Los Angeles DUI Attorney Blog

August 7, 2013

DUI in Los Angeles and Committing Acts of Animal Cruelty?

The act of driving DUI in Los Angeles is dangerous enough. But when you combine a DUI charge with animal cruelty, the situation is almost unspeakable.

People do bad things, for reasons both understandable and opaque. Bearing that in mind, let’s take a look at a recent Los Angeles Weekly story about a local man named Thomas Naylor, who was arrested on July 7th, after witnesses saw him drive DUI on Washington Boulevard. They say Naylor stopped his car, and took out a “severely ill” dog named Cruiser, and dumped the dog on the ground. Fortunately, people saw this happen, and they took the dog to get emergency veterinary care. The animal was ultimately stabilized.

The outcome was not as positive for Naylor, however.

Police tracked him down and arrested him. He was charged with DUI, driving without a license, and intimidating witnesses as well as animal cruelty. Naylor recently pled no contest to the animal cruelty charge as part of the plea deal, and he got the other charges dropped. Naylor still faces a hefty sentence, however — a full year in county jail along with three years of formal probation.

Plus, he is no longer allowed to own a pet, and he must pay for the poor pit bull’s hospital bills.

The story does have a silver lining: Cruiser managed to heal from his sickness and get adopted into a new home.

Do Los Angeles DUI drivers always receive such hefty punishments?

One year in county jail is a long time. You can earn nearly that amount of jail time just for a conviction of a misdemeanor DUI, per California Vehicle Code Section 23152(a) or 23152(b).

But punishment for Los Angeles DUI is not just limited to jail time.

Other kinds of nastiness may await you, even for a first time, non-injury misdemeanor DUI:

• The court may compel you to pay for and install an interlock ignition device (IID) in your vehicle. This machine will prevent you from operating your car or truck, unless you blow a sober breath into the machine;
• Mandatory alcohol education school;
• Spikes in your auto insurance rates (almost inevitable, if you’re convicted of DUI);
• A California driver’s license suspension;
• Stringent terms of probation;
• Serious court costs, fees, fines, etc.;
• Points on your license;
• Ratcheted punishments if/when you ever get arrested and convicted again for DUI or other crimes in Southern California.

So what can you do?

First and foremost, if you haven’t spoken with an experienced Southern California DUI defense attorney, connect with one ASAP. Michael Kraut is a Harvard Law School educated former prosecutor who has a wide range of experience with DUI cases. When he was a prosecutor, he earned a success rate in jury trials in excess of 99%. Connect with attorney Kraut now for help.

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 26, 2013

So You Got a Second DUI in Pasadena. At Least You’re Not a High Profile Public Official, Like Todd Huff from Baltimore…

by Michael Kraut

You recently got arrested for your second Pasadena DUI within 10 years.

You know the drill. You’re scared of what lies before you because you’ve been down this road before. You’re especially agitated, since you know that prosecutors like to hit recidivists (repeat offenders) hard to “teach them a lesson” and keep Southern California’s roads safe.

Prosecutors and judges around the country are especially tough on second offenders. Consider the sad situation of Baltimore County Councilman, Todd Huff, who was arrested back in February on York Road in Towson, after police stopped him and tested his BAC at 0.20%. (For reference: the legal limit in Baltimore and in Pasadena for DUI is 0.08% — that means that Huff tested at 2.5 times the legal limit!)

Circuit Judge Timothy Martin just handed down Huff’s sentence: one year suspended prison sentence with 26-weeks of alcohol school, as well as random urine monitoring.

Huff’s DUI defense attorney asked Judge Martin to give probation before judgment, but the judge was unimpressed. Why? Because Huff had been involved in a different DUI case 18 years prior. That DUI hit and run caused an injury, and the Councilman had had an alcohol restriction on his driver’s license.

Judge Martin said: “That old offense doesn’t disappear in my thought process.”

The judge also did not like the way that Huff behaved after his arrest.

(If you’ve been reading this Pasadena DUI blog, you will notice this common theme: often, when people get arrested or flagged down for DUI, they engage in dangerous, irrational, or aggressive behaviors that radically complicate their legal cases.)

In any event, Huff called his friend, Police Chief Jim Johnson, the night he was busted for DUI. Huff later told the judge that he just called his friend to apologize, but Judge Martin said that this argument was “not very persuasive… I hardly buy that.”

As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors dropped additional charges, such as headlight violations and negligent driving charge. The local prosecutor was happy with the sentence – saying that it “accomplished the goal of public safety.”

But if you’re facing a second Pasadena DUI charge, you’re probably concerned about the precedent. If the court could be so brutal with a high level councilman, what will happen in your case?

Truth be told, prosecutors can hit you with extra punishments as a recidivist – these include: increased jail time, longer time in alcohol school, and more intense probation terms, steeper fines and fees, and beyond.

Fortunately, you don’t have to struggle with constructing your defense on your own. Harvard Law School educated attorney Michael Kraut of the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers is standing by to give you the insight and strategic roadmap you need to get clarity and rebuild.

Connect with Mr. Kraut and his experienced, respected team today for help.

July 24, 2013

Beverly Hills DUI Showdown: “Teen Mom” Star Pleads Not Guilty to DUI… and Sells Sex Tape to Vivid for $1 Million!

by Michael Kraut

Hopefully, your Beverly Hills DUI story is less dramatic – and less publicly fraught – than Farrah Abraham’s.

The ex-star of MTV’s Teen Mom was pulled over in March for driving under the influence in Nebraska (as this blog and many other media sources reported). At the time, she blew a BAC of 0.147% — that’s nearly twice the legal limit for DUI in Beverly Hills of 0.08%, as outlined in California Vehicle Code Section 23152. In the weeks since, she has piled on an array of excuses. A recent TMZ article tallied them as such:

• People just kept feeding her drinks;
• She was “put in a bad situation” by her sister;
• She was only parking her car, not driving;
• She had a sober friend with her;
• She had a bad cough and couldn’t blow properly.

She pled not guilty to charges of disorderly conduct, refusal to go through a field sobriety test, and DUI. She is due in court on Mary 31st.

Farrah Abraham’s DUI drama is not her only “big news story” – she also inked a deal with Vivid Entertainment to sell a sex tape (or, say observers, a “faux sex tape”) for seven figures. It’s titled: “Farrah Superstar: Backdoor Teen Mom.”

Again, not every Beverly Hills DUI case is as dramatic, fraught, and tabloidy.

But Abraham’s saga has certainly sparked a lot of chatter in the blogosphere and beyond. Is it fair that a woman who behaves so irresponsibly fashion can get rewarded for her outlandish behavior to the tune of $1 million? That’s a question for the pundits and celebrity gossip columnists to debate. But it’s probably a more sophisticated moral debate than meets the eye.

In any event, if you’re someone who faces a DUI in Beverly Hills charge, you probably care less about the tabloid exploits of this teen mom than you do about your own freedom and potential defense strategies:

• Will you lose your license?
• Will you be sent to prison? If so, for how long?
• What can you do to thwart the prosecutor’s charges or at least plead them down to something more manageable and reasonable?

Look to Beverly Hills DUI defense attorney Michael Kraut of Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers for assistance with your urgent DUI matter. Mr. Kraut is a widely respected figure in the Los Angeles DUI defense community, and he’s also a Harvard Law School educated ex-prosecutor.

July 22, 2013

North Dakota Passes HB 1302, Ratcheting Up DUI Penalties. Implications for Burbank DUI Law?

by Michael Kraut

As someone who has been recently stopped and arrested for Burbank DUI at a checkpoint (or elsewhere), your mind is obviously focused on your urgent situation and not on national news involvements. But you should try to understand the context of your arrest on a broader level, since that context can inform your defense strategy and what measures you might take going forward to prevent another Burbank DUI arrest.

To that end, let’s mentally traverse a few thousand miles up to North Dakota, where local Governor Jack Dalrymple just signed into law House Bill 1302, which ratchets up penalties for DUI in ND. The new laws, which will go into effect on August 1, are far more draconian than the state’s old laws. Governor Dalrymple signed HB 1302 into law while surrounded by victims and family members of victims of DUI accidents. Here are key highlights:

• Anyone who blows a BAC of 0.16% or higher (even first time offenders!) will be hit with an aggravated DUI charge;
• If you test at 0.16% or more (twice the limit for DUI in Burbank, by the way), and you’re a recidivist, you must enroll in a 24/7 sobriety program and face an increase in mandatory jail time;
• Even first time offenders convicted of aggravated DUI must perform 10 hours of community service and serve two days behind bars;
• If you kill someone while driving under the influence, you could be charged with the new type of felony called a Class A felony. If convicted, you face a mandatory 3 year jail sentence;
• If you’ve been convicted of reckless or DUI driving in the past, and then you kill someone, you face a mandatory decade-long prison sentence;
• The law also creates a Class C felony charge (one to two year mandatory sentence) if you injure someone while driving DUI.

A local North Dakota state representative, Kim Koppelman, applauded the new stringent DUI laws: “We’ve sent a powerful message, supported by so many…this marks the culmination of a long, collaborative effort involving law enforcement officials, prosecutors, defense attorneys, the Governor, the Attorney General, corrections officials and the families of victims of drunk driving.”

Reflecting on what’s happened at North Dakota leads to a few observations:

• First of all, Burbank DUI laws (and DUI laws everywhere) are fluid. They change over time.
• Secondly, all the stakeholders in the DUI process – DUI defendants; lawyers; insurance companies; lawmakers; victims; and the general public – have a mutual interest in making our roads safer and ensuring a proper balance of punishment and rehabilitation.
• Given the ever-changing and complex nature of DUI law, you should strongly consider finding a talented, effective Burbank DUI defense attorney to help you with your case.

There is just too much information – changing too quickly – for you to be able to process and deal with your case on your own, if you want optimal results. Connect with Mr. Kraut of Burbank’s Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers for a thorough, strategic free consultation about your situation.

July 17, 2013

Sam Donaldson Pleads Not Guilty to DUI Charge. Los Angeles Pundits React…

by Michael Kraut

You might be surprised by the size of the list of “upright” celebrities, politicians, and public figures who’ve been arrested and convicted of driving under the influence in Los Angeles.

Veteran ABC News political correspondent and reporter, Sam Donaldson, for instance, got tagged for DUI last December in Delaware. Donaldson, by all accounts, seems to be the archetype of a sober headed, rational person. In addition to serving as a prominent ABC News correspondent during the Carter and Regan administrations, he also co-hosted a series of news programs with Diane Sawyer (“PrimeTime Live”) as well as a Sunday broadcast (“This Week with Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts”).

Nevertheless, Donaldson, like Nick Nolte and the ever-in-the-tabloids Lindsay Lohan, recently found himself blowing into a Los Angeles breathalyzer test, getting put into a cop car, and winding up behind bars.

In almost every respect, the 78-year-old defies the “stereotype” of someone arrested for DUI in Los Angeles. But there he was. (Okay, technically, he was arrested in Delaware. But still!).

He allegedly cooperated politely with officers, when they stopped him on Savannah Road on December 1st. Cops put him through the paces of a field sobriety test — probably similar to Los Angeles FSTs: e.g. finger to the nose test, stand on one leg test, walk the line test, horizontal gaze nystagmus test, etc.

On April 22nd, during his arraignment, he pled not guilty and asked for a non-jury trial. (He also faces a charge of improper lane change.) His DUI case will be heard on June 10th in Sussex.

As someone who’s recently been arrested for DUI, you likely feel pretty alone and isolated, even though your family has been understanding and empathetic. You never thought of yourself as the “type of person” who would get into trouble like this, and you’re scared and confused about what to do next.

Fortunately, former Los Angeles City prosecutor, Michael Kraut, and his adept team are standing by to help you come to terms with your charges and make an effective action plan to build a strong DUI defense. Connect with Harvard Law School educated Kraut and his team to get good help now.

July 15, 2013

Glendale DUI Sports Drama: ex-NBA Star, Kenny Anderson, Busted For DUI in Broward County

by Michael Kraut

The act of driving under the influence in Glendale (or wherever) is a fundamentally dangerous and potentially destructive act. It’s often the tip of a more disturbing iceberg.

But DUI defendants are a diverse lot.

Some suspects just make simple “dumb” errors of judgment and wind up sitting in the back seat of a police cruiser. Others struggle mightily for years with psychological demons, and these struggles manifest as asocial behavior, like driving under the influence of medication or drugs.

As someone who was recently arrested for Glendale DUI, you may fit into either category. It’s helpful to “drill down” to understand why you got in trouble, so that you can remedy not only the charges but also the root problem that drove you to accrue the charges.

If were just “being careless,” that’s one thing. But if you got a DUI after struggling for years with alcohol, depression, anxiety, and other life problems, you might need serious help to uncover what’s gone wrong and take steps to fix thing.

In light of that preamble, consider the sad case of 42-year-old Kenny Anderson, a former basketball star with the Boston Celtics and New Jersey Nets. He was arrested recently in Broward County, FL, when Pembroke Pines police saw him weaving in and out of lanes in the middle of the night.

Anderson had been arrested a year and half ago, in December 2011, in Miramar, when he crashed his Escalade SUV into a tree. He left the scene of that crash, and police had to call him to return to the scene. He apparently had an odor of alcohol on him and had bloodshot eyes – typical symptoms of a DUI in Glendale – but police did not charge him for driving under the influence, because he could have argued that he had consumed the alcohol at his house. Nevertheless, he got a misdemeanor charge for leaving the scene of an accident.

Anderson has seen serious ups and downs in his life.

At one point, pundits estimate that he had earned over $60 million through basketball. Today, he’s apparently nearly broke. He coaches basketball at a private school. He also had been married to Tami Roman, who starred in VH1’s reality series, Basketball Wives.

Who knows whether the 46-year-old can rebound from his DUI charges to clean up his life and find clarity and peace. Hopefully, he can do so.

The point is that you may also need effective guidance with your Glendale DUI charges. Connect with the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers for a complementary, confidential consultation. Attorney Kraut is a highly regarded ex-prosecutor (also Harvard Law School educated) who has helped many people in situations similar to yours fix their problems and move on.

July 12, 2013

Beverly Hills DUI Golf Cart Stories: Back in the News! (Unfortunately, This One Involved a Significant Injury…)

by Michael Kraut

Our Beverly Hills DUI blog has catalogued numerous instances of “golf cart DUI.”

At first blush, this crime sounds funny – like something out of a Caddyshack outtake. But it can actually be a quite dangerous situation.

Consider, for instance, a recent scary case out of Charlotte County, Florida, where deputies arrested Nickoles Chanza (22) for driving a golf cart while DUI and injuring somebody. Chanza and three friends were tooling around in a golf cart in the neighborhood of Harbour Heights on Sunnybrook Road, when the driver took a rapid left turn and onto Marine Terrace and tipped the cart. Nicholas McDaniel, 21, was not strapped in; he fell off and hit his head hard on the pavement.

Rescue workers took McDaniel to Lee Memorial Hospital, where he was listed in critical condition. Chanza, for his part, was arrested and hit with a DUI with serious bodily injury charge as well as improper operation of golf cart.

He was jailed on a $25,000 bond.

Not such a “funny situation” in this context.

And that leads us to a bigger point, which is that Beverly Hills DUIs often are “a lot less bad” than they could be:
• If you were under the influence — and you got stopped at a checkpoint — be thankful that you didn’t hurt anyone or do serious damage.
• If you did hurt someone, be thankful that you didn’t kill someone.
• And if you did kill someone – hopefully you didn’t, but if you did – be thankful that you didn’t kill more people or kill yourself.

The fact is that driving under the influence is fundamentally a dangerous act.

Fortunately, you can make progress towards not only “cleaning up” after your Beverly Hills DUI arrest but also with respect to improving your civic awareness.

Get in touch with ex-prosecutor and highly effective Beverly Hills DUI defense attorney, Michael Kraut, today to discuss your charges and develop an effective action plan going forward.

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 8, 2013

Talking to Your Boss and Coworkers about Your DUI in Glendale

by Michael Kraut

Your Glendale DUI arrest is not going to go over well with the folks at work, or at least so you’re afraid.

Perhaps you already were struggling at work — on the verge of getting demoted or even fired. Once your employer finds out about the arrest – particularly if you hurt someone while DUI in Glendale – you may lose your main source of income, another horrible blow after what has already been a traumatic experience.

Even if you keep your job, you might face backlash from your coworkers and even from clients. You want to avoid lying about your experience — and even if you wanted to lie, you also may not be able to, particularly if you were arrested in spectacular fashion or if you seriously hurt yourself or someone else while DUI in Glendale.

So what can you do?

First of all, give yourself credit just for reading this article and beginning the thinking process about how to address the issue. Yes, you made mistakes. Yes, you’re in trouble and you’re rightly worried about the “snowball effect” of your DUI – i.e., how many other areas of your life will the DUI arrest impact in a negative fashion?

But you might be surprised by what you can accomplish by being compassionate with yourself and being strategic about how you proceed. For instance, depending on your employer and the nature of your relationship with him or her, you could address the issue upfront and ask for guidance:

“Ms. Hankins, I’ve come to your office to tell you that I got arrested over the weekend for driving under the influence in Glendale on a misdemeanor charge.

I can’t really say much about my case right now, but I deeply regret what happened and I’m working with an experienced Glendale DUI criminal defense lawyer to figure out what to do. I want to tell you this upfront, because I value my role at this company and I didn’t want you hear the news from someone else. I am committed to getting the appropriate help and coming out of this experience stronger. I would obviously love to keep working for this company. Tell me what you think about how to go forward.”

Even if you think that your boss “won’t understand,” you might be surprised by what people are capable of, when you’re honest and forthcoming.

Of course, so you want to avoid putting the cart before the horse. First, get insight into your Glendale DUI case by connecting with the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers. After attending Harvard Law School, attorney Kraut spent nearly 15 years as a prosecutor for Los Angeles (working his way up to Senior Deputy District Attorney), before switching over to represent criminal defendants. He and his team can give you the resources and insights to manage not only work-related challenges (flowing from the DUI) but also other challenges, such as the imminent license suspension, jail time, mandatory alcohol school, mandated interlocking ignition device installation and so forth.