Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney Blog

Published on: November 30, 2015

Young Officer and Mother Killed by DUI Driver

Police officers on patrol in their vehicles are all too often at risk of serious injury or death when they’re dealing with DUIs in Los Angeles and the surrounding counties. It’s an occupational hazard for law enforcement personnel all over the country, who stop by the side of a road to make traffic stops or assist motorists having trouble and end up losing their lives when impaired drivers swerve and slam into them.

In Denver, Colorado State Patrol Trooper Jamie Jursevics suffered fatal injuries when investigating a minor crash on the interstate near the city. Eric Peter Henderson, 52, a retired Army colonel and Legion of Merit award winner, was allegedly driving home intoxicated from a Denver Broncos game when he struck Jursevics and then fled the scene. Motorists had already alerted the state police to Henderson’s driving; Jursevics had heard the reports and was trying to pull him over to the side of the road with her flashlight when his truck hit her.

Published on: November 27, 2015

Too Drunk For DUI Charges?

by Michael Kraut

Imagine someone charged with DUI in Los Angeles arriving in a courtroom and pleading not guilty. Not because he didn’t commit the crime, but because he was too intoxicated to really understand what was going on at the time of the arrest and to consent to a test measuring blood alcohol content.

Georgia Supreme Court building in downtown Atlanta. Photo by Jason R. Bennitt/Daily Report (5/14/2012).

It’s happening in Georgia, thanks to a Supreme Court ruling in that state that has created a loophole in the state’s DUI law.

A report on website AJC.com said that DUI attorneys have been using this argument in court ever since John Williams won an appeal of a ruling in his DUI case before the state’s highest court. Lance Tyler, who represented Williams, said that his client could not have given his consent “knowingly and intelligently” for voluntary blood tests, since he was too intoxicated to understand what was happening and the implications of BAC testing.

The Supreme Court ruled in Williams’ favor in March 2012 and asked the trial judge to reconsider his decision not to suppress the BAC evidence. The judge, Gwinett State Court Judge Joseph Iannazzone, not only threw out the BAC evidence in Williams’ case but also excluded it as evidence in the cases of five other drivers.

Published on: November 24, 2015

Two Victims In Deadly Los Angeles DUI

by Michael Kraut

A 36-year-old man is contemplating his future from a hospital bed after causing a fatal accident in the early morning hours on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. The alleged cause of the accident is a Los Angeles DUI incident.

According to various news reports, the as yet-unidentified driver of a Buick LeSabre was speeding when he careened across West 59th Street near Normandie Avenue and slammed into a minivan containing a family of five. The accident killed the mother of the family, who was driving. The father and the three children, all under age 10, suffered minor injuries.

That collision didn’t slow the driver down, however. He continued on a deadly path, traveling several blocks and eventually mowing down a pedestrian before crashing into a building where member of the Persuaders Motorcycle Club were holding a party. Even then the car didn’t stop, but destroyed several motorcycles before finally coming to a rest. (Pictures from the scene showed the smashed minivan and the flattened motorcycles stretched out in the street.)

Published on: November 18, 2015

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

by Michael Kraut

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 Law Group Criminal & DUI Lawyers, Inc., 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 Law Group Criminal & DUI Lawyers, Inc..