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Let’s face it: The Burbank DUI process is quite technical and scary. Burbank-DUI-can-happen-anywhere.jpg

But if you simply study the law, you will not get a sense of how difficult it can be to face Burbank DUI charges. For instance, you might read a story in the news about a guy who gets pulled over for driving 0.14% near Victory Boulevard and how 0.14% BAC is nearly twice the Southern California legal limit, as defined by Southern California Vehicle Code Section 23152(b), and blah blah blah.

But what do those details really tell you? Not too much. They are dry and clinical.

Often, deep sadness, frustration, and anxiety underlie Burbank DUI incidences. For instance, consider one of last week’s biggest tabloid stories: Matthew Barnaby, a former NHL pro with the Buffalo Sabres, was fired from his job as an ESPN analyst after being arrested for driving under the influence in New York. Allegedly, he drove his Porsche Cayenne on the wrong side of the road – while missing a front tire, no less!

ESPN terminated his contract, effective immediately, and Barnaby might also face deportation to Canada, in part because of domestic charges stemming from a previous arrest. Earlier in the year, per the Buffalo News, Barnaby kicked down the garage door at the house of his estranged wife. Per an arrangement with the court, Barnaby agreed to 500 hours of community service and vowed to stay out of trouble.

Well, driving on the wrong side of the road while Burbank DUI with a car missing a front tire is basically the definition of trouble.

Without the backstory here – without knowing that Barnaby had struggled with domestic issues – his DUI would seem out of context and, in essence, random.

Once you understand a little bit about his history, the charges, at least superficially, seem to make more sense. Rarely are human beings motivated by pure caprice when they break the law. Often, there is an underlying factor – or factors – that cause or contribute to the situation.

To build your best defense, therefore, you may find it beneficial to speak with Burbank DUI criminal defense Attorney Michael Kraut of the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers (2600 West Olive Avenue, 5th Floor, Burbank, California 91505 Phone: (818) 563-9810). Mr. Kraut is a former Deputy DA (14+ years) and respected legal expert on the subject of DUI. Attorney Kraut can help you understand why you got in trouble in the first place and build the best, most strategic case possible.

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How many Long Beach DUI convictions should a person be allowed to rack up before that person is removed permanently from society? long-beach-dui-multiple-arrests.jpeg

This is not a purely theoretical question. In fact, a Bloomingdale, Indiana man, 49-year-old William Dietrich, was sentenced last Monday with two decades behind bars for his 11th DUI conviction since 1982. A local newspaper summarized the checkered, disturbing history of the defendant: “In addition to the April charge, Dietrich received DUIs in McLean County in 1982, 1985, twice in 1986, 1989, 1991, 2000, 2002 and 2005. He also was cited for the offense in 2007…a conviction that resulted in an 8-year prison sentence.” Dietrich was released on parole in September 2010 on that charge, but returned to prison for violating the terms of his release after the 2011 charges.

Dietrich’s odyssey is not typical for a Long Beach DUI defendant. But his escalating punishments – and the reasons behind those punishments – serve as a powerful cautionary tale. Consider what Indiana attorney Jane Foster said about Dietrich’s situation: “[The State of Indiana] has made repeated efforts to stop and change this defendant’s behavior through fines, jail, prison, treatment, probation, parole and revocations of his license. Since he has refused to comply with the law and to stop driving under the influence, our office wanted him removed from society.”

California also has an escalating system of punishments. Any Long Beach DUI conviction is a blemish, and you could face jail time even for just one DUI event – particularly if you caused injury to someone else or engaged in other crimes while DUI, such as hit and run, assault, etc. If you get three or more Long Beach DUI convictions within a 10-year span, prosecutors might be able to charge with you a felony instead of a simple misdemeanor. This could be in addition to escalating penalties – hiking up your fines and fees, increasing the amount of mandatory alcohol school and the strictness of your probation, etc.

Dietrich’s odyssey raises questions about what can be done to stop and, ideally, treat seriously recidivist Long Beach DUI drivers. Why did treatment and rehab fail for him? Is Dietrich just a rotten apple? Or did the problems stem from ineffective punishment and/or treatment? All of the above? None of the above? Did he have brain damage or a mental illness? Without more information about his case, it’s impossible to judge.

And that, in essence, is the point.

If you or someone you care about has been arrested more than once for a Long Beach DUI, you need to drill down to the root of your problem. An experienced, compassionate Long Beach DUI criminal defense attorney at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers (444 West Ocean, Suite 800 Long Beach, California 90802 Phone: (562) 531-7454) can help you come to terms with your charges and what to do about them. Attorney Michael Kraut is a well-known and well-respected former prosecutor.

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If you or someone you care about has recently been pulled over and arrested for driving under the influence in Burbank or elsewhere in Southern California, you are likely focused on potential penalties. cost-of-burbank-dui.jpg

The punishments will depend on a vast and diverse constellation of factors. In this blog post, we will discuss some of the “level one” penalties you might expect. Southern California DUI penalties transcend simple issues of jail time, fees, and inconvenience. Unless you identify the root cause of your trouble and work with a responsible Burbank DUI criminal defense attorney, your crisis may only grow bigger.

But enough gloom and doom. Let’s get down to brass tacks. If you are a first time Burbank DUI offender and you get charged with a misdemeanor, the court can still impose a fearsome array of penalties. You may be held for 48 hours in custody with the possibility of up to six months behind bars. Your maximize fine: $1,000… on top of court costs, which can, in and of themselves, be way more than $1,000.

Your CA drivers license can be suspended for a full year. The court can impose six weeks (up to nine months) of alcohol school. You might face probation, both formal and informal, and, as of July 1, 2010, you may be forced to blow into a device called an interlock ignition device every single time you want to drive your car. Basically, the IID stops you from driving your car if you have alcohol on your breath.

The penalties for second-time, third-time, and fourth-time DUI offenders within 10 years ratchet up substantially. Again, the degree to which they will be elevated depends on the nature of the offense and the circumstances. For instance, if you just collect two, non-injury misdemeanor DUIs within an eight-year period, you may be able to battle back pretty effectively. On the other hand, if you hurt someone while driving DUI in Burbank, you may be subject to extra penalties under CVC 23153 (a) and 23153 (b). If you prove to be a recidivist offender, you could be forced to spend up to a year in jail, or your misdemeanor could be even be converted to a felony, and you could be forced to spend even longer behind bars.

You don’t need a blog post to make these penalties sound foreboding and scary.

The threat of jail time alone is enough to terrify most ordinary Angelenos. The threat of fines and court costs is disheartening and terrifying in its own right, particularly if you have a mortgage to pay, creditors nipping at your heels, kids in school, etc. The threat of having your license suspended is obviously horrifying. In Los Angeles, we depend on our cars to go to work, meet our obligations, and go grocery shopping. The threat of probation is annoying at best and a massive inconvenience at worst. Going to alcohol school is also inconvenient, even if it can be useful.

For help piecing together your best Burbank DUI defense, connect with attorney Michael Kraut at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers (2600 West Olive Avenue, 5th Floor, Burbank, California 91505 Phone: (818) 563-9810). Connect with this former prosecutor today to begin your journey to protect yourself against these frustrating and scary penalties.

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Celebrities often do awful, and awfully crazy, things. In 2011, we saw some crazy and scary Beverly Hills DUI stories. In this post, we will review four of the year’s most scandalous celebrity moments.lindsay-lohan-beverly-hills-dui.jpg

1. Lindsay Lohan – Still Reeling from Her 2007 Los Angeles DUI
Unless you were living under a rock, you tuned into the Lindsay Lohan’s seemingly never-ending Los Angeles DUI probation violation saga. Ms. Lohan’s 2011 got off to a bad start on January 22, when she allegedly pilfered a necklace worth $2,500 from a store in Venice. She pleaded not guilty to the resultant felony grand theft charge, but the karmic dye had been cast for Ms. Lohan in 2011, and she proceeded to make headline after headline: she violated her probation, got sentenced, made tearful appeals, etc. Then she made headlines once again by agreeing to pose nude in Playboy for nearly $1 million. Her father, meanwhile, got arrested twice in one week for domestic violence charges.

Altogether, not a great scene for the Lohans in 2011.

2. Christina Aguilera – Watches as Her Boyfriend Gets Tagged for DUI
2011 was not a great year for pop princesses, was it?

On March 1, Christina Aguilera was arrested for public intoxication, while her boyfriend was tagged for DUI. Aguilera had come off of a rough 2010, but she rebounded magnificently in the latter half of 2011, thanks in part to her widely successful TV vehicle, The Voice. It goes to show that Beverly Hills DUI does not commit you to certain and permanent debauchery
3. Estella Warren’s Hit and Run DUI (with a Bit of Cop Kicking Thrown in There As Well)

Estella Warren, an actress in Planet of the Apes, was arrested for DUI back in May. She allegedly resisted arrest and kicked the cop who tried to handcuff her. Warren smashed her Prius into three separate cars and then drove away from the scene. All told, she got hit with charges of assault, felony escape, hit and run, and DUI.

4. Charlie Sheen – Not Busted for Beverly Hills DUI, but Might As Well Have Been
2011 was the year of Charlie Sheen’s epic, magnificent public meltdown. The year started out crazy, when Sheen was arrested after trashing his Las Vegas hotel room and partying with an adult film star. Charlie thus began a headline-grabbing rampage that included getting fired from Two and a Half Men after calling his boss “a contaminated maggot” among other things and then waxing similarly poetic (and vitriolic) about everyone from his ex-wife to Alcoholics Anonymous to Thomas Jefferson.

If you were arrested for driving under the influence in Beverly Hills in 2011, connect with a respected, highly successful Beverly Hills DUI criminal defense attorney at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers (9107 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 450, Beverly Hills, California 90210 Phone: (310) 550-6935). Attorney Michael Kraut is a former prosecutor with a terrific record at jury trials.

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Amid all the sordid (and often funny) stories of celebrity Burbank DUI, let’s take time to reflect on some of the sobering, tragic events of the past year. After all, it’s one thing to get lost in the stories about Demi and Ashton’s breakup, the rise and fall of GOP hopefuls like Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann, the discovery of earth-like planets just a few light years away, etc. But if we ever hope to make progress fighting Burbank DUI and making our roads safer, it behooves us to examine the scary and often fatal consequences of inappropriate relationships with alcohol.amy-winehouse-DUI-lessons.jpg

Pop singer Amy Winehouse died July 23, after a long and very public battle with alcoholism and substance abuse. Winehouse won fame and admiration, thanks to her raw, sultry voice; her songs contain brutally honest confessions about her battles with her demons and voice defiant posture towards her addiction treatment. In her most famous song, “Rehab,” she sings “they tried to make me go to rehab: I said no, no, no.”

The authenticity of her voice and lyrics – the rawness and realness of her personal struggles with addiction – captured international attention because they made Winehouse a real, sympathetic, and dynamic character. These battles ring true for so many of us – particularly for those of us who have ever been arrested for driving under the influence in Burbank or elsewhere in the Southland.

Many of us understand firsthand how difficult it can be to face up to the root causes of our Burbank DUIs, and many of us are also plenty skeptical about typical rehabilitation programs, some of which have pretty abysmal track records. Some studies suggest, for instance, that Alcoholics Anonymous’ success rate may be as little as 5% over the long term.

What Winehouse’s ordeal teaches us is that we need to get help before our Burbank DUI problems metastasize and cause even more damage. Your journey begins with getting the right help at the right time. Attorney Michael Kraut of Burbank’s Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers (2600 West Olive Avenue, 5th Floor, Burbank, California 91505 Phone: (818) 563-9810) can help you uncover not only the best strategy for your defense but also the best strategy for rebuilding your life and solving the deeper problems that got you into legal trouble in the first place. Mr. Kraut is an experienced Burbank DUI criminal defense attorney – a former prosecutor with a Harvard Law School education – and he can help you solve your problems.

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Americans love glamour and beauty, and we are fascinated by stories of “celebrities gone wrong.” Hence, our obsession with Beverly Hills DUI stories and news events involving pop princesses, celebutantes, fashionistas, powerful politicians, and others who get into trouble with the law. Sometimes, these stories are bittersweet; sometimes they are tragic, sometimes they are purely humorous. But we can learn a lot more from Beverly Hills DUI defendants than the tabloids (and even the mainstream news media) are willing to teach us.Rima-Fakih-DUI.jpg

Take the recent arrest of 2010 Miss USA, Rima Fakih. The 26-year-old captured America’s heart in 2010, but police captured her last week. Although police did not release details about the DUI arrest, the story is practically pregnant with object lessons for Beverly Hills DUI defendants and friends and family members of defendants.

According to the Detroit Free Press and other local news reports, Fakih had appointed herself designated driver last Saturday evening, when she went out with some friends. After noticing that her friend seemed too intoxicated to drive, Fakih took over the wheel. She quickly realized that she, too, was too intoxicated to drive. So she pulled the car over. Too late. Police had already spotted her, and she was quickly rounded up and charged with DUI. After news of her arrest broke, she, like so many Beverly Hills DUI arrestees – reached for her Twitter account to deny her reality: “Let’s clear things up now…I’m not in Michigan and I’m not in jail! Wrong Fakih.”

She later removed that post. But it’s instructive for us to talk about that.

We can see two lessons from here:

Number one, when people “have a few drinks” while trying to be a designated driver, bad things happen. In Fakih’s case, fortunately, no one was hurt and no property was damaged.

Number two, defendants can enter a period of abject denial after being arrested. This is a human reaction. But it can be a compromising reaction, in that you may do or say things after your arrest (because of your denial) that will compromise your ability to build a case.

To protect yourself and your rights, connect with the Beverly Hills’s Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers (9107 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 450, Beverly Hills, California 90210 Phone: (310) 550-6935). Attorney Michael Kraut is an experienced, highly confident, Harvard Law School-educated Beverly Hills DUI criminal defense attorney. He served as a prosecutor for 14 years, so he knows how prosecutors will treat your case.

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It’s one thing if you or a neighbor or a co-worker gets arrested for Glendale DUI. That, in and of itself, is kind of disturbing. But what if one of the nation’s top safety experts gets arrested for driving on the wrong side of the road while under the influence of alcohol? How would you feel? Would you feel dismayed? Flabbergasted? Outraged? All of the above?Randy-Babbitts-mugshot-DUI.jpg

This is not a theoretical example. It actually happened the weekend before last, when 65-year-old Jerome Randolph Babbitt, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration, was arrested for DUI in Fairfax, Virginia, then taken to an adult detention center.

According to the Washington Post, Babbitt has requested a leave of absence from his position in the wake of the arrest. He had been serving a five-year term. Michael Huerta, the Deputy Administrator of the FAA, will take over in Babbitt’s absence.

On some level, the jaded among us have grown to expect this kind of behavior even from our highest elected and appointed officials. On another level, we also recognize the inherent dangers of driving under the influence in Glendale and elsewhere. We find ourselves caught up in paroxysms of anger and despair as we contemplate these misdeeds.

Here is another way to think about Glendale DUI arrests – and arrests for DUI elsewhere in America including Fairfax, Virginia and beyond. It is a far more empathetic, compassionate, and non-judgmental way to think. This way probes the fundamental causes of misbehavior and bad judgments. This way asks questions like: Why might someone like Babbitt drive under the influence or drive on the wrong side of the street? What circumstances might have influenced this decision? What can we do to prevent Glendale DUI injury accidents? What incentives, disincentives, social pressures and educational resources will make the roads safer and instill a sense of community among drivers?

This discussion may be a bit theoretical if you or someone you care about faces a scary charge of Glendale DUI pursuant to California Vehicle Code Section 23152(a) or 23152(b). Fortunately, you need not fight this battle all on your own. An aggressive, results-focused Glendale DUI criminal defense attorney from the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers (121 W Lexington Dr, Glendale, CA 91203 Phone: (818) 507-9123) can help you assess your situation and fight the charges against you. Mr. Kraut is an experienced former prosecutor with a Harvard Law School background, and he has served as a legal expert for the Los Angeles Times, KTLA, and even US Weekly.

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New Year’s Eve is possibly the most dangerous day of the year for Pasadena DUI accidents and injuries. Revelers intoxicated on champagne (and who knows what else) will no doubt be populating roads like the 5, the 210, and California Boulevard, and threatening their own lives as well as the lives of everyone else out there. 2012-new-years-eve-dui-pasadena.jpg

You obviously want to protect yourself against the possibility of being arrested and charged and ultimately convicted for Pasadena DUI on New Year’s Eve. Not only would such a charge seriously ruin your evening, but your whole outlook on the New Year would be different. Your affirmations for the New Year could go from getting a new company off the ground or finding love to simply avoiding jail time.

A Pasadena DUI arrest or conviction would seriously throw off your 2012 game plans.

So, how can you protect yourself against this? If you Google around and read self-help literature, the answers seem easy enough: find a designated driver, know your limits, and if you do plan on drinking, avoid getting behind the wheel, etc.

Many people who know these rules – and have them branded onto their brains – nevertheless make mistakes at the 11th hour (literally) and still get behind the wheel and drive DUI. Why? Possibly because they do not pre-think their actions and behaviors!

If you are in a sober state of mind, you might say “of course, I would never drive DUI in Pasadena, that would be stupid.” However, if you are out partying with friends, and you want to keep up with the action, and the next party is at a bar just two blocks away… common sense and good judgment can be derailed by the circumstances and surroundings.

To protect yourself, “pre-think” yourself into safety.

What might you say or do that could throw off your plan to drive safely this New Year’s Eve? Why might you be tempted to get behind the wheel after “only having a few drinks”?

You don’t have to spend 20 minutes doing this exercise. Just spend 5 minutes. Just take the time now, before you go out, to review your common triggers – triggers to misbehave, to do things that you regret in the morning, etc. – and make a conscious, specific effort to avoid doing those this year. If you don’t trust yourself, write down these affirmations, and carry them on a little piece of paper or as a cell phone memo – a message from your wiser, more sober self to your more impulsive id-driven self to behave and avoid doing dumb things.

Of course, best intentions aside, mistakes happen. If you need a qualified Pasadena DUI criminal defense attorney, turn to Michael Kraut with the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers (790 East Colorado Boulevard, 9th floor, Pasadena, California 91101 Phone: (626) 345-1899). Attorney Kraut is a former prosecutor with 14-plus years of experience as a former Deputy District Attorney. He is Harvard Law School educated. He is well respected as a Pasadena DUI expert by institutions like KTLA, the Los Angeles Times, Fox News, etc.

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Driving under the influence in Long Beach and driving in a school zone don’t mix. This truism is obvious enough. However, unfortunately, common sense is one of the first things that goes out the window when driving intoxicated.long-beach-dui-jail.jpg

Two weeks ago, Marie Lippincott of Costa Mesa struck and nearly killed a 17-year-old senior, Crystal Morales, at her son’s high school in Newport Harbor. Lippincott was arrested for causing an injury DUI and held at an Orange County jail in lieu of bail set at $100,000. Investigators suspect that she was driving under the influence when she hit Morales at a crosswalk on Margaret Drive, right before school let out. Court records show that Lippincott has a criminal history. In 2005, she pleaded guilty to prescription drug fraud, burglary, and theft. As for poor Ms. Morales, she was hospitalized in a coma with internal bleeding, swelling of the brain, internal injuries, and head trauma. A spokesperson said that Morales would be on assisted breathing for at least two weeks to recover optimally.

When reading the reports of Long Beach DUI accidents like this one, it’s easy to quickly judge people and “explain away” the facts of the accident. However, jumping to conclusions can be dangerous business. For instance, in a Los Angeles Times blog post about the accident, Laura Boss, a spokesman for the school district, highlighted that the section of Irvine Avenue where the accident occurred “has been a safety concern for school officials.”

This is not to excuse the bad driving or DUI driving, if it did occur. However, it does suggest that Long Beach DUI accidents do not occur in a vacuum. Often, a constellation of factors plays a role. Yes, a driver may be DUI. Yes, a driver may make misjudgments. But other factors, such as poor road engineering, auto malfunctions, and the dangerous or less-than-ideal actions of others can all come together to create the “perfect storm” of an accident.

If you have been recently arrested for driving under the influence in Long Beach, connect with an experienced Long Beach DUI criminal defense attorney, such as Michael Kraut of the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers (444 West Ocean, Suite 800 Long Beach, California 90802 Phone: (562) 531-7454). Attorney Kraut is a former DUI prosecutor (14-plus years in the Deputy District Attorney’s office), so he understands the dynamics, nuances, and emotional complexities of DUI cases. Tragedies like what happened to Ms. Morales are not inevitable, and they do not need to be repeated. It’s important for all of us to understand what goes wrong in these kinds of situations and to deal with the repercussions in a fair and compassionate way.

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In a recent blog post, we enumerated the many unpleasant, repugnant penalties for Long Beach DUI. We won’t belabor them again, but they include jail time, massive fines, probation, mandatory installation of an IID, alcohol school, etc. long-beach-dui-worse-than-jail.jpg

But is that really the worst of it?

In the worst-case scenario, you could at least imagine yourself surviving these penalties and carrying on with your life. No one wants to spend three months in jail or pay thousands of dollars in fines. But life is long, second chances abound, etc.

In some sense, this attitude is correct. In another sense, however, it ignores the far more insidious but potentially terrifying, debilitating indirect penalties of a Long Beach DUI conviction.

Punishment worse than jail?

There are, believe it or not, worse things than going to jail. Unless you commit a truly heinous crime, jail is a temporary situation. However, the long-term “metaphorical prisons” that we build for ourselves can incarcerate us for a lifetime. Bad habits beget bad habits. Bad self-image begets worse self-image. And so on. Indeed a Long Beach DUI conviction can be the first step on a slippery slip towards an unfulfilled and unfulfilling life.

Consider the hazards potentially in your way:

• Conviction makes it more likely that you will be punished harsher for any future crimes or infractions;
• Conviction will almost certainly spike your car insurance rates (assuming that you are still allowed to keep your license) for years, draining your pocket book of potentially of thousands of dollars;
• Once convicted, you may find yourself judged harshly by employers, acquaintances and people in your social circle as well as by close family members and even by yourself.
• If you “don’t believe in yourself” or lack support from friends or family members who’ve “given up on you” you may find it harder to get a job, harder to get a loan, harder to find the inner resources to fight through obstacles in your way, be they career obstacles or even medical problems.
• Loss of driving practice and mobility. If your license gets suspended, you may have to lean on public transportation, friends and family members, and ingenuity to survive. If you are like most people who live in and around Long Beach, you likely depend heavily on your car, truck, or motorcycle to deal with the “stuff” of life.

Count those costs. How many hours of productive time will you have to sacrifice? Will you be fired? Will you sap your spouse’s productivity and thus limit his or her income? What about loss of confidence behind the wheel?

Once you’ve been convicted for a serious violation, such as a Long Beach DUI, you may lose confidence in your ability to drive safely and effectively. Your driving persona may change for the worse.

Fortunately, you don’t have to go through the gauntlet of defending yourself by yourself.

An experienced Long Beach DUI criminal defense attorney from the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers (444 West Ocean, Suite 800 Long Beach, California 90802 Phone: (562) 531-7454 ) can help you develop a powerful strategic response to whatever charges you face. Attorney Kraut is a former Deputy District Attorney with a fantastic track record at jury trials and a Harvard Law School Education.

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