DUI Blogger

If you are arrested for misdemeanor drunk driving in Los Angeles, chances are good that you’ll be charged with the offense by prosecutors in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Courthouse. Known as the DUI courthouse, “Metro” handles most of the DUI cases that are filed in L.A. But in addition to DUI, the court also handles a large variety of additional vehicular offenses, including hit and run and vehicular manslaughter. But because the primary focus is on DUIs at the Metropolitan Courthouse, it helps to have a defense attorney who is familiar with the routine practices at this court.

DUI arraignment and pre-trial “offers” are pretty standard at Metro. Prosecutors generally have a formula that they go by when determining what type of deal to offer defendants. An attorney who doesn’t regularly defend DUI cases at the Metropolitan Courthouse may not realize this. He/she may think that the offer has been well thought out and is therefore an appropriate one.

However, an attorney who is familiar with the practices of this court…and who has established relationships with the prosecutors and judges…knows the most effective arguments to convince prosecutors and judges to dismiss and reduce charges.

This type of DUI attorney also understands the jury pool that is subpoenaed at Metro. This is critical when it comes to taking a case to trial, as getting through to the jurors is the difference between securing an acquittal and receiving a guilty verdict.

Let’s assume you were arrested for DUI. For whatever reason, you decided to plead guilty or no contest to the charge. Perhaps you didn’t want to take time away from work or school to fight the charge. Perhaps you just wanted to put the case behind you. Or perhaps your attorney negotiated a plea bargain to a felony DUI instead of a manslaughter charge even though you caused an accident that killed another person. Whatever the circumstances, you felt like you were getting a break and entered a plea. You later learned that your plea included DUI penalties that you were unaware of at the time of your plea…penalties that, had you known about, are so significant that you wouldn’t have pled. When this is the case, you can file a motion to withdraw a plea.

California law provides that under certain circumstances, you may successfully withdraw a plea. These include (but are not limited to):

• discovering that there are consequences that you were unaware of at the time of the plea (losing your professional license or facing deportation),
• the fact that you were represented by an incompetent attorney who didn’t properly investigate your case and simply urged you to plead, or
• the fact that you were coerced into pleading guilty when you truly did not wish to do so.

If any of these situations apply to you, you should immediately contact a skilled California criminal defense attorney to discuss the possibility of filing a motion to withdraw your plea.

“Mouth alcohol” is exactly that – alcohol that is trapped in the mouth. Why is this important you ask? Because if you have alcohol that is trapped in your mouth…and you submit to a DUI breath test…there is a good chance that your blood alcohol level “BAC” will read much higher than it actually should. As a result, mouth alcohol is a great DUI defense.

There are a variety of circumstances that produce mouth alcohol, some of which are much more obvious than others. For example, physical conditions such as GERD, acid reflux and heartburn bring up acids into the mouth. It’s no surprise that if someone consumes alcohol…and then suffers from one of these conditions…he/she will have a mouth alcohol situation.

Some less obvious conditions that could produce mouth alcohol…and a subsequent falsely high BAC…include dental work, cosmetic teeth-straightening devices and teeth that are too close together. If alcohol-soaked food gets trapped in between your teeth or in a dental device, the alcohol will linger in the mouth. And if that alcohol is still lingering at the time you submit to a breath test, it will register much stronger on a breath testing instrument than the amount of alcohol that is actually in your blood stream. In this way, mouth alcohol tricks the breath testing machine into thinking you have a higher BAC than you do.

If you have been arrested for driving under the influence in California, be sure to discuss mouth alcohol with your California DUI defense attorney.

For the second time in 6 months, former Skid Row front-man Sebastian Bach was arrested for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. This week’s arrest took place after Bach was pulled over for “failing to keep right” on a highway in New Jersey about 3:30am Tuesday morning. What’s interesting is that he wasn’t charged with driving under the influence of marijuana, he was charged with possession of marijuana and paraphernalia. This begs the question – how did the cops find the weed? Did they have probable cause to do so?

If Bach was arrested for driving under the influence of marijuana…which could explain the traffic violation…the cops would be entitled to search his car incident to a lawful arrest. This would provide an exception to the rule that the officers would otherwise need probable cause to search the car.

Yet he wasn’t charged with DUI – so how did the cops find the pot and paraphernalia? Were they in plain view? Did the officer see it simply by looking in the car? Did Bach admit it was in the car? Did the officer ask Bach to step out of the car so he/she could search the car?

Without more information, it’s difficult to guess how this played out. But if it turns out that the officer didn’t have the probable cause necessary to search the car…and the drugs/paraphernalia weren’t plainly visible or discovered with Bach’s consent…they would be properly excluded from evidence in the case. As a result, Bach would likely escape the charges.

Desperate Housewives Star Ricardo Chavira was arrested in Los Angeles early this morning for driving under the influence. After being pulled over for a routine traffic stop, the cops smelled alcohol and initiated a DUI investigation. Chavira reportedly failed his field sobriety tests and then refused to submit to a chemical DUI blood or breath test. As a result, he was held on $25,000 bail.

Generally speaking, when someone is arrested for a “typical” DUI, he/she will be released on his/her own recognizance or “OR” once he/she sobers up. However, there are a variety of aggravated circumstances that would prevent this type of release…and a refusal to submit to a chemical DUI blood or breath test is one of them.

Refusing to submit to a blood or breath test not only triggers bail in California, but it also requires that you (1) serve a mandatory jail sentence if you suffer a conviction for the offense, and (2) lose your driver’s license for at least one-year.

Fortunately, skilled California DUI defense attorneys know the most compelling arguments to persuade prosecutors to “strike” refusal allegations to avoid incarceration. However, unless you win a DMV hearing, the license suspension will most likely remain in effect.

If you were arrested for DUI and the police report that you refused to submit to a DUI blood or breath test, contact a local DUI defense lawyer who can help you fight the charge.

We use our cars so much that it’s difficult to imagine suddenly being without one. But if you get nabbed for a DUI in California that’s one of the consequences you face –not being able to drive at all for an extended period of time.

In addition to court proceedings, if you are arrested for DUI you will face administrative hearings at the California Department of Motor Vehicles. If the DMV finds that you drove with a BAC of .08 % or higher, the DMV will suspend your driving privileges for between 4 months and several years.

DMV hearings in California DUI cases (or “administrative per se hearings”) are like mini-trials, with evidence and testimony, but in APS hearings the hearing officer acts as the prosecutor as well! When a hearing officer violates someone’s due process rights during a DMV hearing in a California DUI case, the injured party can ask the courts to take a second look.

It just happened in a DUI case out of San Diego, after a DMV hearing officer refused to grant a continuance even though the defense attorney only received his client’s blood alcohol test results on the morning of the DMV hearing.

In Petrus v. State of California Department of Motor Vehicles, the Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, held that due process is violated in a case such as this, because the defense is denied the opportunity to present a meaningful defense. The defense should have been given the time it needed to review and possibly rebut the test results.