San Diego California DUI defense attorney news

California DUI police said Alton Ray Holston Jr. furiously proclaimed he was being unfairly targeted when they pulled him over after reportedly seeing his Dodge Intrepid weave in and out of its lane and run up on sidewalks.

Law enforcement officials and anti-drunken-driving advocates are equally furious and say the public should be, too.

Holston, it turned out, has already been arrested and convicted five times for California DUI/drunken driving. His recent arrest, which resulted in felony charges, marks his sixth.

While Holston's latest California DUI arrest -- and the fact he was driving with a suspended license -- angers officials, it does not surprise them.

"This repeat-offender issue is a very serious concern," said Chris Murphy, director of the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS).

The most recent numbers available from the state Department of Motor Vehicles, from 2004, show that 180,957 people were arrested statewide on suspicion of California DUI/drunken driving, resulting in 139,331 California DUI convictions.

About 24 percent of California DUI/drunken driving suspects arrested in California have had a prior arrest during the past seven years, Murphy said.

In response, OTS is funding and promoting multiple programs aimed at aggressive supervision and prosecution of California DUI/drunken driving offenders.

State OTS money is helping to fund the Sacramento County district attorney's new "RED Team," which targets California DUI/drunken driving suspects who have blown off their court dates. The state office also is developing "hot sheet" lists targeting "the worst of the worst," Murphy said.

A program is being developed to provide intensified training for prosecutors. Other programs focus on intervention and treatment, which Murphy sees as crucial.

When a person is wheeled into an emergency room after an alcohol-related crash, or ends up in a detox room at the county jail, he or she may be in "a teachable moment," Murphy said.

Getting that person into a treatment program is a primary goal.

"We all drive these streets, we all have families, we all have a responsibility," Murphy said.

Why does someone who has been caught and punished repeatedly and had their driver's license suspended continue to get behind the wheel after drinking?

There's a simple three-word answer, said Matthias Mendezona executive director of Mothers Against Drunk Driving's California charter office.

"Because he can."

After the fines, the jail time, the license revocation, there is nothing to stop a person from drinking and driving.

"They can still crank up a car and go," Mendezona said.

MADD supports installation of "ignition interlock" devices on any vehicle available to a person convicted of California DUI/drunken driving. The device prevents the car from starting if it detects alcohol, and would be installed after the first offense, Mendezona said.

In California, those provisions are contained in Senate Bill 177, by Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, but there is no telling whether that legislation will be approved. It won't be acted on before next year.

An ignition interlock program in New Mexico has resulted in a "radical drop" in repeat offenders, Mendezona said.

"Our research shows that when a person is arrested for DUI, that person has been driving under the influence about 87 times before the arrest," Mendezona said. "That is scary for every Joe and Jane like us."

Sacramento County Sheriff John McGinness recently got up close and personal with the issue.

He said he saw a driver blow by him on the shoulder of the freeway, going about 70 mph. McGinness gave chase in his executive cruiser while calling in help from other agencies in the area. The driver was caught and turned out to be a four-time California DUI/drunken driving offender, he said.

McGinness favors trying just about anything that might help address the problem.

"There is no substitute for relentless prosecution of California DUI/drunken drivers. We have to start with that," he said.

And technological innovations like those supported by MADD may have their place, he said.

The big change will occur as people simply decide it is no longer socially acceptable to drink any quantity of alcohol and then drive, McGinness said.

Chronic offenders may never be successfully treated, he said, but he believes there are plenty of ways to reach that larger number of people at risk of racking up one or maybe two California DUI/drunk driving convictions.

http://www.latimes.com