.C. area. Last Sunday morning, three men were arrested after a crazy police chase on the Germanna Highway. According to an NBC Washington News report, the mayhem all began at 2.30 in the morning, when a deputy stopped and approached a 1996 Ford Explorer. Instead of responding in an orderly fashion, the driver lurched the vehicle in reverse, slammed into the deputy’s car, and took off. The officer pulled his gun and demanded that the truck stop… but to no avail.

The Chase Is On
According to reports, the chase led across numerous local roads and highways, including Carrico Mills Road, James Madison Highway and beyond. Eventually, the Ford ran out of room on Auburn Road and drove into a ditch. But that wasn’t the end. David Lee Story, Jr., the 23-year-old driver, fled his vehicle. Police officers pursued him on foot and eventually wrangled him. He faces a monstrous battery of charges, including DUI, hit and run, and most disturbingly, felony assault of an officer. His two passengers in the Ford, Zuyan Zhang and Bradley Settle, were also arrested on charges of being drunk in public. They subsequently have been let go. Story Jr., on the other hand, is almost certain to face some seriously difficult months (perhaps years) ahead.

Story, Jr.’s story (sorry for the wordplay there) illustrates a very important truism about Burbank DUI arrests. Many drivers who get stopped engage in activities that needlessly and dangerously complicate their potential defenses and also put their own lives – and the lives of officers and innocents — at risk. If you have already been arrested for a complex Burbank DUI charge, you obviously cannot go back in time and undo the stupid things you did. You panicked, perhaps, and fled an accident scene or said dumb things to the police. So what now? What do you do?

The key is two-fold:

1. Recognize that the past is past: you cannot go back in time and erase your Burbank DUI.

And if you engaged in other dumb actions – such as a hit and run or an assault on a police officer – you also cannot change that. You can, however, respond to your present situation with compassion and wisdom. And that means working with a Beverly Hills DUI criminal defense attorney, like Michael Kraut of the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers (9107 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 450, Beverly Hills, California 90210 Phone: (310) 550-6935), and connecting with an attorney for insight into your problems as soon as possible.

2. You need to start making smarter decisions. As we’ve talked about in other blog posts, introspection and reflection can help you understand some of the problems that drove you to get in trouble with law in the first place.

It’s not as if there is nothing you can do about your current Burbank DUI. In fact, the actions that you take — whether you were arrested last night, last week, or last month — can help you improve your situation, fight for your rights, and rebuild. The first step is getting over the “activation energy hump” that’s blocking you from getting the help you need. Connect with Attorney Michael Kraut today, and let this seasoned former prosecutor guide your defense.

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 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.

February 29, 2012

Are Burbank DUI Breathalyzers Tests Based on Bad Science? Can That Really Be?

by Michael Kraut

If you failed a breathalyzer and got arrested for driving under the influence in Burbank or elsewhere in the Southland, odds are you are beating yourself up right now. You’re scrambling to figure out how your life will change once your California driver’s license is stripped away, you’re forced to pay massive fines and spiked insurance rates, and you’re compelled by law to serve jail time.

Before you continue dreaming up “worst case scenarios,” it may be worth it to take a breath (no pun intended) and learn a little bit about the potentially flawed and contaminated science behind Burbank DUI breathalyzer tests.

Many Questions, Surprisingly Feeble Rebuttals
1. The “lung volume” problem.

The volume of air that you expel from your lungs depends on a slate of factors. Are you a man or a woman? Did you take a big breath or a shallow one? Often, police officers will ask you to take a deep breath before a breathalyzer to yield a higher BAC rating.

2. The “diversity of metabolism” problem.

Every person’s biochemistry is different. We have different metabolisms. Our blood vessels dilate differently. We absorb alcohol at different rates in different situations. Our bronchial tubes are different — this fact, too, can impact the rate at which the alcohol permeates into the sample. Our “blood breath” ratio can vary widely, depending on temperature, genetics, and other factors. Most breathalyzers are rudimentary, simple tools — not great for dealing with the massive complexity of the human body.

3. Prominent researchers’ concerns are un-refuted.

Researchers like A.W. Jones, Kurt Dubowski and Michael Hlastala — widely recognized authorities in alcohol breath testing — have pointed out many flaws in the common methodologies. Dr. Kurt Dubowski, a decorated member of the National Safety Council’s Committee on Alcohol and Other Drugs (CAOD) and recipient of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences’ top honor, has been a vocal critic of breathalyzer thinking. In one paper, Dr. Dubowski argued that time curves for blood alcohol can vary widely: most people assume that alcohol gets absorbed within 60-90 minutes, but the science tells us this is just not true.

An Isolated Example of “Junk Science”?

As any Los Angeles DUI lawyer will take you, most Burbank DUI defendants automatically assume that breathalyzer results must be “true” or at least probably valid because these tests are so ubiquitous and popular. If they didn’t work, why do so many police still use them? If the science is so bad and ambiguous – as this blog article and many other sources have argued – then why has there not been more of an uproar?

The answer has to do, probably, with human groupthink. Indeed, there is evidence in a surprisingly diverse number of fields that junk science may be the norm. It could impact fields as far ranging as climate science, diet and nutrition science, and even particle physics.

Of course, you are probably less interested in saving the world than in figuring out what to do about your Burbank DUI. To that end, connect with a Burbank DUI criminal defense attorney at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers (2600 West Olive Avenue, 5th Floor, Burbank, California 91505 Phone: (818) 563-9810) to get a free and comprehensive consultation to find your best defense strategy.