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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… Read More

In California, almost everyone arrested for DUI / Drunk Driving does some form of field sobriety tests. Some of the most common tests are walk the line, finger to nose, stand on one foot and estimate 30 seconds. Many different police agencies either use a variation of these test or have their own such as count backwards from 100 or say the alphabet without singing. All of the tests are completely voluntary. The tests are also designed to make it difficult to do them with 100% accuracy. Being investigated for DUI / Drunk Driving is a very scary and intimidating… Read More

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… Read More

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… Read More

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… Read More

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… Read More

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… Read More

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… Read More

This is my first posting since I launched my social networking websites. I am on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. I have had a webpage for my Top Gun DUI Defense Attorney law offices since 1994. My web site has been profiled in presentations by Bar Associations, referred to by legal experts and used as a reference tool for other DUI / Drunk Driving defense attorneys across the Untited States. However, I am very new on the social networking scene so I hope the public will be patient with me. I am planning on posting more often with relevant information regarding… Read More

At the end of September, 2010, Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law AB 1601 which will now allow judges to revoke for up to 10 years a convicted DUI / Drunk Driver who has at least 2 prior DUI / Drunk Driving convictions within 10 years of a third DUI / Drunk Driving conviction. The is California’s version of 3 Strikes and Your Out. The bill was sponsored by Assemblymember Jerry Hill of San Mateo. In January, I debated Assemblymember Hill on this bill. See the link KABC AM 790 TALK RADIO Peter Tilden Podcast Part 1 Top Gun DUI Defense… Read More