Punishment

Published on: July 27, 2016

How Many DUIs are Caused by Undiagnosed Mental Health Issues?

Addiction to alcohol and other drugs obviously contributes to many arrests for DUI in Los Angeles. But could repeat DUI offenses also be an indicator that a person has a mental health disorder? The San Joaquin Superior Court’s Collaborative Courts Department will be working with Harvard Medical School to try to find out.

Recordnet.com reports that the court will be serving as one of six test sites for a Computerized Assessment and Referral System (CARS) developed by Harvard Medical School’s Division on Addiction of Cambridge Health Alliance and the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility. The court’s case managers and substance abusers have already begun screening repeat DUI offenders using the system.

CARS asks repeat offenders a series of questions about signs and symptoms of mental health issues within the past year and during their lifetime. It identifies 15 specific mental health disorders for which they might be at risk, including depression, anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar disorder. The system then generates a report to the court that suggests treatments and provides a list of referrals to providers who could offer help.

Published on: July 20, 2016

Passengers At Risk with DUI Drivers: a Scary Cautionary Tale

by Michael Kraut

Police officers frequently find passengers in a vehicle when they’ve pulled someone over for DUI in Los Angeles. All too often those passengers suffer critical and sometimes fatal injuries if the car hits a light pole, another car or a wall.

In Spartansburg, South Carolina, Joshua Meadows was traveling between 67 and 74 miles per hour in a 35 mph zone when he lost control of his vehicle on the night of June 8th. The car spun, went off the road, climbed an embankment and then went airborne before hitting a tree with the passenger side door. One passenger, Harold Dean Fields, 57, lost his life in the crash. Two other passengers suffered serious injuries.

Meadows faces charges of felony DUI resulting in death and felony DUI resulting in great bodily injury. His blood alcohol level allegedly was 0.104, and he also tested positive for barbiturates, Benzodiazepine and cannabinoids.

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: 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 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 8, 2016

New Law Says No Tows for DUI Drivers: Is It Fair? Will It Help?

by Michael Kraut

Drivers at risk for DUI in Los Angles sometimes face dilemmas. They don’t want to drive when they suspect they’ve had a few too many, but if they don’t move their cars from a bar’s parking lot, they may risk a tow truck taking it to an impoundment lot. Would they be more inclined to seek alternative transportation if they knew that their cars would remain in place overnight?

The City of Tampa, Florida, thinks that they will. In 2008, the City adopted an ordinance that made it illegal for bars to have vehicles on their lot towed between 9 p.m. and noon the next day, unless they have signed an order authorizing its removal. The law also forbids tow truck drivers from removing any vehicle unless they have a signed order that gives the make, model, color and license plate of the vehicle and the name of the person in the bar who ordered the removal.

But the law has not worked as intended. According to a series of investigative reports by TV 10News in Tampa, neither bar owners nor customers are aware of the law. People interviewed for the news story said that fear of towing did play a role in their decision to drive their vehicles after they had been drinking.

So Tampa’s City Council is now considering another measure to require any bar or restaurant that serves alcohol to post signs telling customers that their vehicles cannot be towed before noon. According to 10News, the goal is to encourage anyone who’s had too much to drink to seek a lift from a cab, Uber, Lyft or a friend.

Published on: June 6, 2016

South Carolina DUI Drivers Retain Moped Option – Should Los Angeles DUI Drivers Get Something Similar?

by Michael Kraut

Drivers convicted of DUI in Los Angeles usually lose their licenses for some period of time, forcing them to seek alternative transportation. They may take the bus, get rides from friends or family members or use cabs or ride-sharing services.

In South Carolina, however, DUI drivers have had another way of getting around the license restriction. They can travel around on a moped, since those vehicles are not subject to the same traffic and safety laws as other motor vehicles.

But moped drivers can expect some changes. The South Carolina legislature just sent a measure to Governor Nikki Haley that will require operators to follow almost all of the state’s traffic laws. When the bill becomes law, police officers will be able to arrest a moped operator for DUI just like they could arrest any other motorist who drives while impaired. (They could not do that under current law.)

However, drivers convicted of DUI who lose their regular drivers’ licenses could still get a special moped license that would allow them to continue to operate these small motorized vehicles.

Published on: June 6, 2016

Oddball Encounters with Houses Halt DUI Drivers

by Michael Kraut

Some Los Angeles DUI drivers manage to evade police officers who try to stop them. Others collide with other cars but continue on their way missing a fender or a front headline. But when a DUI driver smashes into someone’s home, that encounter is usually enough to halt the progress–one way or another.

• In Chesterfield, Virginia, 29-year-old Edward Reid rammed several cars on the evening of Saturday, May 28th, before he hit a house on Sherwood Forest Drive. Although the collision stopped the car, it did not prevent Reid from taking off. Police caught up with the errant driver and charged him not only with DUI but also with hit and run and a misdemeanor drug possession charge.

Published on: May 23, 2016

Driver Gets 26 Years to Ponder Consequences of Fatal Crash That Occurred Just Hours After DUI Conviction

by Michael Kraut

Some drivers never seem to get the message about the dangers of DUI in Los Angeles, no matter how many times they face arrest, pay fines or waste days or weeks (or longer) in jail.

A judge in Nashville, Tennessee, gave a local DUI defendant plenty of time to ponder her driving decisions and their effects on others’ lives. Judge Monte Watkins sent Stephanie Ferguson, age 30, to prison for 26 years after she caused an accident that killed two men in their 60s.

The worst aspect of the case? Ferguson caused into the fatal collision just two hours after pleading guilty to her second DUI.

On January 22, 2015, a judge sentenced Ferguson to two days in jail and put her on probation for a year. Ferguson also lost her license, but that didn’t stop her from driving her red pickup truck just two hours later. She reportedly came over a bridge and slammed into a white Cadillac stopped at a signal. Two of the vehicle’s occupants received fatal injuries. Emergency responders transported six other people to the hospital as well.