Berman KABC Interview
Frank: I think we have a special guest, who’s supposed to be here today.
Heidi: Oh, who?
Frank: He’s waiting out in the Green Room. We haven’t seen him in a long time. I think the last time we were supposed to see him and have him on the show, I came down ill. It was going to be our drinking show. But…
Heidi: Oh, that’s right!
Frosty: Oh, I know who it is now. Yea!
Frank: Well, yeah. We didn’t get to do that. So, if someone could bring Myles L. Berman on in here. Is anybody listening to the show?
Heidi: I don’t think…You can’t hear the show in the hallway here.
Frank: Exactly. Oh, yeah. They’re playing KLOS in the hallways.
Heidi: Yeah.
Frank: That’s nice.
Frosty: Myles…
Frank: That’s nice. Yeah, that’s good.
Heidi: I’m sure he’ll come in soon.
Frank: Well, it’s the big Memorial Day weekend. Obviously, people are going to go out and celebrate.
Heidi: Yeah.
Frank: A lot of people aren’t flying because of all the extra charges. They’ll be driving. You’re going to be in your car, and you’re probably…There’s going to be a lot more checkpoints out on the road.
So, we’ve got Myles L. Berman who is the Top Gun DUI defense attorney. There he is, ladies and gentlemen!
[cheers]
[applause]
Frank: [inaudible 00:48] .
Heidi: Yeah, we’re driving out to the desert tonight, like after the show.
Frank: Really?
Heidi: Yeah. I mean, obviously.
Frank: You going to take a couple road sodas with you?
Heidi: No. Myles taught me not to do that.
Frank: No road sodas for you…
Heidi: No road sodas.
Frank: Hello, Myles. Have a seat there. Good to have you back with us, man!
Frosty: Myles…
Heidi: Yeah.
Myles Berman: Thank you. Great to be here.
Frosty: The impeccably dressed Myles. He’s always in a nice suit, tie, perfect hair. I’ve never seen you like in old ratty blue jeans, laying along side the side of the road, slobbering.
Frank: Do you have any sweat pants?
MylesBerman: I got dressed just for you, Frosty.
Frosty: Oh, good. Good, good.
Heidi: Any honest t‑shirts? Are you a t‑shirt guy?
Myles Berman: No, no.
Heidi: No?
Myles Berman: I used to be. But, then I outgrew them.
Heidi: Yeah. You became an attorney?
Myles Berman: Yeah. My dad always wanted me to wear tee shirts, but he gave up on it too.
[laughter]
Frosty: Yeah. But you can’t really feel comfortable when you’re hiring a lawyer and he’s just wearing a t‑shirt and says, “Yeah, I’ll represent you in court! I’ve been there. ”
[laughter]
Frank: The Budweiser shirt…
Frosty: So, yeah. This is a big weekend?
Myles Berman: Yes, it is. 2010 is the year of the checkpoint. That was declared by the state of California. There has been a ton of checkpoints throughout the year, up until now, and there’s going to be a whole bunch over the weekend.
I’ll have on my website at TopGunDui.com southern California checkpoints that people can go to…
Heidi: That’s completely legal to do. Right? Like, just telling people…
Myles Berman: Well, I’m actually providing a public service. So, the case law requires and encourages police departments to publicize the checkpoints. So, I’m just helping the police do their job. By the way, checkpoints actually are…It does reduce DUI people, who are drinking and driving…
Frank: But…
MylesBerman: In the area of the checkpoints, if they know where they are.
Frank: But, it does increase the tickets for U‑turns.
Heidi: I was just going to ask you that. Like, will they chase me down if I see the… And, go, “Oh, I’ve had three glasses of wine at the old company party?”
Myles Berman: Yeah. We’ve represented a number of people and talked to a lot of people who see a checkpoint. They go, “No, I don’t want to go through the checkpoint.” They try and take the escape route and boom. Before you know it, they’re pulled over.
Frosty: So, the cops, they know that’s what you would do. So, they don’t…
Myles Berman: Frosty, I hear you, but I don’t see you.
Frosty: …Yeah, the monitors in the way…
Heidi: …I know, it’s a weird setup in here…
Myles Berman: I can’t really. Anyway…
Frank: So, you’re behind a monolith in the middle of [inaudible 02:59] .
Heidi: It’s a bad setup. Yeah.
Myles Berman: There we go. OK.
Frosty: So, I guess the cops have done this? Right? The checkpoint is not the real checkpoint: the checkpoint is the show. But, the feeder roads all around it, where you would try to escape from, is where the cops are waiting to grab you?
Myles Berman: I think the whole thing is all part of a scheme, because they have a checkpoint. Then, they also have police officers stationed at what they think are escape routes.
Frosty: Sneaky bastards!
MylesBerman: Well, they’re just trying to do their job.
Heidi: Now, I’m wondering. Because I had a friend who was coming home from this…Was around Christmas time. She was coming home from a company Christmas party. She sees the checkpoint, but that’s really her only way. She has to go through it to go home. Sure enough she gets stopped. The cop said, “Have you had anything to drink tonight?”
She said, “Yeah, I’ve had three glasses of wine. I’m coming back from a company Christmas party.” He goes, “Well, we’re going to go ahead and do the pen thing.” He said, “Watch the tip of the pen.” She said to him, “What am I considering the tip: the top or the bottom?” Since she said that, she was like, with it enough to go, “Well, just so we’re clear, am I watching the top or the bottom?” He let her go.
Frosty: Well, of course you’re watching the top. I would have totally arrested her for being stupid!
Heidi: No, but if he’s like, “Follow the tip of the pen”…
Myles Berman: Who was watching who’s top?
[laughter]
Heidi: Oh, what about a tip now? Who? What? The top? The bottom? I don’t care.
Frosty: You flirting with me, ma’am?
Myles Berman: I’m sorry, I just sent Heidi off on a tangent. You mind if I don’t go with you on that one?
[laughter]
Heidi: Absolutely. I tend to go, “Oh! Look, a butterfly,” quite a bit.
Myles Berman: By the way, that is a trick question. If they hold up a pen and go, “Watch the tip,” and you go, “Which pen?” They know…
[laughter]
Heidi: Yeah, the one in the middle!
Myles Berman: That, by the way, is the most common… They call it a field sobriety test, but that’s the most common thing that officers do when they stop somebody and investigate them for DUI. They take a pen or a pencil. They call it a “stimulus.”
Heidi: I’m going to leave that one alone, Myles. I’m going to be a good girl.
[laughter]
Myles Berman: They move it across: left to right. It’s supposed to be 10, 12 inches, away from a person’s…
Frank: Myles!
MylesBerman: Eyes.
Frank: You’re so dirty now!
Myles Berman: Frank, I’ve got to look at you, when I’m talking, when talk about this.
[laughter]
Heidi: Because, we’re like sitting on…
Frank: He’s blushing! I’ve never seen Myles blush before.
Heidi: I know, me too. I think I am, too.
Myles Berman: You should have seen her eyes light up. Oh, man!
Heidi: It’s been a while.
Myles Berman: But it’s very common. Police officers think…I’m still looking into it, Frank…
Frank: Here, you can use my…Wave my tip in front of her face.
[laughter]
Heidi: Oh, like we haven’t done that before.
Myles Berman: DUI is a very serious thing.
Frank: Isn’t it?
Frosty: Yes, it is.
Heidi: It is.
Myles Berman: Anyway. Police officers think they can tell if somebody’s impaired by watching their eyeballs. If their eyes jerk…
[laughter]
Frank: Oh, seriously, Myles.
MylesBerman: Maybe it’s a certain angle when it happens…
[laughter]
Myles Berman: Is it time to go to commercial break, yet?
[laughter]
Frank: Permanent commercials, Myles. Thank you.
Frosty: So, if you’re sober, you’ll be able to follow it smoothly? If you’re wasted, you’re eyes…They…
Myles Berman: I can’t hear a word… Now I can see you, but I can’t hear you, Frosty!
[laughter]
Myles Berman: I’m sorry.
Heidi: Good stuff!
Myles Berman: Say it again.
Frosty: When the tip of the pen gets… You’re supposed to keep your head straight and follow it just with your eyes. Right?
Myles Berman: That’s correct.
Frosty: Like, I’ve never had this happen.
MylesBerman: That’s correct.
Frosty: This happens to me all the time.
Heidi: I love that you’re playing dumb.
Frank: Really, now what do they do?
Heidi: How exactly does that work?
Frank: Do they cuff you [inaudible 06:16] ?
Frosty: Then, you’re supposed to keep your head straight and move your eyes. If your eyes get to the farthest point of where they can’t move anymore, they might do like a little twitter, or whatever.
Heidi: Dart, or something?
Myles Berman: Yeah, the eyes jerk if there’s alcohol in your system. But, actually, many people’s eyes jerk, who are alcohol free. I mean, there’s four or five percent of the population…They have eyes that jerk.
Heidi: That’s a loophole. Right? I mean. That would be like…
Frosty: It’s nystagmus, or something.
Heidi: Yeah.
Myles Berman: Well, yeah. It’s called horizontal gaze nystagmus. I don’t want to get too technical. But, they also can walk the line.
Heidi: Horizontal gazeness? Wow, now you’re talking my language.
[laughter]
Myles Berman: Walk the line. Finger your nose. Maybe we should move off this one.
[laughter]
Frank: I have no balance. I couldn’t walk a straight line right now.
Heidi: Sober!
Frank: I’m like all top‑heavy and wobbly and uncoordinated.
Myles Berman: People get really nervous, when they’re ordered out of their car. Their on the side of the road, and requested to do field sobriety exercises. Which, by the way, they’re completely voluntary. People don’t have to do them. I call them field sobriety exercise, because that’s what they really are.
They’re exercises to see if a person is coordinated. But, you’re not your normal self. So, field sobriety tests generally don’t have much correlation in our minds, in my mind, to whether or not somebody’s driving under the influence.
Frosty: Are more DUIs given at night than during the day?
Myles Berman: Yes, yes. Of course. There’s a lot more enforcement out at night. But, again… Well, checkpoints will start at dusk. Eight o’clock at this time of year. But, most of the people who get arrested for DUI do get arrested at night time, although we have had a number of people arrested in the morning, after they were out the night before.
Frosty: That’s not fair.
[laughter]
Heidi: Everybody’s woken up and still been drunk. But like, “I should get home.”
MylesBerman: Well, think about this. A man or woman goes out drinking and this is not unique to men. I think men, women, all kinds of occupations ‑ bankers, housewives, the lawyers, doctors, even police officers. And we do actually represent police officers arrested for DUI. I know I was making a point and I forgot it.
[laughter]
Heidi: No, you know like being arrested in the morning ‑ being arrested in the morning.
Frosty: [inaudible 08:19]
Myles Berman: Oh yes. So here’s a man or woman, they go out, they’re drinking the night before.
Heidi: Right.
Myles Berman: They’re drinking responsibly, I mean even if they drink too much, they’re not driving. They go home, they sleep 4, 5, six hours, eight hours. They get up and they go to work and they leave and they think they’re doing the right thing. And they still have alcohol on board.
Heidi: Right.
Myles Berman: I mean I think it’s very ‑ it could be very tricky. I mean the law in California we all know it’s a .08. And for you, Frosty, probably would be ‑ what do you like to drink? Beer? Wine?
Heidi: Wine.
Myles Berman: Wine, OK. For so you, it would probably be four glasses of wine, 3‑4 glasses of wine can do it.
Frosty: Right.
Heidi: To get to .08.
Myles Berman: Yes, and by the way …
Frosty: That’s where a woman is between 190 and 210.
[laughter]
MylesBerman: I don’t want to get ‑ Frosty weighs about ‑ Heidi weighs probably around 120 pounds at the most.
Frosty: Oh.
Heidi: Oh. I knew I love Myles.
Myles Berman: Frosty ‑ now that’s a little bit of a different story.
Frosty: Yes, add a little bit more to that. So I should be able to drink a little more.
Heidi: Oh, gosh.
Myles Berman: Yes, you can, you can.
Frosty: You know what I don’t like about this .08 thing is if I understood the last time we talked, even though it’s .08, they could still arrest me if I’m below that if in their judgment I’m acting impaired.
Myles Berman: Yes, .08 is one statute they can charge people with driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. The generic charge is the other one. I’ve seen people prosecuted as low as a .06. They’re arresting people who had a .07, .06, .05 and just because you’re under the legal limit doesn’t mean you’re not subject to a full‑blown prosecution.
Heidi: Because it’s still legal to drink and drive. So to have anything in your system.
Myles Berman: Yes, it’s not against the law to drink and drive. It’s just that …
Heidi: Oh.
Myles Berman: You’re impaired or you have a .08 or greater in your system.
Heidi: OK.
MylesBerman: But you know who knows how much alcohol it would take for them to be a .08? Nobody knows. None of my clients know. Nobody knows.
Heidi: It depends on what you’ve eaten, right, like if you had a big pasta dinner with wine as opposed to just wine on an empty stomach?
Frosty: Have you ever had that happen to you in court when your opening statement or whatever like you lost your spot like you did a second ago? Like, “Oh, boy, I…”
Myles Berman: That’s easy. There’s a court reporter there and I ask the court reporter to read back what I just said.
Frosty: Oh, OK. You ask them, “Who’s my client? Why am I here?”
Heidi: Where am I?
Frosty: Oh boy, “Where’s the briefcase?”
Myles Berman: My heart’s sitting next to Heidi. It is.
Heidi: Oh.
Frosty: Myles, I have a question.
Myles Berman: It’s hard to concentrate. It’s easy sitting next to her, hard to concentrate.
Frosty: I have a question that’s really, really ‑ I want to know sometimes. If you are not over the limit because you only had a couple beers and you live 2‑3 minutes drive away from the bar ‑ you know you can be home…
Myles Berman: Yes.
Frosty: And you had one for the road before you leave. Give me a shot of Jack and you shoot that shot of Jack ‑ and give me a beer and you chug that beer because you want to enjoy the buzz when you get home. Now ‑ but you’re not ‑ it hasn’t hit your system, yet.
Myles Berman: Right.
Frosty: You’re home in 120 seconds.
MylesBerman: Right.
Frosty: If you get stopped on the way home, they make you wait 15 minutes before they give you the test. By that time, it is in your system and you are drunk. But can’t you go, “Yes, but I wasn’t when you pulled me over.”
Myles Berman: You know what, that is a very valid and classic defense. That at the time somebody was driving they weren’t over the limit. There’s another issue. Now you guys have heard me say for years that breath testing is based on voodoo science. When somebody is breath tested while they’re still absorbing alcohol ‑ in other words their alcohol level is going up ‑ breath testing is totally unreliable to determine the alcohol level in a person’s blood.
So without getting too wound into the science of it, there’s a couple of different components to what you’re talking about, Frosty, as far as drinking, recent drinking, and then your driving. So but people don’t know this. You know so many times they come into the office, and they say, “Well, you know, I’m .13, ” and they’re a .16, you know, it must be over the limit. Well, you know, that’s assuming that the breath test is correct. And that’s assuming that there’s nothing else that will affect the result, which isn’t true. We know this and that’s why we’re so successful when we bring this information out to the juries. They realize that there’s another side to all of this.
Frosty: Well, because it’s a big weekend ‑ the Memorial Day weekend ‑ you might have some questions for Myles about DUI, so you can give us a call at 1‑800‑222‑KABC. We’ll be right back with more Myles. We are Frosty, Heidi and Frank, Talk Radio 790, KABC.
Announcer: Frosty, Heidi and Frank on 790 KABC. Same show, less fidelity.
[music]
Frosty: Frosty, Heidi and Frank with our special guest and friend of the show, Myles L. Berman. He’s been with us for years and years and years.
Heidi: Since the beginning.
Frosty: He’s the top DUI defense attorney, and so if you ever find yourself in a situation where you are in need of a top gun DUI defense attorney, you can always find Myles. You can go to frostyheidiandfrank.com. There’s a direct link to his page and here’s the phone number if you can’t do that ‑ 888 four top gun. If you have any questions about DUIs or things that maybe in the past that you’ve been into that you want more information about, give us a call at 1‑800‑222‑KABC.
Frank: Let’s go down the line starting with Eric. Eric, you’re with Frosty, Heidi and Frank.
Eric: Hi, how’s it ‑ how are you guys doing? You have a great show.
Frosty: Thank you. Myles L. Berman over there.
Myles Berman: Hello, Eric.
Heidi: ‑oh.
Eric: Hey, Myles, I had a question. Me and my cousin got pulled over coming out of a club…
Frosty: Who was driving?
Eric: My cousin.
Myles Berman: OK.
Eric: And this cop just pulled us over for nothing. My cousin was buzzing but he wasn’t buzzing like drunk‑drunk. And he pulled us over. The cop says like, “Oh, we pulled you over because you looked fast.”
My cousin says, “Do I look fast or was I going fast?” And he was just like, “No, you look fast. Let me see your license.” So we basically got caught. We think he was posted at the ‑ by the bar just waiting for somebody to come out and pull them over.
Heidi: Is that legal to do?
Myles Berman: Well, yes. Police officers ‑ when they’re patrolling the streets looking for people who are drinking and driving, the most logical place to start out with is by places where they serve alcohol. So as a matter of fact when you guys did your show in ‑ where was it, way south in North County?
Heidi: We were Hooters and ‑ yes.
Myles Berman: North County, and I was …
Frosty: Yes.
Heidi: Lake Forest.
MylesBerman: I don’t know if you guys know it, but when I ‑ well, when I left, I saw police officers patrolling the parking lot area.
Frosty: They listen.
Myles Berman: Yeah. It’s kind of like a people check point where they already ‑ they know people are drinking and then driving, so there’s not a problem with them. There’s nothing illegal that I know of.
Frosty: Myles, why don’t they ‑ see, if they hide they’re only going to catch one drunk at a time. If they were right there by the entrance to every bar at the end of Happy Hour, people would see them there and would call a cab and they wouldn’t have drunks on the road. So if they wanted to be a deterrent they’ve got to make themselves known.
Frank: You probably wouldn’t go to the bar then, would you?
Heidi: Or you wouldn’t leave the bar.
Frosty: Or you wouldn’t drive when you leave.
Heidi: You wouldn’t leave the bar, you’d say, “Oh, I guess I’ll stay for a couple more, or till the cops leave.”
Frosty: The cops leave the bar.
Myles Berman: Yes, you know, Frosty, you raise a really interesting point. If they ‑ I think you’re suggesting if they really want to minimize or reduce the number of drunk drivers, they would have high presence …
Frosty: Yes, there they are.
Myles Berman: … And people would see them.
Heidi: Yes.
Myles Berman: And therefore that would discourage people from drinking and driving. You know, there may be some merit to that but you know, on the other hand, officers do have a desire to find people who they think are driving under the influence and arrest them.
Frank Kramer: They do that with banks ‑ the empty police car at the bank. It’s always sitting there and it’s like to prevent bank robberies ‑ the cop car in the bank parking lot.
Myles Berman: An empty police car that used to be on the West Side going up I think Coldwater Canyon in that area. And it does cause people to react and you know drive a little bit better. But you know there’s only so many police officers to go around.
Frank: Our number’s 800‑222‑KABC talking to top gun DUI defense attorney Myles L. Berman.
Frosty: Didn’t you suggest Frosty to make cardboard cop cars and just put them out where they actually look authentic and real like a high‑def cardboard cop cars?
Frank: Yes. You drive by a certain speed you wouldn’t speed.
Frosty: But just park them.
MylesBerman: In some places they have them on the shoulder of the freeway. They’re ‑ the ‑ I don’t know if I’ve seen it in California but I know in other parts of the country I’ve seen them.
Heidi: Of course, the sun has faded it. You know, it looks like…
[laughter]
Frosty: It’s been rained on…
Heidi: Yeah. It’s like all wet and…
Frank: It’s a cop car from ’82.
Frosty: Old box in the garage.
Frank: Mike, you’re with Frosty, Heidi, Frank and Myles L. Berman.
Mike: Good morning! Counselor, how are you?
Myles Berman: I’m fine officer, how are you?
Mike: I’m good. I’ve been a police officer now for almost 30 years. And I don’t work in the LA area, I’m out in Orange County. And any of the people that I’ve actually arrested for DUI, or I have been involved with another officer in arresting somebody for DUI, I have yet to see anybody really get off. And pretty much, it really isn’t the blood alcohol content so much as it is people’s intoxication level. You have people out there, they can probably drink 15, 20 beers in a couple of hours.
Frank: But enough about me, officer.
[laughter]
Mike: [inaudible 17:06]
Myles Berman: Officer, have you testified in court at a jury trial in a DUI case?
Mike: I’m sorry, say again?
Myles Berman: Have you testified in court… How many times a year do you testify in court on a DUI case at a jury trial?
Mike: Actually, it’s probably been a couple years since I’ve actually had to testify. It’s one of those things where I’d rather have a sharp stick in the eye, than testify at a DUI trial.
Myles Berman: Yeah. It can be very grueling when you’re testifying at a DUI trial. But we’re successful in Orange County, as well. We’ve had clients who’ve been acquitted in Orange County. So we may not have had a case, or you haven’t had a case with our office…
Mike: Right.
Myles Berman: But I can assure you that juries acquit. It’s not an unusual thing for juries to acquit for DUI, or other types of crimes as well.
Frank: But what is the most common defense? I mean, if I have a DUI and I go to you Myles, and it’s like, “OK, let’s take this to a jury!” You know, what defense do I have? Where it’s like, as long as I don’t where a lampshade on my head into there… I mean, am I saying that I wasn’t drunk or that I didn’t have that much, or it was a false reading? I mean, what’s the most common defense that you use, or that has worked?
MylesBerman: Well, it’s basically two elements. First, you’ve got the driving and field sobriety test, we’ll call that as one element. And that part of it… Often times… Let’s say somebody’s speeding, they’re going 85 miles an hour on a freeway. And that sounds pretty bad. But really, speeding is not a factor associated with driving under the influence and when you’re speeding and driving straight down the road.
Then when the officer lights you up and pulls you over, you pull over safely, you get out of the car easily. You do the field sobriety test to the officer’s instructions as best you can. And so, often times, what the officers write down in the report, and how the testimony comes out at cross‑examination, is two different things. So we go into a lot of things that the officer doesn’t put into the report, or testifies to on direct examination…
Heidi: Meaning if I’m legally drunk and on paper it looks like I’m legally drunk, but when you pulled me over, I did everything you asked me to do. I passed with flying colors, I did my ABC’s backwards and every other one, or whatever they asked me to do. It was fine. So on paper it’s like, if she was legally drunk, but she passed everything I asked her to do…?
Myles Berman: Well, no. On paper it could come down like that.
Heidi: All right.
Myles Berman: Or, it could be the officer just writes it up in a slanted way. So that it makes the person look…
Heidi: Oh, look bad.
Myles Berman: Look bad. But we can read the reports and we can see where the officer’s coming from. And we know, we have a pretty good idea, where we could show all the good things which our client did to actually show he’s not under the influence.
Frank: And Myles, just ahead of calls. I know that you’ve recommended ‑‑ you have said you do not have to take ‑‑ the field sobriety test, the breathalyzer. But if you refuse to do that and say, “I’m not going to do it,” doesn’t that make you look guilty? Doesn’t that come back and haunt you later?
Myles Berman: Alright. Well, first of all, if you’re older than 21, you know, you don’t have to do the portable breath test before you’re arrested, and field sobriety tests are completely voluntary. If you don’t do any of that stuff, you think that the officer would want you to do that because they’re trying to develop probable cause. So if you don’t give them that information, you would think that they don’t have probable cause. But you’re right, they still will keep going and they ‑‑ if they place you under arrest ‑‑ will still ask you to take a breath, or a blood test.
So if you refuse everything, and I’m not advising people what they should or shouldn’t do… But if there is refusal of everything, there is less evidence for them to convict. But then you’ve got a problem with the DMV, because, on a first offense, the DMV’s going to require you to ‑‑ if you refuse the test ‑‑ state law requires you to take the test, take a breath or blood test. If you refuse, your license could possibly be suspended for a year. Flat out year, not up to. A flat out year.
Heidi: So basically, just get drunk…
Frank: You could use that Frosty. Why don’t you just refuse all the tests and start biking everywhere?
[laughter]
Frank: You could really use a bicycle.
Frosty: Be a bigger hazard I think on a bike.
Heidi: Better make it a bicycle built for two.
[laughter]
Myles Berman: It’s still… You know, breath testing still is, in my judgement, based on voodoo science. In that we know the science and we’re [inaudible 21:07] knowledgeable about it. But, you think… Most people think, well the government, it’s the governments machine and, therefore, it must be correct. But we know what’s recently going on down south in the gulf…
Heidi: …Yeah…
MylesBerman: …That the government isn’t always on top of things, or doesn’t always necessarily know what they’re doing…
Heidi: …Have the right answer…
Myles Berman: Correct.
Frank: 1‑800‑222‑KABC. Myles L. Berman is with us. Talking with DUI defense attorney, Myles L. Berman. Steffanie, you’re on with Frost, Heidi and Frank.
Steffanie: Hi, guys!
Group Response: Hi, Steffanie!
Steffanie: Hey, Myles. I just have a quick question.
Myles Berman: Well, hello Steffanie! I got a better “hi” than you guys did.
[laughter]
Steffanie: Well, I just was wondering. OK, I’ve never personally drinked and drived. And I know a lot of people who’ve had DUIs, I know it’s a big pain in the butt, it’s totally not worth it. But what would happen if, per say, one was to be under the influence of a little bit of Mary Jane and get pulled over and suspected for that. Like, what happens and what are the ramifications?
Heidi: You handle that as well?
Myles Berman: Yes. Driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, or just straight driving under the influence of drugs. Be it, you know, marijuana, or any other ‑‑ cocaine, or whatever. I’ll tell you something that’s really interesting and I still don’t understand why it is. If somebody gets pulled over for DUI and they’re .08 or greater, the officer takes their license and gives them a temporary license. Another person gets pulled over for DUI, they’re .00, they have no alcohol. But the officer suspects marijuana, they’ll do a blood test, they don’t take the license. It’s only for alcohol that you have a DMV proceeding in companion with a DUI case.
Frank: Is there any field test… I mean, is it different for the drunk, than for the guy on marijuana?
Myles Berman: Yeah.
Frank: It’s like, you follow a pen with your eyes if you’re drunk, but you follow a bag of Funions with your eyes if you’re on marijuana?
[laughter]
Heidi: If you can follow it really closely, you’re high.
Myles Berman: Surprisingly, the investigation for marijuana is very similar to investigation for DUI, alcohol. But they also have what’s called a pupilometer. Where they take like a piece of cardboard and they put it up against your eyes and try to compare the size of your pupils, with circles that are on this pupilometer.
Frank: How do they carry all this stuff? A pupilometer. I’ve got my pen, I’ve got my breathalyzer, my gun, my billy stick.
Heidi: It’s all in the belt, Frank. It’s all in the belt.
MylesBerman: You know, they have all that stuff. So, you know… But it’s more difficult for the state to prove a marijuana case or a drug case, for driving under the influence, than it is alcohol…
Frosty: …Frank, stop the applause…
Myles Berman: And the logic is very simple to see once it’s pointed out. There’s a lot of studies for alcohol. And a lot of cops get dosed up and they drink and then they drive, and then they do studies to see how coordinated they are and how they drive. It’s illegal to ingest drugs.
Heidi: So they can’t do that?
Myles Berman: …So there really aren’t studies to correlate impairment with drugs and driving.
Frosty: Well, thank you Myles for coming in. Like I said, it’s a big weekend. If you find yourself in need and you need to call Myles, his number: 888‑4TO‑PGUN. Put that in your wallet right now, right behind your drivers license. A great place to keep it.
Heidi: Yep.
Frosty: Thank you for coming in, thank you for being a huge supporter.
Myles Berman: Thank you for having me here. I’m glad I was here and great to see you guys, and I want everybody to have a safe and sober holiday weekend.
Frosty: Thank you, man.
Frank: Now finish your Jameson and then we’ll go to commercial.
Transcription by CastingWords
Myles L. Berman, Top Gun DUI Defense attorney offers unwavering support and strategic defense in DUI cases across Southern California. Experience a personal commitment to protecting your rights and securing positive outcomes.
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