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Being arrested for DUI is embarrassing and can cause extreme anxiety, as well as the effect is has one one’s day-to-day life. My job is to help you through this long, complicated process. From the DMV Administrative hearing all the way up to Trial, if necessary. In prior blogs, I have discussed some of the different defenses to driving under the influence. There are many ways to challenge a DUI but each case is unique and must be looked at individually. In some situations, when none of the defenses seem to fit your case, you may decide that you want to go to Trial rather than pleading. It is also my job to advise you of both the pros, as well as the cons to such a decision.

There are many charges that can be associated with a driving under the influence. They include DUI of not only alcohol but also prescription drugs or marijuana. Police Officers can now charge you with DUI even if they didn’t see you drive but you were behind the wheel. This is known has having physical control over the vehicle. These types of cases are complex but can be successfully challenged and won. Reckless driving and negligent driving are also charges that can come with a driving under the influence charge. Driving on a suspended license, hit and run, minor in possession of alcohol and furnishing liquor to a minor are other charges that I have defended that were associated with DUI charges.

A conviction for driving under the influence is a serious charge and the consequences can be quite extreme, depending on the circumstances. As discussed in prior blogs, the punishments for DUI vary depending upon whether it is your first, second, third, etc., how high your blood alcohol level was, was there an accident involved, were there children in the car, etc. A conviction results in a loss of your driving privilege for a period of time, along with other consequences. Just the loss of your driver’s license is bad enough. So taking the time to find the right attorney and ask questions is important and can make all the difference in the outcome.

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As a DUI defense attorney, practicing law in Orange County California for more than 20 years, I have handled hundreds of driving under the influence cases. My clients come from all walks of life. They include lawyers, doctors, business professionals, college students, as well as the average person who is just living their life comfortably, until one day when they make a mistake and drive after having had a few too many drinks. This is the time when you need an experienced attorney who will look closely at your case and determine whether or not there is a good defense. The following is a list of some defense to DUI that I routinely look for when evaluating a new case.

1. Can the prosecution prove that you were the one driving the car? This may sound obvious, but surprisingly, there are those situations where police officers come upon a car and there is more than one occupant in the car. If no one is in the driver seat, how can they determine who was driving.

2. Did the police officers have reasonable suspicion to stop you in the first place? As most people know, all an officer has to have in order to pull you over is a reasonable suspicion that you have done something wrong. Challenging the stop is extremely difficult because there are so many reasons an officer can pull you over. Obviously any traffic violation, regardless of how minor, gives an officer reasonable cause. It can be something as small as a taillight out, driving too slow, or forgetting to use your turn signal. So, one of the first things I look at is why you were pulled over in the first place.

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As anyone who has been convicted of driving under the influence can tell you, the consequences definitely have a negative impact on one’s life. But, the consequences of multiple convictions will result in much more than just having a negative impact; it may, and usually does, result in jail time. How long depends upon several things such as 1) how many priors you have; 2) your blood alcohol level for this arrest, as well as the other; and 3) whether the priors are “priorable” meaning were they within the past ten years.

In a situation where the evidence in your most recent arrest for DUI is so overwhelming that a conviction is imminent, your defense attorney should begin to focus on alternatives to jail time. Because law enforcement and courts are cracking down on driving while intoxicated, they are demanding that multiple offenders be ordered to spend time in jail, or in some cases prison, depending upon the circumstances. One alternative to spending time in jail is “SCRAM” and could be the alternative to jail time if you have a good DUI defense attorney. Below is more information on SCRAM and how it works.

SCRAM stands for Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor. It is a high-tech monitoring tool used to track an individual’s alcohol consumption and is worn like a bracelet on the ankle of the individual being monitored. The individual wearing the bracelet can be monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The bracelet is able to read the blood alcohol level and report those readings to law enforcement. The difference between a blood or breath test and SCRAM is that, unlike blood and alcohol tests, the bracelet can obtain a sample of the wearer’s sweat and can detect any alcohol that may be present in the person’s skin. While being worn, the wearer’s sweat is tested every half hour. Any amount of alcohol detected would be a violation in that those who are fortunate enough to wear the SCRAM bracelet in lieu of jail time are not allowed to consume any alcohol at all, regardless of how little they consume.

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Here are some tips you may want to consider if you are ever pulled over for driving under the influence.

You should always know exactly where your driver’s license, car registration and proof of insurance are. As we all know, whenever you are pulled over by a police officer, you are always asked to produce these three items. If you have been drinking, and you are fumbling around looking for your registration or proof of insurance in your glove box, police officers use this, as “evidence” that you were in some way impaired. If you cannot find your wallet or driver’s license, that will also translate negatively in the police report. The police report will be written in such a way that it looks like you were too intoxicated, or impaired to some extent, to produce the requested items without difficulty. So if you know you are going out and plan on having a drink or two, be sure to be prepared so it doesn’t appear that you are intoxicated if you are unable to find your registration or proof of insurance immediately, when in fact it may just be that your glove box had too much clutter and it took a minute or two to find them.

When you are signaled to pull over by a law enforcement officer, be sure to do so immediately and in a safe manner. You should roll down your window and keep your hands on the steering wheel. Once the officer approaches the car, he or she may ask you if you know why you have been pulled over. They obviously know why they pulled you over, and more likely than not, it’s to find out whether or not you have been drinking. However, they may use some minor violation as an excuse to do so. So when you are asked, “Do you know why I stopped you?” remember, you do not have to answer any questions. You may simply respond by saying “Why?” The officer may then tell you why they pulled you over. Or, the next question may be “have you been drinking” or “have you had anything to drink tonight?”

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We all know that drinking and driving is a bad idea and extremely dangerous to anyone else on the road around you. But, once that alcohol kicks in, our common sense or logical thinking kicks out. Most people feel that they are perfectly okay to drive and may very well be but, if you are stopped and your blood alcohol level is over the legal limit, the fact that you can drive straight while under the influence won’t matter. You will be arrested for driving under the influence, and if convicted, will suffer the consequences of that. Depending upon whether it’s your first, second or third, you will lose your license for a period of time, be required to attend an alcohol class, required to attend a MADD panel, pay fees and fines and be placed on informal probation for three years. For multiple offenses, you are potentially looking at jail time. So, yes it would have been a good idea to call a taxi but, for those who don’t and get caught, the next step is finding a good DUI defense attorney to review your case and try to mitigate the severity of the consequences.

What may surprise you is that there are defenses to DUI’s. A good DUI attorney will charge more than an average DUI defense attorney and while you can find a cheap attorney to handle your case, keep in mind that you get what you pay for. When you hire an experienced DUI defense attorney, you are paying more for his experience and reputation for getting good outcomes.

Some DUI’s are defensible and can be won and some are not. So what determines this? Well, several things. The most common are how and why you were stopped, how the police officer conducted the investigation, proper calibration of the machines used and what you told the police officer at the time of the investigation. Equally important is having a competent attorney who will take the time necessary to investigate these things.

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When someone is arrested and convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, there is no doubt that you will feel the effects of the conviction. The consequences are in place so that you feel and experience the negative effects of a conviction for DUI to deter it from happening again.

The punishments/consequences, fees and fines vary depending upon whether it’s your first, second or third DUI. There are also other facts taken into consideration like speeding, high alcohol content, minor children in the car, etc. To learn more about the consequences of a conviction for a 1st, 2nd or 3rd DUI, visit my DUI website.

This writing will discuss the consequences of an arrest/conviction for a fourth DUI. This is a very serious charge and, if caught driving while under the influence for the fourth time in a ten-year period, will cause the case to be filed as a felony. And, although prior convictions for DUI are serious, they are misdemeanors and may not be looked at the same way a felony conviction would be.

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You would have to have been living under a rock to not have heard about the most recent celebrity arrest. It has been all over the news and Internet that Justin Bieber was arrested for driving while under the influence of prescription drugs and alcohol, as well as drag racing. Later reports indicated that Justin’s blood alcohol level was under the legal limit however, the legal limit being referred to applies to those 21 years and older. Because he is under the age of 21, there is no limit under which he can drive. There is a “Zero Tolerance” policy when it comes to drinking and driving under the age of 21. So, Justin not only faces the typical consequences that come with these types of charges, if convicted he will lose his driver’s license for one year.

Typically, a conviction for these types of charges would result in mandatory alcohol classes, attending Mothers Against Drunk Drivers or MADD panel, maybe attending AA meetings and a loss of his driving privilege. There are also fees and fines that would be ordered if convicted. However, in Justin’s situation, it has been alleged that he admitted to smoking marijuana prior to driving and therefore may be required to attend some sort of drug rehab.

Depending on what the actual charges end up being, his defense attorney will no doubt look at challenging the stop in the first place. There are reports that he was drag racing and this is why he was pulled over. However, there are conflicting reports that he was not racing and was in fact driving the speed limit. Because we live in a world of camera/video phones, apparently there is video of some of the incident. If Justin’s attorney is successful in proving that he was not racing or speeding, this could cause the case to be dismissed altogether. Why? Because police must have reasonable cause to pull him over in the first place. Some might argue that he was pulled over simply because he was driving a yellow Lamborghini in the early morning hours. Without reasonable cause to pull him over, the stop was not legal and therefore, anything after that is legally irrelevant.

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Orange County law enforcement was once again out in full force over the holiday season. The Winter Holiday DUI Campaign, also referred to as DUI Saturation Patrols, resulted in 862 arrests for driving under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. This is number is down from the reported 971 arrested last year. However, the final numbers for this year are not in yet. The DUI Campaign involved 38 County law enforcement agencies.

The “Avoid the 38” DUI Campaign, which it is also referred to as, began December 13, 2013 through midnight on January 1, 2014. This included sobriety checkpoints, special saturation patrols and routine patrols. Click on the link to learn about the rules and guidelines associated with DUI Check Points.

Although there are standard fees, fines and punishments for a conviction for DUI but law enforcement must also follow strict rules when stopping, detaining and ultimately arresting someone for DUI. This is why consulting with an attorney is so important if you have been arrested for driving under the influence. Because the consequences of such a conviction can have a negative effect on one’s life, anything that can be done to minimize the ultimate conviction and consequences can make a big difference.

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The OC Crime Lab is a nationally recognized leader in the forensic science community and provides all law enforcement agencies in Orange County with services for the recognition, collection and evaluation of physical evidence from crime scenes. It is credited with being the only “full-service, internationally accredited laboratory” that provides forensic analyses to all law enforcement and fire protection agencies within Orange County.

So, when it was discovered that an error in the lab resulted in inaccurate blood alcohol readings, it was quite shocking to the legal community as lab results are seldom questioned.

Apparently, an audit of the crime lab resulted in hundreds of test results being questioned and has resulted in at least 900 letters to the individuals affected by the error.

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One of the most frequent questions posed to me during a consultation is “what is this going to cost me?” While my fees are based upon the type of case and the underlying facts, there are numerous other associated costs with drinking and driving.

The simple fact is this: Almost all adult drivers have had alcohol at some point during the same day they drove a car. We are notoriously poor at judging our level of intoxication (almost all my clients tell me they did “really well” on the field sobriety tests) and end up behind the wheel when maybe it wasn’t such a good idea.

So we maybe feel relaxed, loose, a little “buzzed” and ok to drive. I even had a former colleague tell me he drove better after a drink! While that is embarrassing to hear, it’s understandable. One drink usually loosens us up, makes us a bit less inhibited. But it still creates a risk for the driver and all around him. That risk climbs almost exponentially the more the driver drinks. So what about the fines, assuming you don’t kill or hurt someone?

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