California Criminal Lawyers Blog

Like others in Orange County and Southern California, our Santa Ana drunk driving criminal defense attorneys have followed the trial of Andrew Gallo on three charges of second-degree murder while driving drunk. Gallo is the driver accused of causing the deaths of Nick Adenhart, a pitcher for the Angels, as well as Courtney Stewart and Henry Pearson, among other crimes. Gallo's attorney has repeatedly argued that his trial should be moved out of Orange County, saying the he cannot get a fair trial here because of the media surrounding Adenhart's death. Lower courts have ruled against that motion, so pretrial motions began Sept. 1, the Orange County Register reported. However, Gallo has appealed his case to the California Supreme Court, which may decide in his favor before jury selection starts on or around Sept. 13.

Gallo's criminal defense attorney filed the appeal with the high court Aug. 30. In it, she argues that Orange County Register readers rated Adenhart's death as the most important story of the year in an online poll, eclipsing the death of Michael Jackson, the economy and the inauguration of Barack Obama. In a phone survey, she said, 76 percent of potential jurors said they believed Gallo was guilty. Similar arguments have already been rejected in the Fourth District Court of Appeal and the Orange County Superior Court, although the judge in the case says he may consider a change of venue for the verdict or sentencing. Gallo is accused of driving drunk when he ran a red light in his minivan and slammed into Stewart's car, pinning it against a lamp post. In addition to killing Stewart, Pearson and Adenhart, the accident also seriously injured passenger Jonathan Wilhite. Gallo had a previous DUI and was driving on a suspended license, leading prosecutors to charge him with second-degree murder rather than DUI manslaughter.

As Garden Grove DUI criminal defense lawyers, we hope that the lower courts are right that Orange County jurors can be fair to Gallo. But we believe that Gallo has a reasonable argument that they may not be. Courts allow changes of venue when the case has gotten so much publicity that it's not clear whether jurors can be fair and unbiased. Given the publicity around the trial, and especially the phone survey cited in the Supreme Court filing, this appears to be an open question. So we hope the Supreme Court considers the petition carefully. A lot is riding on this outcome, because Gallo is accused of very serious crimes. In particular, the prosecutors have chosen to charge him with second-degree murder rather than manslaughter, reasoning that his prior conviction means he knew drunk driving was wrong when he did it anyway. A conviction on those charges alone could put Gallo in prison for 45 years, rather than the 12 to 30 years he would have faced for DUI manslaughter. Anyone with this much at stake deserves a fair trial.

Continue reading "Pretrial Motions Begin in DUI Murder Case as Court Considers Change of Venue" »

In a move that surprised even the people who drafted its law, the Los Angeles city government has announced that only 41 dispensaries in the city will be permitted to stay open. As Orange medical marijuana criminal defense attorneys, we were very interested to see the Aug. 26 Los Angeles Times article announcing the decision. Medical marijuana dispensaries have become a political issue in Los Angeles, which led to strict laws on how many dispensaries may exist, where they may be and who may run them. To curtail what was seen as out-of-control numbers of dispensaries, the council said it would shut down shops that didn't meet the new legal requirements. However, the article said, the strict elimination process the city left only 41 shops, far fewer than the roughly 130 it expected to stay open.

Before the crackdown, it was estimated that about 580 dispensaries were operating in the city, which has 470 square miles of land. The ordinance regulating dispensaries was expected to shut down about 400, according to the LA Weekly. However, the Times wrote that using that ordinance to eliminate dispensaries left just 41 in the city, which even co-author and special assistant city attorney Jane Usher said was a surprise. A spokesperson for the city clerk said the office took a very strict interpretation of the ordinance, which required no more than one change of location, no changes in management and no serious criminal record for managers. Because the number left was so low, the article said, the city has suspended its efforts to choose between dispensaries, which could have inspired a new round of lawsuits by eliminated businesses. Instead, the city planned to file its own lawsuit Aug. 26, asking a judge to declare that its selection process was legal. No one will be shut down before a court ruling.

As the article notes, the city already faces almost 30 lawsuits by 85 dispensaries that have been asked to shut down. Our Torrance medical marijuana criminal defense lawyers suspect that it's right to expect more lawsuits from this admittedly strict selection process. This is particularly true because, as the LA Times notes, some of the eliminated dispensaries are among the most reputable in the city. Fundamentally, we believe the city is regulating medical marijuana dispensaries so harshly because politicians are trying to please a vocal minority that is against marijuana despite the lack of any real evidence of problems. For example, opponents of dispensaries frequently say they attract crimes, but have failed to cite statistics that show a greater-than-ordinary amount of crimes in and around the dispensaries. In that context, it's difficult to see the point of shutdown orders that make reputable collectives and cooperatives into ordinance violators and, by implication, dangerous "drug dealers."

Continue reading "Only 41 Medical Marijuana Dispensaries May Remain Under Strict Los Angeles Rules" »

As San Juan Capistrano drug crimes defense attorneys, we were pleased to see a news item about a man whose conviction was overturned due to an illegal police search. The Orange County Register reported Aug. 18 that a California appeals court has overturned several drug-related convictions against Douglas George Schmitz. Schmitz pleaded guilty in 2008 to four misdemeanors, including possession of a hypodermic needle and driving under the influence of drugs. But he believed that the search that turned up this evidence was undertaken without a warrant, and when the trial court refused to support that evidence, he appealed that decision. The Fourth District Court of Appeal's decision on Aug. 18 says the trial court should have suppressed the evidence because the police obtained it illegally.

The article says Schmitz was driving through a residential area with two other adults when a sheriff's deputy pulled them over. The deputy said she thought Schmitz was lost. When she saw that his arms were covered in abscesses, which is typical for intravenous drug users, she asked if he or anyone else in the vehicle was on probation or parole. Schmitz was not, but his front-seat passenger was. The deputy then asked for permission to search the car. Schmitz did not answer, so she searched the car anyway and ordered the occupants out. In that search, the deputy found a purse containing two syringes, a syringe cap and some methamphetamine, which eventually led to the charges against Schmitz. In its opinion, the appeals court said that even though the parolee passenger did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy because he was on parole, Schmitz had a reasonable expectation of privacy in every part of the vehicle but the seat where the parolee was sitting.

Our Corona drug crimes criminal defense lawyers are pleased to see that the appeals court is willing to uphold citizens' Fourth Amendment rights, even when the citizen may not have been blameless. The Fourth Amendment protects Americans from unreasonable searches and property seizures, and part of those protections is the right to deny police permission to search you unless there are circumstances allowing it. Evidence of a crime might be one such circumstance; parolee status is another. Because the parolee status of the passenger did not apply to Schmitz, the appeals court said the police should not have searched his car. We want our clients to take away an important lesson from this story: When the police violate your civil rights, you can and should challenge the evidence they get from doing so. Even though Schmitz actually pleaded guilty to the charges against him, the court in this case threw out his conviction, because the guilty plea came on charges that should never have existed in the first place.

Continue reading "Drug Convictions Overturned Because of Illegal Police Search of Accused Person's Car" »

Our Fallbrook drunk driving criminal defense attorneys were saddened to see a report about a DUI accident that took three lives 13. According to an Aug. 16 article from the San Diego Union-Tribune, two women who work at the Valley View casino near Vista were killed in the accident, along with an Orange County man. The workers were Susana Orozco of Escondido and Erica Olivia of Oceanside, both 23. They were stopped on the side of state Route 78, near Vista, when an SUV driver plowed into them and their stopped vehicle. That crash also killed 34-year-old Larry Alvarez of Orange, who was its passenger. The driver was identified as Debbie Sumi of San Marcos, who was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving and felony vehicular manslaughter.

The article said Orozco and Olivia had stopped their vehicle at 12:30 a.m. on Aug. 13 because one of the women was feeling ill. Both got out and stood on the side of the road, along with fellow passenger Omar Guzman, 25, of Oceanside. A fourth person, 21-year-old Gerardo Cortez of Oceanside, had remained in the car. Guzman had just stepped away from the women when Sumi's Jeep swerved into the stopped car and the women. The crash killed both women and flipped the Jeep, also killing Alvarez. Authorities later discovered that Sumi did not have a valid driver's license or insurance. Neither Sumi nor Alvarez was wearing a seat belt. Guzman was reportedly not hurt, but Cortez, who remained in a front seat, suffered minor injuries after being thrown from the car. The North County Times reported that Cortez had been wearing a seat belt, but the Jeep hit the car with such force that it broke his seat.

The article does not say exactly what charges Sumi may face, but as San Clemente DUI criminal defense lawyers, we suspect they will be extensive. Sumi could face up to three counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, to account for the three victims. These charges alone carry four to 10 years in prison for each count, meaning she could face a total of 12 to 30 years in prison. Those are in addition to the drunk driving charge. The article does not report any prior drunk driving convictions for Sumi, but we noticed that she was driving without a valid license. This is unfortunately not an uncommon choice for people who have already lost their driver's licenses due to a prior DUI conviction. And if you have no valid driver's license, you cannot buy auto insurance, no matter how much money you have. If this was the situation for Sumi, she will face at least her second drunk driving charge. Under the circumstances, this charge could also mean prison, plus alcohol treatment and other penalties.

Continue reading "Three Killed in North San Diego County by Suspected Drunk Driver on Route 78" »

As Riverside County medical marijuana criminal defense attorneys, we were interested to read an article about a medical marijuana arrest up north. According to an Aug. 11 article from the Marin Independent Journal, a woman from Mountain View is facing multiple drug charges after a traffic stop at which police found nearly three pounds of marijuana in her car. The California Highway Patrol says Sloopy Clarice Barreau was pulled over after officers spotted her weaving on the highway in San Rafael. Inside the vehicle, they smelled a strong odor of marijuana and searched the car. She said she is a medical marijuana provider but had documentation allowing only personal use.

According to the article, officers saw Barreau's vehicle on 101 north near North San Pedro Road early on the morning of Aug. 8. They say she was weaving, but there are no allegations that she was driving under the influence. Rather, the officers smelled marijuana and searched her vehicle, finding 1,200 grams of marijuana -- nearly three pounds -- along with packaging materials, marijuana seeds and photographs of a grow operation. She told officers that she was a medical marijuana provider trying to sell to dispensaries, but did not have documentation showing this. During the arrest, officers said, she was combative and charged at them. She has pleaded not guilty to resisting arrest, transportation of marijuana and possession of marijuana for sale, and will appear in court Aug. 17.

Our Placentia medical marijuana criminal defense lawyers do not recommend that clients fight officers, because this can result in additional charges like Barreau's resisting arrest charge. In fact, this account suggests Barreau's actions could complicate her defense -- but that doesn't mean her case is hopeless. If she is indeed a legal medical marijuana provider, she should be able to prove it in court using the proper documentation. In a fair court, this should result in dropping the two felony charges -- the transportation and possession for sale charges, which carry a combined total of up to seven years in prison. It should not in itself result in dropping of the resisting arrest charge, but this is a misdemeanor with no prison time. It's also possible that Barreau truly was attempting to sell to medical marijuana dispensaries, but without the proper documentation. This is not a good idea, but failure to follow bureaucratic procedures is not the same as selling illegal street drugs, and an experienced attorney should be able to make that case to a jury.

Continue reading "Bay Area Woman Found Driving With Medical Marijuana Faces Felony Drug Charges" »

As Chino Hills DUI criminal defense attorneys, we were interested to see a July 30 OC Register article about a man who pleaded guilty to DUI manslaughter. Richard Ernest Caselli, 37, pleaded guilty back in May to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, in a case stemming from the death of 52-year-old Brook Boynton of San Clemente. Caselli was accused of driving with a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.18, more than twice the legal limit, and also under the influence of cocaine before he rear-ended Boynton's SUV on a toll road. He had no previous DUI record, and his attorney argued for a lower sentence in part by citing Caselli's remorse. At the sentencing, Caselli received a four-year prison sentence, out of a possible range of probation to 10 years in prison.

The accident took place in October of 2009, on the San Joaquin Hills toll road (73). Caselli had allegedly spent five hours drinking cocktails at a bar in Newport Beach before driving south in his Volvo sedan. Witnesses said the Volvo was weaving in and out of traffic and reached speeds over 100 mph at times before rear-ending Boynton's SUV. The resulting crash flipped over the SUV and rolled it over, ejecting Boynton. Boynton died at the scene. Officers saw signs of intoxication from Caselli at the scene and took him into custody. He later entered a residential treatment facility and has expressed interest in working for MADD. He pleaded guilty to the DUI manslaughter charge in May, and his attorney had requested probation and one year in prison.

As Riverside County drunk driving criminal defense lawyers, we believe this is a good example of why some defendants might choose to plead guilty in a serious DUI case. Of course, we never, ever advocate entering a guilty plea if you truly did not drive drunk, and we can help clients in that situation prove their innocence. But in this case, Caselli's guilty plea seems to stem from remorse for his actions. The article does not mention blood test evidence related to the cocaine, but the presence of strong evidene may also have been a factor. The article note that Caselli sought treatment after the crash -- presumably meaning substance abuse treatment -- and wept through the statements given by Boynton's family and friends. By taking those steps and pleading guilty, Caselli may have avoided a much higher sentence than he might have faced if he tried to fight the charge against him. We note, for example, that the story mentioned no cocaine-related criminal charge.

Continue reading "Man Sentenced for Vehicular Manslaughter Under the Influence of Cocaine and Alcohol" »

Our Redondo Beach drunk driving criminal defense lawyers were disappointed to see a recent article about an unusual step being considered by the Huntington Beach Police Department. The Huntington Beach Independent reported July 28 that the police are considering posting mug shots and names of people arrested in the city for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The idea is one of several floated by law enforcement to combat high rates of DUIs, along with adding another officer to the DUI enforcement team. The city made an average of 1,700 intoxicated driving arrests in the past three years, the report said, and Huntington Beach had the third-highest rate of DUI arrests for cities of similar size in 2008. A police spokesman said the goal would be to show that the city takes drunk driving seriously.

Law enforcement in Huntington Beach has already increased its enforcement efforts in order to stop alcohol-related crashes before they take place. In March, for example, officers began investigating where DUI arrestees had their last drinks before being arrested, then notifying those establishments about the arrests. The proposal to put mug shots online, submitted in July, comes after the Independent itself stopped publishing mug shots in December, a decision that stemmed from a change in editorial policy. Critics object to the practice say it blurs the distinction between an arrest and a conviction. If someone is accused of DUI and the charges are later dropped or dismissed, they note, that person could still be publicly identified as a "drunk driver," inviting embarrassment and consequences at work. A police spokesman said the goal is not to shame the arrestees, but to raise public awareness that the city takes DUIs seriously.

As Yorba Linda DUI criminal defense attorneys, we are not sure we believe this. While we certainly support raising public awareness of the dangers of drunk driving, we don't believe posting mug shots online achieves that goal. The mug shots would be on a website that Web users don't have a lot of other reasons to visit, and that means the viewers would most likely be people who already knew the mug shots were there. This does not raise awareness so much as it allows people who enjoy looking over mug shots to continue doing so. Shaming may not be the explicit goal of such a site, but it would certainly be a side effect. And in doing so, the site would unfairly imply that people who are arrested have been convicted, leaving them no way to clear their names. We wouldn't be surprised to learn that this objection is the reason for the decision to stop running mug shots on the newspaper site.

Continue reading "Huntington Beach Considering Posting Pictures and Names of DUI Arrestees Online" »

A city councilman in Chino had an unpleasant council meeting thanks to charges of leaving the scene of an accident. As Buena Park drunk driving criminal defense attorneys, we were interested to see a recent article on the matter from the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. Councilman Earl Elrod pleaded guilty in June to leaving the scene of an accident in which a bicyclist hit Elrod's car. Chino police officials said the accident was the fault of the bicyclist, for running a stop sign, but California Highway Patrol officers later investigated and concluded that Elrod had been drinking earlier that evening. Elrod did not face DUI charges, but at the council meeting, he heard from a developer with a matter before the city as well as a MADD officer, who urged Elrod to publicly apologize and avoid drunk driving.

The crash happened on the evening of Valentine's Day 2010, as Elrod and his wife returned home from a restaurant. Elrod was accused of driving away from the scene without identifying himself, a vehicle code violation. CHP officers later went to Elrod's home, but nobody answered the door or the phone. As a result, officers were unable to test his blood-alcohol concentration. He was arrested for DUI, but San Bernardino County prosecutors refused to charge him, citing a lack of evidence. Nonetheless, he was charged with leaving the scene of the crash, to which he pleaded guilty. One speaker at the council meeting was Virginia Gautier, executive director of MADD in San Bernardino County, who spoke about the dangers of drunk driving. Developer Andy Sehremelis, who is fighting the city over developer fees, called on Elrod to publicly apologize and confess. The councilman had no comment after the meeting.

As Anaheim intoxicated driving criminal defense lawyers, we believe this case is a good example of why the breathalyzer or blood test is so important. California law allows prosecutors to bring two types of drunk driving case. One of them is based only on a BAC reading of 0.08 or higher, and the other is based on whether the driver was intoxicated -- inherently a subjective decision. This means prosecutors can still bring a case when they don't have a BAC reading, but that case will be harder to prove and often built on subjective observations and guesswork. This may have been the case with Elrod, whose drunk-driving arrest appears to be based on third parties who said he had been drinking and his choice to leave the scene. Leaving the scene is not a responsible choice, but it is not proof that the driver was drinking. We suspect the prosecutors in this case didn't bring charges because they didn't believe they could win.

Continue reading "Developer and Activist Publicly Scold Chino Councilmember for Leaving Accident" »

Our Santa Ana drunk driving criminal defense attorneys and many others in Orange County have been closely following the trial of Andrew Thomas Gallo, the alleged drunk driver accused of killing an Angels pitcher. So we weren't surprised to see that the defense asked for a change of venue recently, arguing that Gallo cannot get a fair trial in Orange County because of all the publicity surrounding the deaths of Nick Adenhart, Courtney Stewart and Henry Pearson. As the Orange County Register reported July 16, a judge on that day denied the requested change of venue, saying news coverage has been balanced and jurors take their jobs seriously. However, the judge noted that he could reconsider if there are problems seating a jury.

Gallo is accused of crashing his minivan into Stewart's car in April of 2009, the night of a game 22-year-old pitcher Adehart had started for the Angels. Adenhart was riding in a car driven by Stewart, 20, with Pearson, 25 and Jonathon Wilhite, 24, as fellow passengers. Gallo allegedly had a BAC of nearly 0.24 when he ran a red light and t-boned Stewart's car, pushing it into a light pole. Wilhite was the only survivor in that car, and he suffered a serious injury known as an internal decapitation. Gallo was apparently unharmed, although his stepbrother, who was riding in the minivan, sustained injuries. Gallo left the scene, and it was later discovered that his license had been suspended for a previous DUI. He is charged with three counts of second-degree murder -- a more serious charge than DUI manslaughter -- as well as DUI with great bodily injury, leaving the scene of an accident and driving on a suspended license.

Adenhart was a young pitcher who wasn't well known at the time, but his death resulted in an outpouring of affection from teammates and Angels fans. As a result, this case has been closely watched by the media, and that's why our Riverside DUI criminal defense lawyers believe Gallo was right to ask to move the trial. A change of venue is appropriate when there's so much pre-trial publicity that the court can't be sure jurors will be unbiased. It's worth asking whether a fatal drunk driving accident, even one of this magnitude, would have gotten the same coverage if none of the victims had been a promising young pitcher for the hometown baseball team. Since the judge in this case has denied the motion, we hope he's right that jurors do their best to be fair in Orange County.

Continue reading "Judge Denies Bid to Move Trial of Alleged Nick Adenhart Killer Out of Orange County" »

As Orange County drunk driving criminal defense attorneys, we were not surprised to see that multiple police agencies set up DUI checkpoints for the July 4 weekend. According to the Orange County Register, police departments in Irvine, Cypress, Buena Park and Westminster set up checkpoints at major intersections to look for drunk drivers. Most of the checkpoints operated from Saturday night until early Sunday morning, although one started on the evening of Friday, July 2. The result was at least 22 arrests of people found to be driving under the influence, the newspaper said.

According to the article, Irvine police alone stopped 331 vehicles over eight hours between Saturday and Sunday. The roadblock at Alton Parkway and Culver Drive resulted in one arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence, along with five sobriety tests, and 37 citations for violations not specified. In Cypress, two people were arrested on suspicion of DUI, three were arrested on outstanding warrants or drug charges and 17 were issued citations. Five people were arrested in Buena Park for unspecified violations, and Westminster did not make arrest information immediately available. Another 47 people were arrested in Orange County throughout the weekend by the California Highway Patrol, which did not run a reported checkpoint.

Our Anaheim DUI criminal defense lawyers pay close attention to checkpoint information because we have doubts about the efficacy of the checkpoints, as well as their fairness. One criticism of DUI roadblocks is that they cost a lot of money, but make very few arrests. If we look at the information from Irvine, the only city with complete information about how many people were arrested and stopped, we can see that of 331 people stopped, exactly one was arrested. That's a success rate of 0.3%, lower than most cash-strapped municipalities might want. Another criticism of sobriety checkpoints is that they're really intended to make money for the police agency, by finding violations for which the police can impound the vehicle and charge high impound fees. The information on the Cypress roadblock reinforces that suspicion, because it specifically says officers screened for licensing violations and arrested 11 for lacking a valid license. In addition to balancing the budget on the backs of drivers, this practice inconveniences all of the legal and sober drivers who pass through the checkpoint.

Continue reading "Sobriety Checkpoints Over Holiday Result in at Least 22 Arrests in Orange County " »

As Long Beach drunk driving criminal defense lawyers, we were interested to see a comment from the defense lawyer for Lindsay Lohan, the starlet who was recently sent to jail for violating probation on a DUI charge. Lohan, 24, was arrested in 2007 for drunk driving and cocaine possession. Like many first-time offenders, Lohan was sentenced to alcohol classes and probation, but had trouble attending the classes because of her work. She also missed a court date and triggered the automatic reporting mechanism on a court-ordered alcohol monitoring anklet. After sharp criticism from the judge in her case, Lohan was sentenced to 90 days in jail for violating probation and another 90 days in a rehabilitation clinic.

Lohan's failure to meet her legal obligations has been widely reported in the mainstream and celebrity press. According to a July 8 article from Reuters, she has missed seven alcohol education classes in the last 27 weeks. Her defense lawyer blamed work for keeping Lohan away, and said Lohan was still substantially in compliance and would have finished the classes by July 15. In addition, Lohan famously missed a court date in Los Angeles because she was attending the Cannes Film Festival; she claimed she didn't make it back because someone had stolen her passport. Last month, the SCRAM bracelet Lohan has been sentenced to wear, which monitors alcohol consumption by analyzing the wearer's sweat, reported that she had been drinking in violation of a court order. She claims she was not drinking.

Our Newport Beach DUI criminal defense attorneys have some sympathy for that last argument. SCRAM bracelets work on roughly the same principal as breathalyzer testing, and like breath tests, they have scientific flaws. One is major: A SCRAM bracelet measures any type of liquid or gaseous alcohol coming off the wearer's skin, not just alcohol excreted in sweat. That means certain bath products, like perfume or mouthwash, could cause a false positive -- as could spilled alcohol. If this happened to Lohan, the probation violation case against her would be substantially weaker. Missing classes is not good, but as Lohan's attorney pointed out, it's a common problem for DUI offenders who have to balance those classes with jobs and other obligations. And it's not hard to believe that, with the media watching, the judge in Lohan's case would have made a harsh ruling to avoid being accused of going easy on her because of her fame.

Continue reading "Attorney for Lindsay Lohan Says Jail and Rehab Sentence is 'Harsh and Unfair'" »

Our Huntington Beach drunk driving criminal defense attorneys were interested to see a recent article about a DUI that got thrown out of court. The Orange County Register reported June 22 that the drunk driving case against 54-year-old Patricia M. Power of Dana Point was thrown out after a video from her traffic stop contradicted the arresting officer's report. Power was pulled over in Newport Beach in May of last year, allegedly for driving without the required light for her car's license plate. Once Power was stopped, the officer noticed signs of intoxication and arrested her for DUI. But a video taken from the patrol car showed that Power's light was functioning.

Power said she'd just dropped off a friend near John Wayne Airport when the Newport Beach officer pulled her over. She later blew a 0.12 blood-alcohol content and was arrested and charged with DUI. In his arrest report, Officer Michael Moore said he pulled Power over because her license plate light was not working, but a publicly available DMV report said the squad car video "clearly demonstrated" that the light was working. That means Moore didn't have any reason to pull Power over, which makes the traffic stop illegal. The DMV reinstated Power's driver's license, saying there was no reasonable cause for her arrest, and the Orange Country District Attorney's office dropped the criminal charges against her. The city of Newport Beach also agreed to pay towing costs and attorney fees for Power. Power told the newspaper she thought she was pulled over just because she happened to be in a busy nightlife area.

As Placentia DUI criminal defense lawyers, we liked this story because it shows that police mistakes can set defendants free, even when the driver blew a high BAC reading. Power's case was dismissed because a traffic stop without a good reason violated her Fourth Amendment right to be free of unreasonable search and seizure. Because that traffic stop was illegal, all of the evidence it produced was illegal and had to be thrown out in order to protect her rights -- including the BAC test results. There was nothing wrong the those test results except for the major fact that they should never have existed in the first place. Some observers may feel that this is too kind to drunk drivers, but if officers were not required to follow the Fourth Amendment, they could pull over anyone for any reason at any time. Some officers are worthy of this trust, but we believe others are not and should not be given a chance to abuse their power at the expense of the Constitution.

Continue reading "Squad Car Video Contradicts Officer and Gets Drunk Driving Case Thrown Out" »

As San Bernardino County DUI criminal defense lawyers, we were interested to see a news item about a man who was arrested for riding a bicycle while drunk. According to the June 22 Orange County Register, Lake Forest police arrested a 40-year-old man after noticing that he was riding in the wrong direction through a crosswalk and had trouble staying straight. Tito Pablo Alcanara-Carrasco had a blood-alcohol content nearly double the legal limit, which is a crime on a bicycle as well as on a car. California law gives bicyclists the same rights and responsibilities as drivers, including the responsibility to stay sober on the road. Alcanara-Carrasco was taken to Orange County jail, where he was cited but released.

Alcanara-Carrasco was spotted late on the night of June 19 by a sheriff's deputy working a special DUI patrol. The deputy saw the bicyclist crossing the road at a crosswalk, but very slowly and in the opposite direction from the flow of traffic. As the deputy got closer, he saw that Alcanara-Carrasco was weaving and had no light, which is a requirement for bicycling at night in California. The deputy stopped him and noticed a smell of alcohol on his breath, an unsteady walk and bloodshot eyes. In his jacket pocket, the deputy found a cold bottle of Tecate. A test of Alcanara-Carrasco's blood-alcohol content showed that he was at nearly twice the 0.08 legal limit, although the article doesn't say what kind of test was administered or the exact number. He was arrested and cited but released from law enforcement custody.

This article caught the attention of our Trabuco Canyon drunk driving criminal defense attorneys because it's rare to see a DUI arrest for someone on a bicycle. In fact, many Californians think it's impossible to be charged with drunk driving on a bicycle. Unfortunately, they're wrong. Drunk bicycling may be more likely to hurt the bicyclist than others, but bicyclists still have all the same legal responsibilities as drivers. However, readers may have noticed that Alcanara-Carrasco was cited and released from custody, suggesting that officers didn't think he posed a serious enough threat to keep him in jail overnight. This likely means he was charged with a misdemeanor. It's hard to discuss this case without knowing more about Alcanara-Carrasco's BAC level, but if he did choose to fight the case by going to trial, we believe the fact that he was bicycling could count in his favor before the jury.

Continue reading "Man Arrested in Lake Forest for Riding a Bicycle Under the Influence of Alcohol " »

In March, our Lake Forest DUI criminal defense attorneys wrote about an Orange County sheriff's deputy who was arrested for intoxicated driving after causing two separate accidents about a half hour apart. That now-former deputy, Allan James Waters, was arrested and criminally charged June 9 in connection with the second accident. Waters was off duty and on paid administrative leave at the time of the crashes and is no longer working for the Sheriff's Department. He is accused of being intoxicated by prescription drugs when he ran his car into oncoming traffic, forcing a Toyota and his own car into a tree. The crash hurt Dolores Huerta, 78, who sustained a back injury and has since undergone surgery. Waters is also charged with drug crimes not directly connected to the crash.

An article about the arrest in the Los Angeles Times starts with the first accident Waters was involved in. On March 1 of this year, he rear-ended a car stopped for a red light in Dana Point. Orange County Sheriff's Deputies came to the scene and took an accident report, but did not arrest Waters. Deputies knew Waters was another deputy, the article said, but a sheriff's spokesman said they did not see any objective signs of intoxication. After leaving that scene, however, Waters drove so erratically that other motorists called 911 to report him. Shortly afterward, he crossed into oncoming traffic and hit Huerta's car. This time, sheriff's deputies called the California Highway Patrol to handle the accident, and the CHP found objective signs of intoxication.

Testing later showed that Waters was under the influence of prescription drugs Hydrocodone and Zolpidem. In fact, an investigation by the sheriff's department found that he had been selling a white powder meant to resemble cocaine in order to support his prescription drug habit. Waters is now charged with felony driving under the influence causing bodily injury, two felony counts of selling a substance in lieu of cocaine, with a sentence enhancement for causing great bodily injury. He faces up to seven years and four months in prison.

Most of the articles about this arrest focus on the possibility of wrongdoing by Orange County sheriff's deputies responding to the first crash, who may have let Waters go because he was a fellow deputy, not because he was sober enough to drive. Some readers might suggest that the outcome might have been much better for Huerta if the first set of deputies had detailed Waters rather than let him go on driving. But as Temecula drunk driving criminal defense lawyers, we believe the outcome would also have been better for Waters. A DUI charge is not a trivial thing, as law enforcement officers know all too well. But by letting Waters go, officers allowed him to cause the second accident, which not only got Waters in legal trouble, but also -- and more importantly -- injured an elderly woman. Now Waters faces a felony DUI with great bodily injury, a serious charge with substantial prison time, rather than a simple DUI that, if it was his first, would be unlikely to result in a prison sentence.

Continue reading "Former Sheriff's Deputy Criminally Charged for DUI Crash That Injured Woman" »

Our Santa Ana drunk driving criminal defense lawyers wrote several times here about Andrew Thomas Gallo, the allegedly drunk driver who is charged with killing Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart and students Courtney Stewart and Henry Pearson. Gallo is charged with second-degree murder under the legal theory that because he had a prior drunk driving conviction, he knew it was wrong to drive drunk but did it anyway. We thought this was a stretch for the prosecution, so we were surprised to see the same theory being tested in another trial in Orange County, that of Alex David Trujillo. As the Orange County Register reported June 9, Trujillo is accused of being both drunk and high on prescription painkillers when he drove his car directly into a Seal Beach sidewalk, killing Catherine Busse, 46, and slightly injuring her then-14-year-old son, Sam Busse.

Trujillo does not deny that he caused the crash. However, his attorney argued in court that Trujillo had not had a drink since the night before and that his blood-alcohol content may have been under the 0.08 legal limit. The prosecutor disputed this, saying Trujillo's BAC was 0.10. He was also accused of having Xanax, Vicodin and Oxycontin in his system, which his attorney said were all legally prescribed for medical conditions. Trujillo has a previous DUI from 2002, for which he took DUI classes and attended a MADD victim impact panel. For that reason, the prosecutor argued that he knew drunk driving was wrong and got behind the wheel with "complete disregard for the danger he placed on the road," meriting a second-degree murder charge. Trujillo's attorney said he did not have a conscious disregard for human life, a requirement for a guilty finding for that charge.

As Pomona intoxicated driving criminal defense attorneys, we remain skeptical that the second-degree murder charge is truly the best fit for this crime. Second-degree murder is charged for planned killings or killings that show "an abandoned or malignant heart." Drivers should know that intentionally choosing to drive while intoxicated is dangerous and irresponsible -- but even when they make that choice, they aren't consciously setting out to kill someone. For this exact reason, California state law offers a different charge to fit DUI-related deaths -- gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. The difference is not academic. Trujillo faces 15 years to life for a conviction for second-degree murder, but would face four to ten years for gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. Given the stakes, if the jury believes Trujillo doesn't meet the standards for second-degree murder, they may choose not to convict him at all.

Continue reading "OC Man Charged With Murder for Intoxicated Driving Crash That Killed Bicyclist" »