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NEED EXPERIENCE Should you hire the attorney that handles your family’s financial affairs? Recently in court we noticed that there are unfamiliar attorneys representing people charged with DUI. Whenever we notice a new attorney we try to get to know them and learn more about their law practice and have learned that they are family attorneys or probate attorneys. These attorneys do not have DUI experience so they charge their client a small fee for a plea. The problem is, however, that a lot of these attorneys have no criminal defense experience or knowledge. They have no grasp of criminal… Read More

PROMOTING URBAN LEGENDS Since the beginning of DUI prosecutions there have been Urban Legends or unsubstantiated stories of how people avoided a DUI conviction. They are usually told by self-professed experts who claim to have personally gotten out of a DUI or witnessed a friend who got out of a DUI by engaging in certain evasive maneuvers. They swear that they are foolproof. These same individuals usually have a suspended license for not completing an alcohol program ordered as a result of DUI conviction(s). Below are just a few examples of these DUI Urban Legends. BURPED Urban Legend Number One:… Read More

PRESENT LAW Presently in California if a police officer thinks that a person is driving under the influence of a substance other than alcohol, the officer will have a trained Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) come to the scene to evaluate whether the person has any indicators for the use of drugs as well as state the classification of drug suspected. If the officer suspects drugged driving, the driver will be arrested and a urine or blood sample will be requested of the driver. NEW PROPOSED LAW This law may soon change. SB 1462 is being proposed by California Senator Huff… Read More

Not everyone who is arrested for a DUI is driving the vehicle – many times the driver is arrested for DUI. There are other times when the passenger is arrested for the DUI. And, quite surprisingly, sometimes both the driver and passenger are arrested for a DUI. Some examples of the above are quite obvious and expected. For instance, the owner of a car is on the side of the road and is believed to be impaired. No one is in the vehicle. The police ask the owner who drove the vehicle and he responds that his friend, whose full… Read More

OFF ROAD DUI When getting arrested for a DUI comes to mind many envision a person getting pulled over while driving in a residential area or highway. It may be surprising to learn that many people get arrested for a DUI when they are not on public roads. In fact many times people are eating a meal at a public eatery when they are arrested for a DUI. Below are different scenarios where individuals are arrested for a DUI. FAST FOOD PLACE While driving through the drive through of a popular burger franchise, a person (we’ll call her Sally) is… Read More

SUSPENDED LICENSE The DMV issues various DUI related suspensions. The suspensions vary due to whether a person was on DUI probation, had at least one prior DUI, whether the person voluntarily submitted to a chemical test, and what county the person received his/her DUI. RESTRICTED LICENSE If a person is on court ordered probation for a DUI, he or she will only be eligible for a restricted license if the DMV does not find that the person was on DUI probation. When on DUI probation, one of the terms of the probation is that the people not drive with any… Read More

GOING TO REHAB Rehabilitation, or the concept of getting professional assistance to recover from an impairment, has become a popular way to deal with one’s setbacks. There are many types of rehabs today. Some address physical impairments or maladies – like recovering from surgery or disease in a hospital setting. The type of rehab that seems to be widely discussed in the media, however, is that for substance abuse. Some substance abuse programs focus solely on breaking the addictive cycle of the substance abuser while others also address underlying mental health issues that drive the addiction. Individuals who attend these… Read More

HIGH PROFILE POSITIONS Certain professions are more vulnerable to a DUI conviction or DUI license suspension. Sometimes just the stigma of a DUI can ruin a person’s job. This is usually the case when the person in question has a job that has a lot of public exposure. For instance, if a person is on the Board of a major corporation or charity, a DUI arrest can reflect negatively on the entity. This also applies to people whose job is not as high profile as the jobs discussed above, but instead these individuals are required to be held in esteem.… Read More

HISTORY LESSON Before I address how the hands free law is enforced, I will explain why it was created. Several years ago the California Legislature passed a law for the stated purpose of protecting the public from drivers who were distracted because they were using a cell phone while driving. Please keep in mind that this law did not outlaw talking on the phone while driving. Instead, it prevented a person from holding the phone while driving. A person is required to drive “hands free” of the telephone. DISTRACTION What is somewhat interesting about this law is the theory that… Read More

VALET OR SELF PARK Just imagine you go out to meet your friends for dinner at a new restaurant, hotel or bar. When you get there you see they have valet parking. You debate parking your vehicle rather than paying a valet to park your car. The valet fee is under $5, which is a plus. You just had your car cleaned which is also a plus. So after quickly scanning your car to make sure there are not valuables, you pull to the valet station and leave your vehicle and keys with the valet. HEADLIGHTS OFF You meet your… Read More