Los Angeles DUI Attorney Blog

March 3, 2016

DUI & Distractions Pose Biggest Accident Risks [Increasing Risk by 36X!]

Traffic safety organizations repeatedly warn that DUI in Los Angeles greatly increases accident risk. But how dangerous is DUI compared to other types of distracted behavior, such as texting or reading or just fiddling with the controls on your dashboard?
The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute tracked 3,500 drivers who had agreed to have cameras and sensors monitoring speed, acceleration and GPS location placed in their vehicles. The New York Times reported that DUI was the most dangerous behavior, increasing crash risk by 36 times. Dialing a phone increased crash risk by 12 times; reading and writing by 10 times; reaching for an item by nine times; and reading texts or emails by three times.

When you’re on the road, it’s probably safest to assume that the drivers around you are impaired or distracted in some way. In a recent survey of drivers by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Study, 87 percent admitted that they had engaged in some type of risky behavior behind the wheel within the previous 30 days. A whopping 70 percent said they had talking on the cell phone, and about one-third said they did it on a regular basis. Forty-two percent said they read texts (12 percent regularly); almost one-third said they sent texts as well. One in three of the drivers said they were driving while drowsy (so tired they had trouble keeping their eyes open) and almost half admitted that they exceeded the speed limit by 15 mph or more.

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 27, 2016

The Math Is Simple: DUI + Cell Phone = Bad Accident

by Michael Kraut

Although the penalties for a Los Angeles DUI can be fairly severe–first time offenders can spend up to a year in jail under California Vehicle Code 23152 (a)–the punishment for talking on a hand-held cell phone isn’t nearly as severe. (No points, and a fine of just $76 for a first offense.) But even if the court doesn’t punish offenders for cell phone usage, the combination of DUI and talking on a hand-held may have some fairly serious consequences.

In Greenville, South Carolina, a woman ran into a stopped tractor trailer–halted by the side of the road on I-85 because of a previous accident–around 8:45 on February 21st. Police believe that the woman was trying to make a phone call on her hand held cell phone when she hit the vehicle. The unnamed woman suffered serious injuries and doctors had her airlifted to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte.
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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 22, 2016

Florida Supreme Court Pressures DUI Judge To Resign

by Michael Kraut

What would happen to a judge convicted of a DUI in Los Angeles? When a court in Broward County, Florida, found a circuit judge guilty of that offense, she ended up losing her job.

On November 5, 2013, a 911 caller alerted police that a white Mercedes was driving erratically on Federal Highway in Boca Raton. When a police officer pulled the car over, Circuit Court Judge Cynthia Imperato told the officer that she was a judge. Instead of handing over her driver’s license as the officer requested, Imperato handed him her judge’s badge. (She later insisted that she wasn’t looking for special treatment because of her status.)

February 17, 2016

Lawyer Gets Unusual Private Hearing In DUI Case

by Michael Kraut

The average Joe or Jane charged with a Los Angeles DUI may sometimes wonder if there are two justice systems at work; one for every day folks, and the other for the well-connected. A recent incident across the country in Pennsylvania would probably reinforce their cynical attitudes.

On April 3, 2015, police noticed attorney Zachary A. Morey running a stop sign in Sinking Spring in Berks County. When the officers pulled him over, Morey failed several sobriety tests and his BAC measured three times the legal limit at 0.291.

According to the Reading Eagle, Morey had to appear in Judge Eleni Geishauser’s court for a hearing on the charges, which would typically result in the lawyer’s placement in the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition Program. (The judge can use this special pre-trial program for non-violent offenders who have no prior or a very limited record. If the defendant successfully completes the supervised program, the court dismisses the charges and expunges the case from the record.)

February 15, 2016

Should States Lower the BAC Limit for DUI Charges?

by Michael Kraut

In 2004, Delaware became the last state to set 0.08 as the blood alcohol limit for DUI charges. (California was a decade ahead of the pack; police could arrest anyone with a BAC of 0.08 for a DUI in Los Angeles beginning in 1990.)

But the National Transportation Board is saying that limit isn’t low enough. Included on its “Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements in 2016” is its desire to “end substance impairment in transportation.” That includes adopting a 0.05 BAC as the national standard for DUI.

The NTSB points out that one-third of all highway deaths in the last 15 years involve an alcohol-impaired driver. It says that, “When it comes to alcohol use, we know that impairment begins before a person’s BAC reaches 0.08 percent, the current legal limit in the United States. In fact, by the time it reaches that level, the risk of a fatal crash has more than doubled. That is why states should lower BAC levels to 0.05— or even lower.”
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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.)

February 8, 2016

Hawaiian Prosecutors Seek 24/7 Warrants for DUI Drivers (Part 1)

by Michael Kraut

Will judges in California soon be working round-the-clock issuing warrants for blood alcohol tests for drivers suspected of DUI in Los Angeles? That’s what’s happening in Hawaii, thanks to a ruling last fall from the state’s Supreme Court.

The Hawaii Supreme Court said that police officers could not coerce drivers (by threatening them with jail or loss of license) to submit to a BAC. The ruling said that “the right to be free of warrant-less searches and seizures is a fundamental guarantee of our constitution.”

So unless a driver voluntarily gives consent–which most will not–or unless there is an emergency, jurisdictions in Hawaii that want to use BAC evidence in court now have to get warrants. But Hawaiian law also requires that the police measure blood alcohol within three hours of the alleged offense. The situation has left prosecutors scrambling to find ways to make it easier for judges to issue BAC warrants on short notice. Continue reading

February 3, 2016

Los Angeles DUI Celebs and Politicians Make the News [Vince Young DUI and More]

by Michael Kraut

Have you ever noticed how high-profile DUI arrests seem to come in spates? You’ll read nothing about celebrity DUI in Los Angeles for a few months, and then police arrest a number of stars and/or elected officials within a week or two.

On January 22, police in Austin, Texas, picked up former Tennessee Titans and Philadelphia Eagle quarterback Vince Young for driving under the influence. Young allegedly was speeding and drifting between lanes when officers pulled him over. The arresting officer said that the sports star was slurring his words, had glassy eyes, smelled of alcohol and was swaying as he walked.

Young apologized on his Facebook page after the charge against him–a single misdemeanor count of DUI–became public. So far his current employer, the University of Texas, has opted to keep him on the job.