Articles Posted in DUI

Last week, Gerardo Perez of San Diego, was pushing his broken down Toyota off of Interstate 805 in the middle of the night. A 1988 Honda Accord came speeding towards him and hit him and his car. Perez received serious leg injuries and was taken to the hospital immediately. The driver, Charlene June Festa, was taken to the hospital after the collision as well. She was then arrested and taken to jail for felony drunk driving.

Festa will need an experienced DUI defense attorney to assist her. A good attorney would look at how well the roads are lit and road conditions to determine if there was another cause of the accident. Additionally, the attorney will look into Festa’s blood alcohol level to see if she was in fact intoxicated. Lastly, the attorney would find out the details of the accident scene, including if the car was in the middle of the road or on the side. With these details, a good attorney can prepare adequate defenses to the DUI charge.

Continue reading →

In California, driving with a blood alcohol level above a .08% is against the law. Most people do not know when they get to the .08% level, though. This article put forth guidelines to gauge what your approximate blood alcohol level is at at any given point. Of course, these factors vary depending on a person’s weight, if they are sick, taking medications, or drinking on an empty stomach.

Using the example of a person that weighs between 150 and 170 pounds, if a person drinks two drinks within an hour, they are likely between a .01% and a .04%. If they drink three drinks within an hour, they are likely at a .05% to a .07%. If they drink more than that, they are well over .08%. In this example, a drink is defined as a 1 1/2 ounce shot of liquor, a 5 ounce glass of wine or a 12 ounce glass of beer. To see other examples, click here.

The safest bet is to not drink and drive because even if you have less than a .08% blood alcohol level, you may still be pulled over for reckless driving or you may still cause an accident. Whether you live in Foothill Ranch, Yorba Linda or Lake Forest, if you are charged with a DUI, call an experienced DUI defense attorney to assist you.

Continue reading →

Howard Lee, a 20-year-old from Newport Beach, was in an accident this weekend, while under the influence. Allegedly, he was speeding while under the influence of alcohol, when he got into a car accident and his SUV flipped over and trapped him in it. Paramedics were called to East Coast Highway and Bayside Drive in Newport Beach, where they worked to get him out of the car. He was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and taken to the hospital, where he was treated for minor injuries.

Driving under the influence is a serious charge. Driving under the influence when you are not yet 21 is an even more serious charge. Under California law, a person under 21 can get a DUI even if their blood alcohol level is at a .01%. Also, people under 21 are not allowed to refuse a blood alcohol test and have to give consent. Consequences of getting a DUI before you are 21 include fines, jail time, license suspension and probation.

Whether you live in Fullerton, Newport Beach or Mission Viejo, if you are charged with a DUI, you will need an experienced defense attorney to assist you.

Continue reading →

Danny Boissiere was arrested this week for a hit-and-run, a DUI and possession of a stolen vehicle. He was driving in a Ford Explorer that was stolen from Pacifica. A man called officers because Boissiere appeared to be intoxicated. Officers tried to stop the car but Boissiere accelerated to 90 miles per hour. The driver then made an abrupt turn and crashed into a near-by Jeep Wrangler. Inside the Wrangler was Mr. and Mrs. McCurdy and their 2-year-old son. The Jeep flipped over and all the passengers were injured. Boissiere kept driving until he collided into a fence. He jumped out of the car and tried to run from officers but he was immediately apprehended.

Driving a stolen vehicle, driving under the influence and a hit-and-run are all serious crimes that will come with a long prison term. Boissiere will need an experienced criminal defense attorney to assist him in fighting these charges. A good attorney would read the lab results to see if Boissiere was actually intoxicated. He would also look at road conditions to see if there was another possible cause for the accident.

Whether you live in Foothill Ranch, Stanton or Corona Del Mar, if you are charged with a DUI, you will need an experienced DUI defense attorney to assist you.

Continue reading →

A Bakersfield program called “Life Interrupted Mobile Exhibit” won the Program of the Year award from The California Crime Prevention Officer’s Association this past week. The program is aimed at showing children the dangers of drinking and driving. The presentation consists of a DUI crash trailer exhibit which shows an actual car that was involved in a DUI accident and a video that tries to relay the emotions behind a DUI crash. The Life Interrupted program is taken to junior high and high schools in Bakersfield to lower the high rate of DUI fatalities. Since the programs start in 2002 to 2007, teenage fatalities went from 12 in 2002 to 1 in 2007.

Programs like this are a great way to teach kids the dangers of drinking and driving. Lecturing students is one thing, but actually showing them a car that was involved in a drunk driving accident and showing a video on the family’s reaction and the emotional toll it takes on them, is something else. Once students feel the pain of the families and see the damage, they will definitely think twice before drinking and driving. I think the next step that this program should take is to take the exhibit to college campuses. In college, the students are actually old enough to drink and the program may be even more effective at that point. Nevertheless, the program is a great way to deter driving under the influence and reduce DUI fatalities.

Whether you live in Orange, Santa Ana or Newport Beach, if you are charged with a DUI, call an experienced DUI defense attorney to assist you.

Continue reading →

The Automobile Club of Southern California has teamed up with County of Orange Health Care Agency Alcohol and Drug Prevention Team (ADEPT) and announced the launch of the Orange County DUI Prevention Task Force. The goal of this task force will be to address DUI issues in Orange County and do what they can to prevent them. Sub committees plan on addressing issues in law enforcement, public policy, marketing and community education. Although this is the first year in 10 years that DUI’s have decreased, the task force feels that there needs to be more DUI prevention to prevent future DUI fatalities.

I think it is great that there are more DUI prevention programs emerging everyday. DUI arrests among women are on the rise, so the DUI prevention program will also target women to explain the effects of drinking and driving. I think an important factor that the program must stress is that, besides staying on your record and possibly requiring you to spend time in jail, DUI’s can cost around $10,000 each because of attorney’s fees, court fees and restitution. If the legal consequences won’t scare people, maybe the financial consequences will.

Whether you live in Santa Ana, Huntington Beach or Brea, if you are charged with a DUI, you will need an experienced Orange County DUI defense attorney to assist you.

Continue reading →

Matthew Craybas of Huntington Beach was driving drunk on Pacific Coast Highway on Sunday. While driving, Craybas crashed into a barrier that separates the road from the sidewalk and the whole car flipped over. His female passenger was thrown out of the car and received severe head injuries. When officers arrived, they took her to the hospital immediately since she was in critical condition. Craybas was then arrested on suspicion of felony DUI and taken to Laguna Beach jail.

Driving drunk is so dangerous because driving requires plenty of concentration and coordination. Pacific Coast Highway is known to be a long stretch of windy roads filled with pedestrians crossing and other distractions along the way. Craybas should have known better than to drive drunk and now he will face serious charges against him. Whether you live in Anaheim Hills, Mission Viejo or Fullerton, if you are charged with a DUI, you will need an experienced Orange County defense attorney right away.

Continue reading →

Proposed Bill AB 91 involves a new device called ignition interlock device. The Bill would require Los Angeles County, Alameda, Sacramento and Tulare to establish a pilot program that would require DUI offenders to have an ignition interlock device installed in their car as a condition of them getting their license back. This device would detect if the driver has been drinking alcohol and would not let the car start. The results would then be reported to the county, court, or DMV. The program would take into effective in 2010 and by 2015, the Legislature would evaluate the effectiveness of the program and determine if it should be permanent.

I think that this program will be very effective in reducing second and third DUI charges. Some concerns I do have, however, are if there are false positives or inaccurate results and how that would affect being charged with another DUI. For example, what if the passenger is drunk but the driver is not, but the device picks up the scent and the driver gets reported to the DMV. There would be no way of proving that the passenger was in fact drunk and not the driver. I think there will be a lot more litigation surrounding the ignition interlock device, but it will be effective in reducing DUI charges and accidents.

Whether you live in Anaheim, Orange or Mission Viejo, if you are charged with a DUI, you will need an experienced DUI defense attorney to assist you in court.

Continue reading →

Nancy Nevins was the lead singer of a band called Sweetwater, a band who had opened for Woodstock. They had been performing with legendary bands, making albums and making T.V. appearances. Then, in the winter of 1969, while Nevins was driving with one of her friends, an accident shut down the Glendale freeway. As everyone was breaking in front of her, a drunk driver driving 65 miles per hour, hit the car. Doctors initially thought Nevins would die because of the extent of her injuries. After she made a little bit of recovery, doctors said she would be in a coma for the rest of her life. She proved doctors wrong by coming out of the coma and becoming a fully functioning woman again. The only problem was, her vocal cords were pretty much destroyed. Her dreams of singing again were shattered.

The band disbanded and Nevins was crushed. She tried to get her singing voice back, but it was gone. She hit rock bottom and could only come up. At that moment, she realized that she was a good writer and could use that to her advantage. She became an English teacher at Glendale Community College. She has been working there for years and loves her job and it has given her the confidence to start singing again. Her voice and her style is not the same but she says she is still a success story after a tragic accident.

Driving under the influence can lead to serious consequences. This drunk driver almost killed Nevins and would have been charged with manslaughter. Luckily, Nevin pushed through and survived the accident. Whether you live in Brea, San Clemente or Orange, if you are charged with a DUI, you will need an experienced DUI defense attorney to assist you in court.

Continue reading →

If you are charged with a DUI or alcohol is a contributing factor in an accident you caused, the court or the DMV will likely sentence you to an alcohol program or class. These are the different types of programs:

If you get a reckless driving charge with alcohol as a contributing factor, the court will likely require you to take a 12-hour alcohol program that discusses the dangers of drinking and driving.

When you get charged with your first DUI, you will likely have to go to a three month or 30-hour program. If your blood alcohol level was very high, you will have to go to a nine month 60-hour class.

Second time offenders are sometimes given jail time along with an 18-month program. In the program there are 52 hours of group counseling, 12 hours of drug and alcohol education, six hours of community reentry monitoring, and biweekly individual interviews for the first year of the class.

Even with all of these programs, DUI’s and DUI fatalities are still high. In 2006, there were more than 31,000 alcohol related traffic injuries in California. Whether you live in San Clemente, Orange or Santa Ana, if you are charged with a DUI, you will need an experienced DUI defense attorney to assist you.

Continue reading →