Los Angeles DUI Attorney Blog

April 10, 2013

Burbank DUI Sports News: Drake Britton, Star Pitcher for Red Sox, Socked with DUI in Fort Myers, Florida

Some disappointing Burbank DUI sports news: 23-year-old Drake Britton, a left-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, got arrested on March 2 for driving under the influence in Fort Myers, Florida.

According to the arrest report, Britton made multiple mistakes that may make his case legally fraught and complex. A USA Today article said a deputy saw him speeding and tried to pull over the promising young leftie. Britton then smashed his car into a curb and bulldozered over a fence. Eventually, he stopped and admitted to the deputy that he had been drinking.

The Red Sox later released a statement saying that the team took Britton’s arrest “very seriously, and it’s being addressed…Fortunately, in this case, there was no one injured, but the bottom line is that it’s a very serious issue with us.”

Britton paid a $2,250 bond.

Did we mention that he’d been traveling at 111 miles per hour? That’s pretty fast!

Unless you’re racing at NASCAR or tooling your vintage Mercedes around on the Autobahn, 111 mph is way, way too fast.

What’s really tragic – at least for Britton – is that he was just about to start in the Big Leagues, after years of struggling through the Minors. He got drafted way back in 2007 in the 23rd round. Even though he accrued a losing record with Boston’s Double-A Portland team (4-7 with a 3.2 ERA) last season, he had wrangled a chance to play in “The Show.”

So why did he drive under the influence and potentially wreck not only his car but also his career?

This question would obviously be impossible to answer unless you spent time understanding his personal situation and his psychology.

But it speaks to the diverse causes of Burbank DUI behavior and accidents.

According to cutting-edge psychological research, stressful situations – both negative AND positive – can drive us to self-medicate with alcohol or other substances.

Unless and until you address the root stress or frustration, then you may never fully get rehabilitated. You thus may be at an increased likelihood of getting arrested again, in the future, for driving under the influence in Burbank or elsewhere.

If that happens, your problems can mount.

A misdemeanor Burbank DUI is a serious charge, and it can result in the stripping of your California driver’s license for a year, jail time, court costs, fines, insurance spikes, tough probation terms, and worse. When you get arrested a second or third or even fourth time within a 10 year period for DUI in Southern California, prosecutors can pile on more and more charges, and your life can spiral downwards and out of control.

To get a grip on what’s caused your turmoil — what caused you to make less than strategic decisions about your driving or to say dumb things to the officer who pulled you over for DUI -– look to the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers. Michael Kraut is an experienced, compassionate, and thorough Burbank DUI defense attorney who has helped many people in similar situations protect their rights and get a fair second chance.

April 8, 2013

Involved in a Horrendous Glendale DUI Accident? Life Feels Out of Control?

by Michael Kraut

You got involved in a serious Glendale DUI accident.

You survived the event. Not everyone who drives DUI in Glendale does. But even if your event involved no injuries and/or vehicle damage, you’re frightened about your future, your freedom, your reputation, your license, whether or not you will have to serve jail time, and on and on.

You keep churning over different scenarios in your head, each one more worrisome than the last. All you keep thinking about is “how much worse will this all get?”

In the abstract, no one can really say.

However, you have the ability — right now, while you are reading this article — to begin to reverse your negative fortunes and to start to rebuild. That’s not intended as Pollyannaish, ridiculous type of positive thinking. If your life is deeply troubled on many levels, you cannot “turn it around” overnight or by reading one inspirational passage. In fact, the quest for that kind of quick “cure all” for life’s problems is often at the root of so much destruction.

That said, you CAN immediately start to make incremental changes to your habits, behaviors, and beliefs that, over long swaths of time, will lead you to better places.

Here’s a good analogy. Imagine that your “elevation above sea level” is equivalent to your “emotional state.” So if you stand in Death Valley or the Dead Sea, you are “emotionally low.” If you stand on top of a mountain, you are “emotionally joyful.”

When you’re standing in Death Valley, you can’t get to Mount Everest by making one giant leap. You make incremental progress towards higher land. Instead of trying to jump to the top of a mountain, you just start to walk in the direction of the peak and focus on the individual steps you need to take to get there.

Success in many different endeavors — including Glendale DUI defense — is a lot like that.

When you start to make “good” decisions, find the right mentors, and engage in purposeful and positive action, over time, your odds of success increase. They are obviously not guaranteed. You can do everything right and still wind up, by some kind of fluke, suffering a lot. Conversely, you can, by random chance, get lucky.

That’s why there is no such thing as a “cure all” — because life and nature are irreducibly random at some level. But you can start making a conscious choice to walk towards the proverbial mountain:

• To consult with an experienced Glendale DUI defense attorney, like Michael Kraut of the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers;
• To go in for counseling to find out what’s at the root of why your life is so stressful on so many levels;
• To start to be kinder and more compassionate with yourself;
• To improve your eating and exercise habits and take better care of your body;
• And so on.

Call Attorney Kraut to deal with your Glendale DUI charges now.

April 5, 2013

When Someone You Love Refuses to Get Help After a Long Beach DUI

by Michael Kraut

You are at your wits’ end and also very sad. Someone you love dearly recently got arrested for DUI in Long Beach, and that person — at least to you — seems to be living in denial.

As you are no doubt aware, after you get arrested and charged according to California Vehicle Code Section 23152 (a) or 23152 (b) — or per the injury DUI CVC Sections 23153 (a) or 23153 (b) — you need to act quickly, strategically, and decisively to protect your rights.

You may only have days, for instance, to contest the suspension of your California driver’s license. Evidence that could help exonerate the Long Beach DUI defendant — or at least make the prosecution’s case more challenging — may disappear or be forgotten.

So you need to get “on it” quickly. But the person whom you love — who faces the charges — is acting maddeningly nonchalant. Perhaps he or she has yet even to consult with a Long Beach DUI defense lawyer or even begin researching legal options.

You want to help him, but there is only so much control that you can exert over a full-grown adult. Here are some insights to help you make progress:

#1. Strive to empathize with the Long Beach DUI defendant.

Imagine if you had been arrested. No doubt, you’d feel scared, overwhelmed, angry both outwardly and inwardly, and a lot of other feelings, none of them good. Whenever you’d dwell on the arrest, those feelings would come up. So it makes psychological sense (at least) to just pretend like things aren’t really happening.

#2. The person may have a challenging relationship with you.

For instance, maybe you’re the parent of a UCLA or USC student who got arrested for DUI in Los Angeles. That student might worry that you’ll stop paying tuition or take away the car. The person may not even be willing to listen to your plea because of these fears.

#3. You cannot be sure exactly what’s going on.

Scientists have done plenty of research into what motivates us (and what demotivates us) from taking empowering actions. But each situation is different. One defendant might refuse to get help because he’s in denial. Another may refuse to get help simply because she doesn’t realize the nature of her legal bind.

This puts you in a difficult situation. You want to help, but you are not exactly sure how to approach the person or otherwise assist.

Above all else, strive for compassion. Be compassionate with the person. Be compassionate with yourself. You’re going through a lot as well, even though you won’t face jail time or other punishments. Appreciate that you have the kindness and sense of responsibility to offer help. Reflect on the Serenity Prayer.

And consider connecting with Michael Kraut of the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers, directly, for help with your Long Beach DUI defense. Attorney Kraut can suggest solutions for you and your family.

April 3, 2013

Finding Empowerment After Your Burbank DUI

by Michael Kraut

Your recent Burbank DUI arrest has proven to you, beyond all doubt, one thing: namely, that you are powerless over the effects of alcohol.

Or at least so you believe.

Narcotics, alcohol, and other substances can cause otherwise rational, compassionate, good citizens to engage in all sorts of wild and destructive behavior. The Jeckyl and Hyde nature of addiction has led to the creation of many myths about what alcoholism really is, what addiction is, what causes these problems, and what potentially has the chance to treat them.

According to Dr. Lance Dodes, a Harvard University addiction specialist, some of the ways in which we think about alcoholism (and thus Burbank DUI treatment) may be misguided. For instance, Dr. Dodes argues that the nearly universal advice given to addicts — to admit that you are “powerless” over alcohol — may do more harm than good. Dr. Dodes’s alternative thesis about addiction argues that addictive/compulsive acts are often attempts to reassert autonomy during bouts of helplessness.

For instance, addicts often feel better the moment they make the decision to have a drink or engage in other types of impulsive behavior — as opposed to when a particular substance hits their bloodstream.

The decision itself seems to have the calming effect. This implies that root cause is psychological as opposed to physiological.

Likewise, Dr. Dodes sites the fact that the soldiers in the Vietnam War had extremely high heroin abuse rates. But when these soldiers came back home, the vast majority of them managed to quit heroin easily and simply — an extremely low recidivism rate that could not be duplicated in domestic patient populations.

This suggests that something about the war itself was driving the men to use heroin — again, implicating psychological as opposed to physiological impulses.

A Burbank DUI defendant might do well at least consider this alternative perspective.

What drives you to make bad decisions? What are the thoughts that run through your mind prior to your making the decision, for instance, to take a drink or smoke marijuana or engage in other compulsive behavior? Are they thoughts along the lines of “I hate my job, I’m frustrated with my marriage, I’m angry because some guy cut me off in traffic, etc.”?

If so, perhaps you might find it resourceful to reflect on those potential triggers and find ways to empower yourself differently.

Of course, on the practical side, you also need to deal with your Los Angeles DUI defense. Connect with the team here at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers for attentive, thorough, and decisive help with your Burbank DUI defense.

April 1, 2013

Burbank DUI Sports News: David Diehl of the New York Giants Pleads Guilty to DUI Charges, Avoids Jail…

by Michael Kraut

Breaking Burbank DUI sports news — David Diehl, an offensive lineman for the New York Giants, has pled guilty to DUI charges, stemming from a June 2012 accident.

In early 2012, Diehl had been walking around with a shiny new Super Bowl championship ring on his hand. In early 2013, he’ll get to wear a SCRAM bracelet to complement that ring — a considerable step down, in terms of glory and pride.

According to the New York D.A., Diehl crashed his BMW after watching a soccer game at a bar. Police used a breath test to peg him at 0.182% BAC. (For those of you keeping score, that’s over 200% the Burbank DUI legal limit of 0.08%, as defined by California Vehicle Code Section 23152 (b)).

Per the guilty plea, Diehl will get to avoid jail time, provided that he stay out of trouble. He’ll have to dole out some cash — $300 in fines along with $1200 in restitution. And the special SCRAM bracelet will measure his alcohol consumption. Assuming he passes his six-month discharge program with flying colors — and passes through the NFL’s special substance abuse treatment program — his charges will be dismissed.

The 32-year old defensive lineman is obviously lucky to be alive. Many other people who get into Burbank DUI crashes (or crashes anywhere) end up dead or seriously injured.

Whether you are a sports celebrity, politician, or “working Joe,” the law entitles you to a thorough and sound Burbank DUI defense.

But how do you contrive and execute such a defense?

The answer is actually quite counterintuitive.

For instance, you might be under the impression that, if you blew a positive for DUI on a breath test, then you’re “stuck” with that positive reading. But depending on your circumstances, you may be able to challenge that number.

For instance, perhaps you’re on a ketogenic diet or you have diabetes. If so, chemicals on your breath may have interfered with the breathalyzer and led you to blow a “false positive.” Likewise, calibration errors, officer interpretation errors and other problems occur more commonly than most defendants (and even most police officers) appreciate.

For help unlocking the potential of your defense, connect today with the team here at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers. Our experienced Burbank DUI defense team can help you plan a smart course of action and deal with your charges strategically.

March 25, 2013

Not a Good Adventure for Bonaventura: Constable Charged With DUI… Implications for Your Los Angeles DUI Defense?

by Michael Kraut

As someone who was recently arrested and charged with driving under the influence in Los Angeles, you’re feeling pretty sheepish and scared and regretful.

You wish you had use more common sense — handed the keys to a friend or associate or just cabbed it home. As much as you want to take responsibility for events — and speak with an experienced Los Angeles DUI attorney, ASAP — appreciate that you’re not the first person who’s ever been in this compromised position.

Plenty of other, normally law abiding folks get into DUI trouble in Los Angeles all the time. In fact, if you’ve been following our blog for any length of time, you’ve read endless accounts of celebrities, sport stars, politicians, and even legislators who’ve been busted for DUI.

Even police officers get in trouble for the crime!

Case in point. Consider the sad story of 50-year old John M. Bonaventura, the head of the Constable’s Office for Las Vegas Township. A Nevada highway trooper pulled over Bonaventura on US 95 near Boulder Highway, after he saw the “official constable vehicle” driving pell-mell all over the freeway.

Bonaventura’s speeding and DUI charges are actually just the tip of the iceberg.

Commissioners for Clark County (the home of Las Vegas — a.k.a. the “City of Sin”) are about ready to abolish the entire Constable’s office, which employs over 20 deputies. These officials perform work ranging from serving paperwork to evicting people. According to a local paper, the Las Vegas Review Journal, critics have hammered the Constable’s office for “creative accounting practices that circumvent county oversight, as well as for filming a profanity-laced pilot for a reality television show.” (quote from an AP article)

Perhaps the deputies were jealous of the modern day Keystone Cops on Reno 911. Maybe they didn’t realize that that show is actually a fictional comedy.

On a more serious note, as a Los Angeles DUI defendant, you may or may not have been negatively affected by police errors or bad police behavior. The vast majority of officers in Los Angeles County are hardworking and fair. Yet you should pull out all the stops during your Los Angeles DUI defense — investigate any angle that could lead to a reduction in your sentence or a dismissal of the charges.

Of course, this is no small task, even for experienced attorneys. Fortunately, you can turn to former city prosecutor Michael Kraut and his team at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers in Los Angeles for adept, thorough, and insightful guidance on your case.

Mr. Kraut has a special vantage on L.A. DUI cases because he served for nearly a decade and a half as a prosecutor. He maintains good relationships with his old prosecutorial colleagues as well as with other key people in the system.

March 22, 2013

Fatal Malibu DUI Disaster: Woman Kills Tow Truck Driver and Leaves the Scene…

by Michael Kraut

A woman faces felony hit and run charges for a fatal Malibu DUI crash that took the life of 40-year old tow truck driver.

According to local reports from KABC, the woman hit the driver, who was rendering aid to a stranded vehicle. She then fled the scene. She made it two miles before she smashed into a parked car by the Malibu pier.

Police took her to the hospital, and they later arrested her for DUI in Malibu as well as felony hit and run. The tow truck driver died at the scene. He had been working for Platinum Tow, a company based in Westlake Village. Police closed the PCH all night to deal with the aftermath of the accident. They reopened it around 5 a.m. the next morning.

If you or someone you love was recently arrested for similar crime — e.g. driving under the influence in Malibu or DUI elsewhere in Los Angeles — hopefully your situation was less tragic.

But even if you “only” face a misdemeanor DUI charge, you can still wind up with a substantial jail sentence as well as strict probation terms, mandatory alcohol education classes, a long-term California driver’s license suspension, fines and fees and court costs, and sundry other punishments. On top of that, you could also face the indirect consequences of these punishments, including jacked up insurance rates, trouble getting to work or school, ostracism and judgment from friends and family, and on and on.

And obviously your legal challenges can be much harder if you left the scene of the accident (committed a hit and run) or hurt someone in the crash. For instance, you might face a felony DUI in Malibu charge, pursuant to California Vehicle Code Section 23153. (Misdemeanor events are generally pursued according to a separate CVC statute, 23152.)

So where does this leave you?

First of all, take a break and give yourself a little compassion.

You’ve been through a tremendous amount of pain and stress. You obviously didn’t want to get in trouble or to hurt anyone. Even if you were involved in a serious wreck, you can begin today to set yourself on a path towards rehabilitation and cleaning up your life.

The team here at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers can help you make decisive, smart, and strategic plans to build your Malibu DUI defense.

Attorney Kraut is a former city prosecutor, who spent 14-plus years in the DA’s office and who rose to the position of Senior Deputy District Attorney. He is renowned in the Southern California legal community for his excellent work, aggressive service, and ethical, thorough treatment of cases.

March 20, 2013

Hollywood DUI Disaster for American Idol Winner’s Family — Phillip Phillips’ Mom Busted in Albany, Georgia

by Michael Kraut

If you recently got arrested for drug DUI in Hollywood or elsewhere in the Southland, you have plenty of company.

Often, DUI events represent the tip of the iceberg — the manifestation of longer brewing and ultimately very tragic situations.

Consider, in that context, the recent stop and arrest of Cheryl Phillips, mother of singer Phillip Phillips, who won Season 11 of American Idol. Phillip Phillips has been very public about his troubled relationship with his family. Last November, his parents needed financial help. But the newly crowned American Idol winner refused to pitch in. So the parents had to sell their pawn shop.

March 18, 2013

Glendale DUI News Update — South Florida’s “Party Princess” Hit With DUI Manslaughter Charge in Death of Chef

by Michael Kraut

Hopefully your Glendale DUI accident and/or arrest was not nearly as horrendous as was 20-year-old Karlie Tomica’s.

The South Beach, Florida bartender recently pled not guilty to DUI manslaughter charges stemming from the hit-and-run death of Stefano Riccioletti, a chef at the local Shore Club. The Circuit Judge in the case set bail for the so-called “Party Princess” (her Twitter handle) at $77,000 because of the brutal facts about the fatal crash.

Local police from Miami Beach allege that Tomica sped into Riccioletti, while he was walking to work early morning January 28. The following description is pretty graphic, so feel free to skip to the subsequent paragraph if you don’t want to have to read these difficult words: “the impact was so violent that her car was severely damaged, covered in skull fragments and brain matter… A nearby street barricade was painted in blood… Tomica refused to stop, and started driving several miles to her 17th floor condo, even as a good Samaritan followed and tried to get her to stop.”

Ultimately, the police caught up with her and took her to the station, where they gave her a toxicology test. They found that she had a staggeringly high BAC of 0.225%. For you record keepers, that’s nearly three times the legal limit for driving under the influence in Glendale. Meanwhile, they also found she had stolen another woman’s driver’s license (likely to use to buy the alcohol).

It’s really a very sad situation. Not only will this woman now face a DUI manslaughter charge, but she will also face many ancillary charges. It goes to show that DUI drivers often engage in not just one but multiple acts of incompetence or bad decision making — creating a kind of a “bad move” snowball effect.

It would have been bad enough if she just hit and killed the chef while DUI. But she insisted on driving home after the fact, so now she will be saddled with an additional hit-and-run charge.

This “making a bad situation worse” behavior does NOT indicate a fundamental lack of moral fortitude. It just suggests that one bad decision can trigger multiple bad decisions. The famous rock group, Pink Floyd, put it best in their song “A Momentary Lapse of Reason”: “one slip, and down the hole you fall. It seems to take no time at all. A momentary lapse of reason that binds a life to life. It’s a small regret, and we won’t forget, there’ll be no sleep in here tonight.”

Of course, after your momentary slip (or slips) of reason, you still need and deserve a solid defense. Connect with the Glendale DUI defense lawyer Michael Kraut now for a free consultation. Attorney Kraut is a Harvard Law School educated ex-prosecutor who has plenty of experience and tremendous compassion for DUI defendants.

March 15, 2013

Did You Try to Bribe Your Way Out of Your Los Angeles DUI? Hopefully Not! Look What Happened to This 24-Year Old…

by Michael Kraut

When you got pulled over on suspicion of driving under the influence in Long Beach, you felt terrible and scared.

You can be forgiven if you allowed yourself to envision doing “something, anything” to escape the charges, the humiliation, and the punishment. But there is a difference between thinking such thoughts (e.g. “if I hightail it out of here, I could reach the Mexico border by sunrise!”) and actually ACTING on them.

Unfortunately, sometimes when we’re extremely intoxicated or nervous, we can act impulsively on not-so-smart thoughts.

Consider, for instance, the following recent New York City DUI debacle. A 24-year old resident slammed his car into a mailbox in Lower Southampton. Witnesses saw the vehicle driving without its lights on in the middle of the night. When police finally pulled the young man over, he was “slumped in the seat and looked upset when he saw the authorities who stopped him.” The police tried to put him through the paces of a field sobriety test, but “he failed them all” and didn’t even “lift his feet off the ground when [the police] asked him to.”

After police arrested the man and took him into custody, he still failed to cooperate.

He later blew a 0.18% on a breath test (well over two times the legal limit for Long Beach DUI) and agreed to do a blood test at St. Mary Medical Center. But then he recanted and decided not to give blood. Finally, he was thrown back into police vehicle and taken to a station in Lower Southampton, where he shouted at a police officer and even bribed him with $1,000 to let him go.

Ultimately, police showered him with a litany of charges, including hit and run, property damage, DUI and refusal. His parents later picked him up at the station.

When you read a story like this, you probably feel some compassion. Unfortunately, many Long Beach DUI defendants do not get nearly enough empathy from society, from prosecutors, from bosses and colleagues, and even from spouses and family members.

You’ve been through a tremendous amount. You’d really like someone to listen to your concerns and help you develop a battle plan to fight back against the Long Beach DUI charges.

Look to the experienced team here at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers to help you get a handle on your Long Beach DUI defense, and to move beyond this difficult and unexpected chapter in your life.