California Criminal Lawyers Blog

Our Long Beach intoxicated driving criminal defense lawyers were interested to see a report about a sentencing in a DUI case involving a driver on multiple drugs. The Orange County Register reported Nov. 19 that 33-year-old Isaac Robert Longo was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for causing the death of Cecelia Lopez and injuries to four other women. Longo was allegedly abusing two prescription anti-seizure medications as well as marijuana when he crashed into the stopped car in which Lopez, 82, was a passenger. Longo pleaded guilty in July to gross vehicular manslaughter while driving under the influence, with two prior DUI convictions, plus sentence enhancements for great bodily injury to multiple victims.

According to a press release from the Orange County District Attorney's Office, Longo was speeding when he entered the highway on Nov. 7, 2007. In addition to having smoked marijuana, Longo had reportedly taken Clonazepam and Gabapentin, both anti-seizure drugs that are abused recreationally for their sedative effects. He weaved in and out of lanes of traffic, and when traffic slowed, he drove on the shoulder at speeds of 70 to 100 mph to go around stopped cars. On the shoulder, he lost control and crashed into the passenger side of Griff's Honda, killing Lopez and ultimately causing a five-car pileup. Lopez's driver and daughter, Katherine Griff, suffered bleeding from the brain, a broken leg, cracked ribs and a bruised and punctured lung. In addition, the crash injured Kathleen Collens, 53; Kimberly Collens, 20; and April Levin, 33. A blood test revealed the drugs in Longo's bloodstream.

As Buena Park DUI criminal defense attorneys, we would like to remind drivers that Longo would likely have faced much less time without the prior DUI convictions. Penalties for DUI manslaughter are four to 10 years on a first offense. It's only with two or more prior DUIs that you face the 15 years to life sentence Longo received. (In fact, before he pleaded guilty, he may have faced even more time because of the injuries.) Of course, the best way to avoid a DUI manslaughter charge is to avoid driving while intoxicated. But if you do end up arrested for driving drunk, it's essential to defend it as thoroughly as possible, because a DUI conviction means much harsher penalties if you're ever convicted of another drunk driving offense in the future. That's on top of the penalties for a first DUI, which include thousands in fines and fees as well as loss of your driver's license and more.

Continue reading "Driver Sentenced to 15 Years to Life in Drug DUI That Killed 82-Year-Old Woman" »

As Santa Ana domestic violence criminal defense attorneys, we paid attention last year when R&B singer Chris Brown was arrested for domestic violence against then-girlfriend Rihanna, also an R&B singer. The case caused a lot of controversy and buzz in the celebrity media at the time, and ultimately ended with Brown pleading guilty to felony assault in June of 2009. We are pleased to see that on Nov. 18, ABC News reported that Brown has been commended for his progress by the judge overseeing his probation. In fact, the Los Angeles Superior Court judge said Brown's work toward completing his sentence, which includes community service and domestic violence classes, is among the best and most consistent she has seen.

Brown got in legal trouble in February of 2009, when he allegedly hit Rihanna after an argument in a parked car. She reportedly suffered unspecified but visible injuries. Brown left the scene, but turned himself in the next evening with his attorney in tow and was booked on suspicion of making a criminal threat. He eventually pleaded not guilty to that charge and felony assault, but later pleaded guilty to the assault charge and was sentenced to five years of probation, 180 days of community service and one year of domestic violence classes. Rihanna also has a five-year restraining order against him, and the singers have broken up. The ABC News article said Brown has completed all but seven of his domestic violence classes and about 581 hours of his community service, which the judge specified must be physical labor. Brown has also lost endorsement deals and been denied an entry visa into the United Kingdom because of the incident.

Our Carlsbad domestic violence criminal defense lawyers believe this case is a good example of how severely domestic violence is penalized. Despite heavy media interest in this incident, no previous domestic violence was reported involving Brown, suggesting that it was an isolated incident. As far as we can tell, it was also a first offense, and it's unclear whether the injuries were serious. Nonetheless, Brown faced multiple penalties, including probation-related restrictions on his freedom, nearly 1,500 hours of community service and restrictions on how physically close he can be to Rihanna. That's not including the secondary non-criminal penalties, like losing his endorsements. Most people charged with domestic violence don't have celebrity endorsement deals, of course, but these charges can also get ordinary people in trouble at workplaces with ethical conduct codes, or hurt the image of their businesses.

Continue reading "Singer Chris Brown Commended by Judge for Progress in Domestic Violence Case" »

As Lake Forest drunk driving criminal defense attorneys, we were interested to note a high-profile vehicular manslaughter with DUI case starting Nov. 29 in Orange County. As the Orange County Register reported Nov. 18, Jeffrey David Kirby will stand trial for the death of Charles Lewis Jr., who became famous as the owner of the TapouT line of mixed martial arts-themed clothing. Kirby, 53, is accused of being intoxicated and speeding when he raced his Porsche next to Lewis's Ferrari down Jamboree Road in Newport Beach. The Orange County District Attorney's Office alleges that Kirby lost control of his car and crashed into Lewis's car, which hit a light pole at high speed and was literally torn in half. Lewis died and his girlfriend, a passenger, was seriously injured. Kirby is accused of then leaving the scene of the accident.

Law enforcement found Kirby a few blocks away from the scene and took him into custody. Two hours after the crash, he allegedly had a BAC of 0.13, as well as marijuana in his system. Receipts in his wallet suggested that he had been drinking in Orange County bars. Lewis had no drugs or alcohol in his system. The Register said Kirby told police after his arrest that he intentionally speeded so his date could see the Ferrari close-up. Prosecutors are expected to treat this as an admission of guilt at the trial. However, the newspaper said Kirby's defense attorney is expected to argue that the Ferrari was driving much, much faster than Kirby's Porsche, and that the speed was responsible for the crash. If true, this could mean Kirby was not a substantial cause of the accident, which is a condition of the gross vehicular manslaughter with DUI charge that he faces.

Interestingly to our West Covina DUI criminal defense lawyers, the article notes that Kirby is not facing a second-degree murder charge, something Orange County readers may be familiar with thanks to the Andrew Gallo trial. In California, drivers with two or more past DUIs can be charged with second-degree murder rather than DUI manslaughter, under the theory that they knew driving drunk was dangerous but did it anyway. However, Kirby's two previous DUIs are from 1985 and 2002, before drivers were legally required to sign a statement to this effect. Possibly for that reason, prosecutors declined to charge Kirby with second-degree murder. Instead, he is charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while driving under the influence, with a sentence enhancement for causing great bodily injury, plus leaving the scene. He could be sentenced to as many as 18 years in prison if convicted.

Continue reading "DUI Manslaughter Trial Set to Start in Death of Mixed Martial Arts Entrepreneur" »

Our Chino drunk driving criminal defense lawyers wrote back in August about a proposal to put mug shots online for certain DUI arrestees. The city of Huntington Beach was considering this because the local newspaper, the Huntington Beach Independent, had stopped publishing mug shots online because of concerns about due process. According to a Nov. 17 article from the Los Angeles Times, the city is still considering this idea -- but is now looking at putting the pictures on Facebook rather than on the city's website. Huntington Beach is fighting drunk driving aggressively, in part because it has one of the highest rates of DUI arrests among California cities of similar size. The city attorney and the police are reportedly looking into the idea, which originated with the city council.

Huntington Beach had 274 car crashes related to alcohol and 1,687 arrests for DUI in 2009, numbers the city would like to drive down significantly. Its campaigns include adding police officers to handle DUI enforcement as well as sending letters to bars when a patron is arrested for DUI -- a reminder that businesses can be held responsible for over-serving. To these measures, City Councilman Devin Dwyer would like to add an online mug shot gallery, with the explicit goal of shaming people arrested for driving under the influence. A police spokesperson pointed out that the mug shots are public information that anyone can request at the police station. Critics of online mug shots say they imply that the drivers are guilty long before they've had a chance to prove their innocence.

Councilman Dwyer said he didn't think shaming DUI arrestees is such a bad idea. As Westminster DUI criminal defense attorneys, we'd like to explain why we disagree. Our legal system presumes everyone is innocent until they are proven guilty in a trial, or by a voluntary guilty plea. However, most people who don't interact with the justice system very often don't realize this -- they assume that if the police arrest someone, that person is probably guilty. In our experience, this leads to some very nasty discussions on websites where mug shots have been posted. The mug shots can also be found by family, co-workers and friends, with potentially serious consequences. The councilman may not think this is an injustice if the driver was drunk -- but what if he or she was not? Police officers do make mistakes, and everyone deserves a chance to prove their innocence before being publicly shamed and punished.

Continue reading "Huntington Beach Considers Posting Mug Shots of People Arrested for DUI to Facebook" »

Our Upland DUI criminal defense attorneys hardly ever encounter a media report of a DUI arrest that is just for driving under the influence of drugs, rather than a mixture of drugs and alcohol or alcohol only. That's why we were interested to see a short report on a marijuana-only DUI in the Kern County town of Maricopa. According to BakersfieldNow.com, a site maintained by news stations KBAK and KBFX, Michael James Kohlman and his wife, Jessica Anne Kohlman, were arrested on the morning of Nov. 16 after police found marijuana and a handgun in their car. The couple had their 18-month-old son in the vehicle, but the child's name was not given. The Kohlmans were both charged with marijuana possession and child abuse.

According to the article, Michael Kohlman was originally pulled over because a police officer spotted a crack in his vehicle's windshield. When the officers started speaking to the family, they noticed a strong smell of marijuana coming from the vehicle. They then searched the car and found marijuana, which Michael Kohlman said was for personal use. The officers also found a loaded semi-automatic handgun under the front seat. It was not clear how the officers determined that Kohlman was stoned, but they charged him with driving under the influence as well as the marijuana possession and child abuse charges. He also faces a charge for possession of a loaded, concealed firearm in a vehicle. The article did not say what happened to the couple's son after the arrest.

As Perris intoxicated driving criminal defense lawyers, we see several ways to challenge this DUI arrest. They start with the original traffic stop, which was reportedly because the vehicle's windshield had a crack. This is not a crime in California and is not usually a safety hazard, so it sounds a lot like an excuse. An experienced defense attorney handling this case should certainly investigate whether the traffic stop was illegal, which would give the Kohlmans a chance to argue that all of the evidence it produced is tainted and should be thrown out of court. The article also doesn't explain how officers knew Michael Kohlman was driving stoned. Unless they saw him smoking marijuana, the only way to prove this would be through a blood test. And as we've written here before, there's no strict standard for what level of a drug cases impairment, allowing us to challenge blood test readings in drug DUIs.

Continue reading "Bakersfield Father Arrested for Marijuana DUI With Toddler Son in the Car" »

A recent story out of Canada caught the attention of our Orange County domestic violence criminal defense attorneys. According to the CBC, a man from Orange County is being held in a Manitoba prison for repeated assaults on his live-in girlfriend in the province. Eric Gunderson, 24, of Newport Beach had allegedly been in Canada illegally for some time and was living with the 29-year-old victim, whose name was not released. He is facing six counts of assault with a weapon, one count of assault, one count of arson with disregard of human life and two counts of threats against the woman, as well as one count of willful damage to the home the two were sharing in Virden, Manitoba. In addition, Gunderson faced immigration charges under Canada' Immigration Refugee Protection Act. It was unclear what penalties he faced, but he was scheduled to appear in court Nov. 18.

The CBC said Gunderson met the woman online in May of 2010 and eventually moved in with her. The relationship had apparently deteriorated before Nov. 7, when the police were called to the couple's home on reports of domestic abuse. The incident allegedly started the night before, when Gunderson demanded money from the woman to buy alcohol. She gave it to him, but between midnight and 7 a.m., police allege he repeatedly assaulted her. In addition to physical violence, he reportedly threw a can of cayenne pepper in her face and threatened her with a knife. He is also accused of trying to destroy the home by setting a corn broom on fire and throwing it in through a broken window. The woman put out the fire before it spread, but neighbors called the police to report that Gunderson was destroying the house. They found him in an alley about a block away.

As Riverside domestic violence criminal defense lawyers, we were interested to see that Gunderson seems to be facing the same kind of charges that he would face if he were accused of assaulting a stranger, not charges specific to domestic abuse. However, if this incident had taken place here in California, Gunderson would be facing charges specifically intended for domestic violence situations -- and they would likely be more serious than comparable non-domestic assault charges. Depending on how seriously the woman was injured and whether he used weapons, Gunderson could face anything from probation up to 28 years in prison on the seven domestic assault charges. The threats, arson and vandalism could add more time -- especially the arson, which carries up to nine years in prison. Moreover, Gunderson would likely face high fines; a protective order keeping him away from the woman; anger management classes; restrictions on his right to own a gun ; and two or more "strikes" under California's three-strikes law.

Continue reading "Newport Beach Man Arrested in Canada for Domestic Violence on Winnipeg Girlfriend" »

As Rialto drunk driving criminal defense lawyers, we noticed a lot of attention paid to a DUI arrest that took place in Laguna Beach over the weekend. As the Orange County Register reported Nov. 15, Christian Aparicio, 49, accidentally crashed his Toyota Prius into a police car after climbing out to speak to officers, then chased down the car and managed to put it in drive, crashing it into a pole. During the incident, the Prius also hit a water and air dispenser at a gas station, sending water flying everywhere. No one was hurt, but a police car's camera caught the incident on video, and that video has become popular online. Aparicio was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.

The article said Aparicio was pulled over around 11:30 p.m. on Nov. 13, a Saturday, on suspicion of drunk driving and a traffic violation that was not named. He pulled into a gas station and got out of the vehicle to talk to police, leaving a female passenger in the front seat. However, Aparicio apparently forgot to take his car out of reverse gear, which allowed it to roll backward until it hit the grill of the police car. As it rolled backward, Aparicio got back into the car to stop it, but managed to put it in drive instead. He may also have hit the gas, pushing the car forward into a pole as the woman inside screamed. The crash was hard enough to lift the back wheels into the air, but did not hurt the woman. Aparicio was arrested on suspicion of DUI, but released the next day.

This video may look damning for Aparicio, but we would not be worried if we were his Orange intoxicated driving criminal defense attorneys. In cases of driving under the influence, the evidence that matters most is the measurement of the driver's blood-alcohol content. This story focused on the crashes, so it's not clear whether Aparicio ever took a breath or blood test. If prosecutors don't have a BAC reading, or they have one below the 0.08 legal limit, they can't prove drunk driving using only that number. Instead, they have to show that the driver was impaired, which is possible but more difficult. Prosecutors might choose to use this video to prove impairment, but we're not sure a sober driver couldn't have made the same mistakes. Even sober drivers sometimes leave their cars in gear, and jumping into a moving car to stop it in seconds would be hard for anyone. Aparicio also faced the added stress of dealing with a police stop, which could have caused him to panic and miss details.

Continue reading "Huntington Beach Driver Makes Headlines by Crashing Car Twice After His DUI Arrest" »

A recent news item caught the attention of our Redlands intoxicated driving defense attorneys. The San Bernardino Sun reported Nov. 9 on the conviction of a Los Angeles man for gross vehicular manslaughter under the influence of alcohol. Dwight Dalton Davis, 58, was convicted of killing 16-year-old Victoria Angela Lemus by running a red light and hitting the side of the minivan in which she was riding. Police said Davis was under the influence of cocaine and also had a 0.08 blood-alcohol content. In addition to the manslaughter charge, he was convicted of driving under the influence, hit-and-run with serious injury and special circumstances related to those charges. He faces 18 to 20 years in prison at his sentencing Dec. 10.

Just before the 1:38 p.m. accident, Lemus was leaving a Rotary Club lunch where she had been awarded a college scholarship. She was a student at Cajon High School. Davis, meanwhile, had allegedly been picking up prostitutes at a park. Under the influence, he drove his Chrysler 300 into a closed-off lane and ran a red light in San Bernardino, broadsiding the minivan. The crash tipped the van onto its side, pushing it into an SUV that also tipped over. Davis got out of the car and tried to run away, but bystanders chased him down and held him. He was reportedly also combative with the police and hospital workers. The article did not mention any injuries to Davis or any of the other people involved in the crash.

This is a serious, and hopefully rare, case. But in our experience as Yorba Linda drunk driving criminal defense lawyers, most drug DUIs that end up in the media are like this one, in that the drug is mixed with alcohol. This often means that the defendant has two cases to defend: the alcohol DUI and the drug DUI. Defending these charges is more difficult than defending either type of single-substance DUI because alcohol and drugs often interact. Alcohol heightens the effects of some drugs, and even when it doesn't, it's hard for police officers to tell which substance is responsible for the symptoms of intoxication. This makes it difficult to argue that you were not genuinely intoxicated by the alcohol, even if you had a borderline BAC like Davis did. And it makes it harder to defend a drug DUI by arguing that the level of the drug in your bloodstream didn't cause intoxication.

Continue reading "San Bernardino Jury Convicts Man of DUI Manslaughter Under Influence of Drugs" »

Our Ontario drug crimes criminal defense attorneys very much appreciate having the option of a drug diversion program for clients accused of nonviolent drug offenses. This program allows defendants to keep a conviction off their records by successfully completing a kind of probation and rehabilitation program. So we were very interested in an Oct. 29 CNN article about veterans' courts, which extend that concept to former members of the armed services. The program is available to veterans accused of relatively minor offenses, who are also struggling with mental health, addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder or other service-related problems. Its goal is to offer help instead of jail or prison time to people who are struggling personally as a result of their service to the country.

As of November 1, there were veterans' courts in at least five California counties: Orange, Santa Clara, Ventura, Tulare and Los Angeles. These courts have discretion to decide what kinds of crimes they will hear; the Orange County veterans' court accepts offenders accused of violent crimes as well as nonviolent ones. But rather than giving the offenders the same sentence they'd see if convicted in a normal court, judges order lengthy probation, and when appropriate, psychiatric care and drug or alcohol treatment and testing. The article goes into detail about the workings of the Orange County veterans' court, where some offenders say they got badly needed help. One Army veteran was charged with making a death threat, which could have sent him to prison for three years. Instead, he got probation and 18 months of closely supervised PTSD and addiction treatment.

As Lake Forest drug crimes criminal defense lawyers, we hope this program continues to succeed. The article doesn't go into this, but it's well known that former soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines can come out of a war emotionally traumatized as well as physically wounded. The idea behind veterans' court, and for that matter drug court, is to stop criminal behavior by stopping the underlying problems -- addiction and mental health problems. As an Orange County judge points out in the article, these problems are unlikely to go away in prison, and when defendants are released back into the community, there's little to stop them from another offense. Treating defendants instead gives them another chance at a healthy life as well as at freedom, while benefiting the justice system and community.

Continue reading "Courts Offer Help Instead of Convictions for Veterans Facing Drug and Other Charges" »

A probable intoxicated driving case in San Diego is attracting a lot of attention, and that caught the attention of our Fallbrook DUI criminal defense lawyers. According to a Nov. 8 story from KFMB, San Diego's CBS affiliate, the family of a woman killed in January is upset that John Holsheimer faced only misdemeanor manslaughter charges in the death of Bridgette Hale of Ramona, a 36-year-old mother of an infant son. Holsheimer was allegedly under the influence of amphetamines and marijuana when he drove the wrong way on Highway 67, a rural highway that winds through the mountainous eastern part of San Diego County. But because the California Highway Patrol failed to draw blood from him at the scene, prosecutors said they could not charge him with a DUI.

According to KFMB, Holsheimer, of Oceanside, was a casino in Lakeside for 12 hours before he got behind the wheel the day of the crash. He was driving on the wrong side of the highway for some time before crashing head-on into Hale's vehicle, killing her. The California Highway Patrol responded, but did not take blood at the scene to check for drug intoxication. Later, a blood test was done for reasons not specified, revealing amphetamines and marijuana in Holsheimer's system. However, prosecutors said the test results were too late to form the basis of driving under the influence charges. As a result, Holsheimer was sentenced to six months in jail and 90 days in drug and alcohol rehabilitation. If the charge had been gross vehicular manslaughter while driving under the influence, he could have faced four to 10 years in prison, if it was a first offense.

Hale's relatives are reportedly pushing for a "Bridgette's Law" that would require CHP officers to take blood at the scene of any fatal crash. As Temecula DUI criminal defense attorneys, we think that's a bad idea for several reasons. The point of drawing blood is to be able to use blood tests as evidence, which sounds like a good thing. But blood tests are not admissible as evidence if they are improperly administered -- and drawing blood is not part of a police officer's job. Unless they have the budget for a medical professional, officers need special training and immunizations, and ideally should do this under conditions that ensure the sample is not contaminated. This is very difficult to do on the side of a highway. In addition, there are ethical and civil rights objections to drawing blood without the subject's consent. Some courts have ruled that it's a violation of the Fourth Amendment's guarantee against unlawful searches.

Continue reading "San Diego Prosecutors Drop DUI Charges Because Driver Not Tested at the Scene" »

As Fontana drug crime criminal defense lawyers, we frequently surprise people when we explain that use of prescription drugs without a prescription is just as illegal as using street drugs. A recent article from the Lake Arrowhead Mountain News reinforces that. According to the Oct. 29 article, pharmacist Michelle Lynne Blain of Lake Arrowhead is charged with four felony counts of possession of drugs for sale, in connection with the discovery of more than 20,000 pills found in her home. The drugs include Xanax; appetite suppressant phentermine; insomnia treatment zolpidem; and Lomotil, which combines a nervous system drug that can cause hallucinations with an opiate diarrhea treatment.

The article says authorities discovered the pills when a parole officer visited Blain's live-in boyfriend, who was paroled from a bank robbery conviction. Blain and her boyfriend, Robert Flory, were both arrested. He has since died. At the time of the arrest, Blain told the newspaper that the pills had been returned by patients who no longer needed them. Blaine said she was doing inventory on them before destroying them, at the direction of the state pharmacy board. She also told the newspaper that she had been selling prescription drugs online in order to compete with bigger drugstores, but had been shut down by the state. In addition to the state court charges, she is now facing possible revocation of her license and a nearly $9 million fine from the state pharmacy board. The newspaper said the federal DEA may also be investigating, but that agency declined to comment.

Our Riverside County drug crimes criminal defense attorneys notice that Blain is charged with possession of drugs for sale -- not just drug possession. Those are different crimes in California, but the difference between them is usually a matter of police judgment. Prosecutors usually have to demonstrate possession for sale through circumstantial evidence like packaging materials. For that reason, possession for sale is often easy to defend. This article doesn't say how the drugs were packaged when they were found, but as a rule, pharmacy drugs already come in small vials. In fact, if they really are drugs returned to Blain by patients, they'd be most likely to be packaged in small amounts. An experienced defense lawyer could use that information to offer a jury evidence for Blain's story. This could reduce the charges from possession with intent to sell to just possession, or possibly even just an ethical violation of pharmacy laws.

Continue reading "Pharmacist Charged With Possession of Drugs for Sale Without Prescription" »

About a month ago, we wrote about the drug arrest of the rapper T.I. and his wife Tameka Cottle, better known as the singer Tiny from the R&B group Xscape. At the time, that arrest was interesting to our Long Beach drug possession criminal defense lawyers because T.I. had recently been paroled after serving time for a firearms charge. T.I., born Clifford Harris Jr., was found in violation of his parole and returned to prison Nov. 1. Both spouses had originally been charged with drug possession, but prosecutors later dropped the charges against T.I. Now, CNN reported Oct. 30, the charges remain against Tiny, who is accused of misdemeanor possession of Ecstasy. She pleaded not guilty in early November.

The couple was arrested Sept. 1 on the Sunset Strip section of Los Angeles. Police officers saw their luxury car make a U-turn and said they smelled marijuana coming from the car. After pulling them over, reports suggest that the officers did not find any marijuana. However, they did find pills on both Tiny and T.I., reportedly Ecstasy and codeine. T.I. later tested positive for opiates, a class of drugs that includes codeine. As a result of that and other alleged parole violations, he was sent back to federal prison to serve 11 months. Tiny is not accused of being under the influence or driving under the influence; merely of possessing the pills. If convicted, she could serve up to a year in jail.

Fortunately for Tiny, a drug possession charge is often easy for an experienced Torrance drug possession criminal defense attorney to defend. One avenue to explore in this case is the original traffic stop that resulted in the couple's arrest. The original reason for the stop was a smell of marijuana, but police officers don't seem to have found marijuana. (Initial reports said they found the drug, but if so, it did not result in a charge.) That makes us wonder if the officers had another reason for pulling the couple over that they'd prefer not to disclose. From the article, we don't know if the officers were up to no good, but that's certainly something we'd look at closely if it were our case.

Continue reading "'Tiny' Cottle Charged With Possession of Ecstasy in Los Angeles After Traffic Stop" »

Our Fallbrook domestic violence criminal defense attorneys wrote recently about the arrest of Junior Seau, a retired NFL linebacker who spent most of his career with the San Diego Chargers. Seau was accused of domestic assault in connection with an Oct. 17 incident involving his live-in girlfriend, and attracted even more media attention when he drove off a cliff shortly afterward. Seau was not badly hurt in the accident and the police believe he fell asleep at the wheel. Ultimately, prosecutors declined to file charges against him. Now, as San Diego's 10news.com reported Oct. 29, the police report in the domestic violence incident was released, giving the public a glimpse at what exactly the police believed happened.

According to the article, Mary Nolan, 25, told the police that Seau grabbed her and shoved her into a wall. When officers arrived, the report said, she was sobbing hysterically and had a small bruise on her arm. Nolan also mentioned to the police that she had another bruise stemming from a fight she'd had with Seau in Solana Beach, but declined to file a report on that incident. When Seau returned to the home on the night of the arrest, officers noticed signs that he had been drinking, but had no problems arresting him. In a statement, the San Diego district attorney's office implied that it wouldn't file charges because it couldn't prove the case, and Seau's domestic violence criminal defense attorney agreed. Paul Pfingst, a former leader of that office, said the case was a "close call" with elements that would have given prosecutors trouble.

As Huntington Beach domestic violence criminal defense lawyers, we'd like to examine those elements in more detail, because they show how domestic violence cases are built -- and how they can be defended. For starters, Nolan declined to file a report on the Solana Beach incident. As Pfingst noted in the article, not giving police 100 percent of the story could hurt Nolan's credibility. Perhaps more importantly, the report said Nolan also had injuries to her head, but didn't specify what those injuries were. Prosecutors cannot speculate; they can only present witness testimony or the facts as reported by the police. For that reason, the prosecution wouldn't have been able to tell jurors that Seau was, or might have been, responsible for those injuries. All of this makes it harder for them to prove the case.

Continue reading "Prosecutors Decline to File Domestic Violence Charges Against Ex-Charger Junior Seau" »

As Fullerton drug charge criminal defense attorneys, we have written in the past about the charges against Allan James Waters. Waters is a former Orange County sheriff's deputy who got into legal trouble after he caused two DUI accidents within the same hour. As the Orange County Register reported Nov. 1, Waters was under the influence of the prescription drugs Hydrocodone and Zolpidem during those crashes, and he now faces new charges related to prescription drugs. Specifically, he is accused of "doctor shopping," to get prescriptions for Oxycodone and Opana. He's also accused of selling fake cocaine to a friend in exchange for prescription drugs and money, in addition to the DUI.

On March 1, 2010, Waters rear-ended a car stopped at a stoplight. No one was hurt, and after interviewing both drivers, deputies from the Orange County Sheriff's Department released their colleague. Within an hour of his release, Waters crashed into a Toyota in Dana Point, knocking it into a planter and then into opposing lanes of traffic. The victim, a woman of 78, eventually needed surgery for back problems. The California Highway Patrol responded to that accident and took Waters into custody after he showed signs of intoxication. A later investigation showed Waters went to eight doctors within a year, lying to them to get prescriptions. As a result, he faces nine counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, as well as two counts of selling a substance in lieu of cocaine. With the charge for DUI causing great bodily injury, he could get up to 13 years and four months in prison.

This story originally caught our eye because of the hints of improper behavior by the Sheriff's Department (for which Waters no longer works). But our Pomona narcotics criminal defense lawyers also like that it shows that prescription drugs can be just as illegal as street drugs. In this case, Waters had prescriptions obtained through fraud -- and that fraud accounts for the bulk of the charges. Possessing prescription drugs without a valid prescription is also a crime. And of course, driving under the influence of certain drugs is illegal, even if you have a valid, non-fraudulent prescription for those drugs. As a result of these events, Waters now faces a lot of time in prison, even though all of his drugs were semi-legally obtained. In fact, Waters might (depending on the drug) be facing less time if his drug of choice had been illegal, since street drug dealers don't keep prescription records.

Continue reading "Former Orange County Sheriff's Deputy Faces 12 Felony Charges Related to Drugs" »

As Rancho Cucamonga DUI criminal defense lawyers, we were interested to see a guilty plea in a vehicular manslaughter case involving drunk driving. The Orange County Register reported Oct. 29 on Jessica Lynn Shekell, 23, who pleaded guilty to two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while driving under the influence. By doing that, Shekell acknowledged that she killed two women and injured two girls when she drove the wrong way on the 91 freeway in 2009. The Orange County District Attorney's office said Shekell's blood-alcohol content was 0.26 at the time of the crash, more than three times the legal limit. At her December sentencing, she could get up to 19 years and eight months in prison.

Witnesses spotted Shekell's car going east in the westbound lanes around 2:55 a.m. on Oct. 26, 2009. The Long Beach Press-Telegram said she'd been drinking with friends in Placentia. Witnesses said Shekell dodged several cars at about 50 mph. Two California Highway Patrol officers were trying to stop Shekell, but before they could, she crashed head-on into a pickup truck driven by Sally Miguel, 49. Also in the car were Miguel's sister Patricia Miguel, 30, and their nieces Mary Miguel, 15, and Sara Miguel, 11. The Miguels were coming home from a trip to Knott's Berry Farm. The women died at the scene. The girls suffered internal injuries, and Mary Miguel suffered a permanent hip injury. The prosecutor in the case recommended state prison, and the Miguel family said they would prefer something more than probation. Shekell's DUI defense lawyer said he would ask for jail and community service rather than prison.

One thing that caught our eye about this story was that Shekell pleaded guilty without a plea bargain. That is not the normal course of action for any defendant, because a guilty plea is typically used as a bargaining chip in our system. A guilty plea is good for prosecutors because it's an automatic win and for the courts because it case short, saving badly needed resources. In exchange for that plea, prosecutors typically offer lower penalties than the maximum. By pleading guilty without a deal, Shekell has exposed herself to the maximum penalty. We can only assume she did this because she is genuinely ready to take responsibility for the accident, and that's commendable. But experienced Irvine drunk driving criminal defense attorneys typically try to use guilty pleas to the client's advantage, to win a guarantee of a more reasonable sentence.

Continue reading "Woman Pleads Guilty to Drunk Driving in Wrong-Way Crash That Killed Two Sisters" »

As Fallbrook DUI drug lawyers, we were interested to see a recent article about a DUI case involving marijuana and methamphetamine as well as alcohol. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported Oct. 27 on a guilty plea by a man who drove the wrong way on a divided highway, causing a police chase that ended in the death of a sheriff's deputy. Jose Pedro Lopez Jasso, 23, faces sentencing for charges including gross vehicular manslaughter while driving under the influence, DUI causing injury, driving the wrong way on a divided highway and making a weapon while in jail. The CW news reported that Lopez had a blood-alcohol content of 0.11 two hours after the crash, and a blood test showed significant amounts of marijuana as well as meth.

Lopez, a Mexican citizen, had been drinking in Oceanside on Feb. 28 before driving onto state route 52, a divided highway connecting La Jolla, Santee and state route 125. Somehow, Lopez got onto the highway driving east in the westbound lanes, attracting the attention of deputy Ken Collier. Collier turned his patrol car around and followed Lopez, but drove in a breakdown lane in order to avoid smashing into oncoming traffic. Unfortunately, Collier hit a bridge abutment in that lane. His vehicle caught fire and fell into a ravine. Collier died and a passenger survived with injuries. Lopez was arrested on the highway on the same day. The charge of making a weapon in jail stems from his later actions while being held in county jail. He faces 11 to 12 years in prison at his January sentencing.

Because Lopez had alcohol in his system as well, this is not a case that could be defended on the basis of the drug charges alone. But as San Juan Capistrano intoxicated driving attorneys, we'd like to focus on the drug parts of the charge. In California, a blood test showing any amount of an illegal drug, or a legal prescription drug that should not be used while driving, can lead to an intoxicated driving charge. That sounds like a bad thing for defendants -- but in fact, it means there's no legal standard for determining whether the driver is actually impaired. In the case of marijuana, scientists do not agree on how much impairs driving or how long before the effects wear off. Depending on the test, tests can also give false positives by showing cannabis-related chemicals in the blood from marijuana smoked up to a month earlier. This makes the prosecution's case harder to prove and could even exonerate some defendants.

Continue reading "Wrong-Way Driver Pleads Guilty to Intoxicated Driving in Death of Sheriff's Deputy" »

A recent article about a third DUI charge caught the attention of our Anaheim drunk driving criminal defense attorneys. The Orange County Register reported Oct. 27 on the charges facing Tama Rae Tracy, 24, of Buena Park. Tracy is accused of causing two different hit and run accidents on Oct. 23 while driving under the influence. One of the accidents injured two unnamed bicyclists, who were hospitalized in critical condition at the time the story was published. Tracy was eventually caught, and now faces charges of felony DUI with injury, felony hit and run with injury, misdemeanor hit and run and driving on a suspended license. She has pleaded not guilty to all of those charges. Her two previous drunk driving convictions come from Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties.

According to the article, witnesses called Huntington Beach police to report the first and more serious of the crashes in the afternoon of Oct. 23, a Saturday. They said a woman in a black Mercedes had hit the two bicyclists at Goldenwest and Pacific Coast Highway and continued without stopping. About five minutes later, more calls to police came in about a black Mercedes that hit an SUV at Goldenwest and Ellis Avenue. There were no injuries in that accident, but the Mercedes did not stop. Police attempted to pull over the Mercedes at Ellis and Beach Boulevard, but Tracy did not stop. It wasn't until she got stuck in traffic that police were able to catch up with her. When they did, they discovered that the windshield was cracked -- reportedly from the first crash -- and that Tracy was driving with an opened bottle of peach-flavored vodka in the car.

Anyone responsible for those accidents would be in serious legal trouble. But as Lakewood DUI criminal defense lawyers, we would like to point out that Tracy's past drunk driving convictions will almost certainly make this situation worse for her. A third DUI in California is not necessarily a felony, although the injuries Tracy reportedly caused make a felony charge more likely. Furthermore, when her case comes to trial, the jury may see her DUI record as a sign that she doesn't need a second (or fourth) chance. And, in light of her record, her judge may choose to sentence her more harshly than the same judge would sentence a first time offender. All of this shows just how important it is for drivers to keep intoxicated driving convictions off their records. You may think you should plead guilty just to "get it over with," but that guilty plea can follow you for at least a decade.

Continue reading "Buena Park Women Causes Two Accidents, Injures Two for Third Drunk Driving Arrest" »