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DUI Arrest and SR-22 requirements
After a DUI arrest in Los Angeles the arrested driver is likely not only to face a criminal case in Los Angeles Superior Court, but also is likely to face an administrative prosecution by the DMV to suspend or revoke the driver’s license. These two procedures are independent of each other and even if the DMV is dismissed (such as with a plea to a reduced charge), the driver’s license can be suspended by the DMV based on administrative hearing after a DUI arrest. Our skilled Los Angeles DUI defense attorneys will defend you in DMV hearing and in Criminal Court. If administrative hearing is lost and suspension is ordered by the DMV against the driver, after period […]
A DUI trial: winning a DUI case in Los Angeles
In this article, Los Angeles DUI Defense Lawyer discusses A DUI trial. Click on the links below to go directly to your topic of interest. Can a Judge Punish A Defendant For Taking His DUI Case To a Trial? DUI Trial: Scientific Argument Expert Witnesses at a DUI trial in Los Angeles Can a DUI Case be dismissed when the courts are congested with other cases? Can a Judge Punish A Defendant For Taking His DUI Case To a Trial? One of the reasons many defendants accept a plea bargain is to avoid harsher punishment. Often people worry that a judge will punish a defendant going to trial. That can happen because some judges will see a defendant going to trial […]
How The DUI Punishment Changed Over The Years
Over the past 30 years the DUI law changed significantly – more so recently. Recently I came across old cases that discuss driver’s license suspensions in California in 1969. Clearly less onerous: In Walker v. DMV 274 Cal. App 2d 793, Walker refused a chemical test and faced a two person board – to decide if his license should be suspended for 6 month. Nowadays, there is a hearing in front of a one DMV hearing officer who’s adverse decision will suspend the driver’s license for one year after first offense within ten years. In the 1980th, the National Highway Safety Board recommended that states lower the blood alcohol level to .08 percent. It took many years for all the […]
Categorical Approach for Immigration Law
Categorical Approach – is a concept of the immigration law to determine if someone is deportable or not. Because immigration law constantly changes, it is very important to consult a Los Angeles post-conviction attorney prior to pleading guilty to any crime. For example, recently, the Supreme Court held that “obstruction of justice” is an aggravated felony and includes Penal Code 32 (accessory after the fact) and Penal Code 136 (dissuading a witness). Prior to this decision, dissuading a witness was not an aggravated felony because in California no legal process was required to be accused of this law. This Supreme court decision changed consequences for pleadign guilty in California to either of the 2 crimes making both deportable if the […]
Can Prosecutor File Two Separate Criminal Cases Against Same Person?
Often a situation arises when a driver is pulled over and is cited or arrested for a crime. Later, law enforcement realizes that that driver was guilty of another crime. At that point, the law enforcement will attempt to make sure that all crimes driver (defendant) is guilty of are on the same complaint. Sometimes, by the time the prosecution realizes that defendant is guilty of additional crimes, he or she already plead guilty to that first charged crime. In an event like that, the prosecution should be prohibited because of a due process violation. The Supreme Court in People v. Kellett ruled just the same barring prosecution for a “felon in possession of a gun” after Elmer Kellett plead […]
DUI Defense: Forced Blood Draws in California DUI Cases
CALIFORNA DUI: PEOPLE V. FISCALINI FORCED BLOOD DRAW CASE To defend a DUI case in Los Angeles, a DUI defense attorney will often use a “search and seizure” motion to get a dismissal. A Judge can dismiss a case if the DUI police do something improper, such as pull over a person suspected of a DUI without a reason or take blood to analyze for alcohol without permission. Because sometimes blood tests done by police in DUI cases are illegal, dismissing your DUI can be possible. Here we discuss 1 case that is based on a consensual blood draw and was used to prosecute a DUI in California. A very important court case is the forced blood draw case of […]
Changes to DUI laws in California
Many Los Angeles DUI defense attorneys are expecting that the DUI law in California will change to be harsher on the drivers. The most likely changes, if they are to come, would be some combination of the following: (1) making DUI crimes priorable for longer than the current 10 years priorability. (2) making some level of THC in blood be a “per se” DUI – such as the case with alcohol where a .08% BAC is a DUI regardless of the level of intoxication. (3) reducing the level of alcohol at which a driver is in violation of DUI laws lower than the current 0.08 percent. This possibility is based on many prosecutorial experts believing that most people’s attention and […]
Out-of-State Drivers and California DUI Convictions.
In California, the driver’s license of a person convicted of a DUI will be suspended by the DMV. But what happens when a driver without a California driver’s license gets arrested for a DUI in Los Angeles or anywhere else in California for that matter? When arrested for a DUI, the DMV will assign an “X” number to the out-of-state driver arrested for DUI. DMV assigned “X” numbers it to track drivers who do not have California driver’s licenses or ID cards. If a driver gets a conviction for a DUI in Los Angeles, the DMV will match the record of conviction to the “X” number and place a hold on the driving record, as if the driver’s license is […]
Can A Driver be pulled over for looking worried and then arrested for a DUI in Los Angeles?
It is no fun to be followed by a police officer who suspects that you are driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Once the officer have that suspicion, he will look for patterns of driving that are consistent with the driver being intoxicated. In short, he will look for a reason to stop the car so that he can smell “odor of alcoholic beverage”, observe “bloodshot watery eyes” to confirm his suspicion and to conduct a DUI investigation that can result in your arrest and prosecution for a DUI in Los Angeles. Sometimes, an officer fails to see a vehicle code violation and is left with just a “hunch”. Can an officer initiate a traffic stop when he […]
DUI Arrest At Home
Here Los Angeles DUI attorney discusses how to defending a Los Angeles DUI where the police came and arrested someone at their home. An obvious defense for a DUI case like this is to argue that at the time of driving, there was no impairment. Usually, a police officer has to personally observe a misdemeanor to place a person under arrest without a warrant (Penal Code section 836). In 1997, California created an exception to this rule to allow police not to observe the commission of a misdemeanor to arrest for violations of the California Vehicle Code. (Vehicle Code section 40300.5). That exception flies in face of the Search and Seizure protection of the U.S. Constitution. Now, police can make […]