San Fernando DUI Defense Attorney

February 20, 2013

Pasadena DUI Celebrity News Blotter: David Hasselhoff’s Daughter and Alanzo Mourning’s Wife Both Whacked with DUI Charges

When celebrities (or their spouses or children) get arrested for driving under the influence in Pasadena, people notice. There’s a reason why sites like TMZ.com generate boatloads of internet traffic. For whatever reason, people find themselves intuitively fascinated by the lives, lifestyles, and flaws of famous people.

To that end, perhaps you can learn a few lessons regarding Pasadena DUI defense while analyzing the news.

In that context, let’s consider two recent celebrity DUI arrests.

The first concerns basketball superstar Alanzo Mourning’s wife, Tracy Morning. Police pulled her over in Miami, near San Servano Avenue and Old Cutler Road, after she failed to stop completely at a red light. The officer told her that he had seen her speed through the light. Allegedly, she winked but did not deny the charges. He then gave her a field sobriety test after smelling alcohol on her breadth and arrested her.

Alanzo and Tracy have been charitable givers over the years: a local high school is even named for the couple. Her arrest came as an unwelcome 42nd birthday present for Alanzo.

Meanwhile, Hayley Hasselhoff, daughter of international TV star, David Hasselhoff, got arrested for driving under the influence and speeding over the Christmas holiday. Worst part is, Hayley is only 20 years old. That means prosecutors could really go after her. If convicted, she could be forced to spend up to half a year behind bars. Hayley’s mother, Pamela Bach, was also arrested for DUI--twice, actually–once in 2009 and once in 2010.

These celebrity cases may seem somewhat entertaining to casual readers. But if you personally face Pasadena DUI charges, and your life is in shambles–you’re probably a lot more empathetic.

Truth be told, no one is ever prepared for a DUI charge. It wasn’t like your life was on “pause” before your arrest (or accident). Ever since the arrest, you’ve been scrambling to pick up the pieces, pay your bills, deal with important logistics in life, and so forth.

The team here at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers can help you, no matter how complex, dynamic, or confusing your case seems right now. Attorney Kraut is an extremely experienced former prosecutor, who maintains exceptional relationships with local law enforcement, judges, and other attorneys who are on “the other side.”

As a Pasadena DUI defense lawyer, Mr. Kraut can help you investigate your charges, challenge breath test results, and strategically fight back against whatever the prosecution throws your way. Connect with Mr. Kraut and his team today for effective counsel to meet your Pasadena DUI defense challenges.

February 13, 2013

Could This Distant Event Portend the End of Breathalyzer Tests in Glendale (And the Rest of Los Angeles)?

by Michael Kraut

This Glendale DUI blog has long highlighted the shortcomings of breathalyzer tests. As we’ve reported on multiple occasions, most people (including the vast majority of police officers) have far more faith in these machines than the science and research warrant.

Some police are now beginning to pay attention to this research.

Unfortunately, they are not here in Southern California: they’re all the way out in Pennsylvania, where state police have temporarily stopped using these devices in wake of an appeal on a prominent case. January 9 marked the beginning of the breath test suspension, after a judge in Dauphin County nixed 20 DUI charges. A local lawyer effectively demonstrated that the test calibration procedures used were way off.

Here’s a quote from an article in the Lehigh Valley newspaper, The Morning Call, “Judge Clark wrote in his decision on Thursday that the failure of a manufacturer to use an independent laboratory in the initial calibration of the machines raised serious questions about the accuracy of their results, rendering them inadmissible as evidence in court. Furthermore, Clark said, an oversight in the regulations governing monthly calibration of the machines by police means that breath test results for very low and very high levels of intoxication are also unreliable.”

In the wake of the suspension, police are using DUI blood tests, which can be more accurate but which also have shortcomings.

Here’s the big lesson, if you or a close family member or a friend stands accused of Glendale DUI: avoid assuming anything about your potential defense.

The police may or may not have made a procedural or calibration error with your test. Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t. But you need to comb through the details of your case to determine what, if anything, you can do to challenge the evidence and charges against you.

Get in touch with Michael Kraut of the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers to develop a thorough and clearheaded defense against your Glendale DUI charges.

February 6, 2013

Were You Arrested for Driving Under the Influence in Glendale on Super Bowl Sunday? (You’re Not Alone!)

by Michael Kraut

Everyone can admit that the Har-bowl was pretty epic, and kudos to Joe Flacco and the Ravens for pulling off a crazy playoff streak. But Super Bowl Sunday is traditionally one of the most dangerous days of the year for DUI. Other than New Year’s Eve and a handful of other holidays – like St. Patrick’s Day, Labor Day weekend, the 4th of July, et cetera – the Super Bowl is one of the scariest days to navigate the 101 (or any freeway or surface street, for that matter) because of all the unsafe drivers out there.

Why is this so? Why do so many people get arrested during the holiday?

Perhaps it has to something to do with all the Bud Light commercials. Statistically, when more people drink and party, more people drive DUI and get arrested for the crime – it’s just a number’s game.

Of course, you’re not just “a number” – you’re a human being whose California driver’s license now may be on the line. You may also be at risk for serious fines, probation, jail time, spikes in your insurance rate, and a variety of other unpleasantries. So what can you do?

First of all, recognize that you may have a lot of legal resources available. For instance, let’s say that you failed a Glendale breathalyzer test — you blew a 0.12%, which is 1.5 times the legal limit for Glendale DUI, as codified by California Vehicle Code Section 23152 (a) and 23152 (b). You might be under the (false) impression that the breathalyzer results are set in stone. That is, they cannot be challenged because breathalyzers are technical instruments and thus never fail.

That’s not true. Surprisingly compelling research suggests that breath tests fail way more often than most people believe. On this Glendale DUI blog, we’ve talked a lot about how different factors (such as your dietary habits, gender, medications you might be on, etc) can throw off your breath test readings one way or another.

One really fascinating (and illustrative) way this can happen involves the depth of your test breath. If you breathe in really deeply, and then blast out a huge jet of air into the breathalyzer test, you can score a BAC reading that’s way higher than your legitimate BAC reading (if you were to measure it perfectly). This is often why police officers ask you to take a deep breath before you blow into a breath test – they know the game.

To understand how to deconstruct the case against you and build a powerful defense, get in touch with the Glendale DUI defense team at The Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers. Attorney Michael Kraut is not only a scholar of the law — he is Harvard Law School educated — but he is also renowned in the community for being able to take on tough, complex cases.

January 16, 2013

Burbank DUI News: Will Supreme Court Allow Unwarranted Blood Test? What Effect Will SCOTUS’ Imminent Ruling Have On You?

by Michael Kraut

Were you recently arrested for driving under the influence in Burbank, after being given a blood test by a police officer?

If so, some legal “goings on” at the United States Supreme Court may interest you.

Last Wednesday, the court heard arguments regarding a Missouri case. At issue: whether police should be allowed to compel DUI suspects to participate in DUI blood tests without a warrant. Prosecutors in this case had compelling arguments. Here’s how a Huffington Post article summarized the situation: “against the backdrop of a serious national problem of more than 10,000 deaths from crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers in 2010…lawyers for Missouri and the Obama administration argued that dispensing with a warrant requirement would further the effort [to reduce the number of DUI injuries] because any delay in testing the suspect’s blood alcohol content allows alcohol to dissipate in the blood.”

A Justice Department lawyer argued that police in DUI situations might “face the certain destruction of blood alcohol evidence” eithout such tests. The SCOTUS Justices appeared skeptical of the prosecution’s case. On the one hand, they agreed that collecting blood samples should be a priority — a delayed collection could be a problem. On the other hand, they recognized that sticking someone with a needle to collect blood — without a judge’s approval! — is a highly intrusive act.

Justice Scalia, for instance, asked prosecutors “why shouldn’t that determination be made case by case?” Scalia’s point was that, if the test can be delayed, then it should be delayed until a warrant is acquired. If waiting would create a evidentiary problem, then “it’s okay.”

Tyler McNeely was arrested in rural Missouri after he failed multiple sobriety tests and appeared unsteady and presented with slurred speech – typical symptoms of Burbank DUI.

The officer had enough evidence to obtain a warrant to get a blood test — McNeely refused the breathalyzer. Instead, he took McNeely to the hospital, where a technician drew blood from him and found that his BAC was 0.154% — nearly twice the legal limit for driving under the influence in Burbank, Missouri, and elsewhere.

Both the lower court and the Supreme Court of Missouri said the blood test results should be thrown out because they violated the Constitution’s restrictions against unreasonable search and seizure. This legal fracas could redound to change how police, prosecutors, and Los Angeles DUI lawyers operate, albeit in a nuanced fashion. But if you’re facing a charge, you probably care less about obscure rulings out of Washington and more about your own situation. What should you do to manage your charges, protect your license and your rights, and avoid the harsh punishments that prosecutors may be bringing against you?

The Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers can help you make better decisions. Get in touch with Mr. Kraut and his team for a free, thorough and confidential consultation about your best next steps.

January 9, 2013

Glendale DUI Sports News: Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk Guilty of Misdemeanor DUI

by Michael Kraut

Some sobering Glendale DUI news out of Chicago: Carlton Fisk, the legendary Hall of Fame catcher, pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge, just two months after Chicago police found him snoozing in his pick-up truck in a cornfield.

Officers in Lenox found the baseball legend passed out in his truck on the 22th of October. An open bottle of Vodka lay strewn on the truck’s floor.

Fisk got off with a relatively light sentence — just a year of court supervision, drug and alcohol counseling, and court costs and fines of $1,250. According to Fisk’s attorney, the emeritus slugger did the right thing by accepting responsibility; he “stepped up to the plate.”

Meanwhile in local Glendale DUI news, the Los Angeles Daily News recently offered the following key reminder: “Metro rail and bus lines will be free New Year’s Eve from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. And if you drove to a celebration before having a few too many, AAA will even arrange a free tow home for your car.”

Over the 2011-2012 New Years holiday, over 15,000 people got arrested for DUI in Glendale and elsewhere in Los Angeles. Police tallied over 2,400 DUI accidents; 17 people died in those crashes. We’ll report on the DUI statistics for the 2012-2013 New Years holiday in an upcoming blog post.

If you or a family member stands accused of a crime like Glendale DUI, a good defense can save your CA license, keep you out of prison, protect your job, and stave off many directly related and indirectly related problems. Unfortunately, coming up with the most adroit defense is not always simple stuff!

For instance, you may suspect that the police operated in a less than ethical manner. But that may not be the case. Likewise, you may harbor unfounded doubts about your DUI blood test. Your true “best defense” might be esoteric. And the path to finding it — and then developing it and executing it properly — may be difficult, if not impossible, unless you have a respectable, powerful Glendale DUI defense attorney guiding you.

Get in touch with Michael Kraut of the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers today for experienced and effective counsel, and get 2013 off to a better start.

December 31, 2012

Glendale DUI Madness: Yet Another School Bus Driver Arrested for Driving While Intoxicated

by Michael Kraut

Your Glendale DUI charge is serious, and you may feel deeply ashamed and regretful for what’s happened.

But at least (hopefully) you weren’t driving a school bus while DUI, like 67-year-old Ethel Quade Ressler allegedly did.

Local authorities say that the St. Mary’s County bus driver was driving recklessly with 12 kids already loaded onboard. Officers called to the scene noticed alcohol on Ms. Ressler’s breath – a classic symptom of driving under the influence in Glendale or elsewhere. They then put her through the paces of a field sobriety test, which she failed. After the arrest, Ressler tried to hurt herself, so authorities took her to the hospital.

The woman had been driving school buses for 47 years for her school district – nearly five decades! – and had never gotten a DUI or failed a drug test.

Obviously, we can’t discern the deeper details of her case from simple news blurbs. However, the story certainly implies that there might have been something deeper going on in her life that led her to make a mistake and get arrested for DUI.

We live in a society in which we like to catalog and punish “bad guys” and reward “good guys.” But this woman spent nearly five decades of her life in service to the school district, during which time, she apparently carefully shuttled children to and from their homes and school. Prior to the DUI arrest, she was probably considered “one of the good guys.”

A single mistake can cause a kind of polar opposite shift in public opinion.

After all, we certainly don’t want school bus drivers toodling around Glendale DUI. Yet DUI defendants deserve empathy and support as well. That’s one of the reasons why the team here at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers is so passionate about providing good service.

Whether this is your first arrest or fifth, you likely need diverse and empathetic assistance with what’s been going on in your life. Attorney Kraut is an ex-prosecutor for the city, and he brings to bear an intelligent and compassionate perspective. He also has a reputation for being extremely aggressive and smart about building and executing Glendale DUI defenses.

December 17, 2012

Why Do You Keep Getting Arrested for Burbank DUI, Again and Again?

by Michael Kraut

If you were recently arrested for driving under the influence in Burbank – yet again – you’re understandably terrified about what prosecutors might do to you this time. For instance, will they slap you with a felony count per California Vehicle Code section 23153?

You’re right to be concerned.

One might dismiss a single Burbank DUI as a product of bad luck, quirky circumstances, or a single lapse of judgment. However, if you get arrested multiple times, you may want to take a look in the mirror. Why do you keep getting into these situations, and what needs to change?

Obviously, you want to deal with the “legal stuff” in an effective, appropriate manner, as rapidly as possible. However, you also want to pay attention to your recurring patterns. These may be subtle to detect but may ultimately prove vital to solving your longer term issues.

It is often very difficult for us to instantly apprehend our own patterns, since we “live inside” them. Other people can look at us and judge: tell us to take certain actions or avoid certain behaviors. But as the saying goes, “it’s easy for you to say.” Outsiders can make these analyses simply, since they don’t have to live the consequences of said judgments, nor are they emotionally invested in your outcome one way or the other.

Here’s one way to start to understand your Burbank DUI recidivism — to learn the lessons from what’s happened to you, and to translate those lessons into better outcomes.

The first step is to understand WHY you got into your bad situation in the first place. Your intuitive answer may not be “deep” enough to give you this insight. For instance, say you had been partying in Burbank Center late at night, playing pool. You got behind the wheel without appreciating how under the influence you actually were, and then police busted you at a Burbank DUI checkpoint. You might initially think you got in trouble “because I was too lazy to get a ride home.”

Not deep enough! You must probe deeper. Ask yourself WHY.

WHY were you too lazy to get a ride home? Your answer then might be “because I don’t really know anyone in the city who I could trust to take me home and not judge me.” Then probe even deeper – WHY don’t you know anybody? And so forth.

This iterative exercise – asking why, over and over, to get deeper and deeper – inevitably gets you into deeper psychological “stuff.” This “stuff” might be underpinning not only why you made a poor driving decision but also why you might be feeling helpless or unhappy in various aspects of your life. Once you figure out that core reason — that deeper WHY — then you can take steps to address the constraint making your life miserable in many diverse was. Perhaps you just feel really lonely: you need a partner or even a close friend. We all have needs for companionship. Perhaps when you find a partner or a close friend, you’ll have a designated driver the next time. You’ll ALSO no longer feel as sad or helpless, and thus you will intuitively avoid dangerous/reckless situations in the future.

All that said, you have practical legal considerations that need to be addressed ASAP. Recidivism DUI in Burbank can lead to felony counts, long jail sentences, massive license suspensions, and more. Attorney Michael Kraut of the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers in Burbank can help you understand your legal options and make powerful defensive progress. Connect with attorney Kraut and his team today for a free, honest, and thorough evaluation of your case.

November 12, 2012

Police Trooper’s DUI Debacle: Could Something Similar Have Happened with Your Burbank DUI Case?

by Michael Kraut

When the police officer arrested you for driving under the influence in Burbank, you were perplexed – shocked, even. Perhaps you hadn’t been drinking that much. Perhaps you hadn’t been drinking at all! But the police officer said that you failed your field sobriety tests and/or that you registered positive for Burbank DUI per a breathalyzer test (BAC greater than 0.08%, as defined by California Vehicle Code Section 23152(b)).

Despite the seemingly incontrovertible evidence to the contrary, you maintain your innocence – or at least you believe that the arrest and/or the charges you face are not quite fair.

They may be, or they may not be. Only a thorough inspection of the evidence can determine the truth, either way. However, if you suspect that the arresting officer mistreated you or misbehaved in some fashion, you may not be delusional. Consider, for instance, some amazing – frankly, terrifying – news out of the state of Utah. A Utah Highway Patrol Trooper, Lisa Steed, is on the verge of being fired, after two separate judges found that she lied on the witness stand when testifying about drug possession and DUI cases.

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Steed’s trustworthiness has been under fire since April, when a Third District Judge concluded that she suppressed evidence and lied during a case. Another judge, in the Second District, also said that she suppressed evidence, prompting the prosecutor in that county to abandon prosecuting any DUI cases in which Steed had been a substantial witness.

The Salt Lake Tribune also reported on a memo from back in 2010, which found that Steed had provided conflicting info regarding lab results and arrest reports.

That memo also insinuated that Steed arrested four drivers with no drugs or alcohol in their system!

The story serves as a red flag: bad police behavior like this can happen in any city, under any circumstances. This obviously isn’t to say that the officers who arrested you acted inappropriately. That’s possible, but it’s not necessarily likely.

The bigger takeaway lesson is that Burbank DUI defendants can benefit from having a thorough, effective advocate examine evidence from multiple angles and probe to see whether an idiosyncratic factor – such as police incompetence or deliberate suppression of evidence – may have played a role.

Attorney Michael Kraut of Burbank’s Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers has spent years fighting Southern California DUI cases from both the prosecutorial and the defense side. His diverse background allows him to develop and execute powerful and highly effective defenses for his clients.

November 7, 2012

If Arrested for DUI in Glendale, Don’t Drive the Wrong Way Down a One Way Street and Then Knee the Arresting Officer in the Groin

by Michael Kraut

If you or a loved one or colleague recently got arrested for driving under the influence in Glendale, your situation is obviously intense, scary, and overwhelming. Unfortunately – as we’ve catalogued numerous times in this blog over the past several months – DUI suspects often engage in tremendously dangerous and dumb behavior during and after the arrest sequence that redounds to cripple their legal defensive options.

Ideally, your Glendale DUI arrest was significantly less drama filled than the arrest of 37-year-old Andrea Weber, a British woman arrested in the town of Beatrice on Highway 136 last Wednesday evening. According to The Daily Mail, a paper in the UK, Weber got busted for a variety of charges, such as felony child abuse, flight to avoid arrest, assault, and the UK equivalent of driving under the influence. (In England, they obviously have different DUI laws, but these in many ways run parallel to the standards for Glendale DUI, as defined by California Vehicle Code Section 23152(a) and 23152(b) – or, if you injure someone, the “upgraded” felony CVC laws – 23153(a) and 23153(b).)

The Daily Mail reports that police saw Weber driving on Highway 136; they followed her car as she zipped down a one way street. The police pursued and eventually got her to pull over in a middle school parking lot. The police found two kids in her back seat. As the police chatted with the children, Weber tried to get back into her car. When a officer tried to stop her, she kneed him in the groin. Unsurprisingly, she was then restrained and arrested and hit with a bevy of charges, some of which we described above.

The moral for you, if you’ve been charged with a Glendale DUI
As embarrassing as your arrest might have been, what’s past is past. You cannot undo the damage you’ve done to property, people, and your reputation. However, you don’t have to let the past be a prison, either. Everyone makes mistakes. Your ability to rebound from your bad decision making might even surprise you. In fact, many famous figures in both American and British history have rebounded from incidents like Glendale DUI to become powerful leaders, humanitarians, etc.

You can almost view this as a learning experience – hopefully one that won’t cost you too extravagantly and won’t lead to massive jail time – and hopefully one that did not involve serious injuries to anyone or loss of life.

Glendale DUI defense attorney Michael Kraut of the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers and his team are standing by to help you unpack your potential legal defense options and help you systematically defend against the charges. Attorney Kraut is a Harvard Law School educated ex-prosecutor. He’s a highly respected “maven” of Los Angeles DUI law, who is often called upon by the Los Angeles Times, KTLA News and New York Times to weigh in on important local DUI cases.

November 5, 2012

Pregnant Zombie Arrested for DUI: Hopefully Your Burbank DUI Mug Shot was Prettier

by Michael Kraut

Whether you got arrested for driving under the influence in Burbank on “All Hollow’s Eve” or not, odds are that the experience was spooky and disorienting, and not in a good way.

DUI stories have a way of becoming surreal and macabre – both for DUI suspects and for victims of the crash and investigators. Burbank DUI bloggers and national “News of the Weird” scouts from places like Huffington Post were riveted last week by a strange Halloween DUI story out of Birmingham Alabama.

Allegedly, a woman dressed as a pregnant-zombie-who-had-been-shot-in-the-head was found passed out in her car the morning after Halloween. Initially, passersby thought that she had actually been shot in the head. These people called the police, who found that the woman was just wearing a Halloween costume. The costume itself was amateurish, but when the frightened passersby saw it in context, it certainly looked gory and real. Plus, they found her on the morning after Halloween, not on Halloween itself. As one Birmingham police officer said, “you can see why someone thought she had been shot.”

Local officers woke the woman up, looked through her vehicle, and then arrested her on charges of DUI.

Obviously, getting a charge like driving under the influence in Burbank is not pleasant. But it’s certainly better than getting shot in the head and left to die in your car.

Nevertheless, you face a superabundance of challenges and questions that you will need to address in the days and weeks ahead. For instance, will your license get suspended? Will you have to spend significant time in jail? What should you be doing right now to prepare for your legal battle? Have you written down your own account of what happened – including quotes from officers or from any witnesses? Did you make any statements to authorities or to anyone investigating the case that could compromise your case or cause you potential legal problems?

Have you found and retained a Burbank DUI criminal defense attorney yet?

These and other questions are probably whirling around your head, even as you try to process what happened to you. It can be difficult to prioritize and strategize, since you’re not an expert in Burbank DUI law, and you’re also almost certainly dealing with emotional “blowback” from the arrest as well as “day-to-day” life concern re: your job, family, and relationship obligations.

The practiced and efficient team at Burbank’s Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers can assist you in developing a proper defense and making good sense of your options. Attorney Kraut is a highly respected, knowledgeable, and successful criminal defense lawyer who has the compassion and relationships to provide you excellent service.