SUPREME COURT RULES THAT DUI BLOOD TEST REQUIRES A WARRANT On June 23, 2016, the United States Supreme Court issued a decision in the case Birchfield v. North Dakota, which will affect California’s “implied consent” DUI laws. The Court held that the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution permits…
Last month 23-year-old Clovis, California resident, Candice Ooley, eight months pregnant and driving with a blood alcohol level four times the legal limit (0.32%), caused an accident that ended in the death of a passenger in the vehicle she hit and serious injuries to other occupants of the vehicle.…
Here’s a DUI arrest scenario I occasionally encounter in my practice: A client is arrested for driving under the influence in a private parking lot, for example, or on a street in a gated community, or even in the client’s own driveway and wants to fight the DUI arrest…
It is simply a fact that many, if not most, drivers lose at their Administrative Per Se (APS) Hearing. The APS hearing is an administrative hearing and unlike criminal hearings, the driver is not afforded the same due process rights a guaranteed by the Constitution in criminal trials. The…
HOW ALCOHOL AND OTHER DRUGS AFFECT YOUR BRAIN Everyone knows that when a person is under the influence of certain drugs, their driving may become impaired, but not everyone knows why. Let’s start with the most common drug: alcohol. Alcohol is a depressant. Depressants cause the central nervous system to…
DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF ….. BENADRYL? When using this product: marked drowsiness may occur be careful when driving a motor vehicle or operating machinery Those are some of the warnings on an over-the-counter box of Benadryl. What most California drivers do not know is that it is possible to…
THE DUI CRIMINAL COURT PROCESS So you were arrested for DUI. You’ve already requested (or decided not to request) an Administrative Per Se Hearing with the DMV, what comes next? Separate and apart from the DMV hearing, you will be required to appear before a judge in criminal court for…
In my previous post I discussed the DUI arrest process and the fact that when you are arrested for DUI, your license to drive will be immediately suspended by the DMV and you are issued a temporary 30-day license to drive. One of the reasons you receive the temporary…
THE DUI ARREST In my last post, I discussed your rights when you are pulled over for suspected driving under the influence of alcohol. As I discussed in that post, you are free to decline the field sobriety tests but whether you stumble on those tests or don’t submit to…
(This post applies only to persons over the age of 21 or who are not on probation for a previous DUI.) What should you do if you are stopped while driving a vehicle and the cop suspects you are driving under the influence of alcohol? The laws that govern…