Myles L. Berman® interviewed On Thursday, December 17, 2015, By Heidi & Frank On KLOS 95.5 FM
Host: Thursday, December the 17th, you probably have already been to a few of the Christmas parties, the holiday parties, the gift exchange, the white elephants of friends and families’ homes because there are so many to go to this season and you know when we see Myles L. Berman, it’s always nice to see him because a big holiday is coming up. He is the Top Gun DUI Defense Attorney and when you are going out to all these holiday parties, you are going to have maybe a glass of wine, hard cider, like my Mom’s favorite, Nixon Cider. Some hard cider, some eggnog, you know I always had one glass of eggnog but that could mean disaster if you get pulled over and you didn’t really know what to do. You are not intoxicated. Myles, hello. He Myles.
Myles Berman: Hello Heidi, Hey Frank, hello Eric.
Host: The gang is all here. Good to see you.
Myles Berman: It’s great to see you guys.
Host: You mentioned with the eggnog and one drink because there are so many things that factor in because Frank metabolizes alcohol differently than I do.
Myles: You do it prettier, I bet. And you do it handsomer and Eric, you just do it.
Host: Don’t encourage him Myles. You know, it’s like everything factors in, right? Like I ate at the party and Frank decided I’m just not going to eat, I’ll drink because we are going to something afterwards and all that stuff matters right. Like I ate something or I didn’t.
Myles: Everything matters, not just what you ate and of course, what you drank, over what period of time, weight, all kinds of factors come into play. The breath test machines assume everybody is the same and that is just not the case.
Host: Also, I looked up what alcohol we are going to drink the most this season and wine was number one. I normally wouldn’t drink wine throughout the year. So if I go to someone’s house and I’m trying to be festive and be a good guest, I’ll take the glass of wine but I might not even know how wine affects me. Oh Okay I’ve had a couple of glasses of wine, I don’t feel the buzz, I don’t feel like I am over the legal limit which is still 0.08?
Myles: Correct
Host: I’ve been lobbying and they haven’t even been listening to my letters? Come on. We had some calls coming in. Myles has been a longtime friend of the show and he has been on the show several times so we know all that stuff, so there are people out there who probably have questions for you and al they have to say is Hi Myles, this is my situation.
Myles: Sure
Host: Let’s just jump right in. 1-800-955-567 is the number. Here is your chance to talk to the Top Gun DUI Defense attorney Myles L. Berman. Let’s start out with Charlie. Here is first one coming through. Hello Charlie. Say hello to Myles L. Berman
Charlie: How are you doing Mr. Berman?
Myles: Fine Charlie, how are you?
Charlie: Pretty good. My question is, the scenario is you get arrested, you get out. Is it beyond all hope to go ahead and call you?
Myles: Absolutely. Feel free to call 888-4-TOP GUN right? But it’s extremely critical that as soon as you get out, you call us because we need to contact the DMV right away to stop the suspension from going into effect. Usually, when you get arrested for a DUI and you are a 0.08 or greater, they are going to take your license from you and give you a pink temporary license and that’s going to trigger a suspension starting 30 days after your arrest. It just depends, 4 months, one year depending on the nature of the offense.
Host: so it’s never too late. You should call him Charlie, 888-4-TOP GUN is Myles’ number or go to topgundui.com to contact with him there. Thank you Charlie for your question, we are talking to Myles L. Berman, the Top Gun DUI Defense Attorney. Let’s talk to Ahmed. Hello Ahmed.
Ahmed: Hey what’s up? How are you doing?
Host: What’s your question for Myles?
Ahmed: Well, I got pulled over for DUIs but if I tell the cop hey man, I’ve got Myles L. Berman as my attorney. Will that fly or what?
Myles: Of course, it will fl.
Host: they love Myles. He is saying, at what point, as soon as I get pulled over, it’d be like talk to my attorney
Myles: I think what he is asking is that what will the cops’ reactions be if they hear our name or my name?
Ahmed: Absolutely.
Myles: We have a lot of respect for police officers but when we are in court, we are going to try and do everything we can to try and get our client acquitted because that’s the system. At the same time, police officers have a lot of respect for us and for me. I’ve dealt with police officers for 3 or 4 decades already. So for them it’s not something that usually shouldn’t be personal, it’s doing their job, it’s doing their job as they see it and I don’t think that it’s going to negatively impact you at all. It won’t stop them from doing what they are trained to do but certainly, you’ll probably get a reaction from a police officer even though we know every action has a reaction.
Host: Thank you Ahmed for your question. Let’s go to Larry. Hello Larry.
Larry: What’s up Myles? How are you guys doing today?
Host: We are good. What’s your question for Myles L. Berman?
Larry: I had a friend who got a DUI 2 years ago who is looking for a job. He had a change of plea and dismissal of charges for release of penalties and disability. Now that my friend is looking for a job, can he even disclose this information because the laws have changed in regards to sharing the past.
Myles: Okay, so what you are talking about is an expungement and just off the top of my head I can tell people that if you are convicted of a DUI and planning on going to Canada, you can forget about it because Canada will turn you back. There probably will be other countries and I’m talking about American citizens. If you are a Canadian citizen and you go back and you don’t disclose it, if you drive across the border, they will impound your vehicle and put you in jail. So the expungement order itself indicates that any plea of guilty or no contest is withdrawn and a plea of not guilty is entered and the charges are dismissed and you don’t have to disclose it and I’m talking about California unless you are applying for a Government job or
Host: Like a driving job?
Myles: No, like you want to become a police officer or you want to do something where you are working for the government. Beyond that every employer situation is different but since I’m not an employment lawyer, I can’t specifically give you a blanket answer on what has to be done.
Host: So if I had a DUI and my insurance company is cool with me now because it’s like over 10 years and you’ve done it that long, can I go to Canada now? I still have to say well it was a long time ago, but yeah.
Myles: My recommendation is .
Host: Don’t go to Canada.
Myles: Frank, you can call my cell but everyone else has to call 888-4-TOP GUN and lets get it expunged. Now expungements used to be automatic. They are not automatic any more. Oftentimes there are hearings involved and a presentation has to be made. So it’s not a rubber stamp any more. It used to be but not anymore.
Host: Just Uber people. Come on. Myles L. Berman is with us, he is the Top Gun DUI Defense Attorney, if you need his number, write it down which you probably should have in your wallet anyway. It’s 888-4-TOP GUN. Program that in your phone. Hopefully you’ll never have to call him but he should be your first call in case you ever do get into a situation like this and if you want to go to his website topgundui.com is the website. Alright let’s talk to Bobby. Hello Bobby.
Bobby: hey what’s up man?
Host: What’s your question for Myles?
Bobby: Myles, I have a question. I had a DUI but it wasn’t alcohol related. I was on Methodone and I just wanted to know how long does it take to get that expunged from the record? Just because it’s not alcohol, I was wondering if there was a difference
Host: isn’t that a legal drug? Methodone is when you are being treated, right?
Bobby: I had an accident, I don’t know. I got into a car crash in West Hollywood and the city sued me.
Myles: No. It doesn’t matter if it’s DUI alcohol or DUI drugs or any crime for that matter. Once you are off probation then you can petition the court. Oftentimes we’ll go to court before probation is up and ascertain that the probation is expunged for, usually there has to be significant reasons. But he raises another issue, not to change the subject but DUI drugs is becoming so prominent now and interestingly the DMV doesn’t take action against your driver’s license when you are stopped when they are taking the license from you and giving you a temporary license, right now, it’s only for alcohol but they are going to start adding drugs as well.
Host: What are you supposed to do? Let’s say you had your wisdom teeth removed, then you have somebody pick you up. I know that but after that and I’ve got to go to work the following Monday and I’m still on painkillers because my jaw is really sore. What are you supposed to do? I mean I have to go to work. Technically I took a Vicodin. Stay at home, you don’t really need to go to work.
Myles: The key is to call Frank and say Hey Frank can you give me a ride? The key is that the prescription itself or the vial talks about whether or not you can operate heavy machinery.
Host: Thank you Bobby for your question. Let’s take one more. We’ve got Mark. Heard they can suspend your license for refusing a Breathalyzer. Is that true?
Myles: Yes. This was a vicarious question for me from Mark. On a first offense, if you are stopped and you refuse a chemical test after you are arrested and you are older than 21, they’ll take it for a year. If you are under 21, it’s a zero tolerance so they have to take it if they smell alcohol. But yes they do move against your license or they tray at least if you refuse the breath or the blood test.
Host: is it okay if I refuse the one on the street but I’ll take it back at the station? Will they still take my license away?
Myles: Great question. If you are older than 21 then you do not and I repeat, you do not and should not take the portable breath test machine before arrest. If you are under 21 then you have to but if you are older than 21, you don’t need to take it. The cops are supposed to tell you that you don’t have to take it, it’s voluntary. After you are arrested, then you have a choice or 3 choices generally. Take a breath, a blood or a refuse.
Host: Then if you refuse you lose your license for a year.
Myles: It could, the DMV could take that action. When I say you have 3 choices, when we get our driver’s license you impliedly consent to take a chemical test when you are arrested for DUI but people can revoke that consent and then there could be greater consequences both in court and then with the DMV if somebody isn’t careful and doesn’t hire a good DUI attorney to protect them.
Host: Like Top Gun DUI Defense Attorney Myles L. Berman. So which one should you choose, as far as…
Myles: Not to change the subject but I can tell you that we are getting a lot of clients from your audience. That’s my point. I mean I’ve known you guys for a very long time and you’ve always asked great questions and you’ve always allowed me to explain what people’s rights and responsibilities are. On this issue we are getting a bunch of clients that are refusing to take the portable breath tests before they are arrested because they heard me on your show. This is years and years and this has the great effect of people knowing what their rights are. Now what’s your question?
Host: If I had a choice like breath, blood or urine, which one should I choose?
Myles: Urine generally isn’t a choice anymore. We’ve been beating urine cases for years. There are people who actually do that. You should see the photos and videos of people when they are given the self-urine test. But there are problems for both breath and blood. So I don’t really tell people which test they should take. That’s up to them to make that choice. But breath testing has a lot more defenses built into it than blood testing but like I said, with breath testing the machines assume that everybody is built the same way when that’s just not the case.
Host: has Uber and Lyft and that type of business where they say hey we’re going to pick you up and then they are everywhere in pretty easy access with an app. Has that lowered the call volumes for DUIs? Are DUIs going down with people acting responsibly and taking a ride somewhere?
Myles: You know, I really don’t have a handle on that yet because we get the number of arrests weekly within our market so I know the number of arrests there are and so there are arrests that are down but I’m not so sure with Uber. What I think has happened is that the police are now less resistant in enforcing DUI laws for a number of reasons. One is what’s been going on with the press where the police are getting bashed. It’s not necessarily fair, that the impact of what is happening. The second reason is and this is probably the last few months. Police officers get a lot of funding from the government for DUI enforcement. So you will see a lot of press releases and a lot of checkpoints are going to be coming up, starting up this weekend and going through the weekend a few days after January 1st. but, the funding stopped and it’s now picked up again so arrests are now getting back to a level where they were before. But I’m sure there are people who are taking a Lyft when they are inebriated which is why they are taking it and aren’t driving. So it’s a mixed bag.
Host: If you want to be aware of where the checkpoints are because that’s something which is public knowledge, right? They put that on the police department’s website or something and then you do check that and you repost it.
Myles: yes. You’ve got me hooked on social media. Every Friday, unless an out of town or something comes up but usually every Friday, sometime after 3:00 and 6:00, I’ll post checkpoints on my Facebook page and then it gets tweeted to your Twitter page
Host: and yours actually, @MylesLBerman.
Myles: Correct and so you guys will retweet it so that your audience knows where there are known checkpoints. I won’t post checkpoints where there is not a specific location or a specific time but every Friday, you know they are there probably every 50 weeks of the year.
Host: and if I get pulled over and I’ve had a glass of wine at a party and the cop says have you had anything to drink tonight? Am I better off to say I actually just had a glass of wine or do I say No. Sober all night officer.
Myles: You know, it’s interesting. Great question. When people are pulled over they do not have to answer the officer’s questions. All they have to do is identify themselves, provide proof of insurance and proof of registration. Now, having said that, most people are going to give an answer, probably like 90% to 95% and unfortunately people have no idea what their blood alcohol level is. They don’t know their number. The cops don’t even know what their number is. So even though they mentioned that they had a couple of beers or whatever it is that they say. But whatever they say, it doesn’t mean that they are under the influence of alcohol. So you know, it can go either way.
Host: So don’t. Nope. Nothing but water. Teetotaler
Myles: what if the caller’s first question is listen I heard Myles L. Berman on Heidi & frank and make sure they mention Heidi & Frank and I understand I don’t have to answer any of these questions. You’ll probably get the reaction from a police officer, you know what? You may be right. I was just trying to investigate these cases.
Host: I love those guys. Remember that one time, you put your money where your mouth is. It’s like you are having a conversation and you forget why you are there. Thank you so much Myles, for coming in. It’s always so much fun having you. We see some of these big holidays fast approaching. So take down Myles’ number and put it in your phone right now. 888-4-TOP GUN or just go to the website topgundui.com and follow him on Twitter @MylesLBerman. We are going to come right back. We are Heidi & Frank.
Description: Top Gun DUI Defense Attorney® Myles L. Berman® interviewed on Thursday, December 17, 2015, by Heidi & Frank on KLOS 95.5 FM in Los Angeles and answering callers questions about DUI laws and enforcement.
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