DUI Blogger

She’s just the latest in a string of starlets facing trouble with the law after driving under the influence. Now Mischa Barton, a young actress who performed on the popular teen soap “The O.C.,” has pleaded no contest to driving under the influence (DUI) after a December pullover. Barton, who is 22 years old, attracted the attention of an officer after straddling lanes and failing to use her turn signal. Baron pleaded no contest to both DUI and driving without a license. Barton will now begin three years of probation for her crime.

Contrary to popular belief, a “no contest” plea is not the same as a guilty plea. Rather, a no contest plea means that the defendant in a case neither contests nor claims guilt for the charges at hand. Generally, no contest pleas are associated with a plea bargain. It is safe to assume that Barton’s high-powered attorneys brokered a plea deal with the court, obtaining probation instead of revoking her license. Though a no contest plea can have its advantages, it could backfire if a DUI case is brought to civil court, since it is often interpreted as a guilty plea by civil juries.

Continue reading "Mischa Barton Faces the Music for DUI" »

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Actress Michelle Rodriguez has been released from Lynchwood County Jail in California after serving only 18 of 180 sentenced days. Her release was due to overcrowded conditions at the jail, which allows female inmates who have not proven themselves to be violent to serve as little as ten percent of their sentence before release. This is not the first DUI-related jail stay for Lost star Rodriguez, whose well-publicized brush with the law landed her in another California jail in 2006. Rodriguez has also served a probation term after driving with a suspended license and pleading no contest to a DUI in 2003.

Rodriguez’ release is not uncommon for those sent to jail on repeat-offender DUI charges. California’s jails are notoriously overcrowded, and many have a program that releases non-violent offenders who have served part of their term on good behavior. However light the jail’s treatment of Rodriguez’ DUI, however, in general California DUIs are punished severely. In fact, the state of California requires that jail time be served for certain DUI offenses. Even a first-offense DUI will rack up a required 48-hour jail sentence, while second offenses require a minimum of 96 hours served. Third-time offenders will face 120 required days of jail, though many counties punish a third offense with up to a year in jail. A fourth-time offender is subject to a felony conviction, which can affect a DUI offender’s ability to work.

Jail time, probation, loss of license and hiked-up insurance rates are harsh realities for those convicted of a California DUI. You may be confused, angry and worried when you get accused of a DUI, but you must not waffle when it comes to addressing the charges laid against you. You have only a limited amount of time in which to obtain competent and aggressive legal counsel to help defend you against DUI charges. Neil Shouse & Associates are committed to helping clients overcome DUI charges. Have you been charged with a California DUI? Call us today for a free consultation.

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Actor Kiefer Sutherland has pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor drunk driving charge, according to a news report in The Los Angeles Times . The “24” star was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and a probation violation stemming from a separate DUI case three years ago.

The DA’s office has recommended to the judge that the actor be sentenced to 48 days in jail on both those charges. But if the judge does not accept the plea deal, Sutherland faces up to one year of jail time. The actor is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 21 before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge, Stuart Rice.

Sutherland was stopped at the corner of La Cienega and Beverly early morning Sept. 25 after he was reportedly spotted making an illegal U-turn. Officers then made the actor take field sobriety tests, which he reportedly failed. The Times also reported that the 40-year-old actor’s blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit in the state of California, which is .08. Celebrity Web site TMZ reported that Sutherland was returning from a Fox party at a night club near where he was arrested.

Apparently, this wasn’t Sutherland’s first alcohol-related offense. The Times reported that he already had three of those on his record. Sutherland had released a statement through his publicist that he was “very disappointed” in himself.

Although this incident involves a celebrity, it’s not too different from a common DUI arrest that occurs on city streets every day. Most police agencies administer Breathalyzer tests and field sobriety tests, but not many of us know that we have the right to not take the field sobriety tests. Our attorneys have found in their handling of numerous DUI cases that many police officers lack the knowledge and training to conduct these field sobriety tests effectively.

If you or a loved one has been arrested on suspicion of a DUI, call our knowledgeable Southern California Drunk Driving defense attorney to schedule your free consultation and discuss your case. A DUI case can have dire consequences on your career and family life. Your license could get suspended or revoked. Don’t delay. Call us today.

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Reality television star Jessica Smith, who appeared on all three seasons of the hit show “Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County” pleaded guilty to one charge of misdemeanor drunk driving. She was sentenced on July 6 to three years of probation, ordered to perform 80 hours of community service and pay $1,300 in fines and penalties, according to an article posted on Fox News’ Web site. Smith did not appear herself in Orange County Superior Court, but her attorney entered the plea, the article said.

The 19-year-old was arrested in March on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol, a felony, after she crashed her 1999 Volkswagen Beetle into the back of an Acura on the San Diego (5) Freeway in Mission Viejo. According to a California Highway Patrol report at the time, Smith could not stop her car in time to avoid hitting the Acura and the causes for the accident included Smith’s level of intoxication, speed and the wet freeway. A March article in The Orange County Register stated the driver of the Acura suffered minor injuries, as did Smith’s passenger in the Beetle. Although Smith was arrested on suspicion of a felony DUI at the time because there were injuries involved, the charge was later reduced to a misdemeanor with the injuries being not serious, officials said. Smith, a student at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, was only one of two cast members in the “Laguna Beach” reality show to appear in a major role in all three seasons.

Continue reading "Former Star of “Laguna Beach” Pleads Guilty to Misdemeanor DUI" »

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A drunk driving arrest can affect a person’s life in ways they possibly cannot imagine – whether that person works a job at a school or a bank or whether he or she is a highly-paid athlete. NFL star Tank Johnson, formerly of the Chicago Bears, found that out for himself last month when his team kicked him out after a June 22 arrest on suspicion of speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol.

But, ironically, in a recent development police decided not to file charges in Johnson’s case because a blood test done after the arrest showed that the football player was in fact not legally drunk, according to an Associated Press news report posted in the Chicago Sun Times. His blood alcohol level was .072 and that is obviously under Arizona’s legal limit of .08, the state where he had been arrested.

Johnson was pulled over in the early morning hours of June 22 when police allegedly caught him driving 40 mph in an area where the speed limit was 25 mph. Although his blood alcohol level was below the legal limit of .08, authorities could have still charged him with a lesser misdemeanor drunk driving charge under an Arizona law that provides for such prosecutions based on overall symptoms of intoxication.

Continue reading "Johnson Not Charged With DUI, But Still Remains Fired From Team" »

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The news has been buzzing all weekend about Paris Hilton, who received a 45-day jail sentence Friday for charges that originally stemmed from an arrest for driving under the influence. Hilton pleaded no contest to a DUI charge in January, had her license taken away and was put on probation. This could have been the end of the story; unlike many Californians charged with driving under the influence, Hilton can afford a driver. But she was pulled over later that month and given a written warning, and again in February, when she was cited for driving on a suspended license and violating her probation. Her failure to sign up for alcohol education classes after that incident was what landed her in court.

Hilton’s defense was a fairly common one: She claimed she didn’t know her license was suspended. In fact, news reports suggest that a staffer told her she was cleared to drive after 30 days. “I have people who do that for me,” she said. “I just sign what people tell me to sign.”

Hilton is catching a lot of flack in the celebrity press for this statement, but in fact, not knowing your license is suspended can actually be a defense. The key is showing that you didn’t know it. Since notification comes by mail -- which can be unreliable and easy to lose -- jurors are often sympathetic to defendants who testify that their paperwork just got lost in the shuffle of daily life. Prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you did receive and understand it, a difficult burden to meet. Unfortunately for Hilton, this was not a defense in her case because she had a written warning from January and was carrying paperwork related to her DUI in the back of her car when she was pulled over.

Incidentally, although Hilton’s celebrity may have contributed to the harshness of her sentence, 45 days in jail isn’t that unusual for a defendant with a prior DUI and several warnings.

Nonetheless, she may have been able to avoid jail time if she had fought the DUI in the first place -- and she may have been able to mount a good defense, as her BAC was just around the legal limit. After the no-contest plea, she could have reduced her sentence by signing up for the alcohol classes, or taken other steps to show the judge that she was assuming responsibility for her infractions.

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Paris Hilton will serve 45 days in county jail for violating her probation arising from an alcohol-related reckless driving case in September 2006.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled Friday that Hilton must go to jail on June 5 and will not be allowed any work release, furloughs, and use of an alternative jail or electronic monitoring in lieu of jail, according to an article posted on MSNBC’s Web site.

The article said Hilton apologized to the judge during the hearing, but that apparently did not convince the judge. She was then ordered to report to a women’s jail in suburban Lynwood on the set date or face 90 days behind bars. The judge’s ruling excluded her from paying to serve time in a jail of her choice, as some are allowed.

Hilton, 26, pleaded no contest in January to reckless driving stemming from a Sept. 7, 2006 arrest in Hollywood. Police said she appeared intoxicated and failed a field sobriety test. She had a blood-alcohol level of .08 percent, the level at which an adult driver is in violation of the law. She was sentenced to 36 months probation, alcohol education and $1,500 in fines. Prosecutor say two other traffic stops and failure to enroll in a mandated alcohol education program, are what brought Hilton back to court.

Continue reading "Probation Violation Gets Paris Hilton Jail Time" »

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Rapper Busta Rhymes, who was arrested last week in New York City on suspicion of driving while impaired, says it was all because of “one little lousy shot of Hennessy,” according to celebrity Web site TMZ.

Officers stopped the 34-year-old rapper at about 12:40 a.m. on May 3 because the sport utility vehicle he was driving had overly tinted windows, according to news reports.

The TMZ news report also states that when the cops accosted the rapper yesterday, he told officers that he’d only had “a shot of Hennessy” before he drove away in his 2006 GMC Yukon Denali. TMZ also got a hold of the Rhymes’ arrest report, which said that the rapper had “watery and bloodshot eyes.”

According to NYPD spokesperson Detective John Sweeney, when officers approached Rhymes’ car, he was found to have a “strong odor of alcohol on his breath” and when they asked him to present his paperwork, “he dropped his wallet to the ground” while showing it to the officers.

Officers also administered a field sobriety test, which he failed, the TMZ report said. It was then that the officers took him to the station, where Rhymes registered blood alcohol content (BAC) of .067 during a breath test. Though the number is below the legal threshold of .08, Rhymes was charged with one count of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated and one count of operating a motor vehicle while impaired.

Continue reading "Busta Rhymes Busted on DWI charge" »

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City prosecutors filed misdemeanor charges Friday against Eve stemming from a traffic accident in Hollywood last week, according to an article posted on MSNBC’s Web site.

The rapper-actress, whose real name is Jihan Jeffers, was charged with driving under the influence, driving with a blood-alcohol level of .08 or above, and failure to provide proof of insurance, officials said. The charges stem from an April 26 arrest when officers stopped Eve at 2:40 a.m. after her car struck a raised concrete center median on Hollywood Boulevard. A breath test showed her blood-alcohol level was above the legal limit, according to the article. The rapper-actress, who is scheduled to be arraigned May 17, faces a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

A statutory minimum sentence would include a minimum of three years’ probation, a fine of at least $390, and an alcohol education program, among other DUI-related conditions. Eve, considered a protégée of gangster rap trailblazer Dr. Dre, has released several solo albums and won a Grammy in 2001 for the single “Let Me Blow Ya Mind” with Gwen Stefani. Her movie credits include “Barbershop,” and once had her own self-titled sitcom.

Is the information provided in this article sufficient evidence to show the actress was driving drunk? Absolutely not. The breath test showed her alcohol level to be above legal limit. There are many reasons why a Breathalyzer test shows a reading higher than it should – from lack of food to the kind of food she ate. Was she distracted by something on the road or in the car before she struck the center median?

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Paris Hilton was placed on 36 months probation and ordered to pay fines after pleading no contest to alcohol-related reckless driving, a reduction of an original charge of driving under the influence, according to an Associated Press news report posted on CBS News’ Web site.

Hilton did not appear in court, but her attorneys entered the plea on her behalf. Judge Michael Sauer also ordered her to attend an alcohol education program and imposed other conditions. He gave her the option of reducing her probation to 24 months if she completed 40 hours of community service. No immediate decision was made on that option. The fines, plus penalty assessments totaled about $1,500.

The 25-year-old hotel heiress drew international attention with her Sept. 7 arrest after allegedly being seen weaving on a Hollywood street in her Mercedes-Benz. Police said she appeared intoxicated and failed a field sobriety test. She had a blood alcohol level of .08 percent, the level at which an adult driver is in violation of the law.

Hilton later said she may have been “speeding a little bit” and was on her way to get an In-N-Out burger. She had been filming a music video all day without eating and that the only alcoholic beverage she had consumed prior to her arrest was a margarita earlier that evening at a charity event, Hilton said. A no-contest plea is not an admission of guilt but is equivalent to a guilty plea for determining sentencing.

Continue reading "Paris Hilton Wanted her DUI to Go Away" »

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Actress and reality TV show star, Nicole Richie, joined the long line of celebrities charged with driving under the influence after her DUI arrest in December.

Richie’s lawyer entered a not guilty plea on her behalf on one misdemeanor DUI charge, according to an Associated Press news report. The complaint alleges the actress was under the influence of an alcoholic beverage and an unspecified drug when she was arrested during the wee hours of Dec. 11. According to the article, 911 callers reported that the actress, who was alone in her 2005 black Mercedes Benz sport utility vehicle, was headed the wrong way on the Ventura (134) Freeway in Burbank at about 12:30 a.m. When California Highway Patrol officers found Richie, she was stopped in a car-pool lane facing the right way. Officers arrested the 25-year-old actress after she reportedly failed a field sobriety test.

Officials also said that the actress voluntarily told officers at the time that she had smoked marijuana and taken the prescription painkiller Vicodin, but police reports show no drugs were found on her or in the car. In addition to the single DUI count, Nicole Richie’s case contains an additional allegation that she had a prior misdemeanor DUI conviction in June 2003. The California Vehicle Code states that if convicted of DUI twice within 10 years, a person could be sentenced up to a year in jail, faces fines of up to $1,000 and could have his or her driving privileges suspended.

It is interesting that Richie agreed to take a field sobriety test, which eventually led to her arrest. Drivers who are stopped on suspicion of DUI or DWI are routinely asked by police officers to perform one or more field sobriety exercises. These roadside exercises are one of the tools that help DUI officers determine whether the suspect may be driving under the influence and whether he or she should be arrested and taken for further blood or breath alcohol tests.

Continue reading "Nicole Richie’s DUI Arrest Teaches an Important Lesson" »

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The Mel Gibson DUI case is long over, perhaps not all forgotten. But the media will continue to feed hungrily on every celebrity who gets slapped with a DUI charge. The list is long – Paris Hilton, Ray Liotta, Nicole Richie, Lindsay Lohan. However, sensational as these stories are because of who is involved in them, when you look at it as a DUI case, it is quite routine.
If you or I had been arrested on the same DUI charge (and there are thousands arrested for drunk driving every day in this country), we wouldn’t hear about it in our newspapers’ police or court blotters let alone through the mainstream media outlets.

Consider the Mel Gibson DUI case. This was a pretty standard DUI case. California Drunk Driving attorneys deal with these types of driving under the influence cases on a daily basis. The actor’s blood alcohol level at .12, was clearly over the legal limit of .08. But in a DUI case that’s not uncommon. Gibson had no accident no prior DUI conviction other than a 20-year-old Toronto DUI that had been dismissed. The California Vehicle Code states that a person faces jail time only if convicted of DUI twice within 10 years. No problem there for the actor.
Any California DUI attorney knows that the worst possible scenario for Mel Gibson was a fine, three months of DUI education, license suspension, probation and possibly, community service. What attracted more attention than his DUI was the sexist, anti-Semitic words that came out of his mouth. Although those words were hateful and reprehensible, we must remember, they had nothing to do with the DUI charge.

Continue reading "Mel Gibson's DUI arrest – much ado about nothing?" »

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