Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney Blog

Published on: January 18, 2016

Sentence Too Light for Denver DUI Driver?

People tend to have pretty strong opinions when they hear about particularly horrendous accidents involving Los Angeles DUI drivers. It’s no different in Denver, where an e-letter on the Denver Post website complains about the light sentence meted out to a woman who killed another motorist in a DUI accident back last April.

April Wilson, 36, had a blood alcohol content of more than .21 when she killed 27-year-old Nathan Real, who was riding his motorcycle on the opposite side of the road. Wilson was allegedly traveling more than 60 mph in a 30 mph zone when she crossed over three lanes of traffic and slammed into Real. The collision sent Real’s cycle into a concrete trash can; he ended up on the ground, fatally injured.

According to a story in the Post, Wilson had been drinking at a bar near the crash site and had promised the bartender that she wouldn’t drive home. While facts presented in the media suggest that Wilson might have been responsible for the accident, she wasn’t the only one reportedly intoxicated that night. Police said that Real was ALSO driving under the influence.

Published on: January 13, 2016

Pulled From Pond, Arrested For DUI

by Michael Kraut

An arrest for DUI in Los Angeles or any other jurisdiction isn’t a good way to start a new year. But a woman in Oswego, Illinois, found herself in hot water on January 1st thanks to a little too much celebrating on New Year’s Eve.

Paula Mason, age 50, apparently lost control of her car and drove over a wall around a retaining pond around 1:45 a.m. Witnesses to the crash called Oswego police to report that the vehicle was in the water.

Luckily for Mason, who was trapped inside her vehicle, police responded quickly to the scene. The car was located about 100 feet offshore and sinking. A Kendall County deputy braved the frigid pond temperatures to swim out to Mason, but it took several attempts before the deputy could break out the rear window of her vehicle and pull Mason out. Both the deputy and an Oswego police officer who assisted in the rescue ended up receiving treatment at a local hospital.

Published on: January 11, 2016

Illinois DUI Drivers Get License Back Faster

by Michael Kraut

If the court convicts you of DUI in Los Angeles three or more times in 12 months, California’s Vehicle Code Section 13351 requires that the DMV suspend your license for three years. Illinois used to have similar license suspension laws for multiple DUI offenders, but a new state law has made it easier for drivers to retain their licenses or to get them back.

As of January 1, 2016, Illinois drivers who have lost their licenses for five years or more due to multiple DUI convictions may apply for a restricted driving permit. The Chicago Tribune reports that elected officials, law enforcement professionals and public safety activists “reluctantly” came to the conclusion that giving these individuals limited driving privileges may actually be beneficial for other drivers. The new law also does away with the mandatory 30-day license suspension for those arrested on DUI charges.

Published on: January 6, 2016

Driver Cites Body Chemistry to Beat DUI Charge

by Michael Kraut

An unusual medical condition enabled a woman in Albany, New York, to avoid conviction for driving under the influence. It makes you wonder whether people will start making appointments with their doctors as well as their lawyers after police charge them with DUI in Los Angeles.

ABC 7 News in San Francisco reported that the unnamed woman had a blood alcohol content of 0.33 (as measured by a breathalyzer) when police pulled her over in October 2014 for erratic driving. But the woman (unnamed because of medical confidentiality laws) said she had not had more than three drinks in six hours.

The woman’s lawyer, Joseph Marusak, first contacted Barbara Cordell of Penola College in Texas, who had published a study of a man who had “auto-brewery syndrome.” In this condition, the body’s digestive system converts ordinary foods—those with high carbohydrate content—into alcohol. (The intestines literally ferment them into alcohol.) In the case that Cordell studied, a 61-year-old man had suffered periods of drunkenness, despite the fact that he had not been drinking.

Published on: January 4, 2016

California Lawmakers Extend DUI Driver Mandates

by Michael Kraut

A law that went into effect on January 1, 2016, will impact—at least for another year—all drivers convicted of a DUI in Los Angeles.

The California legislature has extended for the next 12 months a pilot program in four counties (Alameda, Los Angeles, Sacramento and Tulare) that requires installation of an ignition interlock device (IID) for anyone convicted of a DUI under California Vehicle Code (CVC) 23152 or 23153, or California Penal Code (CPC) 191.5(b). According to the California DMV, the driver must install the device on any vehicle that he/she owns or operates, and the restriction can last anywhere from five months to four years, depending on how many previous DUI convictions the driver has.

Published on: December 30, 2015

Three of 2015’s Craziest DUI Stories

by Michael Kraut

Every year, crazy driving under the influence stories go viral because of their shock value. As the year draws to a close, some pretty interesting stories come to mind. Here are three of the craziest DUI stories 2015 has to offer:

1. A young woman uses Periscope to live stream DUI driving. We covered this ridiculous incident shortly after it happened. 23-year-old Whitney Beall made national headlines when she live-streamed herself driving DUI in Lakeland, Florida, in October. Police officers learned about the incident when social media users contacted them with the details. The woman said she was driving DUI repeatedly on the live-streaming app before officers finally located and arrested her. Social media is not the place to broadcast any illegal behaviors, but her live stream that night may have saved her life and the lives of others.

Published on: December 28, 2015

Fiery Crash Demonstrates the Dangers of DUI in Los Angeles

by Michael Kraut

Occasionally, a DUI in Los Angeles and its surrounding areas impacts the local community in ways that have permanent ripple effects. Cases in which someone loses his or her life, in particular, can change the contours of families or entire communities. It’s cliché to say things like “a bad decision to drink or do drugs and drive can change someone’s life forever,” but it’s cliché because it’s very true.

In a recent case, one young man changed his own fate and that of two passengers in a single-car DUI accident.

In San Diego, 20-year-old Antony Schoenle pleaded guilty to multiple criminal charges, including a charge of gross vehicular manslaughter while under the influence on Saturday, August 22. His decision to drive after drinking alcohol and using cocaine and marijuana allegedly led to the crash that killed his two of his passengers, Lupe Acosta and Lizzy Garcia. Schoenle escaped, but his two friends, still trapped in the vehicle, died in the resulting fire. A trapped puppy also died in the incident.

Firefighters arrived on the scene first, thinking they were responding to a brush fire, and then they saw the burning wreckage. When officers arrived and measured Schoenle’s BAC two hours after the incident, he was still legally intoxicated. The young man will spend 13 years in prison for his actions.

Published on: December 23, 2015

Close Calls In School Bus and Truck DUIs

by Michael Kraut

Driving a school bus full of kids and/or a truck full of flammable liquid should be challenge enough for anyone. But some drivers with commercial licenses apparently like to take risks with their lives and the lives of others. How else can you explain the fact that they drive with enough alcohol in their bloodstream to be liable for arrest for DUI in Los Angeles?

The California Highway Patrol calls the arrest of 46-year-old Charles Foster a “disaster averted.” Foster was behind the wheel of a truck pulling two tankers of gasoline on Highway 101 near the Citrus Fair ramp when the CHP responded to calls from motorists concerned about the way his truck was veering from lane to lane. When Officer Mike Phennicie caught up with Foster and signaled him to stop, the trucker pulled his vehicle onto the sidewalk instead of the shoulder of the road.

After observing the trucker and talking with him, Officer Phennicie determined that Foster was operating the vehicle under the combined influence of methamphetamine, prescription pain killers and a muscle relaxer. Imagine the damage that the 8,500 gallons of gasoline could have done if Foster had hit another vehicle or run into some structure!

Published on: December 21, 2015

No Automatic DUI Defense for Arizona Pot Users

by Michael Kraut

With the recent passage of a law permitting the use of medical marijuana in California, police officers will soon be dealing with its effects on arrests for DUI in Los Angeles. Will someone using cannabis for medical reasons be able to avoid DUI charges? A recent ruling by Arizona’s Supreme Court has denied medical marijuana users in that state an automatic out on DUI charges.
The Arizona court case stems from an appeal by two women, Kristina Dobson and Marvelle Anderson, arrested for DUI in separate incidents. Police originally charged them under two of Arizona’s DUI statutes. An A1 refers to operating a motor vehicle under the influence of a drug—in other words, when impaired. An A3 charge concerns the operation of a motor vehicle when a person has a detectable amount of a drug in their system.

Prosecutors eventually threw out the A1 charges against each woman but won convictions on the A3 charges. The women contested their convictions in Arizona’s appeals court, saying that the medical marijuana statute permitted them to have the drug in their systems. The appeals court ruled against them.

Published on: December 14, 2015

State Supreme Court DUI Ruling Puts Drivers At Greater Risk of Losing License

by Michael Kraut

Can the DMV penalize someone for a DUI in Los Angeles based upon a police officer’s observation of their behavior? Can you lose your license even if your blood alcohol content is borderline for a DUI charge?

A ruling earlier this year by the California State Supreme Court in the case of Ashley Coffey vs. Shiomoto permits the use of circumstantial evidence to support the finding of DUI when the DMV is ruling on a license suspension.

The case involved Ashley Jourdan Coffey’s appeal of her loss of license after a DUI conviction. Police officers stopped her after observing her weaving in and out of traffic lanes around 1:30 a.m. in the morning of November 13, 2011. Coffey claimed that she had been in a bar celebrating her birthday—but not drinking. The officers who spoke with her observed several behaviors that suggested otherwise. Her breath smelled like alcohol, her eyes were red and watery and she failed several roadside sobriety tests.

Police gave Coffey a breathalyzer test about an hour after pulling her over. It measured .08—just at the legal limit. A test three minutes later showed a BAC of 0.09.