California Criminal Lawyers Blog

It's very unusual for courts to reject a plea agreement between prosecutors and defendants. So our Garden Grove drunk driving criminal defense attorneys were interested to see an item about a rejected plea deal in the Inland Empire. According to the Contra Costa Times, a San Bernardino County judge on Jan. 24 declined to accept the deal made with accused driver Ashley Conner Young. Young is accused of gross vehicular manslaughter while driving under the influence in the death of Leyna Marie Basua, 26, of Pomona. The same crash seriously injured Basua's boyfriend, John Martin. Martin was among those protesting the plea agreement that would have given Young, 23, a year in county jail. He said the penalty was not sufficient, and that he was willing to take the chance that Young might be acquitted at trial.

The crash took place in October of 2009, when Young rear-ended Basua's vehicle on Interstate 15. The impact pushed Basua's car across five lanes of traffic, through a chain-link fence and into a tree. She suffered internal injuries and multiple broken bones but survived for nine months after the crash, until she later suffered a fatal internal infection. Martin's left arm was broken and his spine was injured. No blood-alcohol content information was reported for Young. However, she apparently was driving on a suspended license at the time from a previous DUI arrest that ultimately did not reach a conviction. At the scene, Young admitted to drinking but claimed a friend had been driving, which was ultimately proven false.

Prosecutors declined to comment on the reason for the one-year jail sentence, which is a departure from the minimum four-year sentence for DUI manslaughter. However, Basua's mother said she was told prosecutors didn't have enough evidence to prove the claim. Young's attorney said the decision to revoke the plea deal was likely caused by media coverage of protests by Basua's family and friends, rather than any change in the evidence. He said the deal should have been honored.

As Corona intoxicated driving criminal defense lawyers, we generally agree. Prosecutors don't offer lenient sentences because they are fond of criminals; they do it when they don't believe they could get a longer sentence in court. Often, as in this case, that means they're not confident in the evidence against the defendant. In this case, Young pleaded guilty with the understanding that she would serve a year in jail. Revoking the agreement means she is entitled to a trial after all, which means more uncertainty and more work for everyone involved. In fact, there's a possibility that Young may not be convicted, especially if prosecutors are right that the evidence is weak. The feelings of Basua's loved ones are understandable, but they cannot compensate for any genuine weaknesses in the case.

Continue reading "Judge Refuses Plea Bargain in San Bernardino DUI Manslaughter Case, Prompting Trial" »

Our San Juan Capistrano DUI criminal defense lawyers were sad to see that another driver has been sentenced to prison for a drunk driving death. As the Orange County Register reported Jan. 21, Christopher James Koppi of Anaheim was sentenced to 13 years in prison for causing the death of 59-year-old Richard James Pettigrew. Koppi, 29, is not accused of driving his car into Pettigrew's, but prosecutors say he was so drunk that he allowed his truck to run out of gas on the 57 freeway in Anaheim. The stalled pickup sitting in the road caused a chain-reaction crash, with Pettigrew's 1981 Datsun in the middle. Koppi was sentenced to 13 years in prison for gross vehicular manslaughter while driving under the influence, less than the minimum of 17 years the prosecution asked for.

The crash happened at about 4:30 a.m. on Aug. 26, 2006, as Pettigrew was coming home from his job as a security guard. Koppi had been drinking heavily, which may be why he didn't realize his pickup truck was about to run out of gas. Pettigrew was unable to stop in time to avoid the stalled pickup and slammed into it at highway speeds. Another, unnamed, driver then hit Pettigrew's car. Pettigrew died at the scene; no injuries were reported for Koppi or the other driver. Two hours after the accident, police measured Koppi's blood-alcohol content at 0.20, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08. He also had a prior drunk driving conviction as well as a conviction for aggravated assault. His defense attorneys and fiance said he was remorseful and was in alcohol rehabilitation, and asked for lenience.

As Riverside drunk driving criminal defense attorneys, we hope they're right. The 13-year sentence may be less than the prosecution wanted, but it's still a lot of time to think about the accident and its causes. Many drivers may wonder whether this accident truly counts as a DUI accident, since Koppi did not directly crash into Pettigrew. In fact, California law gives prosecutors broad leeway to charge drivers whose actions under the influence caused a crash, even indirectly. Koppi was convicted of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, which means he was accused of doing something grossly negligent that caused the fatal crash, while he was also intoxicated. Running out of gas on the freeway was enough to meet the test for gross negligence, even if that's a mistake that sober people also make.

Continue reading "Driver Who Ran Out of Gas on Freeway Gets 13 Years in Prison for DUI Manslaughter" »

Our Lake Forest drunk driving criminal defense lawyers were interested to see a news story about an unusual defense in a DUI case. San Diego's ABC 10 reported Jan. 11 on the opening statements in the trial of Anthony Guarino, 57, for causing a crash that killed one person and injured five more. Guarino is charged with DUI manslaughter and DUI causing injury in the Aug. 20 crash that killed Marc William Durham, 65, of Rancho Bernardo. His blood-alcohol content was measured at 0.15 about two hours after the crash, the article said, and Guarino admitted that he'd been drinking. But his DUI defense attorney said he suffered from severe sleep apnea causing occasional "micro-sleeps," in which the sufferer loses consciousness. That kind of episode caused the crash, the attorney said.

Guarino admitted to drinking at a bar in National City before the crash, both to police and to emergency room doctors. A witness testified that she was waiting to make a left turn when she saw Guarino's car coming down a hill and failing to slow down in time to avoid colliding with Durham's car. Police says Guarino was going 50-60 mph when his car hit the left rear side of Durham's. That set off a chain reaction involving four other cars and injuring a total of five people, including an eight-year-old boy. Guarino's DUI defense lawyer said he intended to turn left that day, but had a micro-sleep episode that caused his car to drift into another lane without applying his brakes. They argued that Guarino should face an ordinary DUI charge, not the manslaughter and injury charges, which could carry as much as 13 years in prison.

The prosecution in this case will likely argue that Guarino's sleep apnea defense is nonsense and direct jurors to consider his BAC instead. But as Murrieta intoxicated driving criminal defense attorneys, we know sleep apnea truly can cause the sort of episodes described. Sleep apnea is a condition in which breathing is interrupted or abnormally low while sufferers sleep, causing insufficient rest. Daytime sleepiness is one of the major symptoms -- so it's not surprising that sufferers might drift off, especially in the evening. In fact, sleepy driving is a distracted driving concern even for people without a sleep disorder. If Guarino can prove his sleep apnea cased this crash, it won't mean he faces no penalties; his BAC measurement still put him over the limit. But it would reduce the penalties he faces considerably by reducing the charges to a less serious DUI charge.

Continue reading "San Diego Man Charged With DUI Manslaughter Uses Sleep Apnea as a Defense" »

As Highland drunk driving criminal defense attorneys, we were sorry to see an article about serious criminal charges in an alleged DUI fatality and injury case. The Los Angeles Times LA Now blog reported Jan. 13 that Edward Stanley Butler, 70, has been charged with vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated without gross negligence. Butler is accused of driving drunk when he hit a car turning out of a parking lot in Orange. The resulting crash killed Tamiko Kaminaga, 60. Her 17-year-old son, Jorge Maresch, suffered a broken nose and cuts to his face. Butler was reportedly also injured. He is scheduled to be arranged Friday on the vehicular manslaughter charge and could face up to four years in prison if convicted.

According to an earlier article from the Orange County Register, the crash took place as Kaminaga was making a legal left turn out of a parking lot on South Tustin Street in Orange. Butler was driving south on the street in a pickup truck and failed to stop or slow down for Kaminaga's sedan. Police responding to the accident found an empty bottle of vodka in Butler's vehicle. Butler was sitting in the street next to his truck, and had slurred speech and red eyes, classic signs of intoxication. A blood-alcohol test showed that Butler's blood-alcohol level was 0.22, which is nearly three times the legal limit of 0.08 in California. Prosecutors told the media they plan to request that he be held in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Our Downey intoxicated driving criminal defense lawyers hope Butler has retained an experienced defense attorney, because this is a serious charge. A charge of DUI manslaughter without gross negligence can be a misdemeanor or a felony, and prosecutors in this case have chosen to charge it as a felony. However, police and prosecutors sometimes make mistakes, and even charges like these can be defended. For example, people making unprotected left turns almost always have to yield to oncoming traffic. If Butler and his defense lawyer can show that Kaminaga didn't check oncoming traffic carefully enough, they may be able to show that her own negligence caused or contributed to the crash. They may also be able to turn up problems with the BAC test that is responsible for the "driving while intoxicated" part of the charge.

Continue reading "San Bernardino Man Charged With Vehicular Manslaughter and DUI With Injury" »

A young man from Anaheim faces two counts of vehicular manslaughter, the Orange County Register reported Dec. 21. The case against Rafael Lopez, 18, caught the attention of our Corona drunk driving criminal defense attorneys because Lopez is accused of very serious crimes. Prosecutors say Lopez had a blood-alcohol level of 0.13 when he ran a red light in Buena Park and hit the car of Steven Uselton, 44, and Douglas Uselton, 17, as they were headed to a school debate tournament. A memorial to the Useltons drew hundreds of people Monday night at Oxford Academy in Cypress, where Douglas Uselton was a senior and a member of the baseball and basketball teams. Lopez was scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 21 in Santa Ana, and faces up to 13 years in prison.

Police say Lopez was drunk and speeding at 5:30 in the morning when he ran a red light at the intersection of Crescent and Knott Avenues in Buena Park. Prosecutors say his car hit the Useltons' car so hard that it was pushed 130 feet down the road. Both father and son were pronounced dead at the scene, while Lopez suffered minor injuries. He was treated and released at the hospital, then arrested for on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter driving under the influence. Because he is under 21, he is also in violation of California's zero tolerance DUI law, which makes it illegal to drive with a BAC of even 0.01. Teachers at Oxford Academy brought in grief counselors to the debate tournament after they learned what happened, and the school held a memorial Monday night for the Useltons.

As Fullerton intoxicated driving criminal defense lawyers, we'd like to point out that Lopez could also face no fewer than three separate charges related to the fact that he's under the age of 21. As we noted, drivers under 21 are subject to a "zero tolerance" law, which makes it a civil offense to drive with any amount of alcohol in your bloodstream at all. However, this is not a criminal offense; the penalty is losing your driver's license or delaying eligibility if you don't yet have one. Underage drivers with BACs at 0.05 or higher are also penalized by an under-21 DUI criminal law, an infraction carrying fines and probation. And just like drivers over 21, they can be charged with a regular DUI if they have a BAC of over 0.08. In this case, it's not clear whether prosecutors charged Lopez with any of these, since the DUI manslaughter charges are much more serious.

Continue reading "Teenaged Driver Charged With Manslaughter for DUI Crash That Killed Father and Son" »

Our Pomona DUI criminal defense lawyers wrote last month about the trial of an Orange County man for DUI manslaughter in an unusually brutal crash. Now, the Orange County Register reported Dec. 8, the jury has found Jeffrey David Kirby, 53, guilty of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence while driving under the influence, as well as a sentence enhancement for causing great bodily injury. The victim, TapouT clothing company owner Charles Lewis Jr., was allegedly racing with Kirby in high-powered sports cars when his Ferrari hit a pole and literally split in two. The crash also seriously injured Lewis's girlfriend, Lacy Lynn White. Kirby, of San Clemente, was acquitted on another charge of leaving the scene of the accident.

Lewis and Kirby were allegedly racing up Jamboree Road, Lewis in a 2004 Ferrari and Kirby in a vintage 1977 Porsche. Newport Beach police officer Jonathan Sunshine happened to pass by at the time of the crash. He said he saw two sets of headlights approaching fast, then one vehicle slammed into a concrete pole and shattered. Lewis was killed instantly and White was thrown from the vehicle. Kirby's vehicle stopped for a few seconds, then drove on and was found a few blocks away. Tests later discovered marijuana in his system and a 0.13 blood-alcohol content, two hours after the crash. This is his second DUI. Lewis had no drugs or alcohol in his system. Prosecutors claimed a drunk Kirby lost control of his Porsche and spun out, knocking the Ferrari into the pole. Kirby and his attorney argued that Lewis's speed was responsible for the crash.

As Newport Beach drunk driving criminal defense attorneys, we don't often see cases where a driver is criminally prosecuted for a crash that doesn't directly involve his vehicle. We suspect that more evidence was available in court than the Register presented, and we'd certainly need to see that evidence if we represented Kirby. In fact, one thing that struck us about this article was the lack of emphasis on Kirby's role in the crash itself. There's a lot of evidence that Kirby made other irresponsible choices -- drinking and driving and racing -- but none of this makes him guilty of crashing Lewis's car. In fact, if the two drivers were racing and speeding, both of them would be responsible for that choice and its consequences.

Continue reading "Driver Found Guilty of Killing MMA Clothing Entrepreneur in High-Speed DUI Crash" »

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" »

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" »

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 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" »

Our Lake Elsinore intoxicated driving defense lawyers were sorry to read about a recent sentencing in a DUI manslaughter case. The Orange County Register reported Oct. 12 on the sentencing of Joel Torrejon Miranda, 41, for driving drunk and causing the death of pedestrian Francisco Aquino. Miranda was a repeat drunk driver at the time of the 2009 crash, with one DUI conviction within the past decade and two from the 1990s. Miranda was convicted earlier this month of gross vehicular manslaughter and was sentenced Oct. 12 to 20 years to life in prison. The prosecutor in the case told the Register that Miranda will be eligible for parole after serving 10 years of his sentence.

According to the Register, Miranda was drunk when he turned into a Santa Ana apartment complex on Feb. 1, 2009. The turn put Miranda's truck into the path of a Mercedes, which hit the truck and forced it onto the sidewalk. The truck hit Aquino and pinned him against a wall. He later died at a hospital. The driver of the Mercedes was not hospitalized. Miranda fled the scene, but police tracked him down at home and arrested him about 40 minutes later. An hour after the crash, Miranda's blood-alcohol concentration was measured at 0.23, almost three times the legal limit of 0.08. At his sentencing, Miranda told the judge that he had promised his father, who had recently died, not to drink again.

It's unfortunate that Miranda will have to keep that promise in prison. The seriousness of this charge is part of why this story caught the attention of our Aliso Viejo drunk driving criminal defense attorneys. Because this was a DUI accident, we suspect that the actual charge against Miranda was gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, the more serious DUI manslaughter charge in California. Normally, this carries four, six or ten years in prison -- not fun, but not 20 to life. However, drivers can be sentenced to 15 to life if they have a previous gross vehicular manslaughter conviction, or if they have two or more prior drunk driving convictions. We suspect the higher charge comes from Miranda's past DUIs. The remainder could reflect sentencing for another charge the Register did not mention, such as a gross bodily injury enhancement or a conviction for the underlying fourth DUI.

Continue reading "Santa Ana Man Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Vehicular Manslaughter While Drunk" »

Our Fountain Valley DUI criminal defense lawyers have written in the past about the practice of charging DUI defendants with second-degree murder. This has been used in several recent Orange County drunk driving cases, including the ongoing high-profile case of Andrew Gallo, who is accused of killing Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart and two other people. The practice is striking because murder is a far more serious charge than DUI manslaughter, the typical charge when alleged drunk driving leads to a death. But according to a Sept. 13 article from the Orange County Register, murder is also the charge in the trial of a Los Angeles man who is accused of killing a 29-year-old woman in a wrong-way drunk driving accident. Angel Herrera Leal, 30, could get 15 years to life in prison if he is convicted of killing 29-year-old Rebecca Moon.

According to the article, Leal had two previous drunk driving convictions from 2005 and 2007 at the time of the December 27, 2008 crash. He was driving even though his license had been suspended. He is accused of having a blood-alcohol content of 0.29 when he entered Interstate 5 at 4:45 a.m. and drove north in the southbound lanes. Near Disney Way, he crashed head-on into a car driven by Jisun Park, 29. Moon, a passenger in Park's car, suffered blunt force trauma to her head and died, and Park suffered abdominal injuries. Park was also charged with driving under the influence, although the article did not give details. Nonetheless, Leal was charged with third-degree murder in Moon's death. The Orange County District Attorney's office said the murder charge was appropriate because Leal knew from his previous convictions that driving drunk is wrong, but did it anyway.

As Carson intoxicated driving criminal defense attorneys, we do not buy this logic. Every American who is old enough to drive knows that driving drunk is illegal and dangerous. If this had been Leal's first drunk driving charge rather than his third, he would still have known it was wrong -- and could still have been charged with DUI manslaughter. That crime better fits the circumstances -- an accidental killing caused by gross negligence under the influence, rather than an intentional killing with "an abandoned and malignant heart." It's difficult to argue that Leal had those types of feelings for Moon, whom he had probably never met, or that he intentionally set out to kill someone when he got behind the wheel. Rather, he made an irresponsible decision to drive under the influence of a lot of alcohol, with foreseeable results. This is a crime that carries serious penalties of up to ten years in prison -- already a very serious penalty, even without inappropriate second-degree murder charges.

Continue reading "Man Charged With Murder for Allegedly Driving Drunk in Fatal Anaheim Car Accident" »

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.

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