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According to the Los Angeles Daily Journal, thousands of cases (including DUI / Drunk Driving cases)in San Diego, Riverside and San Bernardino counties may be impacted by a forensic alcohol analyst who wasworking fora private laboratory for over two years. The forensic alcohol analyst was fired in February, 2009. Apparently, this forensic alcohol analystpreviouslywas not being truthful hundreds of times while working at a Colorado lab eight years ago. One county judge has ordered the private laboratory who has contracted toprovide forensic alcohol analysiswith San Deigo, Riverside and San Bernardino countiesto provide a detailed list of thousands of cases the… Read More

According to the California DMV, in 2007, the median age of a person arrested for DUI / Drunk Driving was 30 years old. A little more than half (52.7%) of the arrestess were 30 years old or younger. Almost three-quarters (74.6%) were 40 years old or younger. Less than 1% of all DUI / Drunk Driving arrestees were juveniles (under 18). Only 2.2% of people arrested for DUI / Drunk Driving we over 60 years old. Over a 10 year period from 1997 – 2007, there was a 26% increase in DUI / Drunk Driving arrests for people under 21… Read More

According to the LA Times, an Ohio man was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated after he crashed his bar stool which was powered by a lawn mower engine. Not much else to say about this one!

The Kentucky State Senate is debating whether or not to require repeat convicted drunk drivers as well as DUI / Drunk Drivers with a conviction that has aggravating circumstances to install an ignition interlock device as part of a DUI / Drunk Driving sentence. However, some state senators want to look into the issue further to determine the financial benefit private companies who provide the devices would receive if the law goes through. The state senators also want to determine if this bill would create a cottage industry with one cottage.

In Illinois, starting in 2009, people arrested for DUI / Drunk Driving can now apply for a Monitoring Device Driving Permit (MDDP) which will allow a first time offender to drive 30 days after a DUI / Drunk Driving arrest for work, school, family reasons, and under a limited number of other circumstances. In order to receive an MDDP, the driver must pay for and install a Breath Alcohol Ignition Interlock Device in a vehicle they with to drive during the period of the MDDP. There is an exception for an employee owned vehicle. If the driver allows someone else… Read More

Recently, a California State Senator introduced a bill to allow the Department of Motor Vehicles to suspend a person driver’s license if convicted of Boating Under the Influence (BUI) of alcohol and/or drugs. Currently, the DMV does not have the authority to take any action against a driver’s license upon conviction for BUI. However, courts can take into consideration at sentencing for a DUI / Drunk Driving conviction any prior convictions for BUI.

A recent U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeal held that an immigrant who is convicted of DUI / Drunk Driving while their license was supended or otherwise restricted is a crime involving moral turpitude and is a deportable offense. This case may also set a precedent for U. S. citizens when courts interpret a convicted person’s background when sentencing someone for any type of new offense committed in the U.S.

According to the LA Times, a National Academy of Sciences report concludes that evidence about fingerprints, ballistics, bite marks and other forensic evidence often have little or no bais in science. Of course in DUI / Drunk Driving cases, breath, blood and urine testing methods and results come with the field of forensic science. A highly skilled DUI / Drunk Driving defense attorney is aware of these scientific shortcomings and uses this information to make sure people arrested for DUI / Drunk Driving are treating fairly. One of the recommendations made in the report requires crime labs become independent of… Read More

For years, DUI / Drunk Driving defense attorneys, myself included, have been saying the DUI / Drunk Driving laws have been eroding our civil rights. If someone has a blood test done in a hospital after a DUI / Drunk Driving accident, in many states, the blood vial itself and the blood tests results are now discoverable by the prosecution in a DUI / Drunk Driving case. In New York, a Court of Appeals held that a driver’s blood and the blood test results are not privileged because under traffic laws, drivers automatically consent to a toxicology test (breath, blood,… Read More

A while back, I received an email from a person in Ohio who was arrested for OVI while walking his bike across his front yard. ( OVI is Ohio’s version of DUI / Drunk Driving.) He was convicted in the trial court and the Court of Appeals upheld his conviction. From time to time, I hear of very unusual stories of people arrested under strange circumstances. We once represented a client who was arrested for DUI / Drunk Driving while driving in his golf cart. What the government wants people to do is not drink and drive any vehicle whether… Read More