Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney Blog

Published on: July 13, 2015

DUIs Spark Arrests Over Holiday

Police officers patrolling Los Angeles County highways found little to celebrate over the Fourth of July holiday weekend. From Friday, July 3rd at 6 p.m. through midnight July 6th, they made 229 arrests for DUI in Los Angeles County and dealt with the aftermath of accidents that killed two people. During that same time period, the California Highway Patrol reported that its officers made 930 DUI arrests throughout the state, while twenty-six people were killed in vehicle collisions.

One deadly accident not included in this total occurred in the early morning hours of July 3rd in Lompoc. TV Station KSBY reported that 29-year-old Manuel Santos let his Toyota Corolla drift off the road, where it hit a culvert, a boulder and then a power pole. But that didn’t stop the car. It spun out of control and went back onto the highway where a Toyota Avalon smashed into it. The two people in that car went to the hospitals for non-life-threatening injuries.

The crash killed 22-year-old Jesenia Liborio, a passenger in Santos’ car, and injured an eight-year-old girl sitting in the back seat without a seatbelt. Santos suffered major injuries and went to the hospital. Police later determined Santos had been driving under the influence, and charged him with felony DUI and vehicular manslaughter charges.

In another incident on July 4th, Mary Jane Plante drover her Toyota Tundra truck across the center divider on Highway 74 near Pinyon Pines. She struck a 1999 Nissan Maxima, injuring the 64-year-old driver so badly that he later died. Plante ran from her vehicle and spent the night on the run. It didn’t do her any good. Police picked her up the next day, arresting her on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, hit and run and gross vehicular manslaughter.

What should you do if you or someone you love faces a serious DUI count? Will you go to jail? Will you lose your license? Call Los Angeles DUI defense lawyer Michael Kraut immediately to understand your options and craft a strategic response.

Published on: July 8, 2015

Switching Seats to Fool Cops into Thinking You Didn’t Drive DUI: Unsurprisingly, It Doesn’t Work!

by Michael Kraut

As this blog has documented over the years, people try a lot of crazy approaches to avoid being charged with a Los Angeles DUI. Some cry. Others flee the scene. Still others try to talk their way out of the charges.

One ploy that doesn’t work too well, however, is switching seats just before the police officer comes up to the vehicle. Just ask Jose Ruiz, age 29, of Providence, Rhode Island. When the police pulled him over, he quickly exchanged places with his passenger, maybe hoping the officer wouldn’t notice the swap. (He did.)

According to a local newspaper, the Warwick Post, when police spotted Ruiz initially, he was swerving into other lanes, and he just barely missed hitting a guard rail. When police pulled him over, they called his bluff and gave him a field sobriety test. He apparently didn’t do too well.

But trying to pretend he wasn’t driving wasn’t Ruiz’s only offense. He had been driving on a suspended license; his vehicle’s windows were too heavily tinted; and there were two bottles of Hennessy (cognac) in the car, one open and one closed. (Ruiz reportedly threw them in the back seat before he got out of the car; that worked about as well in terms of keeping him out of trouble as did changing places with his passenger.)

The final difficulty? Although the car was registered to Ruiz, the plates belong to a rental car company. Uh oh.

According to the Warwick Post, the police threw the book at Ruiz, charging him with misuse of plates, operating a motor vehicle with an open alcohol container, failing to use turn signals, roadway violations, and refusal to submit to a chemical test.

How should you respond to your recent and disarming charges? Call a qualified Los Angeles DUI defense lawyer (andex-prosecutor) with nearly two decades of relevant legal experience.

Published on: July 6, 2015

Drug DUI Defendants Take Note: Pot Can Linger in Your Body for Days

by Michael Kraut

Police use relatively simple tests to determine whether or not to charge someone with a DUI in Los Angeles. If a motorist’s blood alcohol content measures higher than .08 percent on a breathalyzer or blood test, that person will likely soon be visiting a local detention center.

But police face more challenging obstacles when it comes to determining whether someone has been driving under the influence of marijuana. According to a recent Fox News report, the way that humans metabolize pot makes it difficult to determine when and how driving impairment occurs. Unlike alcohol, which disappears from the bloodstream after a certain number of hours, the active ingredient in pot—tetrahydrocannabinol or THC—can linger in the bloodstream for days.

Colorado and the State of Washington have dealt with this problem by setting a level of five nanograms of THC per liter of whole blood as the threshold for driving under the influence. (Illinois may be increasing that measurement considerably; the state legislature has passed a bill raising the level of impairment to 15 nanograms.) So far, the testing process has involved measuring blood, urine or saliva samples, but one company, Cabbabix Technologies, may be changing the game. Cabbabix has created a prototype of a pot breathalyzer, according to Fox.

Law enforcement must also reconcile with the fact that no one really understands how pot affects driving. The Fox News report said researchers identified conflicting results in studies on the subject; some studies suggest that marijuana use has little to no impact on how likely someone is to get into a crash. Others suggest that drivers who use pot run a higher likelihood of getting into accidents.

Legislators in each state will need to discuss this question in more depth, as more and more states legalize the use of marijuana.

According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, the number of motorists driving under the influence of pot has risen 50 percent since 2007.

Los Angeles DUI defense lawyer, Michael Kraut, of the Kraut Law Group Criminal & DUI Lawyers, Inc. is standing by to offer critical insight into your case and potential defense options. Call him and his team today to begin regaining control over your case and your life.

Published on: July 3, 2015

TV Anchors Making DUI News [Themselves]

by Michael Kraut

When you report the news—whether you’re describing a fire in Chicago or a high-profile arrest for DUI in Los Angeles—you don’t want to end up as a story on the 6 p.m. broadcast. But that’s just what’s happened to a couple of TV reporters in the last few weeks.

On June 15th, cops arrested Atlanta news anchor Amanda Davis on DUI charges for the second time in less than two years. Davis had been driving her Mercedes E350 down the southbound lane of Atlanta Road, but reports say that she experienced trouble staying in her lane. An officer who pulled her over said that she staggered out of her vehicle.

It was a case of particularly poor timing for Davis, who had been scheduled to make her return to the screen on that very same night. Earlier in June, in a radio interview, she had said her previous arrest for DUI driving was awful. This latest one probably wasn’t any better.

Less than a week later, in Washington State, police picked up KEPR Action News anchor Terry Chick. The 61-year-old allegedly had been drinking in a bar, and despite protests from other patrons, chose to drive off in his Mazda. He backed into a parked truck, but then took off instead of stopping. Witnesses alerted the cops, who followed Chick’s car and saw it swerving on the road. When the police stopped him, Chick allegedly didn’t do well on the roadside tests, and he refused to take a breathalyzer test.

Chick had a previous arrest for DUI in 2011. He pleaded guilty, and the court sentenced him to serve five years’ probation.

Designing and executing an effective defense against DUI charges (even simple ones) is not intuitive. Fortunately, you can trust the seasoned, highly successful Michael Kraut. Call a DUI lawyer in Los Angeles with nearly two decades of experience.

Published on: June 29, 2015

Police and the DUI Driver and the City

by Michael Kraut

Police officers are constantly on the lookout for drivers whom they can charge with a DUI in Los Angeles. So the last thing that impaired motorists usually want to do is to call attention to themselves and their driving. But in two recent cases, that’s just what happened—once accidentally and once deliberately.

Pedro S. Garcia of White Plains, New York, allegedly gained the notice two officers by almost hitting them. They had been directing traffic at the scene of a medical emergency when they saw a driver accelerate towards them, stopping just before he reached them.

When the cops investigated, they found that Garcia smelled like alcohol, had watery eyes and was speaking slowly and deliberately. When they gave him a field sobriety test, he flunked. The officers charged Garcia with DUI and hauled him off to jail, but he was soon released on a $220 bond.

In Hopkinsville, Kentucky, however, the police didn’t have to go searching for the intoxicated driver; he came right to them and literally asked to be arrested. Christopher Stewart, age 26, drove to the police station in this small town on June 16th and almost hit a parked police cruiser. He then got out of his vehicle and told officers that he was ready to go to jail for DUI.

Stewart told police that he drank a pint of alcohol before coming to visit them, and he then tried to drink a bottle (closed) of fuel injector cleaning fluid. So the cops obliged the young man by charging him as he requested. They didn’t say whether there was a particular motive for his unusual behavior.

Do you or a family member need insight from a qualified Los Angeles DUI attorney? Contact Michael Kraut of the Kraut Law Group Criminal & DUI Lawyers, Inc. to set up your free consultation.

Published on: June 24, 2015

Los Angeles DUI Cases in Question

by Michael Kraut

Hundreds of drivers found guilty of a Los Angeles DUI are getting another (unwelcome) day in court.

An investigation by county prosecutors and the FBI has revealed that a former court clerk may have fixed as many as 1,000 DUI and other misdemeanor traffic cases, deliberately reducing or wiping out punishments for convicted offenders while entering cases into the system.

According to news reports, the unnamed clerk in a back office in the Orange County Court House apparently altered the paperwork in hundreds of cases. The Orange County Register reported that the clerk recorded cases as dismissed when they were not and listed the wrong (reduced) penalties on case files. The phony resolutions listed in the case files meant that defendants had their punishments reduced or wiped out.

The problem came to light just three months ago, when a supervisor, doing a routine random check of case files, noticed a missing document in a DUI case. The manager went on to check all the other cases that clerk had handled, and he found inconsistencies in as many as a thousand of them.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the clerk’s actions appear to be part of a scheme that targeted Latino defendants.

The county prosecutor and the FBI, which are investigating the case, have not yet charged the clerk or anyone else in the case. The clerk no longer works for the court system, however.

Unfortunately for the defendants, they are not getting off with the lighter sentences. They have been called into court to face a judge, who is reinstating the original penalties in their cases. The judge is sending some defendants directly to jail if they have avoided serving their time so far.

Do you need help defending against a drug or DUI charge? Michael Kraut of Los Angeles’s Kraut Law Group Criminal & DUI Lawyers, Inc. is a trustworthy, highly qualified former prosecutor. Call a Los Angeles DUI attorney today to strategize for your defense seriously.

Published on: June 22, 2015

Southern California Runway DUI – Yikes

by Michael Kraut

While police have arrested drivers on a lot of different roads for a DUI in Los Angeles, it’s doubtful that they have often gone to the tarmac at Los Angeles International Airport. But cops in San Diego had to head to their own city’s airport when they needed to make a DUI arrest one day last April.

According to NBC 7, James Stewart, employed at San Diego International Airport, may have had a couple of beers before he went on the job one evening. The problem was that his work involved driving a big truck—a 10,000-gallon jet fuel tanker. Uh oh. Stewart took the truck out on the tarmac, then stepped out of the vehicle to begin the fueling process. He allegedly staggered a bit when he walked and then fell down, waving his legs in the air before struggling up once again.

At that point, other ground workers contacted Stewart’s boss, who checked out his employee and then alerted police. The police came out and found that Steward had bloodshot eyes and smelled like alcohol. When they tested his blood alcohol content, they measured it at .24, three times the legal limit as defined by CVC 23152. Police also uncovered two empty beer bottles in the tanker he was operating. They also found that Stewart was so out of it that he didn’t realize that the tanker tuck he had driven out to fuel the plane was empty.

Stewart pleaded not guilty in his first court appearance, but he later changed his plea to guilty on a DUI misdemeanor charge. (The change in plea may have come from the broadcast of an airport surveillance system that recorded the whole incident.)

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

Published on: June 15, 2015

DIY DUI Checkpoint

by Michael Kraut

You can never tell what someone will do when they’re operating under the influence. Police who deal with drivers accused of Los Angeles DUI can probably tell many stories about motorists trying to flee, becoming belligerent and/or fabricating some pretty creative excuses about why they shouldn’t be arrested.

But it would probably be difficult for most police officers to top a recent story from Central Pennsylvania. In late May, 19-year-old Logan Shaulis allegedly imbibed a bit too freely before deciding it would be fun to set up his very own, do-it-yourself DUI checkpoint.

The website wearecentralpa.com reports that at about 3 a.m. on May 31st, Shaulis took a BB pistol, handcuffs and a portable scanner out to an intersection in Lincoln Township. He parked diagonally across the road, set out some flares, and started waving motorists over.

One motorist said that Shaulis demanded to see his driver’s license, vehicle registration and insurance cards. The fake officer identified himself as Pennsylvania Police Trooper Steve Rogers. (In case you’re not familiar with The Avengers movie, that’s the name of Captain America.)

When the real cops showed up, Shaulis tried to hand the BB pistol off to the motorist he had stopped because he didn’t want to get caught with the weapon.

It didn’t take the officers long to figure out that Shaulis was under the influence, and it probably didn’t take Shaulis long to figure out that he was in big trouble. Police arrested him for DUI, carrying a firearm without a license, impersonating a public servant, harassment, disorderly conduct and several other charges.

Designing and executing an effective defense against DUI charges (even simple ones) is not intuitive. Fortunately, you can trust the seasoned, highly successful Michael Kraut. Call a DUI lawyer in Los Angeles with nearly two decades of experience.

Published on: June 10, 2015

Colorado Gets Tough on DUI Drivers

by Michael Kraut

California has some pretty tough consequences if you’re convicted of DUI in Los Angeles; if you’re found guilty of the offense a fourth time within ten years you can face a possible felony as well as up to five years in jail.

Until recently, Colorado had some of the laxest DUI laws in the country. The state lacked a felony provision for multiple DUI arrests; someone arrested for a fourth, fifth or six DUI would only face misdemeanor charges and a relatively short jail term.
But that’s no longer the case, thanks to continuing advocacy by family and friends of people killed and injured by DUI drivers. After years of legislative battles, the Colorado state legislature just passed a bill making a fourth DUI a felony. Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper signed the bill into law on June 1. To qualify as felony offenses, the DUI convictions don’t have to be in Colorado. If a judge or jury finds a Colorado licensed driver guilty of DUI in another state, that counts towards their total of DUI convictions.

Fox 31 Denver reports that the new law doesn’t require judges to treat the fourth offense as a felony, but it does give them the power to do so. The judges are somewhat limited by the new law, however; they can apply the felony penalty only if it appears unlikely that treatment for alcohol problems will help the convicted driver.

The bill will become law in two months, unless Colorado citizens unhappy with its provisions collect the more than 86,000 signatures required to put the issue on the ballot for state voters. They have until August 5th to file those petitions.

Do you need assistance constructing an appropriate response to a DUI charge? Look to the Kraut Law Group Criminal & DUI Lawyers, Inc.’ 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.

Published on: June 8, 2015

New Hampshire DUI Defendants Could Go Free

by Michael Kraut

Anyone arrested for a DUI in Los Angeles has probably wished that the charges against them would just disappear. That just might happen in the case of several drivers who were picked up for DUI in New Hampshire.

Television station WMUR 9, located in Manchester, reports that attorney John Durkin is taking the state to court to get information about police officers who may not have passed the breathalyzer certification test. New Hampshire state law requires that all officers get recertified each year.

If it turns out the officers flunked the certification test, the DUI arrests that they made because of breathalyzer results, as well as the convictions that prosecutors won using those results, may all be invalidated.

The problem apparently stems from a glitch in the computer testing program that the state uses. More than 100 officers failed the test, but the program indicated that they had passed. The systemic issues could go all the way back to 2013, which could affect a lot of drivers charged with DUI during that stretch of time.

According to seacoastonline.com, the issue came to light when Durkin heard rumors about the certification problem. He filed a Freedom of Information request with the New Hampshire Department of Safety, asking that the department send him the list of officers incorrectly certified.

The Department of Public Safety says that it responded to Durkin within the required five days, telling him that it would take several weeks for them to comply with his request. At that time, Durkin filed his lawsuit, saying that time frame wasn’t good enough for people arrested for DUI by uncertified officers.

Durkin says he plans to share the information about the uncertified officers with other attorneys. Hopefully, these legal actions will help create a more open, clear system and challenge other law enforcement agencies across the U.S. (and right here in Southern California) to more effectively and meticulously certify the machines they use when testing people suspected for driving DUI.

Locating a seasoned and qualified Los Angeles DUI defense lawyer is a critical part of the process of reclaiming your life, your time and your peace of mind. Call ex-prosecutor Michael Kraut for a free consultation right now.