Driving Under the Influence

April 18, 2016

Supreme Court Hears Arguments in DUI Cases

When a police officer suspects someone of DUI in Los Angeles, the officer will usually ask the driver to take a breathalyzer test. Under California Vehicle Code 23612, a driver who refuses could face fines, mandatory jail time and loss of license for a year if the court convicts him/her of DUI.

A case now before the Supreme Court of the United States could force California and 11 other states to change such laws. Judging from the questions posed by the Justices during oral arguments on April 20th, the court appeals skeptical about states’ contentions that public safety issues should outweigh Fourth Amendment concerns.

Both Minnesota and North Dakota have laws similar to California’s “implied consent” statute, making it a crime to refuse chemical testing when officers suspect DUI. The Supreme Court consolidated appeals in three separate cases–one from Minnesota and two from North Dakota–into one case, Birchfield v. North Dakota. The defendants in these cases either served time for refusing a breathalyzer or felt they were pressured into submitting to one, leading to convictions on DUI charges.

April 11, 2016

Deputy Disqualified, 104 DUI Court Cases Thrown Out

by Michael Kraut

Anyone facing trial for a Los Angeles DUI would be well advised to tell the truth when taking the stand. Lying to a judge and jury lead to serious consequences, including perjury charges. But if the truthfulness of a police officer’s statement is in doubt, that can be good news for drivers whose convictions depend on his or her testimony.

To that point, the district attorney of Wake County, North Carolina, recently decided to dismiss charges against 104 drivers accused of DUI after a judge caught a sheriff’s deputy lying during his testimony during one trial. Prosecutors had planned to use Deputy Robert Davis as a witness in those DUI cases and in 71 other traffic cases, which the prosecutor also dismissed.

March 29, 2016

The Statistics are in: Interlock Devices DO Prevent DUI Deaths

by Michael Kraut

As states look for ways to further reduce deaths from DUI accidents, many are considering new requirements for ignition interlock devices (IID). For example, a bill now making its way through the Maryland State legislature would require first-time DUI offenders to install an ignition interlock device in their vehicles. (Drivers convicted of DUI in Los Angeles County already face that penalty for first offenses.)

A study from the University of Pennsylvania has shown that mandatory interlock devices do work as intended. According to an article in Medical Daily, Penn researchers found that mandatory in-car breathalyzers saved an estimated 915 lives between 2007 and 2013. They arrived at this conclusion by studying NHTSA data about the number of alcohol-related crash deaths, comparing states with mandatory ignition interlock laws with those that did not have them. The researchers reported that states with the mandatory interlock laws saved the life of one person in every 125,000.

March 16, 2016

St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations Bring Out the DUI Drivers

by Michael Kraut

Planning to celebrate the March 17th holiday honoring the Irish saint? Better make sure that you have a designated driver–or at least an alternate form of transportation–for that night if you want to avoid charges of DUI in Los Angeles or any other jurisdiction. Police departments across the country are warning that they plan to be out in full force to ensure that the roads remain as safe as possible.

They have reason for concern. The WalletHub website recently posted some sobering statistics on DUIs on Saint Patrick’s Day. They report that in four years, from 2009-2013, 276 people died in DUI-related accidents on March 17th. (The Centers for Disease Control state that 30 people a day usually die in such accidents, so that’s more than twice the typical number of deaths.) The drivers involved tend to be more than just a little tipsy; WalletHub said that 75 percent of those involved in fatal accidents have more than twice the legal limit of alcohol in their blood.

The St. Patrick’s Day DUI accidents also occur more frequently–every 46 minutes, according to WalletHub, versus the CDC’s estimate that a DUI-related death occurs every 51 minutes on the average day.

March 1, 2016

Educators Learn Firsthand [the Hard Way] About Los Angeles DUI Dangers

by Michael Kraut

People charged with DUI in Los Angeles come from many different professions, including schoolteachers, college professors, principals and other educators. Since the public usually holds educators to a higher standard of behavior–they are supposed to be role models for our children–their arrests for DUI generally get a fair amount of coverage in local media.

In Meriden, Connecticut, Platt High School Principal Robert Montemurro took sick leave after news of his arrest for DUI hit the news. The 56-year-old Montemurro had been involved in an accident on the main street of town. Police arrived, investigated and charged the principal with DUI.

Matthew B. Lucchini, 26, a Phys ed instructor at a Chicago, Illinois, elementary school, faces more serious charges. He hit sisters Jazmine Oquendo, 14, and Ava Oquendo, 7, while they were walking in a marked crosswalk. He fled the scene with the sisters lying in the road. But police soon caught up with Lucchini and charged him with DUI, leaving the scene of an accident and negligent driving.

February 23, 2016

February 2016’s Three Most Unusual DUIs?

by Michael Kraut

Although it’s the shortest month in the year, February usually seems to drag on forever. Maybe that’s why some DUI drivers–no doubt including a few charged with DUI in Los Angeles–have exhibited some rather unusual behavior this month.

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• When a Sumter County, Florida, deputy pulled over Christopher Beauchemin in the early morning hours of February 1, the 45-year-old was standing outside of his car and holding a palm branch. The vehicle was running but was still in gear. When the deputy questioned Beauchemin, the driver said he thought the branch was part of his car that had fallen off. After failing a field sobriety test, Beauchemin got a ride to the Sumter County Detention Center, where authorities charged him with DUI.

• A 29-year old woman from Kittanning, Pennsylvania, must have had it in for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) when she got behind the wheel on February 21. After sideswiping another vehicle, the woman, suspected of DUI, managed to hit no fewer than four separate PennDOT signs before her car flipped and rolled. She escaped with only minor injuries; there’s no word on how much damage the signs suffered.

February 10, 2016

Hawaiian Prosecutors Seek 24/7 Warrants for DUI Drivers (Part 2)

by Michael Kraut

Avoiding prosecution for a DUI in Los Angeles usually requires the skills of an experienced attorney. In Hawaii, however, it appears that all you have to do is live in the right jurisdiction to have a good chance of getting a DUI charge thrown out of court or at least stalled in the system.

An investigative report by Honolulu’s KHON2 television station found that courts on the island of Oahu throw out more than one in every four–almost one in every three–DUI cases because the police witnesses don’t show up or because the prosecutors or defense lawyers take too long to prepare for the trial.

Some of the problem apparently stems from the way that the Honolulu Police Department handle DUI cases; three, four or more officers need to show up as witnesses when the case goes to trial. With officers already stretched thin with other responsibilities, the odds are good that one or more won’t be able to make it to court when lawyers repeatedly request trial postponements. (The Honolulu Police Department says it is reworking its procedures and doing additional training so that fewer officers will have to appear as witnesses in each DUI case.)

January 25, 2016

Could You Lose Your Vehicle After A DUI?

by Michael Kraut

Suppose you lent your vehicle to a relative who had a problem with a Los Angeles DUI in the past. You thought that your relative had sorted out all the legal issues, but when police pull her over for a traffic violation, they charge her with driving on a suspended license.

That’s bad enough—but then you find that the state is going to seize your vehicle because of your relative’s misbehavior!

A woman in Moline, Illinois, is living that scenario. Last summer, 70-year-old Judy Wiese gave her grandson the keys to her 2009 Jeep Compass because he said he needed it to get to work. The young man told his grandmother that he had taken care of all his court obligations related to a 2014 DUI. He neglected to mention that didn’t include getting his license back.

January 13, 2016

Dumb Decisions By DUI Drivers to Start Off 2016

by Michael Kraut

Sometimes people who’ve had a few too many seem to go out of their way to make poor choices. Take the case of Juan Pablo Garcia, a 22-year-old Uber driver arrested for a DUI in Los Angeles on New Year’s Day.

As a Uber driver, Garcia didn’t have to pick up passengers, but he decided to respond to a 1 a.m. call from 19-year-old Arlene Mendez, who was looking for a ride. According to CBS Local Los Angeles, Mendez later related that she felt uncomfortable with Garcia’s driving almost from the start. Her fears increased when she peered over the back seat and saw that Garcia was hitting 80 miles per hour on city streets. Garcia ignored her pleas to slow down and ended up slamming into another vehicle, overturning his own car in the process. Fortunately, Mendez wasn’t seriously hurt.

January 11, 2016

New Year’s Eve DUI Accident Injures DC Pedestrians

by Michael Kraut

Last November, a man eventually charged with DUI in Los Angeles killed two people and injured several others when his car hit a minivan and then swerved onto a sidewalk. A similar accident—fortunately non-fatal so far—occurred in the District of Columbia on New Year’s Day.

Twenty-five year old Malik Lloyd was apparently trying to turn from northbound 17th Street onto L Street in the early morning hours of January 1. Lloyd’s depth perception must have been off, however, because instead of making the corner he ended up skidding his car across the road, jumping the sidewalk and crashing into a floral planter and utility pole. His car continued down the sidewalk for several more feet, hitting seven people who were standing outside the “Bar Code” nightclub. Emergency crews took the victims to the hospital. Most were released, suffering only minor injuries, but one, the bar’s bouncer, was in critical condition the next day.