DUI Defenses

Published on: November 18, 2015

5 Wild Truck Accidents to Put Your Los Angeles DUI into Perspective

Your Los Angeles DUI shook you up, particularly if it led to an accident and injuries. However, it can be helpful to see your incident in context. To that end, let’s take a brief tour for five unbelievably crazy truck accidents:

1. Semi Sandwich

On a foggy morning in January 2015, Oregon driver Kaleb Whitby ended up in every motorist’s worst nightmare when he was pinned between two semi-trucks on the icy interstate. Whitby explained that he saw the first semi-truck jackknife in front of him on the road, which caused him to plow into the back of the semi and flip his pickup. The driver described hopelessly gripping the steering wheel as the second semi crushed his pickup like a can of soda. Miraculously, Whitby sustained only minor bruising from the accident, while only a dozen of the other people involved sustained injuries.

2. Truck Meets Road Sign

Published on: November 16, 2015

DUI Driver [and Would Be Rapper] Gets Life Without Parole for Accident That Killed 4

by Michael Kraut

Although drivers convicted of DUI in Los Angeles sometimes face harsh sentences, those jail terms rarely approach the time a judge gave to a man in Austin, Texas, for a March 2014 DUI incident.

Rashad Owens, 23, an aspiring rapper, had been driving while intoxicated and without his vehicle lights on when he spotted a police check point on March 13 around 12:30 a.m. Instead of stopping, Owens took off, driving through a gas station, speeding the wrong way on a one-way street and reaching speeds of 55 miles per hour before crashing through a traffic barrier. He then turned onto Red River Street, plowing through a crowd of people who had gathered for the South by Southwest (SWSW) music, film and interactive festival.

Owens wreaked devastation with his gray Honda Civic. Two people died at the scene, and two died a week later in the hospital. He also injured more than 20 people during his flight.

Published on: November 11, 2015

Arrested for a Los Angeles DUI and Worried about Jail Time? [This DUI Driver Had an Eerie Premonition]

by Michael Kraut

Drivers charged with a DUI in Los Angeles rarely dress like they expect to go to jail. But in the early morning hours after Halloween, police in South Carolina picked up one motorist who apparently had a premonition of where he’d be spending the night.

Fox Carolina reported that an officer with the Springdale Police Department tried to pull Jamal Alexander over on suspicion of DUI. Instead of stopping, Alexander allegedly took off, hitting a patrol car and a porch of a house before ditching his car while it was still moving. When police caught up with Alexander, he threw a loaded gun under a patrol car.

Alexander had probably been out celebrating the Halloween holiday, since he wore a prisoner costume—all ready for his trip to jail. Police charged him with DUI, driving under suspension, failure to stop for blue lights, open container in a vehicle and unlawful carrying of a firearm.

Published on: November 9, 2015

Three-Time DUI Driver Flees Hospital After Fatal Crash

by Michael Kraut

A driver convicted three times of a DUI in Los Angeles would probably lose his/her license for some period of time. But taking someone’s license away doesn’t always stop his or her from driving, especially if that driver refuses to learn from past mistakes.
Police in Baltimore, Maryland, had to search five days for 38-year-old Wayne Anthony Green, who allegedly killed a 16-month old boy during a police chase. Baltimore County officers started pursuing Green when he hit a police car parked at the scene of a pedestrian fatality. Green didn’t stop, and the county police followed him into Baltimore City, where the driver slammed into a Volvo, which in turn struck the child, Jeremiah Darrin Perry, who was sitting in his stroller. Jeremiah died that night at a nearby hospital.

Green received minor injuries in the accident, and officers took him to the hospital for treatment. He recovered enough by the next morning for doctors to discharge him from the hospital, before police had a chance to charge him in the accident. Green left the state, and it took police five days to find him.

Jeremiah’s grieving family members questioned why authorities hadn’t charged Green immediately. Prosecutors said they didn’t want Green arrested on lesser charges right away, since they feared that laws against double jeopardy would allow him to walk on the more serious charges. By the time they gave the okay for officers to arrest him, Green had gone into hiding. Police finally caught up with him a few days later in North Carolina.

Published on: November 2, 2015

Prosecutor Avoids Jail Time For Second DUI

by Michael Kraut

If a government prosecutor pleaded guilty to a charge of DUI in Los Angeles—for the second time in less than two years—would that prosecutor go to jail? Would someone who wasn’t as well connected end up behind bars? While there’s no way to tell what might happen in Los Angeles, in San Diego County, Deputy District Attorney Rebecca Ocain has avoided jail time in her second DUI case.

The San Diego Union Tribune reported that Ocain, age 39, had pled guilty early in October to a misdemeanor charge of DUI and hit-and-run. Police arrested her in August after she crashed into a cemetery wall and then ran from the scene on foot.

Ocain, who broke her arm during her encounter with the wall, had a blood alcohol content of 0.30%, according to a test taken about an hour after her arrest. That’s nearly four times the legal limit, as defined by California Vehicle Code Section 23152 of 0.08%. But the BAC number San Diego County used during her arraignment in August was 0.20%. In her previous arrest the year before, her BAC was 0.28%. (For reference, a BAC of 0.40% is often fatal.)

Published on: October 30, 2015

So Your Son Got a Los Angeles DUI Charge…

by Michael Kraut

Whether your 16-year-old son disobeyed your explicit instructions and tooled wildly around Sunset Blvd. with his friends, or your college-age-son at UCLA or USC picked up a Los Angeles DUI charge after a big football tailgate, you’re equal parts enraged, sad, confused, and desperate.

Hopefully, your son didn’t hurt anyone (or hurt himself) or rack up additional charges, such as hit and run or extreme DUI (very high blood alcohol concentration levels).

But in any case, you face a suite of challenges:

First, you need to manage your internal emotions and reactions to the situation and figure out how to be constructive.

Second, you want to be a good father (or mother) to your son and help set him straight, if he did do something wrong or out of step.

Finally, you want to help your son get effective help legally to avoid unfair trouble.

First, in terms of dealing with your own emotions and actions, strive to access compassion. Before judging or yelling, take time to understand the facts. What exactly happened? Why? With whom? Etc. Appreciate that you are limited in terms of what you can control about this situation: he is old enough to drive and make his own decisions. In addition to being empathetic, work with him (and an experienced DUI attorney) to develop a strategy.

Recognize your own needs that have been left unmet by the situation, and take care of them. For instance, maybe you feel a loss of control or fear for your son’s safety. How can you make yourself feel better about these issues?

Engage him honestly. Your goal isn’t to litigate the past as a parent but rather to figure out what can be done going forward. If your relationship has been challenging, ask someone else to help you both work through this.

Finally, appreciate that time may be of the essence. If strategic action is not taken, your son can lose his license for a long time, go to jail, face huge fines and fees, and beyond. Rather than try to figure out this system on your own, call Michael Kraut of the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers, an experienced former prosecutor and highly qualified Los Angeles DUI defense attorney.

Published on: October 28, 2015

Lessons about Los Angeles DUI Law from Kerfuffle Over the U.S. Dietary Guidelines

by Michael Kraut

If police recently stopped you on Fairfax or La Brea for speeding and driving under the influence in Los Angeles, odds are that your plate is pretty full. You are probably not thinking too much about global or national issues. Rather, your focus (understandably) is on what you can do to protect your license, stay out of jail, avoid paying massive fines and fees, and avoiding seeing huge spikes on your driver’s insurance premiums.

However, you might find it resourceful to take a step back and consider your DUI situation in a broader context.

Most law enforcement agencies, judges, attorneys and public health and safety advocates hold certain fundamental beliefs about the dangers of DUI as well as what should be done to stop this problem. Some sound science supports these policy positions. But the nature of the discussion about DUI prevention, treatment and punishment is ultimately fluid, even if laws like California Vehicle Code Section 23152 and 23153 don’t radically shift over time.

As our understanding of the science of DUI evolves, our laws, institutions and even culture should follow. But would they? Would solid evidence that we got certain “facts” about DUI change our minds?

As a parallel case study, consider the current battle right now being waged in Washington D.C. over the future of the United States Dietary Guidelines. Every 5 years since 1980, the government has issued guidelines for what Americans should eat to be healthy and fit. This year’s process has been anything but smooth, leading to over 29,000 comments on the USDA’s feedback page and sparking a major public battle over the science of nutrition.

Many high level politicians, scientists and even former members of the DGA Committee have argued that the process has gotten out of hand – that our guidelines are not based on sound evidence and that bias and industry interests are setting the agenda. Notably, the British Medical Journal – one of the most reputable medical journals in the world – issued a scathing analysis of the Dietary Guidelines Committee’s report – a report that typically forms the basis of policy.

While we can’t tell what’s going to happen with respect to this year’s guidelines, there’s a big (if subtle) lesson here for DUI defendants. Just because an authority determines that XYZ is a “scientific fact” doesn’t mean that that person (or institution) is right. Subsequent science could come along to force refinement or even rejection of that initial position.

And that’s all a roundabout way of explaining why it is so important for you, as a defendant, to work with an experienced Los Angeles DUI attorney, such as Michael Kraut of the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers.

Published on: October 26, 2015

DUI Drivers Pose Danger to Dwellings: Crashing into Houses Not a Smart Move

by Michael Kraut

Vehicles driven by motorists suspected of Los Angeles DUI often end up in unseemly places — smashed against light posts or walls or discarded, broken in the wrong traffic lane. But such drivers sometimes come to a halt only when they run up against something much bigger… like the side of a house!

Let’s take a look at recent examples.

In the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights, a 21-year-old woman hit a home on Hintz Road around 3:30 in the morning of Saturday, October 10th. Police officers, who charged the driver with DUI, said the accident caused significant damage to the home. They even had to call in building inspectors to determine whether or not the house would collapse when the vehicle was removed. Fortunately, the car/home collision didn’t harm the three people in the building. The driver suffered only minor injuries.

A 20-year-old in Douglas County, Colorado, meanwhile, had allegedly been racing on his street, when he hit a pine tree and flew into the home of a neighbor. Gunner Bolstad had been carrying two passengers, when his car crashed through the bedroom window of 70-year-old Cliff Turner. The grandfather, thrown from his bed, suffered only slight injuries. His visiting 13-year-old grandson, also sleeping in the room, wasn’t hurt but did get a fright when the crash impact launched his bed across the room. Police arrested Bolstad on charges of DUI, reckless driving, careless driving resulting in injury, four counts of reckless endangerment and third-degree assault.

Lastly, Jason Crooks didn’t actually hit a home in Moorhead, North Dakota, but he allegedly caused an accident that resulted in a vehicle/house collision. Crooks, later charged with DUI, had reportedly been speeding when he hit another car making a U-turn. That driver got out of her car but forgot to put it in park; it continued to move until it hit the home and its gas meter. No one was hurt, but the utility company had to rush to the scene to repair the gas leak.

As a frequent contributor to respected media, like The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and Good Morning America, Los Angeles DUI attorney Michael Kraut of the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers understands what it takes to build successful defenses in complex DUI cases. Contact him and his team today to schedule a consultation.

Published on: October 19, 2015

Driver Broadcasts Her DUI Live on Periscope: Not a Good Idea

by Michael Kraut

People arrested for a DUI in Los Angeles don’t always display the best judgment. But if you want proof that excessive alcohol consumption can cause you to do dumb things, consider this story from Lakeland, Florida, where a woman practically begged to be arrested.

According to WMAZ Channel 13—and media outlets across the country—Jennifer Beall was driving her 2015 Toyota Corolla on Saturday, October 10th, when she decided to broadcast her trip to the world via Periscope, a live streaming app. The only problem was that Beall, age 23, was apparently intoxicated and not afraid to share that information. In the raw video footage, you can hear her say repeatedly that she is “driving drunk.”

Many people watching the broadcast reportedly texted Beall and begged her to stop driving before she killed herself or someone else. Some also alerted the Lakeland Police Department via 911. But the police had a problem, because department regulations don’t allow them to download apps like Periscope; they had no way of watching the streaming video to determine where Beall was driving.

Finally, with the assistance of some 911 callers and a younger officer’s personal computer, police tracked Beall using landmarks they could see in the video. They found her on Carpenters Way in Lakeland. Just as officers prepared to pull her over, Beall hit a curb and flattened the tire on her Toyota.

The police reported that Beall smelled like alcohol, behaved in a disoriented fashion and exhibited bloodshot and glassy eyes. She allegedly failed sobriety tests and refused to take a breathalyzer test, so officers arrested her on DUI charges and took her to the Polk County Jail.

A spokesman for the Lakeland Police Department said he had never seen a case like this before in his 30 years of law enforcement.

Do you need help defending against a serious charge? Call a qualified Los Angeles DUI defense attorney with the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers immediately.

Published on: October 14, 2015

Meth DUI Changes Cyclist’s Life

by Michael Kraut

Innocent bystanders often suffer from the results of a Los Angeles DUI. They may lose their lives or receive an injury from which they never fully recover.

Juan Carlos Vinolo and a group of bicycle enthusiasts were enjoying a ride on Fiesta Island in San Diego on August 12, 2014. Without warning, 50-year-old Theresa Owens, traveling in the wrong direction on the one-way road, slammed into them. Owens admitted she had been using methamphetamines, claiming that she took them to ease her back pain.

The woman injured ten cyclists, but Vinolo, who was the lead rider, took the worst hit. He is now paralyzed from the chest down.
Owens blamed the crash on her boyfriend; she said she had caught sight of him in a vehicle with another woman, and she had been driving on the road the wrong way to cut the vehicle off and confront him.

At Owens’ trial, her attorney claimed that the amount of meth in her system wasn’t enough to impair her driving. He also said that there were no signs saying the road was one way and that bushes along the road blocked her view of traffic around the curve.
According to CBS8.com, uninjured cyclists who got Owens out of the car said that she was behaving erratically and screaming after the crash. Police officers did not give her a sobriety test at the accident scene, but they took her to the hospital because she claimed to have medical issues. While she was there, a nurse trying to inset a catheter found a bag of meth in Owens’ vagina.
Owens pleaded not guilty to charges of felony driving under the influence causing bodily harm and (thanks to the hospital incident) possession of a controlled substance. In early October 2015, however, a jury convicted her on all the charges. She could go to prison for up to 18 years.

Do you need assistance constructing an appropriate response to a DUI charge? Look to the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers’ Michael Kraut for insight and peace of mind. Mr. Kraut is an experience Los Angeles DUI attorney with many relevant connections in the local legal community.