Our client was observed driving without head lights or tail lights for about 1 minute. After the stop, the officer’s observations included mumbled speech, odor of alcohol, red and watery eyes, and unsteady gait. The officer also noticed the presence of horizontal gaze nystagmus. After four field sobriety tests, our client was arrested for DUI / Drunk Driving and given a blood test about 1 hour, 15 minutes after driving with the result of a .08. After 4 days of jury trial, our client was found not guilty of all DUI / Drunk Driving charges. Our client was then allowed to attend traffic school for driving without headlights. We also expect to have his DMV license suspension set-aside. (The case results posted on this page do not guarantee the success or outcome of your case. Every DUI case is unique and the results may vary from case to case.)

Our client was stopped for DUI / Drunk Driving after he was observed driving erratically including drifting into the left lane with his right turn signal on, correcting back to the center lane and drifting again into the left lane almost striking the center median wall. After the stop, the officer’s observations included the odor of alcohol, slurred speech, and red and glassy eyes. There were 2 empty containers of beer on the passenger floorboard. After being administered four field sobriety tests, which the officer indicated our client did poorly, our client was arrested for DUI / Drunk Driving. Our client then refused a breath or blood test. On the 4th day of his jury trial, our client was found not guilty. (The case results posted on this page do not guarantee the success or outcome of your case. Every DUI case is unique and the results may vary from case to case.)

On Friday, January 14, 2011 and Saturday, January 15, 2011, the Huntington Beach Police Department (California) arrested 11 drivers for DUI / Drunk Driving at a sobriety checkpoint on Beach Boulevard and Speer Street. The checkpoint was conducted on Friday from 9:30 p.m. and ended Saturday about 3 a.m. Of the more than 1,500 vehicles that drove through the checkpoint, more that 500 were screened for DUI / Drunk Driving. Forty-two sobriety tests apparently were conducted and six vehicles were impounded.

I recently reported that the City of Huntington Beach and the Huntington Beach Police Department was considering posting on the police department’s Facebook page the names of people arrested for DUI / Drunk Driving. The city has now decided not to publish on the Huntington Beach Police Department Facebook page the names of people arrested for DUI / Drunk Driving.

Most police agencies in California now use a portable breath testing machine prior to making a DUI / Drunk Driving arrest. In California, if the driver is older than 21 and not on DUI / Drunk Driving probation, then the portable pre-arrest breath test machine is completely voluntary. The investigating police officer is required by law to advise the person being investigated for DUI / Drunk Driving that the pre-arrest portable breath test is completely voluntary. For years, I have been stating during many radio station interviews that post arrest breath testing machines are not accurate in determining a person’s alcohol level in their blood. The portable pre-arrest breath testing machine is even less accurate than the post arrest breath test machine used by many police agencies at either their police stations or jails.

A former California crime lab analyst has been charged with taking drug samples from the crime lab he worked at. The analyst worked at the Central Valley Crime Lab in Ripon. The crime lab processed drug samples for California police agencies in Calaveras, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Toulumne Counties. As posted previously, crime lab analysts often times maintain breat testing machines and analyze blood in DUI / Drunk Driving cases. They also testify in court on a regular basis in DUI / Drunk Driving cases as an expert for the prosecution. I’m quite sure that every case this crime lab analyst was involved with will now be looked at again. Authorities concluded he was taking the drugs when it was discovered that samples he worked on weighed less than when the drugs were checked in.

While Southern California was hit with massive rain for a week, most probably DUI / Drunk Driving arrests were down during this period. Last week, I posted 10 DUI / Drunk Driving checkpoints on my Southern California DUI Checkpoint web page. In researching for DUI / Drunk Driving checkpoints for this weekend, there does not appear to be many. Therefore, it seems that since many of the DUI / Drunk Driving checkpoints where “washed out”, most probably police enforcement will be intensified from Christmas Eve until January, 2, 2011. Usually, law enforcement likes to either equal or increase the number of DUI / Drunk Driving arrests as each year goes by. In the meantime, our office will be available if you are or someone you know is arrested for DUI / Drunk Driving.

The Los Angeles Police Department is conducting 9 DUI / Drunk Driving checkpoints the weekend of December 17th and December 18th, 2010. The specific DUI / Drunk Driving checkpoints can be found on my website. For many years, I’ve been posting published DUI / Drunk Driving checkpoints on my web page. Oftentimes, the information is submitted directly to my office via email from the same police agencies who are conducting the checkpoints. As the Holiday Season is now upon us, there will be a large number of DUI / Drunk Driving checkpoints throughout southern California. As a result of the checkpoints and greater police patrolling, the number of people arrested for DUI / Drunk Driving will increase. Oftentimes, checkpoint cases are less difficult to defend because there is no bad driving.

The Iowa Supreme Court overturned a DUI / Drunk Driving conviction of a man who was not allowed to make a telephone call after being arrested for DUI / Drunk Driving. Once at the police station, the arrested driver requested to call his mother. The police did not allow this call to be made. In Iowa, an arrested person has a right to make a telephone call. Many states give arrestees the right to make a telephone call after being arrested but do not have a remedy for failure to allow a post arrest telephone call. It looks like Iowa will now require police to honor telephone call requests after a driver is arrested for DUI / Drunk Driving.

A 17 year old teenager will be tried as an adult for murder in a DUI / Drunk Driving fatality in Akron, Ohio. He will be held in a juvenile detention facility until he turns 18. Based on the facts of the case, the Summit County Prosecutor’s Office argued that the juvenile’s acts were intentional. The juvenile’s car was seen driving without headlights on. The officer’s attempted to stop the juvenile. However, the juvenile sped away and then crashed into a retaining wall near where a crowd was gathered and struck a bystander causing the fatality. The judge in Juvenile Court found probable cause to bind the juvenile over as an adult for murder, attempted murder and multiple counts of felonious assault. Apparently, the juvenile was arguing with a female who was also in the car with him. Parents really need to keep an eye on their kids at all times.

In St. Joseph County, Indiana, a program that allows people arrested for first time DUI / Drunk Driving to avoid a DUI / Drunk Driving conviction by agreeing to install an ignition interlock device in their vehicles for six months. The defendants would first have to plead guilty and successfully complete the novel program. Upon completion of the program, the defendants would be convicted of reckless driving. However, one of the judges in St. Joseph Superior Court believes the law requires the defendants to install the ignition interlock device for 2 years. The judge has asked other judges of the court to stop accepting defendants into the 6 month program. An ignition interlock device can prevent a vehicle from starting or continued operation if alcohol is detected on the driver’s breath.