DUI Defenses

Published on: July 18, 2016

DUI Stop Uncovers Murder Victim

Police officers are accustomed to finding illegal drugs, guns or open alcohol containers when they arrest someone for a DUI in Los Angeles. But few start out investigating a DUI-related crash and end up with a gruesome homicide case.

On the evening of June 27th, officers in Anchorage, Alaska, responded to the scene of what appeared to be a crash involving a DUI. Benjamin Wilkins, 34, had run his vehicle into a light pole. He was next to the car and talking into a cellphone. After some conversation with him, officers arrested him on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs.

The website JuneauEmpire.com reports that police were waiting for a tow truck when they looked in the back seat of Wilkin’s car. They saw what they thought was a sleeping passenger, but when they took a closer look they found the bound and beaten body of 30-year old Jacqueline Goodwin.

Police eventually went to Wilkins’ home, where they found a multitude of illegal drugs, including heroin, mushrooms, methamphetamines, cocaine, marijuana and prescription drugs. Further investigation led them to believe that Wilkins had killed Goodwin in the basement of the home and then enlisted the assistance of his mother, Jacqueline Stefano, and his brother, Connor Stefano, in cleaning up the scene of the crime and helping Wilkins move the woman’s body to his car.

Published on: July 13, 2016

Boating Under the Influence: As Dangerous As DUI

by Michael Kraut

The Port of Los Angeles has a total of 16 marinas with 3,795 recreational boat slips. Since a day on a boat often involves enjoyment of adult beverages, there are plenty of opportunities for boaters to face arrest on a water-related DUI in Los Angeles (technically a BUI–boating under the influence). The results of this behavior can be deadly; according to a U.S. Coast Guard Boating report, 16 percent of the boating-related fatalities in the Pacific region of the U.S. involved boating while intoxicated.

Other parts of the country have even worse records. In the Western region, which includes Oklahoma, 18 percent of the boating deaths were alcohol-related. Fortunately, the boating accident caused by Aaron Christopher Hux on July 6th didn’t cause any fatalities. But when the 39-year old Hux struck a concrete wall just north of a marina on Keystone Lake, the impact did plunge three of the four teenagers onboard into the water and sent them to the hospital for treatment.
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Published on: July 11, 2016

Illinois DUI Driver Plays Bumper Cars

by Michael Kraut

DUIs in Los Angeles often involve collisions between vehicles, between a vehicle and a pedestrian or between a vehicle and some building. But the DUI driver rarely hits the same object more than once–at least not on purpose.

In Naperville, Illinois, however, John Chiampas was apparently determined to get the vehicle that blocked his route out of the way. According to the Chicago Tribune, Chiampas was driving his 2011 BMW when he struck a Volvo that was stopped by the side of a road. Chiampas hit the Volvo once, and it rolled forward. He proceeded to strike the car from behind several times, at one point backing up and then moving forward again to slam into it.

Fortunately, the family inside the Volvo—a man, a woman and their three children—were not injured.

Published on: July 8, 2016

Victims of Underage DUI Drivers Can Sue Party Hosts

by Michael Kraut

The Maryland Court of Appeals, the highest court in the state, has ruled that parents who knowingly let underage teens drink in their home are liable for damages if a teen injures someone or suffers injuries while under the influence. Although the ruling does not have a direct effect on cases of underage DUI in Los Angeles, justices in state courts do take note of the decisions of their peers in other states.

The ruling by Maryland’s Court came in two cases. One involved Manal Kiriakos, who had been out walking her dogs when she was hit by a car driven by 18-year-old Shetmiyah Robinson. He had been drinking vodka and orange juice at a co-worker’s home. Although the homeowner, Brandon Phillips, knew that Robinson was underage and expressed concern about Robinson’s sobriety, he let the teen drive himself home. When Robinson hit Kiriakos, she suffered life-threatening injuries and is still in pain. So Robinson sued Phillips for serving the teen alcohol.

Published on: July 4, 2016

Supreme Court to Police: Get Warrant for Blood Tests

by Michael Kraut

A recent Supreme Court decision requires police officers to get a warrant if a suspected DUI driver refuses to take a blood test voluntarily. This ruling could eventually impact procedures in future cases of DUI in Los Angeles.

In a split decision, five of the eight justices said that police may not arrest a driver for refusing a blood test if they do not have a warrant. The Court ruled that warrantless blood tests violate drivers’ Fourth Amendment constitutional rights. The same justices also said that the same protection did not extend to drivers when it came to breathalyzer tests, because the breath tests are less intrusive than blood tests.

In dissenting opinions, two justices said that warrants should be required for both blood and breathalyzer tests; one said that they should be required for neither.

The Supreme Court was ruling on three cases—two from North Dakota and one from Minnesota—that had raised the issue of warrantless blood tests for drivers accused of DUI. Those two states, plus 11 others (Alaska, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia) have laws making it a crime for a driver to refuse a request for a blood alcohol test when an officer suspects that a motorist is driving under the influence.

Published on: June 29, 2016

DUI Drivers Can’t Avoid Arrest with These Tactics

by Michael Kraut

Drivers looking to avoid charges of DUI in Los Angeles have tried many creative ways to avoid an arrest. They can make excuses, plead with the arresting officer to let them off and threaten the police department with reprisals by powerful friends. These attempts to evade DUI charges don’t work in the City of Angels, and they don’t work elsewhere either.

In the Chicago suburb of Riverside, Hazel Rojas didn’t avoid DUI charges when she told the arresting officer that she had many friends in the suburban police force. But that may have been due to the fact that she allegedly had already used many different excuses to prevent her arrest.

Police first noticed Rojas’ car when she reportedly neglected to go on a green light, then went 20 mph in a 35 mph zone. When an officer pulled her over, Rojas claimed that the alcohol he smelled was the result of her spilling alcohol on herself while serving customers at her workplace. But she reportedly failed the sobriety test and practically fell into the officer’s arms.

Published on: June 27, 2016

Glendale Police Vehicle Provides Unique Warning to DUI Drivers

by Michael Kraut

A police car is never a welcome sight to someone who has imbibed enough to risk an arrest for DUI in Los Angeles. But in Glendale, California, the police department is hoping that all motorists will think about the hazards of DUI when they see its new department vehicle coming down the street.

The front of the sedan features a black and white paint job—a traditional cop car look. The rear, however, looks like a yellow taxi.

A press release from the City of Glendale Police Department said the goal of the unique vehicle is to increase public awareness, to create discussion about the dangers of impaired driving and to remind motorists that they need to make responsible decisions when drinking. The police will use the vehicle for educational purposes and not for DUI enforcement.

Published on: June 23, 2016

Texas Court: Implied Consent Valid for DUI Driver

by Michael Kraut

Under California’s vehicle codes, drivers suspected of a DUI in Los Angeles must submit to breathalyzer or blood tests or face a license suspension of one year for the first offense (two years for the second offense and three years for the third) and must pay a fine of $125.

Texas has a similar implied consent law, and the state’s appeals court has just upheld its constitutionality.

Officer Luis Villarreal of the McAllen, Texas, Police Department pulled John Andrew Rankin over on July 19, 2014, after the driver breezed through a blinking red light without stopping. The officer reported that Rankin smelled strongly of alcohol, had bloodshot eyes and slurred his speech. When Rankin failed field sobriety tests, Villarreal arrested him for driving under the influence. At the police station, Rankin refused to take a breathalyzer test.

Published on: June 20, 2016

DUI Driver Charged With Manslaughter After Accident Leads to Death of Unborn Baby

by Michael Kraut

Under a pilot program that became law in 2010, those convicted of DUI in Los Angeles County must use an ignition interlock device on any vehicles they drive for at least five months after a DUI arrest.

Why these draconian rules? Advocates of IID laws are pointing to a recent incident in Miami, Florida, to make the case that tough rules prevent recidivism and save lives.

Jessica Crane, 39, had racked up multiple driving violations before she plowed into a pregnant mother and her two children in Miami in early May. She had also allegedly lost her license 14 times because of failure to pay her fines. According to the Miami Herald, Crane should have been using an ignition interlock device on any vehicle that she drove. But her 2008 Infiniti didn’t have one, so Crane allegedly drove while under the influence and ended up killing an unborn baby. (Her BAC measured 0.22 almost three hours after the crash.)
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Published on: June 15, 2016

Even Worse Than Jail? Places DUI Drivers Really Don’t Want to End Up

by Michael Kraut

A conviction for DUI in Los Angeles can land you behind bars. While that isn’t a pleasant experience, some DUI drivers end up in even worse locations.

The Times-Union in Jacksonville, Florida, reports that St. Mary’s City and Camden County emergency responders found 52-year-old Charles Edward Fields, Jr., sitting in his pickup truck in the St. Mary’s River. Fields said that while traveling home, he became confused and apparently turned onto a boat ramp instead of a side street.

Fortunately, the water at that point wasn’t too deep. Although the truck became partially submerged in the river, police officers assisted Fields out of the vehicle without incident. He agreed to go the police station, where officers measured his BAC above the legal limit and charged him with DUI.

In Denver, meanwhile, police arrested Randolph Blazon for DUI after the 25-year-old’s vehicle ended up inside the Colorado Convention Center. What?? Here’s how it happened. His truck allegedly sped through an intersection, jumped the curb and crashed through the facility’s glass entrance doors, running over a woman’s foot. Flying glass caused minor injuries to several other people. Police reported that Blazon was mumbling, slurring his speech and swaying when they got to the scene.
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