Articles Posted in DUI

Wow. The folks up at the state capitol had a good idea: what if you were drunk and wanted to find out where the heck your taxi was? You just push the panic button!

This is good common sense. Make it as easy as possible for a drunk person to get a ride. You simply stumble out of the bar, push the app button on your phone, and voila! The phone dials the cab company, having determined your location via GPS. While you’re trying to maintain your balance curbside, you can see your cab’s progress via a map on your phone. This way you can avoid having to call an Orange County Criminal DUI attorney.

If the statistics show this works, expect this to become the hot app. Whether you live in Irvine, Newport Beach or Tustin, if you are charged with a DUI, call an experienced DUI defense attorney to assist you.

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Regrettably, no one is immune to the power of alcohol. Just ask a peace officer who’s been arrested for DUI. Mark Wayne Hewlett of Orange, a Sheriff’s deputy, was arrested on March 23 for DUI when he crashed his car into a tree at about two in the morning.

As many a CHP officer will tell you, the only people on the road after 12 are cops and drunks. This story sure fits that description. Let’s hope the officer learns his lesson and considers himself lucky he didn’t kill himself or anyone else.

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

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Hey Dummy! Don’t drink and drive in Orange County on Super Bowl Sunday! Know why? The cops are out in force trying to protect the rest of us. Last year, eleven people died as a result of DUIs on Super Bowl Sunday.

Orange County residents know that it’s dangerous to drink and drive. The police are using better and more accurate devices to determine sobriety. Your chances of winning a DUI case here in Orange County are slimmer and slimmer. There are ways to challenge the accuracy of the equipment used to arrest you, and ways of challenging the methods used in Field Sobriety Tests. But the truth is, the high percentage of cases result in pleas of guilty.

One step you can take to protect yourself if you have been drinking and are stopped by police, is to refuse the FSTs. You aren’t required to take them. Nor are you required to take the Preliminary Alcohol Screen test. If the police are going to arrest you, you don’t have to help them. You may legitimately feel that you aren’t driving under the influence and don’t want to say or do anything that may incriminate you.

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

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Ciera Stoelting, 21, of Santa Ana, fresh off a stint in state prison, was spotted one evening weaving down West McFadden in the city of Santa Ana. Police saw her, turned on their lights and, in a fit of great judgement, Ciera did what so many parolees do: she jammed the pedal to the floor and took off like a rabbit. After several miles of dangerous pursuit, she was arrested.

Shockingly, she was found to have narcotics in her car. Like so many before her, Stoelting chose the most dangerous path possible. Now, instead of a short recommitment for absconding parole, she is facing fresh felony evading and felony narcotics possession charges and will likely serve much more time.

The one good side to this story is that it didn’t end in tragedy with a traffic death. Always look on the bright side of life.

Depending on the amount of drugs found, suspects can be charged with either a misdemeanor or felony charge. They face serious jail time if convicted. Whether you live in Tustin, Garden Grove or Ladera Ranch, if you are charged with drug offenses, call an experienced criminal defense attorney right away to assist you.

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This could have been much worse. Yonic Serafin Cardenas Patino, of Garden Grove, oiled up after a bit of drinking, crashed his minivan into Honda Civic and then into an OCTA bus filled with passengers.

Patino won the Trifecta: He had an active warrant for a suspended license charge, he didn’t have a valid license, and he had previously been convicted of DUI! Oh, and he was on probation for domestic violence. When he’s finished recuperating at the hospital, he’s going to jail. He’ll need a good lawyer. With multiple probation violations, a multiple injury DUI and an active warrant, it would be likely that the district attorney would charge him with a felony DUI.

Whether you live in Westminster, Villa Park or Santa Ana, if you have been charged with DUI, call an experienced criminal defense attorney right away to assist you.

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Plenty of fish to catch in the net, so the Newport Beach Police thought. They were right. It isn’t really hard, either. Newport Blvd. is Deuce Alley, a place rife with bars and the drunk drivers who leave them. I’m surprised they caught only six drivers in six hours.

As I wrote back in November, checkpoint arrests require the police to issue warnings to the public that a checkpoint is going to be set up. The police also have to create an “escape” route for those who don’t want to have to go through it. Last, they have to make their procedures at the checkpoint uniform, so that everyone passing through is treated the same, with a patterned approach to stopping cars at random, rather than singling out someone.

To the general public, this sounds absurd. Why in the world would you tell someone you were going to stop them for driving drunk? Why would you let them get away? Well, this is the way the law developed and has been implemented. I didn’t create it. I represent drivers who have been arrested at checkpoints and I look to see that the police followed the correct procedure.

If you are driving under the influence, you will likely be caught at a checkpoint. Whether you live in Santa Ana, Fullerton or Tustin, if you have been charged with a DUI, call an experienced DUI defense attorney right away to assist you.

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South Orange County residents may not rest a little easier knowing that the Sheriff’s Department in Lake Forest is making progress in taming the DUI monster in Orange County.

In a weird twist, DUI arrests were up in 2009, between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve. More than 57%. But accidents were down the same percentage. Is there any significance to this? More people are being arrested for DUI in Lake Forest. That’s because there are increased patrols. That’s a good thing, for sure. But that is seventeen more arrests year over year. So does that mean that more people are driving drunk, or that simply more patrols equal more arrests?

It’s arguable that there is a trend away from DUI deaths, though it doesn’t appear to be substantial, in at least one view. If the results were scored for population increase the improvement might seem more substantial. In any event, the alcohol lobby, in conjunction with advertising, is a relentless force in creating more DUI drivers and cannot be stemmed without some shift in public perception.

If you are unfortunate to have been arrested for DUI, and whether you live in Costa Mesa, Newport Beach or Tustin, if you are charged with a DUI, call an experienced DUI defense attorney to assist you.

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According to a study done in Massachusetts, drivers who are forced to use an ignition interlock device on their car following their second DUI conviction are far less likely to suffer rearrest.

Typically, DUI drivers who are on probation must blow into the device in order to start their car. The device registers any measurable amount of alcohol and will then disable the car.

There has been some discussion in California about putting IID’s into vehicle following a first conviction. The DUI Offenders Ignition Interlock Device Pilot Project, effective July 1, authored by Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-West Hollywood), established a pilot project in Alameda, Sacramento, Tulare and Los Angeles counties to mandate installation of an Ignition Interlock Device (IID) for first-time DUI offenders.

If the statistics show recidivism rates declining, expect this to become mandated state-wide. Whether you live in Irvine, Newport Beach or Anaheim, if you are charged with a DUI, call an experienced DUI defense attorney to assist you.

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According to nationally compiled statistics, In the United States, 12.8% of all fatal traffic crashes were alcohol-related, and 40% of that number involved teens driving while drinking alcohol.

This is a staggering number, and a preventable situation. Alcohol awareness is a catch-phrase. Teens need to understand first-hand what happens to their bodies and their emotional states when they drink alcohol.

Teen DUI drivers face the loss of their driving privilege for one year, heavy fines and DUI education classes. Their parents face a massive increase in insurance premiums, embarrassment and the knowledge that they cannot monitor their children all the time.

But what if someone is killed by a teen DUI driver? In certain circumstances the parents may be held liable for negligently entrusting their children with a car, knowing the child may drink, drive and possibly crash into someone, causing death.

Southern California and Orange County are heavily populated areas in the United States. More important, people living in all parts of Orange County, whether Irvine, Newport Beach or Santa Ana, are totally dependent on cars for a variety of reasons.

If a teen drinks alcohol and needs to drive home, call a cab. As a parent, tell your kids they get to take a cab once without penalty. Do not drive. If a child kills someone they may face prison. Whether you live in Irvine, Lake Forest or Anaheim Hills, if you are charged with a DUI, call an experienced DUI defense attorney to assist you.

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What’s next, DUI in a swimming pool? According to police, 62-year-old Dennis LeRoy Anderson pleaded guilty to driving his LA-Z Boy recliner drunk, on the street! Apparently, law enforcement was alerted to Anderson when he popped a wheelie while nine beers into a solid buzz.

Doubtless, this will set off a wave of DUI allegations against motorized grannies whoopin’ it up on their three wheelers. Gangs of blue-hairs weaving down the road cannot be too far off.

Ok, DUI is a serious charge, but on this blog post, I’m not going to get up in arms over this one. No one was hurt, and likely no one could have been hurt.

If you are convicted of driving intoxicated in your wheelchair or barcalounger or la-z boy you will have to attend DUI school, have to pay restitution and be put on probation. Whether you live in Santa Ana, Ladera Ranch or Garden Grove, if you are charged with DUI, call an experienced criminal defense attorney right away to assist you.

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