los angeles DUI defense

January 25, 2016

Could You Lose Your Vehicle After A DUI?

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 18, 2016

Wow – Verdicts Overturned in 30-Year Old DUI Cases

by Michael Kraut

If a judge had accepted your guilty plea case involving a Los Angeles DUI, and new evidence turned up, would you take the time and spend the money to have that verdict overturned? What if your conviction dated all the way back to 1986? Some people in Massachusetts who pleaded guilty to DUI are willing to do it.

District Court in session. Edgartown.

A recent article in the Vineyard Gazette (the newspaper for the upscale Martha’s Vineyard) reported that attorneys who practice in the Edgartown District Court are taking a look at the operating under the influence (OUI) cases handled by Judge Brian Rowe over his 20 years in office. When accepting an accused DUI driver’s guilty plea, Judge Rowe apparently neglected to follow a procedure called colloquy. According to the Gazette, the judge was supposed to advise the guilty party that he/she had the right to a jury trial if desired and to ask each defendant if he or she fully understood the consequences of the decision to make a guilty plea. There’s a box on some court forms that the judge should have checked if the discussion had taken place.

January 6, 2016

Minnesota Court Rules Warrants Required For DUI Urine Tests

by Michael Kraut

Under California law, police officers arresting a driver for a Los Angeles DUI don’t use a urine test for determining blood alcohol content at the time of an arrest. AB 2020, which became effective in January 2013, requires law enforcement officials to employ the more accurate blood test. The idea behind the law is that relying on the more reliable blood test will prevent DUI defendants from contesting the charges against them (if they’re based on a urine test).

But Minnesota still permits urine tests for DUI—and it just got a little harder for police officers to get that type of evidence when they suspect a driver of DUI. According to the Metropolitan News-Enterprise, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled on December 28th that a state law that makes it a crime for a driver to refuse a urine test without a warrant is unconstitutional. This court said that making it a crime to refuse a blood or urine test in a DUI case implicates a defendant’s fundamental right to be free from unconstitutional searches. The court reversed the conviction of a driver found guilty of refusing to submit to a blood or urine test.

December 28, 2015

Must Read, Jaw Dropping DUI Stories from 2015

by Michael Kraut

Unfortunately, crazy DUI stories span every state and continent, and the impact of driving while under the influence of drugs and alcohol affects all ages, genders, ethnicities, and religions. Here are three more of the most astonishing DUI stories 2015 had to offer:

1. Woman drives into the homecoming parade. In Oklahoma last October, Adacia Chambers drove into an Oklahoma State University parade crowd. She killed three adults and one 2-year old and injured 47 more. The 25-year-old faces four counts of second-degree murder and 46 charges of felony assault. She could face life in prison if convicted on all counts. While alcohol was not a factor, she allegedly had been driving under the influence of drugs.

December 18, 2015

Could Hawaii DUI Ruling Signal Changes in Other States’ DUI Laws?

by Michael Kraut

Have you been convicted of a Los Angeles DUI based on a breathalyzer test that you took only because you didn’t want to lose your license? You may be particularly interested in a recent decision by the Hawaii Supreme Court, which ruled that the state’s “implied consent” laws regarding BAC tests are unconstitutional.

In the case of the State of Hawaii vs. Yong Shik Won, the justices found that officers had coerced Won into taking the test. He originally refused but changed his mind when police had him sign an implied consent form that stated under Hawaii law he must take a breathalyzer test or face 30 days in prison and a $1,000 fine. Won took the test, which resulted in his DUI conviction.
Won appealed his conviction based on the fact that officers had not read him his rights before administering the BAC. His attorneys argued that this was a warrantless search, and that under Hawaii’s constitution the state cannot compel someone to submit to a search when consent was gained “by explicit or implicit coercion, implied threat or covert force.”

December 4, 2015

Do Double Los Angeles DUI Drivers Get Their Vehicles Back Too Soon?

by Michael Kraut

Police officers who arrest motorists for DUI in Los Angeles occasionally run across drivers who don’t learn from their initial mistakes. As soon as these alleged DUI drivers are out of jail, they get behind the wheel again.

One woman in Somerset, Pennsylvania, may hold the record for the least amount of time between DUI arrests. She’s certainly a contender.

On Saturday, November 14th, around 5 p.m., Pennsylvania State police arrested Michele Leonard, age 47, on charges of DUI after she crashed her car in an intersection in Somerset Township. They gave her a breathalyzer test and took her to the station, where officers did the paperwork and then released her.

Leonard still apparently wasn’t thinking too clearly, because she gave $3 to a stranger to take her back to the crash site. She got back in her car and proceeded to drive away, only to lose control of her vehicle and smash the side of a parked car. She ended up traveling down a nearby driveway and through the owner’s shed, destroying both the building and many of the expensive tools inside.

November 16, 2015

Gotten Multiple Los Angeles DUI Arrests? How to Make Sure 2016 is “DUI Free”

by Michael Kraut

As the year winds towards the holidays, and you look back on 2015, you have to admit that this one wasn’t exactly your best. Your Los Angeles DUI arrest, in some sense, was the tip of the iceberg. Maybe you faced rejection at work or financial problems. Perhaps you had a big issue with a personal relationship or suffered a health setback that led you to take refuge in the bottle or in some other compulsive activity.

2015 is a year you would like to forget.

That said, you want to take away valuable lessons from what happened to avoid repeating mistakes going forward. In our society, we are taught to pay attention to our neighbors and friends — to measure our progress in relation to what others do. But it’s more accurate (not to mention more resourceful and compassionate) to measure our progress based our OWN past experiences.

To that end, let’s unpack your year. Ponder the following questions:

November 6, 2015

Was Your Los Angeles DUI Arrest a Freak Occurrence or a Symptom of a Deeper Problem?

by Michael Kraut

Garrison Keillor of Prairie Home Companion famously quipped about the town of Lake Wobegon, “where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.”

This notion – that we all think that we are special – has pretty profound implications for your Los Angeles DUI defense.

Obviously, no two DUIs are exactly alike, and many factors might particularly distinguish your arrest from the pack. But rather than think that you are a unique defendant, it might help to take the opposite approach – to begin with the assumption that your case is standard.

October 30, 2015

Warning: El Niño’s Rains May Make Los Angeles DUI Events That Much More Dangerous

by Michael Kraut

Everyone knows that driving under the influence in Los Angeles (or anywhere, frankly) puts drivers at an elevated risk of getting into accidents, hurting themselves and others, and causing property damage. However, to understand the true risks associated with dangerous driving of any kind, you need context.

Someone just barely overly the legal limit (as established by California Vehicle Code Section 23152) of 0.08% BAC — who is otherwise alert, driving on a sunny, clear road and at a stable, slow speed — is probably far less likely to get into a crash than someone driving with the same BAC level at night, while blasting music and chatting with a girlfriend on a cellphone.

Driving risk factors stack up.

To maximize your safety on the road, be aware not just of your alcohol consumption but also of other elements that could make driving less safe. For instance:

• Your level of distraction – are you fully attentive behind the wheel?
• Are you listening to music or eating?
• Are you chatting with someone on a cellphone? (Even talking on a hands free headset can lead to driving errors comparable to the errors you’d make while DUI, according to research from the University of Utah.)
• How tired are you? (Fatigue is a major factor in auto accidents. One study out of Australia found that someone who stays up 24 hours in a row exhibits a level of impairment commensurate with DUI level of impairment.)
• What are the road conditions like? Are the roads potholed and bumpy or smooth and well-marked?
• Weather – is it dry? Or is it raining? (The first 45 minutes after a rain following a long period of dryness can be quite treacherous.)

As El Niño stirs up trouble in the Pacific, weather forecasters expect serious rain here in the Southland this winter. These bouts of rain will be dispersed with periods of dryness, so we can expect the weather to ratchet up the level of treacherousness on the Los Angeles roads and complicate car accident cases. (For instance, was your wreck caused by DUI driving or by slick conditions or both?)

Call the strategic, respected Los Angeles DUI defense attorneys here at the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers, and recover peace of mind and clarity about your situation.

August 31, 2015

Identifying the Trigger that Sparked the Decision That Landed You with a Los Angeles DUI Arrest

by Michael Kraut

As you ruminate about your recent Los Angeles DUI arrest, you might be tempted to “beat yourself up” or get angry with the police who stopped you. But in the interest of being constructive – you want to solve your current problems and prevent future ones as opposed to just wringing your hands – consider doing this following exercise.

First of all, identify the moment in time where you made the mistake that landed you in hot water.

Even if you believe that the police stopped you in error and that you “did nothing wrong,” replay the events of the day or evening. Aim to figure out what, if anything, you could have done better. For instance, maybe you made an impulsive decision to drive home instead of taking an Uber. Maybe you had a fourth glass of wine because everyone else was drinking, too. Try to get as specific as possible, and then write that moment down.

Next, try to figure out what triggered that mistake.

Perhaps, for instance, you wanted to drive your car instead of taking an Uber because you didn’t want to face the inconvenience of having to take a cab to work the next day. Perhaps you had the fourth glass of wine because you really wanted to fit in.

Finally, fix the root cause of your behavior, so you won’t get in trouble again.

For instance, if you didn’t call Uber because of the inconvenience; the next time you go out, plan ahead before you party.

To respond effectively to your charges, call a qualified Los Angeles DUI lawyer with the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers today to schedule a free consultation.