Orange County DUI Lawyer Blog
An Orange County California man was convicted earlier this month for gross vehicular manslaughter after hitting and killing a pedestrian. The man was arrested an hour after fleeing the scene. His blood alcohol was reported to be three times the legal limit. This 41 year old Santa Ana man had three prior convictions for DUI or Driving Under the Influence.
Gross Vehicular Manslaughter While Intoxicated is a felony. The punishment is up to 10 years in State Prison or 15 years to life if you have prior DUI convictions.
A good Orange County California DUI Defense Attorney will be familiar with the variety of defenses available to someone who is being charged with DUI or Felony DUI. Some of the obvious legal defenses to Gross Vehicular Manslaughter or DUI’s in general are challenging the underlying DUI. The appearance of being under the influence can be the same as fatigue and/or certain types of illnesses. Challenging the validity of the breath or blood test results and challenging police procedures and/or police misconduct.
A Criminal Defense Attorney will attack the allegations of gross negligence in one of two ways. 1. That that you didn’t act with gross negligence but instead acted with ordinary negligence; and 2. That your gross negligence was not what caused the resulting death. That the acts of another person or forces beyond your control such as road conditions or weather were the cause of the death. Your attorney might hire an accident reconstruction expet to help in this type of defense.
If you would like to know more about DUI also known as Driving Under the Influence or Gross Vehicular Manslaughter while Intoxicated, contact Orange County Criminal Defense Attorney William M. Weinberg at 949-474-8008 or bill@williamweinberg.com.