DUI Blogger

You’ve started your California DUI trial. Everything seems to be going in your favor and you’re feeling good about your choice to plead not guilty. Then the case takes a turn and you’re beginning to question your decision to take the case to trial. You begin thinking about spending a couple of days in a county jail and realize that you’re desperate to avoid a conviction. In a panic, you think, “Maybe I should try to bribe one of the jurors to ‘hang’ the case…”

Bad move. A charge for bribing a juror under Penal Code 92 PC, one of California’s bribery laws is a felony. A conviction for bribing a juror under California Penal Code 92 PC subjects you to two to four years in the state prison.

California’s bribery laws are severe and apply to a wide variety of situations, including bribing witnesses, jurors, judges, and other public officials. So before you offer that juror money or something else of value to influence his vote, you may want to think twice…it’s probably not worth the risk.

“The suspect had red, watery eyes, slurred speech, the odor of an alcoholic beverage emitting from his breath, slurred speech, and failed to perform his field sobriety tests as demonstrated.” This is the exact narrative of almost all California DUI police reports…and the reason why police misconduct is rampant in California DUI cases.

Unfortunately, police misconduct is everywhere and includes an infinite number of acts. It can include inflicting physical abuse upon a suspect, fabricating evidence, intimidating suspects, and committing perjury.

And although the police would blow-off the similarities in their DUI reports by stating that these are simply the symptoms that DUI suspects routinely exhibit, the fact remains that not all suspects are the same. This type of “Xeroxed” DUI police report can constitute police misconduct…especially if you can prove that the report didn’t accurately reflect the events that transpired. Because it’s not just the narrative portion that gets “cut and pasted” but also FST performance, answers to DUI investigative questions, driving patterns…basically everything relating to the entire DUI investigation.

And if you can point to enough inconsistencies in the officer’s report and/or testimony, you may be entitled to an acquittal of your DUI charge based on the officer’s police misconduct.

Here’s the latest information about this weekend’s California DUI sobriety / driver’s license checkpoints.

Friday, April 16, 2010

The Central Bureau of the Los Angeles Police Department will operate a DUI checkpoint on Glendale Boulevard at Effie Street from 8pm to 3am.

The Central Traffic Division of the LAPD will run its DUI sobriety roadblock on Eagle Rock Boulevard north of Avenue 41 from 7pm until 12:30am.

The Costa Mesa Police Department will conduct a sobriety / driver’s license checkpoint on Bristol Street between Bear Street and Randolph Avenue from 6pm to 11pm.

The Anaheim Police Department will run a DUI sobriety / license checkpoint on Ball Road from 8pm to 3am.

The Oxnard Police Department will operate several checkpoints at undisclosed locations tonight in the city of Oxnard between 6pm and 2am.

In addition, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department will run roving DUI saturation patrols tonight in the areas of Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano, and San Clemente.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

The Huntington Police Department will conduct a sobriety / driver’s license checkpoint on Pacific Coast Highway at Huntington Street beginning at 9pm.

The Cyprus Police Department will operate a DUI roadblock on Lincoln west of Valley View between 7pm and 3am.

The San Jose Police Department will operate a DUI sobriety checkpoint at an undisclosed location in the city of San Jose between 9pm and 3am.

If you contact the agency that is conducting the checkpoint a couple of hours prior to its start time, you may be able to find out more details about an undisclosed DUI checkpoint’s location.

Drive safely!

California DUI “aggravating factors” are facts and circumstances that…if present at the time you are arrested for driving under the influence…will either (1) result in a county jail sentence, or (2) increase your county jail sentence.

Some of the most common of these include: refusing to submit to a chemical test, driving with a child in the car, causing an accident, having a particularly high blood alcohol concentration, and driving recklessly at excessively high speeds. This last one…driving under the influence while recklessly driving at excessively high speeds…is, perhaps, one of the more difficult aggravating factors to prove.

This is because the others are pretty straight forward. However, the additional DUI penalty imposed for reckless driving and excessive speed is not. Before this sentencing enhancement can be imposed, the prosecutor must prove that you are (1) guilty of DUI, (2) guilty of driving at least 20mph over the speed limit on a street or at least 30mph over the speed limit on a freeway, and (3) guilty of reckless driving. All three factors must be proven before the required 60-day jail term can be added to your sentence.

Neither speeding nor reckless driving are enough in and of themselves to justify the imposition of this DUI enhancement. And speeding by itself isn’t typically enough to constitute reckless driving. As a result, just because an overzealous prosecutor charges you with this additional DUI penalty that is imposed for recklessly driving at excessive speeds while DUI, it does not necessarily mean that you will spend an additional 60 days in jail.

In its war against marijuana, the California Legislature enacted three separate laws relating to possessing marijuana and driving.

The first is the catchall -- Health and Safety Code 11357 HS which prohibits possessing an ounce or less of marijuana for personal use. If convicted of this offense, you face a maximum $100 fine or a court-ordered drug rehab program.

The second…which seems redundant given the first…is Vehicle Code 23222(b) VC which prohibits driving with an ounce or less of marijuana. If convicted of California Vehicle Code 23222(b), driving with an ounce or less of marijuana, you face the exact same penalties as those stated above. It’s not quite clear why this law exists, given the fact that (1) possessing marijuana is a crime in and of itself, regardless of location, and (2) both offenses subject you to identical punishment.

And then there’s the third offense, driving under the influence of marijuana. This is the most serious of the three and is prosecuted under VC 23152(a), California’s DUI law. While the first two don’t apply to medical marijuana users or caregivers, no one is exempt from prosecution under this section.