California Criminal Lawyers Blog

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 Fullerton drunk driving criminal defense attorneys, we were interested to see a conviction in an unusual drunk driving case. Christopher Koppi, 28, was accused of driving drunk when he ran out of gas on the 57 freeway, causing a chain reaction crash that killed another man. The Orange County Register reported May 6 that prosecutors argued that Koppi was culpable in the 2006 death of Richard James Pettigrew, 59, because Koppi was too drunk to notice the light on his dashboard warning that he was running out of gas. At his sentencing on July 30, Koppi could get up to 25 years in prison, an increased sentence because he has a prior felony "strike" and because the conviction was for gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, a more serious crime than simple vehicular manslaughter.

Koppi was driving a Ford F-150 pickup on the early morning of August 26, 2006 when he simply ran out of gas and became what a prosecutor described as a dangerous obstacle. Pettigrew was directly behind him in a 1981 Datsun sedan. He was apparently unable to avoid colliding with Koppi's truck and crashed into its back. Another vehicle then crashed into the back of Pettigrew's car. Pettigrew died at the scene from multiple injuries. Police noticed several signs of intoxication from Koppi, and a blood-alcohol concentration test measured him at 0.20 two hours after the crash. Koppi's defense lawyer argued that Koppi was trying to pull over when he noticed problems with his truck, and that it was still in motion when Pettigrew hit it. He also noted that detectives didn't argue that Koppi had run out of gas until six weeks after the incident.

Our Chino Hills DUI criminal defense lawyers wonder how much Koppi's past record had to do with the jury's decision in this case. As a rule, juries are not inclined to show mercy to repeat offenders, and Koppi's prior offense was aggravated assault, a serious crime. It also has nothing at all to do with the crime alleged in this case, which was driving under the influence of alcohol. Nonetheless we wouldn't be surprised if it made jurors less likely to believe that Koppi genuinely had car trouble -- which of course is not a criminal offense. And we're absolutely sure that the prior conviction will haunt Koppi later, at his sentencing, because aggravated assault is a "strike" crime. That means the sentence for any subsequent felony is doubled, whether or not it's a strike. Gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated normally carries four to 10 years in prison.

Continue reading "Driver Who Ran Out of Gas on Freeway Convicted of DUI Manslaughter" »

Our Placentia medical marijuana criminal defense attorneys were interested to see that a double DUI manslaughter case recently ended in a mistrial. On April 15, the Orange County Register reported that the case of Trevor Mark Coffman, 38, will have to be retried later in 2010 or 2011. Jurors in Coffman's case couldn't agree on whether he was guilty of two counts of negligent vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, for the deaths of Frank Howd, 62, and Catherine Malloy, 72. In addition, the crash left Howd's wife, Sally Lee Howd, with a broken skull and broken ribs that kept her from walking unassisted for six weeks afterward. Prosecutors claimed that Coffman was both drunk and high on marijuana when he crashed into Howd's stopped car on Interstate 5.

The crash took place late on the night of March 15, 2007. Howd and his wife, Sally Lee Howd, had traveled to the Los Angeles International Airport to pick up Malloy. As they made their way home, a Toyota in front of them was hit by a driver who left the scene. The disabled Toyota ended up facing the wrong way in the carpool lane, and Howd's Volvo hit it. Coffman's Ford F-150 then rear-ended the Volvo at high speed. Two tests of Coffman's blood-alcohol level found it was 0.099 and 0.105, and a blood test found marijuana in his system. Coffman argued that he is a legal medical marijuana user who did not smoke the night of the crash, and that other tests showed his BAC was under the legal limit. He told the court the accident happened so fast that he didn't have time to stop.

As Pomona marijuana criminal defense lawyers, we suspect that this jury deadlocked because Coffman really did present a strong defense. OCNN reported that a defense expert testified that Coffman's BAC was closer to 0.066, which is under the 0.08 legal limit, and that the marijuana in his system did not impair him. The article doesn't say why, but it's widely known that inactive marijuana-related substances called cannabinoids stay in blood for about a month, meaning that people who are not at all intoxicated can still test positive for marijuana use. If the expert was correct about both the marijuana and the alcohol, there would have been no evidence that Coffman was actually intoxicated. That evidence is a vital part of any prosecution for a DUI crime, because without it, it's much harder to prove that the accused was intoxicated. In this case, Coffman had to respond quickly to an unexpected accident on the road, which may also have influenced the jury.

Continue reading "Judge Declares Mistrial in DUI Vehicular Manslaughter Case With Medical Marijuana" »