Articles Posted in DUI

The Orange County Register is reporting that speeding and failure to yield are among the deadliest traffic habits in Orange County. This is according to data released by the California Office of Traffic Safety.

The top five reasons people are injured or die in crashes in 2008 include:
(1) Unsafe speeds – 3,171 collisions reported and 35 deaths.
(2) Failure to yield right-of-way – 1,609 collisions reported which resulted in seven
deaths.
(3) Improper turning – 1,023 collisions reported, 26 deaths.
(4) Failure to follow traffic signals and signs- 975 reported, 10 deaths.
(5) Driving under the influence– 910 crashes reported that resulted in 36
deaths.

Last year’s data marks a significant drop from the number of collisions in 2000. That year, 15,590 total collisions were reported in O.C.In 2000, 1,109 Orange County were caused by driving under the influence.

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The Orange County Register is reporting that the California assembly wants drunk drivers to install ignition locking devices on their vehicles to prevent drunk driving tragedies. A proposed law would require anyone convicted of DUI to have to blow into a device installed in their vehicle in order for the ignition to start. If the driver has a blood alcohol level over the legal limit of .08, the car will not start.

About 50 to 75 percent of convicted drunken drivers whose licenses have been suspended continue to drive, experts say. And, according to some reports, ignition-locking devices reduce repeat offenses by 64 percent. However, opponents of the law–including the Criminal Justice Association and the California DUI Lawyers Association–think that the ignition device would be ineffective in deterring DUIs and that the law has the potential of the punishing the wrong type of DUI offender. For example, opponents say that the social drinker who goes out to dinner and splits a bottle of wine, not feeling the effects of the alcohol when they get into their car would be targeted by the device the same way a chronic drinker would be targeted.

The Drink Wheel calculates what a person’s potential BAC level is depending on how much was consumed, the time period of consumption and taking into account the person’s gender and weight. The Drink Wheel can be found here.

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According to a L.A. Times article, liquor-related arrests of sheriff department employees have nearly tripled since 2004– suggesting that there is a growing drinking problem in the department.

Last year, 70 sworn and civilian employees of the Sheriff’s Department were arrested. The majority of those arrests involved employees driving DUI while off duty, according to an annual report produced by the county Office of Independent Review. One concerning element of that study is that in many cases, the alleged drunk deputies were carrying firearms at the time of their arrests.

In one case last year, an off-duty deputy at a New Year’s party inadvertently shot his cousin in the stomach while showing off a new holster. The report also included documentation of two cases in which deputies drew their guns after coming out of bars.

These incidents have caused the Sherriff and the police unions to square off- the Sherriff wants to implement a policy to ban deputies from carrying firearms while under the influence of alcohol. The unions have opposed the policy, saying that it would endanger deputies. The matter is now with the county’s employee relations commission.

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AAA just released a new study that showed that while men are still the most frequent DUI offenders, a growing number of young women are driving drunk in California.

According to the Sacramento Bee, the AAA statistics show that DUIs of women age 21 to 24 more than doubled in the last decade. Some think that the increase may have something to do with the increased number of DUI arrests for Hollywood’s young female celebrities and the fact that more women are behind the while than ever before.

Last month, Lindsey Lohan had an arrest warrant issued relating to her 2007 DUI arrest – her first of two DUI offenses that year. The arrest warrant was later dropped after a judge said a paperwork mistake showed Lohan had met the conditions of her probation. As a I stated in a post last month (Lohan DUI probation violation drama ends….for now), it doesn’t matter how famous someone is – if they are arrested for DUI they need a good lawyer to navigate the administrative process as well as the DUI criminal case.

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Angels’ rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart was among three people killed early Thursday morning when police say a minivan ran a red light at a Fullerton intersection, causing a three-vehicle crash.

The Orange County Register reports that the accident occurred at East Orangethorpe Avenue and South Lemon Street just after midnight. Two of the vehicles – one traveling on Lemon, the other on Orangethorpe – crashed at the intersection. Witnesses reported that the red minivan ran a red light, crashing into the vehicle Adenhart was in causing the car to slam into a light pole.

Anaheim Police arrested the driver of the minivan who fled the scene on suspicions of driving drunk and vehicular manslaughter. The driver had a suspended license for a previous DUI conviction. Adenhart was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange and died in surgery.

Hours before the crash, the 22 year old pitcher pitched six shutout innings with five strikeouts in a 6-4 loss to the Oakland A’s. Thursday’s game against the Oakland A’s was cancelled. A memorial is planned for today’s game.

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According to The National Post, Los Angeles Clippers forward Zach Randolph was arrested early Monday morning on suspicion of DUI. According to the article, two Los Angeles police officers saw Randolph’s white Rolls-Royce weaving on Interstate 405 around 2:30 a.m. After taking a field sobriety test, Randolph was arrested and booked at the Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles. He was later released on $5,000 bail. Earlier that night, Randolph scored 18 points in the Clippers’ 88-85 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

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The Orange County Register is reporting that law enforcement is setting up a DUI roadblock this Saturday in Costa Mesa, in the area of Harbor Boulevard and Peterson Place.

The checkpoint on northbound Harbor will go into effect at 7 p.m. and last until 2 a.m. Sunday. According to the police, the purpose of the detail also is to educate the public about the dangers of DUI and driving without a valid driver license, police said.

Funding for the checkpoint was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration NHTSA)

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If you have been arrested for DUI in Orange County, there are some distinctions you need to know about your criminal case and your driver’s license. The DMV hearing is an administrative proceeding addressing your driving privileges and the circumstances surrounding the arrest–not whether you are innocent or guilty of a criminal act. Only the following issues will be discussed at the DMV Hearing:

If you took a blood or breath or a urine test:

• Did the peace officer have reasonable cause to believe you were driving a motor

The Orange County District Attorney’s Office has obtained a grand jury indictment against a 20-year-old woman accused of killing another young woman while driving drunk.

According to reports, in the early morning of February 1st, Brittney Schuetz was driving between 90 and 100 mph on Imperial Highway when she failed to stop at a red light and collided with April Whang’s Acura Integra. According to reports, La Habra police found Schuetz sitting in the driver’s seat showing signs of intoxication, including giving off a strong odor of alcohol, having bloodshot eyes and watery eyes. Schuetz is accused of driving with a blood-alcohol content of 0.24 percent, three times the legal limit, while on probation from a 2007 driving-under-the-influence conviction.

Following the February 1st crash, the District Attorney’s Office charged the Santa Ana woman by felony complaint with one count of Murder. Yesterday’s grand jury indictment will allow prosecutors the opportunity to bring the case to trial more quickly by skipping a preliminary hearing. Preliminary hearings are usually after the arraignment, and is a preliminary determination where the judge decides whether there is enough evidence to force the defendant to stand trial. Defendant’s are not entitled to a preliminary hearing if the grand jury passes down an indictment.

At the preliminary hearing, the judge makes determination whether the state has a case using the probable cause standard–which is much lower than the state’s burden at trial which is to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. Preliminary hearings are important to a defense for many reasons. For one, it gives the defense an opportunity to cross examine the state’s witnesses on the record which could be a great tool to use against them at trial. Second, if probable cause is not found, a judge can release the defendant who is held with no bond.

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MSNBC is reporting that former Los Angeles Lakers Norm Nixon when arrested last night for allegedly driving drunk. The two-time NBA All-Star with two championships under his belt was booked and posted $5,000 bail. Nixon played with the Lakers from 1977 to 1983 and is married to actress/dancer Debbie Allen.

Nixon was stopped by the California Highway Patrol around midnight when officers noticed he had no front license plate on his black Ferrari. Officers reportedly smelled alcohol and gave Nixon a series of sobriety tests, which the ex-point guard allegedly failed.

The police refer to these roadside exercises as “tests” to give them an aura of scientific validity. However, these exercises have no scientific grounding. Most police academies will teach versions of these exercises and refer to them as “Standardized Field Sobriety Tests.” But on the side of the road, there is often nothing standardized about the exercises. Every police officer varies in the manner in which he instructs suspects to perform them and how he interprets the suspect’s performance.

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