California dui news from San Diego

A former Rincon fire chief accused of San Diego DUI drunken driving pleaded not guilty in San Diego dui court on Monday.

Gerad Rodriguez entered the plea at his arraignment for a San Diego DUI / drunk driving.

He was arrested in December on suspicion of San Diego California DUI - driving under the influence on Highway 76 in Pauma Valley.

According to the California Highway Patrol, Rodriguez failed a San Diego California DUI field sobriety test. His blood alcohol level was over the legal limit of .08 percent, the CHP alleges.

San Diego dui lawyer news

Kitsap County prosecutors are no longer taking breath tests to court to use as evidence against defendants charged with DUI, citing a "lack of confidence" in the state lab tasked with testing the breath samples.

That decision to drop the test early last fall could save county prosecutors from dealing with potential delays that courts across the state may soon face. Several counties, including an announcement from King County judge Wednesday, are questioning state lab results that could allow those with pending cases to ask that breathalyzer evidence be thrown out.

Ever since Ann Marie Brown, the Washington State Toxicology Lab's former manager, resigned last July amid allegations she lied about checking the accuracy of the lab's breath test instruments, DUI defendants statewide have been challenging their breath sample's validity.

On Wednesday, a panel of three King County District Court judges ruled that there were so many errors and "ethical lapses," in the state lab that breath tests should be suppressed, or not allowed, in court. Their ruling followed others by court officials in Skagit and Snohomish counties last year which had also examined the issue.

Kitsap's courts, too, are waiting to see whether breath tests will be challenged, said Maurice H. Baker, the county's district court administrator.

"So far we have no case scheduled, but it's reasonable to believe that since this is a statewide issue, it will effect all courts," Baker said. "Our court will be no exception."

But the Kitsap County Prosecutor's Office may have circumvented the need to litigate the cases here, because county prosecutors decided last fall to avoid using any DUI breath test in trial until the lab "figures out how to correct this and restore the judiciary's faith," said Jeffrey Jahns, district court chief for the prosecutor's office.

That won't stop other state courts in examining the lab's flaws.

"Simply stated, without the reliable evidence that a correctly functioning breath test instrument can provide, the discovery of the truth in DUI cases suffers," King County District Court Judge David Steiner wrote in the

Wednesday decision to suppress breath tests in local cases there. "The innocent may be wrongly convicted, and the guilty may go free."

Pierce County courts, too, are believed next to examine the breath tests' validity, Jahns said. And the state's supreme court always has the option of an "accelerated review," of select DUI cases that would apply to courts everywhere in the state, Baker said.

For now, Jahns said that local law enforcement is still taking breath tests, but when the case moves to a trial, prosecutors are relying upon other factors — other evidence of drinking, perhaps a blood test, and an officer's testimony of their drunken actions — to present to juries.

DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI attorney news

Former Major League Baseball player who was arrested on suspicion of DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI driving under the influence and vehicular homicide last month in Fort Lauderdale pleaded not guilty in a Broward County courtroom Thursday morning.

Jim Leyritz, accompanied by DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI defense attorney Mike Dutko, entered his plea before Judge Mark Gold during Thursday's arraignment hearing.

Fort Lauderdale police said Leyritz was behind the wheel of a 2006 Ford Expedition that collided with a 2000 Mitsubishi Montero at the intersection of Southwest Seventh Avenue and Second Street in downtown Fort Lauderdale at 3:20 a.m. Dec. 28. Fredia Ann Veitch, 30, of Plantation, was ejected from the Montero and was pronounced dead at Broward General Medical Center.

According to police, Leyritz had a blood-alcohol level of .14 at 6:10 a.m. and .13 at 7:12 a.m. By Florida law, an individual with a blood-alcohol level above .08 is considered intoxicated.

Leyritz is charged with DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI DUI-manslaughter and DUI-property damage. He was additionally charged with DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI manslaughter-unlawful blood-alcohol level following the results of the DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI blood test.

"One is that he was driving under the influence of an alcoholic beverage to the extent his normal faculties were impaired," prosecutor Stefanie Newman said. "One is by an unlawful blood-alcohol level of .08 or higher."

The state filed a motion to monitor Leyritz's alcoholic intake while he awaits DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI trial. He must submit to a DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI sobriety check three times a day. An apparatus is placed on his telephone that requires him to call and verify his sobriety.

In addition, Leyritz submitted to a DNA swab to be analyzed for evidence in the DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI case.

Leyritz was arrested on suspicion of DUI because he refused a mandatory DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI blood test, DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI police said.

According to a news release by Fort Lauderdale police Detective Kathy Collins, officers at the scene observed Leyritz to have "red, watery eyes, a flushed face and an odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from his person." It was then that officers initiated a DUI investigation, according to Collins. He was advised that Veitch had died and was requested to submit to a mandatory DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI blood test, DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI police said.

Leyritz refused and was informed that DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI blood would be taken "above his refusal," according to the DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI release.

Veitch was returning from her job at the Original Steakhouse in Fort Lauderdale. Police said she is the mother of two children, ages 5 and 13 years old.

The 44-year-old is most remembered for his three-run home run while playing for the New York Yankees against the Atlanta Braves in Game 4 of the 1996 World Series.

He began his career in 1990 with the Yankees, played 11 seasons in the majors with six different teams and retired in 2000.

The DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI trial date is set for May 12.

San Diego dui attorney news

A Hawley man’s defense for his charge of DUI last May hinged on breathalyzers, punches, and mouthwash—and a jury of his peers wasn’t buying it. On Tuesday, January 29, Eric James Utegg was found guilty of driving under the influence, after a relatively short trial.

“This is a pretty standard DUI case,” said prosecutor Errol Flynn. “DUIs usually go to trial because the sentence the defendant would be facing is high because of such things as previous charges. In Mr. Utegg’s case, because of his priors he is facing at least a 90-day mandatory minimum sentence.”


Of course, Utegg’s sentence was not handed down Tuesday, merely the verdict. But Utegg’s dui defense lawyer, Ronald Bugaj, fought hard for his client from the beginning of the case to the end, mounting a defense that hinged on an altercation over Diana Dill, the woman who would become Utegg’s wife.


“Eric and I were married on October 20,” said Dill, now known as Diana Utegg, when she took the stand in her husband’s defense on Tuesday afternoon. After the wedding, the Uteggs set up house in Dill’s former home, on the Hawley side of Rickard’s farm on the Owego turnpike. The location would become important in establishing the timeline so crucial to the defense of the events that happened on May 25th.


As Mrs. Utegg told the story, with details filled in by Attorney Bugaj, the events of the day came into focus. In May, the two were estranged lovers, and Eric Utegg was living with a friend, Lori Caswell, on Mill Creek Road. On the morning of May 25, he drove to Diana Dill’s residence to discuss rekindling their relationship, a talk that according to both of them went very well.


“We had some coffee, and talked outside. I can’t drive anywhere, because of my medication, so in the summer I like to spend lots of time outside. We agreed to give it another try.”


Around 3:25, Dill’s children came home from school, and Utegg left to mow his lawn. But they parted company determined to rekindle their romance; as Attorney Bugaj put it, “It couldn’t have been a better day for Mr. Utegg.”


There was only one problem; since separating, Dill had started a relationship with another man, Danny Morales. And he wasn’t pleased with the idea of Dill reconciling with her former boyfriend.


“When Eric drove up to the house, Danny went out and confronted him,” said Mrs. Utegg. “Danny punched him in the mouth and went to call the police on him for trespassing. Eric drove off, he didn’t even get out of his truck.”


In the hours between leaving Diana Dill’s home that afternoon and returning that evening, Mr. Utegg admitted to consuming two Michelob Ultra Light beers. However, Attorney Bugaj claimed, they were not responsible for the .219% BAC he blew when pulled over by police on his way home.


“After being punched, Mr. Utegg reached under his seat and pulled out a full bottle of mouthwash,” said Attorney Bugaj. “In total, he rinsed his mouth six times before passing by the state police barracks and being picked up. He thought the police were coming for him because of the trespassing call.”


However, prosecutor Flynn had already called as a witness Corporal Michael Anthony Huffstutler, who administered the Intoxilyzer 5000 test which purportedly determined Utegg’s blood alcohol level.


“If you were to swish your mouth full of mouthwash and then immediately blow into a breathalyzer, your reading would be off the charts,” he said. “However, as time passes it dissipates, and after 20 minutes your mouth alcohol level is completely back to normal...we monitored Utegg, and he did not have anything to eat or drink for 20 minutes before we performed the test.”


As to the defense’s assertion that Mr. Utegg absorbed the alcohol in the mouthwash through the cut in his mouth, Prosecutor Flynn pointed out the law referred to the content of alcohol in the bloodstream, not how it got there.

San Diego DUI lawyer news

A concerned woman called DUI cops to tell them about a suspected drunk driver - HERSELF.

Pat Dykstra stunned 911 operators when she rang them to tell them she thought she may be too drunk to drive.

She was driving a tan 2002 pick up truck on the way home from a bar when she used a cell phone to call.

She hung up before speaking to anyone but dispatchers used a reverse 911 directory and called the phone, which was answered by a woman who identified herself as Patricia Dykstra, 51.

Dodge County Sheriff Todd Nehls revealed the woman ’s boyfriend in the passenger seat suggested she call 911 to report her own drunken driving, so she did.

And she told dispatchers that her boyfriend was not driving because he was too drunk.

She said: “: I just want to know if somebody can follow me home because somebody seems to think I can’t drive home straight.

The dispatcher asked: “OK, why is that?”

Pat replied: “He seems to think I am too intoxicated to drive.”

The dispatcher then asked her: :”OK, and so you called 9-1-1 or he called 9-1-1?”

And Pat added: “Well, he wanted me to call 9-1-1 ’cause he thinks I’m too drunk to drive.”

During a relatively pleasant conversation with the dispatcher Pat then gave her name, location and vehicle description before saying she should probably hang up because: “I don ‘t like being on the phone while driving.”

Then asked by the dispatcher if she had too much to drink, she added: “I don ‘t think so, ma ‘am.”

Deputies went to her home, where Dykstra met them on the porch, Nehls said.

She had consumed a six-pack of beer, she said, and her boyfriend a 12-pack, so the deputies police gave her a Breathalyzer test. She blew a .14 and was given a drunk driving ticket.

She was ticketed for drunken driving, her first offense.

dui / drunk driving question

January 22, 2008

Could Virginia drivers convicted of three drunken-driving offenses be required to use special license plates?

Many legislative observers say the matter is unlikely to make it out of committee, but the measure by Del. Lionell Spruill, D-Chesapeake, is up for discussion today.

Spruill's measure would require plates saying the driver has had three DUIs -- an effort to shame the driver and warn the public.

California DUI lawyers fear this would discriminate against drivers.

2008

DUI / drunk driving attorney news

- New York City-based Ferrari Driving School announced today that it is continuing its efforts to stop drunk and unsafe driving. The company's director of operations, Michelangelo Pinto, kicked off the year for the school's "DUI Driving is not Kool™" driver awareness campaign, appearing on Fox Business Network's "Happy Hour" program.

"A guy named Pinto representing a driving school named Ferrari on a national television program called 'Happy Hour,' taking place in a bar, speaks out against drunk driving on New Year's Eve. With many writers for late night television on strike, this seems like the kind of item for a monologue. You cannot make something like this up," said Pinto.

"But you know what, when the kidding, joking and plays on words stop, what's left is a devastating reality. Approximately 16,000 people die each year because of drunk drivers. Tell a child that mommy or daddy is not coming home because a drunk killed them. No joke there. Ferrari Driving School, the metropolitan area's largest such school, in business 40 years, teaching safe driving to both private and commercial drivers. Now, we have stepped up to tackle the challenge of DUI and will not stop until change happens."

The toll of driving under the influence is horrific. 16,000 deaths annually is the equivalent of more than five 9/11 tragedies per year. It is four times more than the loss of all United States military personal in Iraq to date. It means that in a three and a half year period, as many people are killed by drunk drivers as were killed serving United States in Vietnam. There is roughly the same amount of people killed by drunk drivers each year as die of AIDS.

"When we began our program, we did so because of celebrities accused of DUI being treated to a carnival-like atmosphere. We wanted to teach kids that DUI is not cool. But the issue goes so much deeper than that. For example, earlier this month, a former White House advisor, from a prior administration, was caught doing 70 mph in a 30 mph zone and charged with aggravated DWI. He is 59 years old. This is not a Democrat or Republican thing. Not conservative or liberal. Not young or old. Neither famous nor average Joe. This is a challenge for all of us. We must stop this scourge that is taking so many lives, destroying so many families and costing the public billions of dollars," said Pinto.

The Ferrari Driving School's, "DUI Driving is Not Kool™," plan is in full gear working to raise awareness while gaining public and media support. Michelangelo Pinto is successfully heading the program and is committed to saving lives.

"It was very gratifying when Fox Business Network's Cody Willard said to me, 'For the record you have our support ...' We need everyone's support to save lives. People are dying because of a cavalier attitude about DUI. Ferrari Driving School is working to stop it."

DUI / drunk driving news in California - San Diego lawyer update

A Visalia man injured in a two-car crash that killed a Porterville woman and injured three others Saturday will be arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and vehicular manslaughter, California Highway Patrol officials said.

Alexander Moreno, 41, remains at Sierra View District Hospital. CHP Officer Kent Arnold said investigators believe Moreno had been driving drunk when the crash occurred shortly after 4:30 p.m. on Reservation Road north of Eagle Mountain Casino.

Killed in the crash was Rickey Martin, 53, of Porterville, a passenger in the other car.
Arnold said Moreno is not under guard at the hospital because the extent of his injuries makes that unnecessary. Moreno has a broken hip, Arnold said.

“He’s not moving anywhere,” he said.

A CHP report issued this morning inaccurately listed Moreno as having died in the crash. Martin was the only person killed, Arnold said.

San Diego DUI lawyer news

Two Safford Police officers were recognized for their outstanding efforts in the areas of DUI and drug enforcement at the Safford City Council meeting Monday.

Safford Police Chief John Griffin said officer Brian Avila was recognized by the Eastern Arizona DUI Task Force as its DUI Officer of the Year for 2007. Sunday, January 20, 2008
\

According to Griffin, the Safford Police Department had 145 DUIs in 2007, an increase of 48 more than the 97 cases it had in 2006.

Officer Avila was responsible for 47 DUI arrests in 2007 – 32 percent of the department’s total. He was also awarded the Chief’s Award for exceeding expectations.

Griffin said Avila’s accomplishment was even more outstanding because he excels in all aspects of police work.

“If that was all he was doing, (DUIs) that would be one thing,” Griffin said, “but this kid does it all.”

While Griffin said DUI work was just a portion of what Avila does, he does it extremely well.

“He has a great ability to do an excellent job with DUI enforcement,” he said.

Griffin also recognized officer Herschel Medlin with the Chief’s Award for exceeding expectations.

He said Medlin was responsible for 86 of Safford’s 198 drug arrests in 2007 – 43 percent of the department’s total. Medlin accounted for approximately 15 percent of all drug arrests in Graham County in 2007.

Griffin said Medlin’s tenacity in the pursuit of drugs has made him very good at it.

DUI / DWI / Drunk Driving news overseas

BUDAPEST -- Hungarian drivers who have consumed any amount of alcohol will have their licenses taken immediately.

"Starting today, the changes in the Law on Traffic will obligate policemen to immediately confiscate the driving license belonging to any person who tests positive for alcohol," the neighboring country's Ministry of the Interior announced in Budapest Sunday.

Authorities hope that the new, literally zero alcohol tolerance legislation, will significantly reduce the number of traffic accidents.

In 2006, Hungary reported 21,000 accidents, more than 10 percent of those caused by drivers under the influence of alcohol, resulting in 154 deaths.

During the same year, 1.4 million checks performed by traffic police resulted in 42,000 positive alcohol tests.

But the laws enforced then only stripped drunk drivers of their licenses after a lengthy procedure.

San Diego California DUI attorney news

Latest Big Island DUI stats

Big Island police made 1,411 DUI / drunk driving arrests last year, an increase of 9 percent over the 1,293 (revised total) arrested in 2006, according to statistics released by the Traffic Services Section.

Of the drivers arrested for DUI last year, 353 were involved in traffic crashes and 145 were under the age of 21.

The numbers of arrests by district were:

District DUI Arrests

Hamakua 10
North Hilo 2
South Hilo 465
Puna 130
Ka'u 47
Kona 650
South Kohala 81
North Kohala 26

Island Total 1,411


Police recorded 2,170 major accidents last year, compared with 2,453 during the same period in 2006, a decrease of 12 percent.

Police recorded 37 traffic fatalities on the Big Island last year compared with 33 for the previous year, an increase of 12 percent.

Fifteen of the fatalities were attributed to DUI/ drunk driving / DWI , compared with 14 in 2006, an increase of 7 percent. Eight of last year's fatalities were drug related, compared with 12 in 2006, a decrease of 33 percent. Four of the fatalities were drug and alcohol related last year compared with five in 2006, a decrease of 20 percent.

Police said the final counts of alcohol- and drug-related fatalities may increase slightly after pending reports are completed.

The number of fatal crashes increased in 2007 to 37 compared with 33 the year before for an increase of 12 percent.

Last year, two of the victims were younger than 21 compared with six in 2006, a decrease of 67 percent.

If you need help, contact a top Hawaii DUI defense attorney.

San Diego California dui lawyer celebrity update

Keifer Sutherland has been a softy during his California DUI jail stint, according to prison officials.

The '24' star is serving a 48-day sentence for California DUI drink driving at the private Glendale City Jail.

He is expected to be released on 21 Jan for being a good California DUI inmate.

Prison spokesman John Balian insisted that Sutherland has been the model California DUI inmate.

"He was very humble, never complained. He didn't give us any problems at all" .

Sutherland was imprisoned under California DUI drunk driving charges in September 2007.

SHINING A SPOTLIGHT, PLUS A BIT MORE, IS ENOUGH TO QUALIFY AS A DETENTION

The officer in this case saw the defendant standing next to a parked car in a high crime area. The officer observed the defendant for 5 to 8 seconds. The officer turned his spotlight on the defendant, illuminating him.

The officer exited his police car, in full uniform, and briskly walked 35 feet directly to the defendant. While he was approaching the defendant the officer asked the defendant if he was on parole, and the defendant said he was.

Do you think that the Court of Appeal found that this was a consensual encounter?

No. The Court of Appeal says that the officer's conduct constituted a show of authority so intimidating as to communicate to any reasonable person that he was not free to decline the officer's requests or otherwise terminate the encounter.

The defendant's admission that he was on parole led to a search; that search was illegal!

People v. Garry; 2007 DJ DAR 16863; DJ, 11/14/07; C/A 1st

San Diego dui attorney news

The Legislature passed a bill making it a crime to drive a car with a cellular telephone in your hand.

The law will not go into effect until July 1, 2008. The new law will require that all drivers use “hands-free” equipment when driving. While the fines may be low ($20 for the first offense, $50 for each successive offense) the potential for abuse seems very real.

If a law enforcement officer can make a stop for suspicion of driving with a cellular telephone as even using the speakerphone function on your telephone violates the law.

San Diego DUI attorney news

Gary Collins was released from Glendale City Jail early Friday after putting in 96 hours behind bars for a December DUI.

Collins, 69, appeared in Airplane!, hosted Hour Magazine, various other talk shows, and the Miss America Pageant from 1982-1990, will be on probation for four years, must attend 26 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and put in 100 hours of community service.

But it could have been much worse. He could have lost his life. That's what happened to the 89-year-old man who caused the accident that led to Collins' DUI arrest.

On Oct. 23, Warren Gates failed to yield to oncoming traffic. His vehicle slammed into Collins car, which then crashed into two others. Collins was apprehended after failing a field sobriety test following the accident. In early December, Gates succumbed to his injuries suffered during the crash.

Collins could have served his four days behind bars in downtown L.A.'s notorious Twin Towers facility. Instead, he opted to pay $75 a day to do time in the slightly more luxurious Glendale facility - the same jail where Kiefer Sutherland is currently serving a 48-day sentence. It is unclear whether the two ran into each other during their stays. Sutherland is expected to be released on Monday.

San Diego DUI criminal defense attorney query

Q. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that Mexican-Americans have the highest proportion of DUIs and alcohol-related traffic fatalities of any ethnic group (60 percent, as opposed to 40 percent for Caucasians—they're even substantially higher than any other Latino group). I apologize that this question isn't wisecrack-y, but that statistic is terrible. What's the deal with all the boozy driving and carnage?

A. You're right about the horridness of the stats, though wrong on some of the details: The NHTSA doesn't regularly keep track of ethnicity and alcohol-related crashes. Its last comprehensive report was Ethnicity and Alcohol-Related Fatalities: 1990 to 1994, and that survey found Native Americans were the ethnic group most likely to die in a drunk-driving accident, with Mexicans placing second. The proportions you cited were also wrong: The correct figures are 54.6 percent of Mexicans who die in auto accidents had been drinking and 44.2 percent for gabachos. Don't think I'm splitting hairs here—alcoholism among Mexicans is a blight as terrible as Carlos Mencia— but I wanted to establish the facts before moving on to theories. Why more drinking and driving among Mexicans? I can toss out ideas—culture, peer pressure, the sirenic taste of Herradura tequila begging for just one more shot before calling it a night— but they're all lacking. One explanation that definitely isn't valid is machismo, at least as a uniquely Mexican phenomenon. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism's 2003 paper "Alcohol Use and Related Problems Among Ethnic Minorities in the United States," that theory "isn't supported by research findings. . . . Close examination of machismo among White, Black and Mexican American men . . . has shown that machismo is related to alcohol use among men irrespective of ethnic group and that it is not a valid explanation for the high levels of drinking among Mexican Americans." Honestly, there is no answer for your pregunta, Sick of Sangre—alcohol and logic repel each other like "border" and "enforcement."

California DUI attorney news

The family of two parents killed in a New Year's Eve crash is suing the man behind the wheel and his boss.

Robert Blair was charged with felony DUI for the accident. The crash killed three people, including Syblene and Andrew McAbee.

An Anderson attorney has filed a lawsuit for the McAbee family. The suit claims Blair's employer, Craft Construction, is also responsible.

The 61-year-old was driving his work truck at the time of the crash.

Bill would force judges to impose full sentence in extreme DUI cases

Jan. 17, 2008

Judges would have no option to suspend part of the sentence for those guilty of a first or second extreme DUI under a bill that received a Senate committee's endorsement Thursday.

SB 1004, sponsored by Sen. Jim Waring, R-Phoenix, would eliminate conflicting language in statues governing DUI sentencing.

A change approved last year forbids judges from suspending part of the sentence for someone guilty of extreme DUI. But language elsewhere continued to say judges could suspend some of the sentence if an offender had a blood-alcohol level of less than 0.20 and enrolled in some type of treatment.

That left judges citing one or the other, Waring said.

"It makes it so the judges are clear on sentencing and takes away any discrepancies," said Waring, who sponsored the legislation that made last year's changes.

The Senate Committee on Public Safety and Human Services endorsed the bill unanimously and referred it to the Rules Committee. The measure includes an emergency clause, meaning it would become law immediately if two-thirds of both houses approve it and the governor signs it or allows it to become law without her signature.

A person is driving under the influence if he or she has a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 or more. Extreme DUI applies when a driver has a blood-alcohol level of 0.15 or more.

For a first extreme DUI offense, a judge previously had the right to reduce the sentence from 30 days to 10 for those who completed court-ordered screening, education or treatment. For a second offense, a judge could cut the sentence from 120 days to 60 under those conditions.

Waring's bill also would change the law to allow judges to prohibit a person convicted of extreme DUI from consuming alcohol for a specific period of time. The offender would be continuously monitored or would have to submit to testing no less than twice a day.

Jerry Landau, director of government affairs for the Arizona Supreme Court, told the committee that the court supports judicial discretion but in this case simply wants consistency in the law.

"It is necessary to remove one of the laws; it doesn't matter which one," Landau said.

DUI lawyers are wondering.

California dui lawyer news

California dui probationer Kiefer Sutherland is set to be a free man beginning Monday morning.

A rep for the Glendale City Jail said the “24” actor will be released from the place he’s spent the last month-and-a-half on Monday. The rep said Sutherland will have served his full California dui sentence on that date.


Sutherland checked into the Glendale City Jail on December 5, the same afternoon that he was sentenced to 48 hours in jail for by an LA court judge.

Sutherland requested to serve his time in the Glendale facility.

Sutherland was required to serve 30 days for a DUI charge stemming from September 2007 and 18 days for violating probation on a 2004 DUI, Nick Velasquez, spokesman for the LA City Attorney’s Office confirmed.

On the morning of September 25, Sutherland was stopped by police after making an illegal U-Turn in West LA. Sutherland was arrested after he tested above .08 and released after posting $25,000 bail.

Sutherland previously issued a statement over the incident.

“I’m very disappointed in myself for the poor judgment I exhibited recently, and I’m deeply sorry for the disappointment and distress this has caused my family, friends and co-workers on ‘24’ and at 20th Century Fox. I appreciate the support and concern that has been extended to me these last weeks both personally and professionally,” his statement read.

SAN DIEGO DUI lawyer news

A teenager was arrested late Wednesday after a man was killed in a SAN DIEGO DUI hit-and-run in the Mission Hills neighborhood of San Diego.

The SAN DIEGO DUI victim was struck just after 11 p.m. Police said a transient was pushing a shopping cart near the intersection of Washington and India streets when he was hit by a car and killed. Investigators said they believe Alec Rowe, 18, was allegedly driving a 2003 Saturn SUV that hit the man, who was in his 30s, and then allegedly left the scene.

"A witness who was following the vehicle followed him over to an address on Hancock, where he was detained by some individuals over there," said San Diego SAN DIEGO DUI police Sgt. Mark Taylor said. "Officers responded to that location and took him into custody."

SAN DIEGO DUI Police said Thursday that Rowe would be charged with gross-vehicular manslaughter, felony DUI causing death, SAN DIEGO DUI and felony hit-and-run causing death.

SAN DIEGO DUI Investigators said Thursday that Rowe was "very intoxicated" and struck a guardrail with his car a half-mile before he hit the victim.

Rowe's SAN DIEGO DUI bail was set at $225,000, which his father posted within two hours of his SAN DIEGO DUI arrest. Mr. Rowe's SAN DIEGO DUI attorney will present extenuating circumstances.

San Diego DUI lawyer info

From the perspective of someone experienced in treating alcohol and substance abuse, San Miguel County Coroner's alcohol and impaired driving views are discussed.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services defines daily drinking limits as “no more than four standard drinks a day for men and no more than three a day for women. Weekly limits are no more than 14 standard drinks a week for men and seven for women.” DHHS defines binge drinking as “a pattern of drinking alcohol that brings blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08 gram-percent or above. For a typical adult this pattern corresponds to consuming five or more drinks (male), or four or more drinks (female) in about 2 hours.”

Responsible, moderate drinkers will never reach a .120 percent BAC, let alone drive at that level.

Both nationally and in Colorado, Driving Under the Influence, or DUI, is defined as a BAC over .08 percent. Colorado also has a misdemeanor offense of Driving While Ability Impaired, or DWAI, which is defined as having a blood alcohol content of between .05 percent and .08 percent. These limits are based on research which demonstrates that the relative risk of causing an accident is stable from a baseline of zero BAC up to about .04 percent. At .05 percent, a person is 1.8 times more likely to cause a wreck. At .08 percent, the average driver is 3.2 times more likely to do so. At .12 percent, the average driver is 7.1 times more likely to cause a crash than a sober driver.

As a sample, I pulled 16 active San Miguel County DUI cases at random. I excluded three in which the defendant refused a breath or blood test. Out of the remaining 13 there were four first offenders, two second offenders, six third offenders and one fifth offender. The average BAC was .193 percent, almost four times the legal limit. Their BACs at arrest are comparable to those recorded at the time of the impaired driver’s death as cited by Dempsey. Perhaps the only difference between the two groups was that a diligent deputy or marshal exercised his or her duty to get them off the road before they or their victim(s) ended up on a slab in the coroner’s office.

Many people drive drunk because they rely on an intoxicated brain to decide whether they are safe to drive. The reality is that most people underestimate their BACs and don’t understand that the BAC continues to rise for at least 30 minutes after they stop drinking. You don’t want to find this out the hard way. Remember that the effect alcohol has on you depends on factors such as how much you’ve eaten, altitude, exhaustion, dehydration, age, weight, experience and other drugs in your system. Only time will remove alcohol from your system. Remember Project Home Safe and take the bus. Call a friend or family member. Call a cab or a limo. Call law enforcement. Walk. Take the gondola. Couch Surf. Ride your bicycle. Ride your skateboard. Accept the parking ticket. Almost anything is safer and cheaper than trying to make it home drunk in your car.

Drunk Driving attorney news

DUI criminal defense lawyer may have to attack the tests

January 17, 2007

Toxicology results allegedly show former major leaguer Jim Leyritz's blood-alcohol levels were nearly twice the legal limit the day he was involved in a fatal drunk driving crash in December.

Leyritz, initially charged with DUI manslaughter and DUI property damage after the crash, will now face an additional manslaughter charge, according to a Fort Lauderdale Police Department news release.

Results of the tests purportedly show that the 44-year-old Leyritz had a blood-alcohol levels of 0.14 at 6:10 a.m. and 0.13 at 7:12 a.m. on Dec. 28, the day his 2006 Ford Expedition crashed at an intersection and collided with the car of Fredia Ann Veitch. The legal limit for Florida drivers is 0.08. DUI Tests are subject to numerous attacks and potential scrutiny by a DUI criminal defense lawyer.

Veitch, a 30-year-old woman from Plantation, was ejected from her 2000 Mitsubishi Montero and died at Broward General Medical Center. Leyritz has been released on $11,000 bond.

Leyritz's criminal defense attorney is Jeffrey Ostrow.

San Diego DUI criminal defense lawyer news

San Diego California DUI

EL CAJON, Calif. -- A Ramona woman arrested five times for San Diego California DUI
driving under the influence of drugs -- including a San Diego California DUI
incident when she pinned a 7-year-old boy against a truck -- was sentenced Wednesday to a year in jail and a yearlong drug treatment program.

Tiffany Adamo, 26, pleaded guilty Dec. 13 to three misdemeanor counts of San Diego California DUI DUI, two felony San Diego California DUI
DUI charges and one felony count of prescription fraud.

Adamo faced a maximum of four years in state prison.

"This case calls out for rehabilitation," Judge Patricia Cookson said. "Prison will serve nothing. Nothing whatsoever."

Cookson told Adamo -- an emergency medical technician -- that she would have a chance during her five years on probation to straighten her life out.

"The problem is ... you were out of control for five months," Cookson told the defendant.

Cookson said Adamo had a minor criminal record, support of her family and was remorseful for her San Diego California DUI
actions, including pinning the boy between a shopping cart and a truck in a parking lot on Oct. 13.

Cookson also suspended Adamo's driver's license and told her she couldn't own a vehicle while on probation.

Because Adamo had loud music playing at least twice when she was San Diego California DUI driving under the influence, Cookson ordered that she play music at a lower level once she resumed driving.

Cookson said Adamo would have to complete an 18-month program through the Department of Motor Vehicles to get her license back.

Adamo's attorney, A. King Aminpour, told Cookson that his client was involved in a San Diego California DUI car crash two years ago, causing her to become addicted to medications for disc and back problems.

Adamo had aspirations of becoming a firefighter and her goal is to help people, the San Diego California DUI criminal defense attorney said.

January 16, 2008 San Diego DUI attorney news

VISTA: A 24-year-old San Marcos man seriously injured in a rollover San Diego DUI crash Monday night was arrested on suspicion of San Diego DUI drunken driving after his speeding pickup allegedly slammed into the back of a car on state Route 78, San Diego DUI lawyer authorities said.

The man was driving a Toyota Tundra east on Route 78 just west of Sycamore Avenue at 9:30 p.m., using all the lanes to pass slower traffic, when he hit the back of a Honda Accord, San Diego DUI attorney authorities hear.

The force of the San Diego DUI impact ripped open the Honda's trunk and sent the car into the median. It came to rest blocking the fast lane.

After hitting the Honda, the Toyota lost one of its wheels and slammed into the right shoulder guardrail, causing it to flip onto its roof. The driver of the pickup suffered a severe injury to his left arm, San Diego Drunk Driving lawyers understand.

A passenger in the Toyota and the driver and passenger in the Honda suffered minor to moderate injuries and were taken to hospitals. His San Diego DUI attorney may be ready.

DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI lawyer news

226 DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests, 37 percent less than last year

When the total number of DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests were tallied for 2007, figures showed that Lombard officers had arrested 133 less motorists for allegedly DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI - driving under the influence than they did the previous year.

In 2006, Lombard officers arrested 359 motorists on DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI charges. This number was up from the previous year, when Lombard officers made 255 DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests.

The department's concentrated efforts to keep DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI / drunk drivers off the streets began in 1993, when midnight shift officers set a goal of 300 DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests. Tallying a total of 383 DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests that year, the Lombard department earned statewide recognition for its DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI enforcement efforts for a number of years.

While the number of DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests eventually fell, the number of Lombard's DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests had been on the rise for the past few years.

That changed last year, when the number of DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests fell by 133, showing a 37-percent decrease.

According to Lombard police Deputy Chief Dane Cuny, of the 226 arrested for DUI in 2007, officers charged 173 male drivers and 53 female drivers with DUI.

Statistics show that the average age for the male drivers was 33, and the average for female drivers was 30. Blood alcohol content (BAC) was .159 for males charged and .188 for female drivers. According to the law, .08 percent and higher is considered legal intoxication.

Lombard police Officer Michael Chudzinski led the department with 33 DUI arrests. Coming in second for the second year in a row was Lombard police Officer Thomas Balsitis, who logged 28 DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests last year.

However, in 2006, Balsitis had come in a close second with 44 DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests behind Lombard police Officer Janet Myerson's total of 48 DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests.

Other officers who led the department in DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests in 2007 were officers James Brown, with 18 DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests, and Eric Gouty with 15 DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests.

Of the department's 226 DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests, according to Lombard police Officer Joe Grage, a member of the department's Traffic Safety Unit, 11 DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests were made between 7:15 a.m. and 3:15 p.m.

In addition, there were 20-some DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests made between 3:15 and 11:15 p.m. and 187 DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests made between 11:15 p.m. and 7:15 a.m.

Grage explained that 16.8 percent of the DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests in 2007 occurred on the day and afternoon shifts.

Grage, who works the day shift, said he made four DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests in 2007, most of which were the result of a DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI accident.

The department conducted two roadside DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI safety checkpoints last year, but according to Grage, no DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests were made during the DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI checkpoints.

While Lombard is authorized to have 73 sworn officers, due to recent retirements and injuries, Cuny said the department currently is not at full strength.

They intend to increase their DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI enforcement in 2008. DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI criminal defense lawyers salivate.

dui sports news

Jaguars defensive end Brent Hawkins was arrested and charged with DUI / drunk driving after he was stopped for speeding on his way home from a night out.

The 24-year-old was arrested early Monday when deputies clocked him driving his 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe at 64 m.p.h. in a 45-m.p.h. zone, a Jacksonville Sheriff's Office drunk driving report said.

He told deputies he had three vodka and orange juice drinks during the night, the report said. He also told the arresting deputy that he had a previous DUI drunk-driving arrest in Illinois.

"I noticed while speaking to him that he had the odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath and that his eyes were bloodshot and watery," the arresting deputy wrote in the DUI report.

Hawkins refused to take a breath test after he was brought to the Duval County Jail, a sheriff's spokesman said. Hawkins was released from jail later Monday.

"We're very disappointed and we're looking into it," team spokesman Dan Edwards said.

Hawkins, a fifth-round pick out of Illinois State, had four sacks for the Jaguars this season, which ended Saturday with a 31-20 playoff loss to the New England Patriots.

Hawkins is the 10th Jacksonville player arrested in the last two years. Five of the arrests involved alcohol, two were for drug possession, two were for gun charges and one was for battery. Four of the arrests came in the last three months.

San Diego criminal defense dui news - DUI / DWI /Drunk Driving plates

January 15, 2008

A state lawmaker wants anyone with a DUI / DWI /Drunk Driving / drunken-driving conviction to have it noted on their driver's license.

Democratic Rep. Scott Inman, of Del City, said the measure would reduce the number of DUI / DWI /Drunk Driving alcohol-related deaths by putting bars and nightclubs on notice that the person has a history of drinking and DUI / DWI /Drunk Driving driving while intoxicated.

Inman said the DUI / DWI /Drunk Driving designation would remain on the license for up to four years. It would only be removed if the person received no additional DUI / DWI /Drunk Driving / drunken-driving convictions during that time.

Inman said the problem of drinking and driving / DUI / DWI /Drunk Driving isn't getting any better in the state. In 2005, 283 out of 802 total traffic fatalities were DUI / DWI /Drunk Driving alcohol related -- the highest number of DUI / DWI /Drunk Driving alcohol-related traffic deaths since 1997.

San Diego California DUI criminal defense lawyer news

A Dargaville man has been charged with driving a ride-on lawnmower while DUI drunk.

The 52-year-old was seen by police driving through the Northland town at 9.30pm yesterday.

He was stopped and asked to get the mower off the road. The police officer then discovered the man was a disqualified driver who had been drinking.

Northland police communications officer Sarah Kennett said the man recorded a DUI breath test of more than twice the legal limit.

The lawnmower was impounded for 28 days and the man is to appear in Dargaville District Court this week facing charges of careless driving, driving while disqualified and DUI driving with excess breath alcohol.

For an example of Lawnmowering while DUI see http://www.biggeekdaddy.com/humorpages/Misc/lawnmowerDUI.html

san diego california dui attorney news

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The leader of Mothers Against Drunk Driving in California said police need to set an example after two recent california dui drunken driving arrests involving law enforcement officers.

Daniel Rouse, an off-duty Sacramento County deputy, was arrested for california dui Saturday morning at Highway 50 near the Capital City Freeway.

The 22-year-old is expected to face a misdemeanor california dui driving under the influence charge.

Rouse's arrest came two weeks after a California Highway Patrol lieutenant was arrested in northern Merced County on a california dui drunken driving charge.

Lt. Deborah Pierce flipped her car onto an embankment along Highway 99, police said. She was arrested for california dui at the scene.

Pierce works for the Bakersfield-area CHP and is a 17-year veteran of the agency.

"Please remember that we look to them not only to save our lives but to show the community that they march to a higher tune," MADD's state executive director Matthias Mendezona said.

"They have certain accountabilities there that go beyond the average citizen," he said.

The Highway Patrol said it’s conducting an internal investigation of the crash involving Pierce.

San Diego DUI lawyer news

On New Year's Eve, Cory Byron called from the road and left a disturbing message on his sister's phone.

“Jen,” he said, “I want you to know I'm doing this because I have too much pain in my life.”

By the time Jennifer Byron heard the spoken suicide note and called 911, her younger brother either had jumped, or was about to jump, from the San Diego-Coronado Bridge with a police dog.

In reality, Cory Byron, 27, had been falling since his early 20s, when a catastrophic mountain bike accident required major facial surgery and a plate implanted in his head.

In 2003, he was hospitalized at Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside for a “bipolar manic episode,” said Jennifer Byron and Michael Young, a family friend with whom Cory lived for five months as he recuperated that year.

In 2005, when he was living with his sister, Cory was again hospitalized for the same problem.

Jennifer, who lives in Rancho Peñasquitos, told me that the manic episodes, which may have been triggered by the head injury, caused a host of problems, including dark thoughts that Cory had let down his family and his 6-year-old son.

If he took his medication, which cost him $400 a month, he'd be groggy in the mornings and miss work on a construction site.

If he failed to take the pills, he could stay up for as long as seven days, Jennifer said. Insomnia led to suicidal thoughts. Drinking helped him sleep and make it to work.

This vicious cycle evidently spun out of control on New Year's Eve when Cory Byron, a San Diego DUI drunken-driving suspect, led police on a chase from Oceanside to the landmark bridge. After Stryker, an Oceanside police dog, was dispatched to subdue Byron, the pursuit turned into a horror show.

After a struggle, Byron and Stryker went over the railing and plunged into the bay. Byron survived with a collapsed lung and other injuries; Stryker died instantly.

Was the dog attached by his teeth to the suicidal man?

Or did Byron seize the dog and leap with the intent of killing Stryker as well as himself?

The answer to that legal question remains unclear, but it hovers over a memorial service scheduled for today at Camp Pendleton for a loyal police dog who died in the line of duty.

Today's funeral promises to elicit strong emotions. To be sure, the 6-year-old dog will be sorely missed in the Oceanside Police Department. If the dog memorial is anything like one held in Long Beach three years ago, it will be well-attended – and it will tug hard at the heartstrings.

Lost in the public outpouring of sympathy for poor Stryker – and by extension the dog's handler, who had to run to the rail and watch his companion fall to his death – is sympathy for Byron, a man who was quite fond of dogs.

Young recalled how Byron liked to play with the family's Jack Russell terrier. “He loved animals,” Young said. In his view, “Cory would have never taken the dog over the bridge with him if the dog had not been attached to his arm.”

“We've always had dogs,” Jennifer Byron said – pit bulls and chocolate Labs.

In a cruel twist of irony, their mother is a dog groomer in Riverside County.

“Is there no compassion for mental illness?” Young asked me. “I don't want Cory to be portrayed as a monster.”

Sorry, that picture was the one the public drew into the vacuum of information about Byron.

From what I've gathered, Byron is not so much a bad man as a troubled man.

Obviously, he must pay for what happened on New Year's Eve. Whatever the cause, he's a danger to himself and others. He needs serious help, but not the demonizing he's received in the kangaroo court of public opinion.

Yes, he has been convicted of a California Drunk Driving / DUI, but that's his only criminal strike, said Anthony Solare, his San Diego DUI defense attorney. (The Byron family contacted San Diego DUI criminal lawyer Solare after he said on a TV show that the death of a dog should not be viewed as akin to murder.)

This recent run of misery is a far cry from June 2, 1996, when Cory N. Byron, a 16-year-old cadet in the Civil Air Patrol, earned a bronze medal of honor for his heroic action at the Redlands Air Show.

Here's how the citation reads:

“While working the flight line at the air show, Cadet Byron observed a small child break away from her mother, slip through the security fence and onto the aircraft taxiway. Realizing that an aircraft had just landed and was heading down the taxiway, Cadet Byron immediatedly rushed toward the child. As he reached the child, Cadet Byron could feel himself being pulled toward the aircraft with the spinning propeller only 20 to 25 feet away. With complete disregard for his own personal safety, he grabbed the child and carried her out of the way of the oncoming aircraft.”

Yes, that was a long time ago.

But on the day San Diego County celebrates the life of Stryker, maybe we have in our hearts a little prayer for a desperately sad man in a room at UCSD Medical Center, guarded by a police officer, soon to be arrested and taken into custoday for a San Diego DUI.

DUI / drunk driving attorney news

DUI police are investigating one of their own after a Third District officer was arrested over the weekend for allegedly drunk driving / dwi /dui / driving under the influence.

Officer Ronzell Baker, a 19-year veteran, checked out an unmarked police car Friday night from the Third District Station while off-duty.

Early Saturday, Baker was involved in a minor accident with a woman while driving the car. According to Assistant Chief Peter Newsham, head of MPD's Internal Affairs Bureau, police responded to the crash scene and arrested Baker for DUI.

Baker adds that officials "will be conducting an investigation into the circumstances surrounding his arrest."

Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier confirms the drunk driving arrest, but says at this point the other DUI details are allegations. No DUI defense attorney has spoke yet.

"We're only giving the officer the same consideration we would give anyone else - the benefit of an investigation."

san diego dui lawyer checkpoint news:

The Lower Yakima Valley Washington would be a likely spot for dui / dwi /drunk driving checkpoints if a proposal from Gov. Chris Gregoire survives a road trip through the Legislature.

If approved, it would represent the first significant advance in years to combat dui / dwi /drunk driving / drunk drivers in Washington, traffic safety advocates say. In 1988, the state Supreme Court cited constitutional violations in striking down a dui / dwi /drunk drivingcheckpoint approach tried by Seattle police.

Gregoire's approach would address legal concerns by directly authorizing vcheckpoints through state law. Washington's situation is different than nearly 40 states where the dui / dwi /drunk drivingcheckpoints are allowed, because the state constitution sets a higher standard against invasion of privacy.

Even though federal studies show checkpoints can reduce dui / dwi /drunk drivingdrunken-driving deaths and injuries by 20 percent, the concept has stalled in Washington because of the reaction to Seattle's attempt.

State Patrol officials say they're looking forward to the possibility of dui / dwi /drunk driving checkpoints.

It's another tool to take dui / dwi /drunk driving drunk drivers off the road.

Troopers based in Yakima and Sunnyside investigated 14 dui / dwi /drunk driving-involved deaths last year, most of them in Yakima County. That's 37 percent of all fatal crashes in the county, down from around 50 percent the past several years. In 2006, for example, 57 percent of the crash deaths -- 21 -- involved dui / dwi /drunk driving / drunken drivers.

Patrol officials are waiting to learn more about the legal process for setting up dui / dwi /drunk driving checkpoints. But they know that many of the county's traffic deaths and crashes take place in the Lower Valley, particularly along U.S. Highway 97 and surrounding local roads.

"That's not to say we don't arrest drunk drivers everywhere, but for troopers in the Yakima Valley, that's where we arrest most of the drunk drivers," Keightley said. Lowell Porter, director of the state Traffic Safety Commission and former chief of the Washington State Patrol, said the checkpoint proposal has surfaced when other efforts against drunken driving have effectively reached a plateau. In 2006, 252 people were killed by dui / dwi /drunk driving / drunk drivers in Washington, and 268 in 2005. The numbers dipped to about 200 for the two preceding years but were at 262 in 2002.

Across the country, dui / dwi /drunk driving / intoxicated drivers kill more than 17,000 people annually, according to federal statistics.

Gregoire's plan has drawn support from law enforcement officials and citizens concerned about dui / dwi /drunk driving. But civil rights advocates are likely to lead the opposition when the proposal comes up for a hearing in Olympia.

The American Civil Liberties Union says the plan would violate the state's legal protections against "suspicionless" searches.

The dui / dwi /drunk driving checkpoints are allowed in all but 11 other states, according to a news release from Gregoire's office.

In an attempt to ward off a legal challenge, Gregoire -- formerly the state attorney general -- has crafted what she called a stringent set of guidelines for setting up the checkpoints. Police would have to show statistical evidence that their proposed dui / dwi /drunk driving checkpoint is within a mile of a known problem area for drug- and alcohol-related crashes or deaths.

Based on that evidence, a judge would have to approve a warrant allowing officers to go ahead on a publicized date. Courts have found that the vehicle stops must be consistently random -- every vehicle or every fourth vehicle, for example.

Within 20 days, officers would have to report back to the judge with the hours that the dui / dwi /drunk driving checkpoint was open and how many vehicles were stopped. As much as possible, they would have to include details about how many drivers were investigated and arrested for dui / dwi /drunk driving / driving under the influence.

San Diego DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI Attorney news

Hawaii is among only five states that have neglected to use modern technology to prevent repeat DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI drunken drivers from starting their cars' engines when impaired. Lawmakers who have ignored such DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI proposals during the last two legislative sessions should allow judges to require repeat DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI offenders to install ignition interlock devices on their vehicles.

Hawaii's DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI alcohol-related traffic deaths have increased from an average of 51 deaths per year from 1999 through 2001 to 73 deaths yearly from 2002 through 2006, according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Hawaii has the highest percentage of traffic deaths involving DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI alcohol, according to the organization.

Republican legislators propose a bill requiring repeat DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI offenders to install in their cars an alcohol ignition interlock system, a breath-test device that prevents a DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI drunk person from starting the engine. The DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI test must be repeated at certain intervals to make sure that a friend had not breathed into it to start the engine.

The GOP proposal would prevent judges from using discretion in ordering the device's installation. Indeed, Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt is asking that his state's judges, who now have that discretion, be required to order that the locks be installed by drivers convicted of a second or more DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI offense. In 2005, Missouri courts required only 19 percent of repeat DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI offenders to install them.

Judges should be allowed to exercise a degree of flexibility in sentencing but should not use it at the drop of a hat. Legislation that includes conditions for them to do so should be tailored to keep DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI judges from exercising discretion excessively.


WAILUKU – For the first time in a decade, the number of DUI arrests in Maui County topped 1,000 last year.

Police say the numbers reflect more arrests of people driving under the influence of drugs, as well as aggressive enforcement by DUI Task Force and patrol officers.

“It’s really unfortunate we still are able to find 1,000 DUIs,” said DUI Task Force officer Nick Krau. “It’s definitely not our goal. Our goal is to be able to go out and not find any.”

That was far from the case in 2007. Police made 1,011 impaired-driving arrests, for a 12 percent increase over the 901 arrests in 2006.

Of the DUI arrests last year, 557 were made by patrol officers in six districts throughout Maui County.

The largest number was in the Wailuku district, with 201 arrests; followed by Kihei, with 173 arrests; and Lahaina, with 161 arrests. There were 13 DUI arrests on Molokai, eight on Lanai and one in Hana.

The rest of the arrests were made by the DUI Task Force of Krau, officer Mark Hada and Sgt. Stacey Yamashita.

Working shifts that begin at night and continue into the early-morning hours, the officers patrol roads throughout Maui looking for impaired drivers.

“Every day, you’re going to come across at least one,” said Hada, who has made about 700 DUI arrests over the years.

He has been part of the DUI Task Force for half of his 10-year police career.

Last year, Hada said, he stopped many drivers who were impaired by their use of drugs, including prescription medications. Some had disregarded warnings about side effects of their prescribed medicine, Hada said.

Some wrongly believed that having medical marijuana permits allowed them to drive under the influence of the drug, Krau said.

“It’s not a prescription to drive a vehicle,” he said.

After working for nearly four years on the DUI Task Force, Krau noticed that he arrested more repeat offenders last year. He arrested one man for the third time in five years.

While making more than 300 DUI arrests last year, Krau also achieved his goal of making 1,000 DUI arrests in his career.

“I was thinking that if one out of 1,000 impaired drivers kills somebody or themselves, then I feel I made a difference,” said Krau, who has made about 1,200 DUI arrests in his seven years as a police officer.

While he hoped that one life might have been saved through his DUI arrests, Lt. Bobby Hill said Krau underestimated his work.

“He saved a lot more lives than that,” said Hill, who is commander of the police Traffic Section.

Along with DUI arrests, Hada arrested many drivers for excessive speeding and racing on highways, Yamashita said. “That’s another aspect of saving lives,” he said.

The last time DUI arrests topped 1,000 in Maui County was in 1997, when there were 1,001 DUI arrests. At the time, the DUI Task Force included at least four officers and a sergeant.

With Hada, Krau and Yamashita, the DUI Task Force has excelled despite a shortage of officers, Hill said.

Hada and Krau have completed training to do traffic crash investigations. But while they respond with other traffic investigators to the scenes of fatal collisions, the officers have opted to remain on the DUI Task Force instead of working as traffic investigators.

“They’ve got a passion for what they do, and they do it well,” Hill said. “You’ve got to give them a lot of credit.

“They’re very aggressive, and they’re very thorough, and they’ve been doing a real service for the community.”

Hill also credited patrol officers, including some newer officers who have been trained by traffic officers to make DUI arrests.

“We have a lot of younger officers who have a passion for it,” Hill said. “They have a passion for it to keep our streets safe.”

Police plan to continue a program of setting up weekly sobriety checkpoints this year, Hill said.

Along with more drug-impaired drivers, Hill said officers are finding more drunken drivers during daytime hours.

“There’s definitely a problem,” he said. “The more drunken drivers we can get off the road, hopefully the less fatalities we’ll have in 2008.”

DUI arrests have risen despite recent measures that have increased penalties for some offenders.

Under a state law that took effect in July, drivers with alcohol levels measured at 0.15 percent – nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent – are considered highly intoxicated drivers.

They face stiffer penalties, including a six-month driver’s license suspension and possible jail time.

The new law followed the Maui Police Department’s move in 2006 to increase the bail amount for a DUI arrest to $1,000, making it the highest in the state.

“Bail is $1,000,” said Yamashita, a 23?-year police veteran. “But saving a life is priceless.”

California DUI attorney news

Cop charged with DUI after crashing
January 13, 2008

A DUI POLICEMAN has been arrested after allegedly crashing a police car into a power pole while DUI / drunk.

The unmarked dui / dwi police car crashed into the pole at the corner of Stuart Highway and Bombing Rd at Winnellie, in Darwin.

The force of the drunk driving impact toppled the power pole on to the road.

The car was badly damaged in the dui / drunk driving /dwi crash.

The 36-year-old off-duty dui / dwi constable was unhurt but returned a blood alcohol reading of .104 - more than double the legal dui limit.

The drunk driving crash, which happened about 11pm on Friday, is being investigated by police including the Ethical and Professional Standards Command who will manage disciplinary proceedings.

The man has been charged with driving without due care and drink-driving / dui / drunk driving / dwi. His DUI criminal defense attorney will be assigned.

San Diego California DUI lawyer news

The former Lost actress — who received the California DUI jail term for violating the terms of her probation after she was found guilty of California DUI driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) — was released from California’s Lynwood County Jail due to prison overcrowding.

The problem with the excessive number of inmates means it is standard for prisoners to be freed after they have served only 10 per cent of their sentence.

Superior Court Judge Daviann L Mitchell had ruled the 29-year-old actress should not be given early release, but the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department had no other option, but to free her.

It is not the first time Michelle has been behind bars. In May 2006, the 29-year-old actress served just four hours and 20 minutes of a two-month sentence at Lynwood for violating probation terms of a California DUI Drunk Driving arrest in Hawaii dating back to December 2005.

Again she was released early due to prison overcrowding, and served just over two days in a Honolulu jail for the same DUI offence.

In June 2004, Rodriguez was placed on three years probation after pleading no contest to California DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI and driving with a suspended license following two separate incidents in Hollywood dating back to 2003.

DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI lawyer news

Robert Christopher Johnston drinks and drives. He's done it so many times, prosecutors can't figure out if he's been convicted of DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI seven or eight times.

But yesterday, when the 45-year-old Crownsville man appeared in the county courthouse in Annapolis for his most recent DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI, a county judge said enough is enough.

Circuit Court Judge Paul A. Hackner convicted Mr. Johnston of DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI driving under the influence and sentenced him to three years in prison, suspending half. He was taken from the courtroom in handcuffs and booked into the Jennifer Road Detention Center.

"When you get out and (drink and) drive that is a problem for everyone in the community," Judge Hackner told the court, explaining why Mr. Johnston needed to go to jail. He told Mr. Johnston if he has to drink, just stay at home.

Judge Hackner recommended Mr. Johnston for work release while at the county jail and suspended a $3,000 fine. Upon Mr. Johnston's release from jail, he will be placed on probation for five years. If his license is reinstated, Mr. Johnston would have to use an ignition interlock device for those five years.

The sentence drew praise from Mothers Against Drunk Driving this morning.

"This is unusual, but we would hope the norm," said Caroline Cash, executive director of MADD for Maryland and Delaware. She said ignition interlocks, which require drivers to blow into a Breathalyzer to prove they are sober before they drive, is "key" to stopping repeat DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI offenders.

"Luckily the judge noticed that this was a DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI fatal crash waiting to happen," she said.

The maximum sentence possible for a person convicted of DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI three or more times is three years in prison, but DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI prosecutors said DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI judges rarely send DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI drunken drivers away for more than a couple days or weekends.

"The judge is to be commended," said Assistant States Attorney Frederick Paone, who prosecuted the case.

The 18-month "active" sentence is as long as many judges sentence drivers convicted of vehicular manslaughter. And it is twice as long as the sentence Circuit Court Judge Joseph P. Manck handed down to a 23-year-old Florida man in May for killing a friend in a drunken 2006 car crash. Patrick Britton-Harr, formerly of Annapolis, had a blood-alcohol content almost twice the legal limit and a pending DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI charge in Baltimore County at the time of the wreck.

Mr. Johnston, of 1043 Dockser Drive, pleaded not guilty to the charges yesterday, but his attorney did not call any witnesses to refute the state's version of events.

Mr. Paone said a county police officer stopped Mr. Johnston about 2 a.m. June 5 on Donaldson Avenue near Clark Station in Severn.

James D. Green, Mr. Johnston's DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI criminal attorney, asked for lenience for his client, noting that he has a drinking problem and had it under control for the past seven years.

Before Mr. Johnston was sentenced, Mr. Paone noted his extensive history with drinking and driving and showed Judge Hackner his official Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration driving record. Mr. Paone noted six or seven DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI DUIs between 1983 and 2000, but he said some were so old he couldn't be certain of DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI convictions.

Judge Hackner reviewed the DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI driving record himself. He noted how Mr. Johnston was once cited three times in one month for DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI - April 20, 1993, May 5, 1993, and May 11, 1993. He said he'd never seen anything like that in 11 years on the bench.

Court DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI records for most of the earlier DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI convictions are not available. A Baltimore County judge sentenced him to serve four weekends in 1988.

California - San Diego DUI lawyers news

Schussers, beware.
Reckless skiing could get you six months in jail and a fine up to $1,000 - the same as a DUI conviction. And you can be arrested on the spot.
A version of the reckless-skiing law, already on the books in Summit County, could be adopted by the Park City Council next month. Park City's legal department is now drafting such an ordinance, according to spokeswoman Phyllis Robinson.
The proposal would not outlaw DUI drunken skiing or boarding, however - as long as imbibers don't slide too fast through marked "slow" areas, or in a manner that displays "willful and wanton disregard" for others.
One thing's for sure: It's not in response to a December collision at Deer Valley that seriously injured 80-year-old ski legend Stein Eriksen when he collided with a 9-year-old boy.
"This has been in the works for 18 months," Robinson said.
Although portions of Deer Valley and Park City Mountain Resort are within Park City, much of both areas lie outside city limits. In either event, the entirety of both resorts, as well as The Canyons, are within Summit County. So why the duplication?
It's what Deer Valley and Park City Mountain Resort want, Robinson said.
Only sworn law-enforcement officers can issue such citations, but ski patrollers can detain suspected reckless sliders and call Summit County, said Sheriff Dave Edmunds. Deputies issue the write-ups, but ski patrollers sign them as the complainant and can be witnesses in a court case.
"It's a good, little tool for us to take care of business on the slopes," the sheriff said.
There are some signs posted at Park City Mountain Resort that say "slow." Other signs demand that sliders stay in control.
But none warn against unlawful reckless skiing or boarding, according to resort spokeswoman Krista Parry. Such a warning, however, is printed on the back of every ski pass.

JANUARY 10--In what may be the most extreme drunk driving case ever, an Oregon woman was arrested last month with a .72 blood alcohol level--nine times the state's legal limit. Terri Comer, 42, was arrested after she was discovered unconscious in her car, which sheriff's deputies found running and in a snow bank on a highway in Klamath County at 11:30 AM on December 28. After breaking a car window, rescuers removed the comatose Comer from her Toyota and transported her to a local hospital, where a blood draw revealed the .72 BAC. She was reportedly hospitalized for a day before being released. As seen in a police photo, Comer's vehicle came to a stop about 50 feet in front of one of those portable traffic signs reminding motorists not to drink and drive (a close-up of the sign can be seen here). Comer is pictured below in a 2006 mug shot snapped after a prior drunk driving arrest. In that case, her BAC was recorded in the relatively minor .3 range. In November, another Oregon woman, Meagan Harper, was nabbed for drunk driving with an extreme BAC. In her case, Harper's BAC was measured at .55. Comer's .72 edges out what TSG has previously identified as the highest BAC we've ever seen. That fallen record (.69) was held by Willard Ashley III, an Indiana man who was busted in October 2003.

San Diego DUI criminal defense lawyer news

San Diego State point guard Richie Williams yesterday pleaded guilty to underage drunk driving and an open alcohol container violation stemming from his arrest on Oct. 11.


Advertisement As part of the plea deal, Williams' driver's license has been suspended for one year and Williams was assigned to a first-time conviction program. He also was slapped with $575 in fines.

SDSU's student-athlete handbook calls for a three-game suspension for basketball players convicted of a DUI. Williams, 20, was suspended for three regular-season games in November by Aztecs coach Steve Fisher. The handbook says that a student-athlete charged with an offense that calls for a suspension if convicted may opt to start serving the suspension before the court trial.

Williams currently is out until next month because of a wrist injury. His blood-alcohol level was not revealed. But it is unlawful for someone under 21 to drive a vehicle with a blood alcohol level of at least .05.

In other court-related news, the San Diego City Attorney's office has declined to pursue a battery case against former Aztecs basketball player Jerome Habel. The city attorney's office didn't state a reason for dropping the case, but typically it's because of a lack of evidence or cooperation from witnesses.

The case stemmed from an April incident in which Habel allegedly spit on his ex-girlfriend. Habel was dismissed from the team in August for unspecified reasons.

San Diego California DUI lawyer news

A Roseville California 12-year-old can consider himself lucky -- he'll only face DUI and hit-and-run charges for his alleged California DUI drunken driving spree last weekend that had Rocklin Police relieved things didn't end much worse.

According to Rocklin Police investigators, the boy was staying with relatives at a Rocklin home when he snuck out early Saturday morning, stole his uncle's car, then hit two other parked cars on the 3000 block of Twin Creeks Lane while California DUI .

A witness called police, who found the damaged cars as well as the boy's abandoned vehicle nearly a half-mile away at the intersection of Springview Drive and Sunset Blvd.

Officers found the boy about 30 minutes later after crossing the city line into Roseville.

The boy allegedly showed signs of being drunk and was arrested for California DUI driving under the influence of alcohol, hit and run and driving without a driver's license.

He was released to the custody of his mother. The Placer County Juvenile Probation Department and the Placer County District Attorney's Office and Juvenile Probation Department will review the case to determine whether other charges should be added.

"Anytime you have a 12 year old behind the wheel of a car, a disastrous event is more than likely to happen. Anytime you have a 12 year old behind the wheel of a car who is California DUI intoxicated, a disastrous event is lucky to be avoided," said Rocklin Police Lieutenant Lon Milka. "In this case, we are all extremely lucky that a disaster did not occur and that no one was hurt."

The DUI criminal defense lawyer for the lead singer of rock band Nickelback wants a judge to dismiss a 2006 drunk driving charge against his client.

Chad Kroeger, whose real name is Chad Turton, was charged with impaired driving and driving with a blood-alcohol level over .08. His lawyer Marvin Stern says he wants the judge to exclude the drunk driving / DUI breathalyzer results that were taken from Kroeger.

He says the officer who arrested his client didn't do the drunk driving test in compliance with the DUI law and didn't have reasonable grounds to suspect Kroeger was DUI / drunk driving.

DUI criminal defense attorney Stern admits his client was driving over the speed limit the night of his arrest.

The DUI judge is scheduled to make a decision on Feb. 20th.

San Diego DUI lawyers

When reality-TV star Matt Roloff was arrested last summer for DUI drunken driving on a rural Washington County road, he was belligerent, uncooperative and failed a field sobriety test, the prosecution said Tuesday at the start of his trial.

Private DUI defense attorney Robert Thuemmel, however, said Roloff, whose family is portrayed in the TLC series "Little People, Big World," was not drunk and reacted the only way he knew how to a deputy who wouldn't listen to him.

"He is a man whose entire life has brought him to a place where, to stand up for himself, has taught him to be a little bit more assertive, more combative," Thuemmel said of his 4-foot client during opening arguments. "He speaks out more for himself than some."

Because of Roloff's celebrity, the case is being covered by every local TV news station and area newspapers, as well as Court TV.

"It wouldn't be shocking if everybody in Washington County has heard about his show," Circuit Judge Donald R. Letourneau noted to 20 prospective jurors. "But does anybody feel they cannot be fair in this case because they like his show or not like his show?"

No one answered they couldn't.

Roloff, 46, is charged with one count of misdemeanor DUI driving under the influence of intoxicants. He was arrested shortly after midnight June 20 on Northwest Helvetia Road, not far from the 34-acre family farm that millions of cable viewers tune in to see every week.

"I can't wait to give a breath sample so I can publicly humiliate you," Roloff told Deputy Allen Pastori on the ride to the Washington County Jail, according to Tuesday's testimony.

However, once there, Roloff refused to let Pastori administer the DUI Breathalyzer. Thuemmel said it was because Roloff didn't trust the deputy.

Because Roloff refused a DUI breath test, Washington County Deputy District Attorney Kevin Kelley must use the observations of two sheriff's deputies to try to convince the six-man jury that the TV celebrity's physical and mental capabilities were impaired to a noticeable degree.

Pastori testified he saw a white van make a wide turn leaving the Rock Creek Cafe & Pub and drive over the double yellow lines and fog lines several times in the next couple miles.

When Roloff got out of the van, Pastori said he smelled a "moderate odor of alcohol" and saw that his eyes were glassy and watery. The deputy said Roloff displayed six of six indications of DUI impairment.

Roloff admitted having one beer, but Thuemmel said he was having problems driving because he wasn't used to the height of the pedal extensions in his wife's van.

The DUI trial is expected to conclude today.