Orange County DUI Lawyer Blog

We all know that drinking and driving is a bad idea and extremely dangerous to anyone else on the road around you. But, once that alcohol kicks in, our common sense or logical thinking kicks out. Most people feel that they are perfectly okay to drive and may very well be but, if you are stopped and your blood alcohol level is over the legal limit, the fact that you can drive straight while under the influence won’t matter. You will be arrested for driving under the influence, and if convicted, will suffer the consequences of that. Depending upon whether it’s your first, second or third, you will lose your license for a period of time, be required to attend an alcohol class, required to attend a MADD panel, pay fees and fines and be placed on informal probation for three years. For multiple offenses, you are potentially looking at jail time. So, yes it would have been a good idea to call a taxi but, for those who don’t and get caught, the next step is finding a good DUI defense attorney to review your case and try to mitigate the severity of the consequences.

What may surprise you is that there are defenses to DUI’s. A good DUI attorney will charge more than an average DUI defense attorney and while you can find a cheap attorney to handle your case, keep in mind that you get what you pay for. When you hire an experienced DUI defense attorney, you are paying more for his experience and reputation for getting good outcomes.

Some DUI’s are defensible and can be won and some are not. So what determines this? Well, several things. The most common are how and why you were stopped, how the police officer conducted the investigation, proper calibration of the machines used and what you told the police officer at the time of the investigation. Equally important is having a competent attorney who will take the time necessary to investigate these things.

When someone is arrested and convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, there is no doubt that you will feel the effects of the conviction. The consequences are in place so that you feel and experience the negative effects of a conviction for DUI to deter it from happening again.

The punishments/consequences, fees and fines vary depending upon whether it’s your first, second or third DUI. There are also other facts taken into consideration like speeding, high alcohol content, minor children in the car, etc. To learn more about the consequences of a conviction for a 1st, 2nd or 3rd DUI, visit my DUI website.

This writing will discuss the consequences of an arrest/conviction for a fourth DUI. This is a very serious charge and, if caught driving while under the influence for the fourth time in a ten-year period, will cause the case to be filed as a felony. And, although prior convictions for DUI are serious, they are misdemeanors and may not be looked at the same way a felony conviction would be.

You would have to have been living under a rock to not have heard about the most recent celebrity arrest. It has been all over the news and Internet that Justin Bieber was arrested for driving while under the influence of prescription drugs and alcohol, as well as drag racing. Later reports indicated that Justin’s blood alcohol level was under the legal limit however, the legal limit being referred to applies to those 21 years and older. Because he is under the age of 21, there is no limit under which he can drive. There is a “Zero Tolerance” policy when it comes to drinking and driving under the age of 21. So, Justin not only faces the typical consequences that come with these types of charges, if convicted he will lose his driver’s license for one year.

Typically, a conviction for these types of charges would result in mandatory alcohol classes, attending Mothers Against Drunk Drivers or MADD panel, maybe attending AA meetings and a loss of his driving privilege. There are also fees and fines that would be ordered if convicted. However, in Justin’s situation, it has been alleged that he admitted to smoking marijuana prior to driving and therefore may be required to attend some sort of drug rehab.

Depending on what the actual charges end up being, his defense attorney will no doubt look at challenging the stop in the first place. There are reports that he was drag racing and this is why he was pulled over. However, there are conflicting reports that he was not racing and was in fact driving the speed limit. Because we live in a world of camera/video phones, apparently there is video of some of the incident. If Justin’s attorney is successful in proving that he was not racing or speeding, this could cause the case to be dismissed altogether. Why? Because police must have reasonable cause to pull him over in the first place. Some might argue that he was pulled over simply because he was driving a yellow Lamborghini in the early morning hours. Without reasonable cause to pull him over, the stop was not legal and therefore, anything after that is legally irrelevant.

Orange County law enforcement was once again out in full force over the holiday season. The Winter Holiday DUI Campaign, also referred to as DUI Saturation Patrols, resulted in 862 arrests for driving under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. This is number is down from the reported 971 arrested last year. However, the final numbers for this year are not in yet. The DUI Campaign involved 38 County law enforcement agencies.

The “Avoid the 38” DUI Campaign, which it is also referred to as, began December 13, 2013 through midnight on January 1, 2014. This included sobriety checkpoints, special saturation patrols and routine patrols. Click on the link to learn about the rules and guidelines associated with DUI Check Points.

Although there are standard fees, fines and punishments for a conviction for DUI but law enforcement must also follow strict rules when stopping, detaining and ultimately arresting someone for DUI. This is why consulting with an attorney is so important if you have been arrested for driving under the influence. Because the consequences of such a conviction can have a negative effect on one’s life, anything that can be done to minimize the ultimate conviction and consequences can make a big difference.

The OC Crime Lab is a nationally recognized leader in the forensic science community and provides all law enforcement agencies in Orange County with services for the recognition, collection and evaluation of physical evidence from crime scenes. It is credited with being the only “full-service, internationally accredited laboratory” that provides forensic analyses to all law enforcement and fire protection agencies within Orange County.

So, when it was discovered that an error in the lab resulted in inaccurate blood alcohol readings, it was quite shocking to the legal community as lab results are seldom questioned.

Apparently, an audit of the crime lab resulted in hundreds of test results being questioned and has resulted in at least 900 letters to the individuals affected by the error.

One of the most frequent questions posed to me during a consultation is “what is this going to cost me?” While my fees are based upon the type of case and the underlying facts, there are numerous other associated costs with drinking and driving.

The simple fact is this: Almost all adult drivers have had alcohol at some point during the same day they drove a car. We are notoriously poor at judging our level of intoxication (almost all my clients tell me they did “really well” on the field sobriety tests) and end up behind the wheel when maybe it wasn’t such a good idea.

So we maybe feel relaxed, loose, a little “buzzed” and ok to drive. I even had a former colleague tell me he drove better after a drink! While that is embarrassing to hear, it’s understandable. One drink usually loosens us up, makes us a bit less inhibited. But it still creates a risk for the driver and all around him. That risk climbs almost exponentially the more the driver drinks. So what about the fines, assuming you don’t kill or hurt someone?

Anyone can have their conviction for DUI expunged as long as they were placed on probation and have successfully completed their probation. When we say, “successfully completed their probation”, for purposes of expungement, this means that you have completed your probation without any probation violations. In a case where your probation has been completed but you had a probation violation, the judge has the discretion of whether or not to grant the expungement. If the probation violation was something minor, like forgetting to make a payment, the judge will usually grant the expungement. However, if the violation was more serious then the judge may exercise his discretion and deny the petition. So, what this means is that even if you have completed your probationary period, the judge may not grant the petition for expungement if during your probationary period you violated your probation. Some of the more serious violation that may prevent an expungement from being granted might be a conviction of driving on a suspended license or being arrested on another misdemeanor or felony matter while on probation for your original DUI conviction.

The good news is that if the judge denies your petition for expungement, you may, at a later date, again petition the court for an expungement of your conviction for DUI. If enough time has passed, and you have no arrests or new convictions, the chances of getting your case expunged are much higher. In this situation, you would need to consult with an attorney to discuss the type of violation and get an opinion from that attorney as to whether or not they believe you may be successful. There is no guarantee, and an attorney will not be able to say with 100% certainty whether or not you will be successful, but an attorney who has had experience expunging DUI convictions will have a pretty good idea of whether or not you will be successful.

So what affect does an expungement have on your record? Most people believe that once your case has been expunged, it simply disappears from your record. This is not the case. When expunging a conviction of any kind including a DUI conviction, rather than your case showing up as a conviction for DUI and a plea of guilty, the case will show, a plea of not guilty and the case dismissed.

So here is a detailed explanation of how it works: Your attorney will file a Petition for Expungement with the Court. A Judge will review the Petition and if it is granted, you withdraw your guilty plea, re-enter a plea of not guilty and your case is dismissed.

For most people, the benefit of having your conviction expunged is for employment purposes. Once your case is expunged, your employer or perspective employer cannot use your conviction when deciding whether or not to hire or promote you. Also, you no longer have to admit to the conviction on a job application. However, there is an exception to this. The obligation to disclose or not disclose your conviction does not apply when it comes to state licensing or to teachers. The licensing board may use your conviction when determining whether or not to grant or renew your license.

Anyone who has a conviction for DUI, or any misdemeanor conviction for that matter, should consult with an attorney to determine whether or not they are a candidate for an expungement. There are definite benefits and could make the difference is being hired or promoted within your current job.

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