Arizona Cardinals Draftee Michael Floyd Says DUI Changed his Life

By guest-writer

Michael Floyd, who was drafted last week by the Arizona Cardinals after a successful career as a wide receiver at Notre Dame, recently told reporters that he thought his DUI arrest was a necessary wake-up call that ultimately helped him mature, according to a report from WNDU News.

Floyd’s drunk driving arrest happened late one night in March 2011, when his white Cadillac ran a stop sign just a block from the main entrance to Notre Dame’s campus.

When police arrested Floyd, they found that his blood alcohol content was 0.19, which is more than twice Indiana’s legal driving limit of 0.08.

According to Floyd, as soon as he was arrested, he “thought it was over.” The term “it” apparently refers to his playing career, which was indeed threatened by his off-the-field activities.

Sources say that the DUI arrest was Floyd’s third encounter with police during his brief tenure in South Bend, Indiana. In May 2009, Floyd was cited for underage drinking, and was also cited for the same charge in January 2010.

Before he was able to return to the team after his DUI, his coach, Brian Kelly, set a series of strict guidelines Floyd had to meet in order to be reinstated to the team. Floyd met these conditions, and ultimately had a stellar senior season for the Fighting Irish.

In addition to his success on the field, Floyd earned his degree in sociology just nine months after his arrest. And Floyd contends that the drunk driving incident forced him to reconsider his priorities as a person and a player.

According to Floyd, he recognized during his junior season that he had to meet a higher standard of behavior than the average college student.

In his words, “[b]eing in the spotlight all the time at Notre Dame, it’s hard to go out. You can’t be very social because there’s always stuff out there, plus media and people’s cellphones and such things like that.”

In recognition of these unique difficulties, Floyd says that he “kind of changed my whole” social scene and he and a small group of friends “kept each other in line and watched out for each other.”

Thanks to his efforts to modify his behavior after his brush with the law, Floyd proved to NFL teams that he could be a reliable professional, and he was rewarded for his efforts by being selected as the 13th overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft.

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Kansas Moves To Punish Refusing to Incriminate Yourself in DUI Cases

I’ve posted long and hard over the years about the inaccuracy and unreliability of breathalyzers.  See How Breathalyzers Work – and Why They Don’t.  But at least you could always refuse to take the test.  You aren’t required to incriminate yourself, right?  I mean, this is America and we have the Constitution to protect us.

Maybe not.  This looks like yet another in a long list of constitutional rights that are slowly disappearing in DUI cases.  See, for example, The DUI Exception to the Constitution, The Disappearing Right to Jury Trial…in DUI Cases, DUI and the Disappearing Right to Counsel, Are DUI Roadblocks Constitutional? and Forced Blood Draws by Cops: Constitutional?.

House Votes to Criminalize DUI Test Refusals

Topeka, KS.  May 17 —  After a lengthy discussion of constitutional rights, the House has approved a bill that makes it a crime for suspected repeat offenders to refuse a drunk-driving test…

Under Senate Bill 60, drivers with a DUI conviction or prior refusal of a DUI test would automatically be guilty of a misdemeanor if they refuse a test. The penalty would be the same as for a DUI conviction.

The House passed the bill 103-13, but not without some concerns expressed by members that it “tramples” the right to remain silent when accused of a crime.

Rep. Sean Gatewood, D-Topeka, said he’s seen many drunk driving crashes and the harm they cause working as a firefighter and paramedic.

But he said he was not comfortable with making it a crime to refuse to take a breath or blood test.

“These are American citizens and they have the right to remain silent, which this bill sort of tramples on, because if you just stand there silent … then you’re a criminal,” Gatewood said. “You have your 4th and 5th Amendment rights … and I just think there is no greater ridge to stand on than the Constitution of the United States.”

Gatewood proposed to send the measure back to a House-Senate conference committee for further work, but that motion died on a 23-88 vote.

Rep. Pat Colloton, R-Leawood, who carried the bill on the floor, acknowledged that its impact on constitutional rights was an important issue, but on balance she supported it.

She said courts are being clogged with repeat offenders who refuse the DUI test and take their chances with a jury.

Some lawmakers said stopping drunk drivers outweighed the constitutional questions.

“I would gladly walk the line, breathe into the tube and draw my blood if it would get repeat drunk drivers off the road,” said Rep. Bill Otto, R-LeRoy. “This is about people who are killing people.”

“This is not about constitutional rights,” he continued. “What about the constitutional right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? (a phrase from the Declaration of Independence, not the Constitution) When you’re killed by a drunk driver, they’ve deprived you of your life. Death penalty, when you did nothing wrong.”

So….if you refused to incriminate yourself, you would be convicted of a crime and given the same sentence as if you had been convicted of drunk driving.  In other words, you are basically convicted of drunk driving because you wouldn’t incriminate yourself!

Another constitutional right slowly fades away….

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 19th, 2012 at 8:33 am and is filed under Duiblog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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Drunk Driver Who Killed Ohio State Trooper Sent to Prison Again

By guest-writer

An Ohio resident who received a lifetime revocation of his driver’s license after striking and killing an Ohio state trooper while driving drunk was sentenced to prison this week after driving against the court’s orders.

43-year-old David Dye was sentenced to 30 months in prison after pleading guilty to a charge of driving under a specified lifetime suspension. The plea negotiation also included an open container violation, according to a report from local news source nbc4i.com.

In 2001, the resident of Westerville, Ohio struck and killed Ohio State Highway Patrol Trooper Frank Vazquez, who was conducting a traffic stop on a highway when Dye lost control of his vehicle and slammed into the officer’s patrol car.

One year later, Dye was convicted of aggravated vehicular homicide, a felony DUI, and he eventually served seven years in prison for his crime.

In addition to the homicide charge, the sentencing judge also took into consideration Dye’s previous drunk driving convictions, which occurred in 1987, 1989, 1991, and 1995.

Dye was released from prison a few years ago and was released from his parole in January 2011. His parole, however, came with a strict order from the judge that Dye would never be allowed to drive again.

Alas, Dye failed to abide by this rule, and concerned neighbors told police in November 2011 that Dye was driving again, and that he wasn’t always sober when he stepped behind the wheel.

So, for roughly two weeks, police were wary of running into Dye, and their vigilance was rewarded one night last November when they pulled Dye over in Genoa Township.

The police report indicates that Dye was seen going into a store to receive a haircut and police caught him driving away from the business on a Saturday afternoon.

To their surprise, the police discovered a cup of lemonade and vodka in Dye’s car, although Dye claims that he had not been drinking the vodka while he was driving.

Such a claim, of course, is not a valid defense to an open container violation, and the police had little patience for the man who had been responsible for the death of one of their own a decade ago.

So, Dye will serve 30 months in prison for driving to a barber shop, but the lesson to be learned in this case is that lifetime driver’s license suspensions are taken very seriously by the court system.

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Super Lawyers Names Attorney McShane a Rising Star

The 2012 issue of Super Lawyers Magazine has been released for Pennsylvania and Delaware and once again Attorney Justin McShane of The McShane Firm has been selected as a Rising Star in DUI Defense.
 Attorney McShane has once again been selected as a rising star in Pennsylvania DUI defense.
Super Lawyers Magazine uses a very critical selection process and in the end, only 2.5% of the attorneys in Pennsylvania are chosen for this award.  Justin has once again been recognized as a leading attorney in DUI defense. One of 4 in the entire state listed for DUI.
Over his career in Pennsylvania DUI defense, Justin has achieved a very high level of recognition around the country.  Many lawyers around the country refer to him as “Encyclopedia McShane” because of his in-depth knowledge about forensic science and DUI testing.  Many attorneys turn to him for advice when they need help in a tough case.
If you are searching for a DUI attorney in PA please visit Attorney McShane’s Avvo profile to see more endorsements.

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More Crime Lab Problems: Philly Lab Tech Flunk Competency Test

and time and time again we find out that these  simple requests are not being met.

THREE TRACE-evidence technicians have flunked a routine test administered to uphold the Philadelphia Police Department crime lab’s accreditation, police brass announced Tuesday.

Each technician tests hundreds of pieces of evidence a year for traces of blood and semen, so if investigators determine that the methods are problematic, it could throw countless court cases into question, authorities acknowledged.

City officials learned of the test failures “within the last 24 hours” and decided to announce them to assure the public that they are moving swiftly to address them, even though they’re fuzzy on many details, said Mike Garvey, director of the crime lab.

The lab has 12 trace examiners; they’re tested by an outside agency twice a year, six at a time, to ensure their competency. Although just half of the six most recently tested failed, the agency that administers the test hasn’t yet told the city which three flubbed it. They’re expected to do so by early June.

Until then, Garvey said, all six have been removed from their trace-examination duties. Once the three are identified, they will be retrained. Authorities will reexamine every case they handled, Garvey said. All six examiners tested are veterans, and until now none of the lab’s 12 trace technicians has failed a test since at least 2004, Garvey added. The 12 technicians handle about 3,000 cases a year.

“We don’t have all the answers yet,” Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said. “This is just starting.”

Garvey added: “It’s the right call, if there’s any question [about accuracy].”

Tuesday’s announcement comes about a year after police officials announced another embarrassing flub — miscalibrated Breathalyzer machines — that threw more than 1,100 drunken-driving cases into limbo. The goof prompted the District Attorney’s Office to review thousands of ongoing cases and even retry some.

Tasha Jamerson, spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s Office, said that so many details remain unknown about how or why the examiners flunked the test that she couldn’t comment on how it would impact ongoing court cases. n

Contact Dana DiFilippo at difilid@phillynews.com or 215-854-5934. Read her blog at phillyconfidential.com.

In cases like DUI where the crime lab reports make up the bulk of the evidence against the accused, these kinds of failures threaten many people with false DUI convictions. The problem is rampant and widespread.  I have witnessed numerous cases in Pennsylvania where blood tests have been proven to be scientifically invalid because the science was not there. It was not valid. It was not reliable.

Stay tuned to the happenings in Philly…I have a feeling we have only scratched the surface.

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New Changes to Pennsylvania DUI Law

A new law has passed the in the Pennsylvania State Senate which has increase

Pennsylvania passes new DUI laws

d the penalties for a  DUI conviction.  These new penalties apply to those DUI cases where a passenger is a minor (under the age of 18). These penalties are in addition to any existing penalties (see Pennsylvania DUI laws and penalties for more details) . We have summarized the new changes below:

1st Offense:
minimum fine of $1,000 (up from $300)
mandatory 100 hours of community service2nd offense:
Prison Time: 30-60 days imprisonment (minimum increased from 5 days to 30)
minimum fine $2500 (up from $500)3rd Offense:
Prison Time: 6 months- 2 years imprisonment (minimum increased from 10 days to 6 months)

Additionally, all DUI charges with a minor are graded as 1st degree misdemeanors.

If you are charged with a DUI in Pennsylvania please call 1-866-MCSHANE to understand the charges against you and how you can protect your rights.

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Whatever Happened to “Due Process” in DUI License Suspension Hearings?

So you got stopped last night and arrested for drunk driving. And right after the breathalyzer showed a blood-alcohol reading of .09%, the officer confiscated your driver’s license and gave you a a piece of paper that said it was immediately suspended.

What happened?, you ask. Can they do that? I thought I was presumed to be innocent, and the state has to prove my guilt beyond a reasonable doubt before they can punish me. And I remember something about the Constitution and due process: Can they suspend my license for DUI before giving me a chance to defend myself?

Good questions.

The Department of Motor Vehicles (or whatever they call it in your state) is required by law to immediately suspend the driver’s license of anyone arrested for (not convicted of) DUI who (1) has a .08% breath reading, or (2) takes a blood or urine test (which will be analyzed later), or (3) refuses to take any test. This means immediately — on the spot: the license is grabbed and the DUI suspension is legally effective the moment the officer signs the notice and hands it to you.

Viewed another way, the officer in a DUI case is cop, prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner. You have absolutely no rights. In fact, if you took a blood or urine test, they don’t even wait for the results (which will come back from the lab days later): they not only presume you are guilty, they also presume that the evidence will eventually show it!

So, again: How can they do that in America?

Well, at first MADD and various state legislatures decided to find a way to get drunk drivers off the highways RIGHT NOW — and not be diverted by any technicalities like, well, the Constitution. So they enacted so-called "APS" laws (the phrase stands for "administrative per se", referring to the "per se" crime of .08%, as opposed to the separate crime of driving under the influence of alcohol). They justified this by saying that a license was a "privilege", not a "right" — and since the license holder had no rights, the state could do what it wanted.

Well, the U.S. Supreme Court blew that justification out of the water. In Bell v Burson (402 U.S. 535) the Court acknowledged that the right to drive is a privilege. However, once the state gives someone a license, that person then has a property right in it — and that right cannot be taken away without giving him due process. And due process means a fair procedure by which he can contest the confiscation of his property.

The reaction to this has generally been to continue suspending licenses on the spot, but to then give the driver a short-term (30 days in California) temporary operating permit during which he can request an administrative hearing from the DMV. (In a few states, the process is handed over to the courts and the suspension merged with the criminal proceedings.)

MADD has been successful in getting the Feds involved; a highway appropriations bill was passed which pretty much coerced states into adopting APS suspensions — or else no funds.  Do these APS hearings in DUI cases provide due process?

In other words, how fair are they?

Let’s take California’s APS hearings. They are conducted by a "hearing officer". Is this an impartial judge? Well, he’s hardly impartial: He’s an employee of the DMV — the very agency that is trying to suspend the license (kind of like a judge being paid by the prosecutor). And he isn’t a judge. Actually, he isn’t even a lawyer; he’s only required to be a high school graduate.

So who is the prosecutor? He’s, well, the same guy.

That’s right: this DMV employee with no legal education is both judge and prosecutor. Put another way, this government beaurocrat, without any legal education, can object to the driver’s evidence — and then sustain his own objection!  He can deny the driver’s attorney’s request a week before the hearing for a delay to subpoena a witness, then grant himself a delay in the middle of the hearing.  Well, you get the picture…

Not too surprisingly, the DMV wins about 95% of these DUI hearings.

That’s called "due process" in a drunk driving case.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012 at 8:27 am and is filed under Duiblog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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20-Year-Old Woman Given 10 Years for Deadly New Year’s DUI Accident

By guest-writer
A 20-year-old Florida resident was recently sentenced to 10 years in prison for killing two men in a felony DUI accident on New Year’s Day 2010, according to a report from the Orlando Sentinel.
Earlier this year, Nieves pled guilty to two counts of DUI manslaughter and had waited several weeks for the judge to make a determination about the length of her sentence.
Sources indicate that, at the time of the accident, Toni Nieves was already on probation for a previous drunk driving incident when she struck and killed 18-year-old Bradley Summersill and his 22-year-old friend, Brian Walker.
Summersill and Walker had been driving to a nearby town to pick up a friend’s mother when their car was struck by Nieves’ vehicle.
The sentencing was fraught with emotion, as the mothers of the two men held up pictures of their dead sons while Nieves refused to lift her eyes to look at the pictures.
Summersill’s mother made an emotional appeal to Nieves, telling her that she “should have never been on the road that night,” as she fought back tears.
In response to the emotions displayed by the families of the victims, Nieves’ stepfather, Frank Petrillo, later offered an apology on her behalf, saying there was a “lot of anguish here and a lot of feeling” and noting that he and his family were deeply sorry for the tragic result of the accident.
At the time of the fatal DUI accident, Nieves was already serving probation for a previous DUI, and sources say that the terms of her probation prohibited her from driving, much less driving while under the influence of alcohol.
Sources say that Nieves’ blood alcohol content was measured at 0.189 percent, which is significantly higher than the legal limit of .08. She claims that she saw the other vehicle’s taillights and, instead of hitting her brakes, accidentally hit the gas pedal.
During the court proceedings, Nieves’ family claimed that Summersill, the driver of the other car, should share a portion of the blame because he allegedly pulled in front of Nieves’ car and reportedly had a blood alcohol level of 0.10 percent after the accident.
The judge may have taken this mitigating factor into consideration when sentencing Nieves, because the young driver faced a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.
Instead, Nieves will serve a decade in prison, which will be followed by five years of court-supervised probation. In addition, Nieves will eventually have to pay $20,000 in restitution to the families of the two sons for the cost of their funerals.

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Police Issue Arrest for Tulsa Man who Left Wife at Scene of DUI Crash

By guest-writer

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol has issued a warrant for the arrest of a man who allegedly crashed his car while driving drunk and left his severely injured wife at the scene, according to a shocking report from Oklahoma’s News on 6.

Sources say that Jerry Arthurs is wanted by state police for leaving the scene of a DUI accident in which his wife was paralyzed from the neck down.

The crash occurred on New Year’s Eve in Tulsa, Oklahoma, when Arthurs was reportedly driving while intoxicated down a dark country road when he smashed his vehicle into a tree on the side of the road.

Neither Arthurs nor his wife was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident, but Arthurs’ wife, who is the mother to the couple’s 6-month-old son, clearly suffered the brunt of the force of the impact.

After the accident, Arthurs reportedly called some friends to come and retrieve him while he left his wife suffering in the passenger seat. Police later discovered his wife, who spent 33 days in the hospital recovering from her injuries.

At first, doctors feared that she would be a quadriplegic because she could only feel sensation above her neck. However, after four months of rest and rehabilitation, she can reportedly use her arms and hands, and is regaining some movement in her legs.

According to Chiane Arthurs, the victim of the crash, “I can walk with a walker, not by myself, I have to have assistance. But I can take steps and stuff.”

Of course, the injury and her husband’s incredible actions have left emotional scars. In her words, “you cannot imagine the struggle and emotional and physical pain and everything that comes with an injury like this. It completely turns your life upside down.”

Fortunately, though, the woman is recovering, and she says her son was her primary motivation to regain her strength. Not surprisingly, she has filed for divorce from her fugitive husband.

For his action, Arthurs has been charged with ten separate crimes, including leaving the scene of an injury accident, driving drunk and causing great bodily injury, failing to render assistance at the scene of an accident, and failing to report a personal injury accident.

When Arthurs is finally caught, he will likely face a sentence that is far more serious than what he would have faced if he hadn’t fled the scene of the accident.

According to a spokesman for the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, Arthurs is a “fugitive on the run, and we’ll spare no expense finding this person.”

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Bobby Brown Pleads no Contest to Misdemeanor Drunk Driving Charge

By guest-writer

After pleading no contest last week to a misdemeanor DUI charge, singer Bobby Brown was sentenced to three years of probation by a Los Angeles County judge, according to a recent report from the Los Angeles Times.

Brown will not have to spend any time in jail after his arrest last month for drunk driving, and will have to pay a fine of $390. In addition, Brown will have to attend a 90-day alcohol education program according to prosecutors from the city attorney’s office.

The famous singer had been arrested March 26 in Los Angeles after a California Highway Patrol officer saw him talking on his cell phone while driving, which is not allowed in the City of Angels.

After police pulled him over, they suspected that Brown was intoxicated, and asked him to perform a field sobriety test. Much to his chagrin, Brown apparently failed the test, and was promptly taken into police custody.

Sources say that Tiffany Feder offered her services as a DUI attorney to Brown, who arrest came only four days after the Los Angeles County coroner’s office released their findings about the cause of Whitney Houston’s death.

Houston and Brown were married for 14 years before the celebrity power couple divorced in 2007. The pair had a tumultuous end to their marriage, and their marital difficulties were reportedly compounded by Brown’s numerous troubles with the law.

Most notably, Brown had another drunk driving incident in Florida in 1996. In addition, sources have long speculated that Brown, like his former wife, had a long struggle with drug and alcohol abuse.

The couple’s dirty laundry was aired often during their 2005 reality show, which was simply titled “Being Bobby Brown.”

Brown’s relatively light sentence has stirred some criticism by observers who are suspicious of what they perceive as favorable judicial treatment for celebrities who are arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol.

Brown faced a maximum sentence of a year in county jail if he had been convicted, and critics will likely complain that his probation sentence is too weak.

However, the vast majority of criminal cases, including DUI cases, end in a plea bargain. And, in a plea bargain, defendants typically admit to their guilt in exchange for a lighter sentence.

Thus, it’s very common for a DUI defendant to receive a relatively light sentence after pleading guilty, and there is little evidence that Brown was the recipient of any favorable treatment.

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DUI Myth Busters: High BAC Can’t be Won

High BAC DUI cases can be challenged if you have the right lawyer.

Many people who are charged with a DUI believe that cases with a reported High BAC number cannot be won.  This, however, is not correct.

(At The McShane Firm, we have won many high BAC cases in the past: High BAC cases won by The McShane Firm)

A good DUI lawyer is trained in how to challenge these test results.  Some of the common challenges are:

Were the machines properly maintained and calibrated?Did the person conducting the test follow the right procedure?Were any constitutional rights violated to obtain the test?Could the specimen have been contaminated?Was the specimen handled properly?Were there other reasons that may have caused a high test result other than ethanol?

As you can see there are many questions that need to be answered before a test result can be considered as evidence. (Please see DUI breath testing and DUI blood testing)  A good DUI attorney will have the scientific knowledge and trial skills needed to fight high BAC cases.

However, many DUI lawyers do not throughly challenge the evidence in the case and  thus leave you helpless in front of the prosecution.  This is why it is important to find the best DUI lawyer available to defend your case and protect your rights.

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Tampa Bay Man Sentenced to 10 Years for Ninth DUI Conviction

By guest-writer

A Tampa Bay resident who has reportedly been a binge drinker for more than 30 years has somehow survived long enough to tally his ninth DUI conviction, according to an incredible report from the Tampa Bay Times.

And a Florida judge who had little sympathy for a man with a clear disease has sentenced him to 10 years in prison for his latest brush with the law, in which the man was caught driving drunk despite the fact that his license had been permanently revoke.

According to sources, 48-year-old James Vernon Smith pleaded with Judge Kimberly Fernandez for mercy before she announced his sentence.

Wearing an orange jumpsuit and clad in shackles around his wrists and ankles, Smith asked the judge not to throw him in jail, and claimed, “I’m more than just a drunk. I’m a son, I’m a brother, I’m a father and there’s still good left in me.”

Despite this plea, Judge Fernandez said the man’s conduct “simply demonstrates a flagrant disregard for the law,” which led to her decision to levy a 10-year jail sentence and five years or probation.

After he is released from jail, Smith will also receive psychiatric and alcohol evaluations, although his DUI lawyer argued that Smith should receive more treatment immediately, rather than jail time.

In the words of Smith’s attorney, the “reality is that he will go sit in a prison cell for the next eight years and he won’t receive the help he needs.”

The attorney also observed that a mental health counselor employed by the state said that Smith suffers from several mental disorders which went undiagnosed until last week but have had a significant impact on Smith’s behavior.

In fact, the mental health counselor also observed that Smith’s mental illnesses likely contributed to his binge drinking, and that the man needs serious psychiatric help in order to remedy his problems.

While the judge listened respectfully to the lawyer’s arguments, she was ultimately swayed by the extreme disregard for DUI laws displayed by Smith, and decided that a more severe punishment was warranted.

In addition to his time in jail, Smith will also be required to perform up to 100 hours of community service and he will have to give speeches to younger people about the dangers of driving while intoxicated.

Sources say that Smith lives in Louisiana and works an underwater welder. He also has two daughters who live in Florida.

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Orange County DUI Checkpoint Locations: Buena Park

The following information was released to our Orange County DUI Lawyers by the Buena Park Police Department.

Buena Park Police Department Traffic Unit will be conducting a DUI/Drivers License Checkpoint on May 18, 2012, on the 8000 block of La Palma Ave, within the city limits between the hours of 7 p.m. and 2 a.m.

Now follow my pen (Photo credit: FrogMiller)

Officers will be contacting drivers passing through the checkpoint for signs of alcohol and/or drug impairment. Officers will also check for proper licensing and will strive to delay motorists only momentarily. Drivers caught driving impaired can expect jail, license suspension, and insurance increases, as well as fines, fees, DUI classes, other expenses that can exceed $10,000.

“Over the course of the past three years, DUI collisions have claimed 11 lives and resulted in 718 crashes injuring 88 members of our community,” said Sgt. Nunez.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), checkpoints have provided the most effective documented results of any of the DUI enforcement strategies, while also yielding considerable cost savings of $6 for every $1 spent. Checkpoints are placed in locations that have the greatest opportunity for achieving drunk and drugged driving deterrence and provide the greatest safety for officers and the public.

“Deaths from drunk and drug-impaired driving are going down in California,” said Christopher J. Murphy, Director of the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS). “But that still means that hundreds of our friends, family and co-workers are killed each year, along with tens of thousands who are seriously injured. We must all continue to work together to bring an end to these tragedies. If you see a Drunk Driver – Call 9-1-1.”

Funding for this checkpoint is provided to Buena Park Police Department by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, targeting those who still don’t heed the message to designate a sober driver.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 10th, 2012 at 6:06 pm and is filed under Dui Checkpoints, DUI News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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New Spray Makes You Instantly Drunk

A new alcohol spray claims it can get you drunk without the side effects. I wonder how it will affect DUI cases.

The inventor of a new spray claims that he has developed a spray that can make a person instantly drunk for a few moments:

A French American scientist has invented a new alcohol spray that instantly intoxicates the user. However, the effects are nearly as brief, wearing off in a matter of moments.

The spray, WA|HH Quantum Sensations, was created by David Edwards and was unveiled during a recent Paris exhibition.

The short-term effects are reportedly due to the 0.075 millileter dosage. In other words, it would take 1,000 sprays to equal the level of alcohol contained in one conventional drink.

Every time a new technology in drinking or drugs hits the market, there are a number of questions that arise:

How users will test on breath machines?Will this be detectable in a blood sample?Will it simply show as EtG or EtOH in the BrAC or blood sample indistinguishable from old fashioned consumption with a much longer pharmacodynamic effect?How MADD and other DUI lobbies will react to this?Will there be legislation in regards to the use of this spray?

and one last question for the DUI attorneys out there:

How long before you get a client who was wrongfully charged with a DUI after using this spray if it is true the the intoxicating effects leave nearly as soon as they come on yet the result from the chemical tests look indistinguishable from old fashioned drinking-based consumption?

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Summertime- DUI Time

Summertime means picnics, fun and...DUI

Pennsylvania is an exciting place during the summer.  With beautiful national parks, historical landmarks, theme parks and many other attractions, there sure is a lot to do here PA.  However, along with the pick up in activity and excitement, there is certainly an up-tick in the number of people arrested for DUI.

“Why does this happen and how can you protect yourself?” will be the theme for our upcoming series “Summertime – DUI Time.”

One of the best ways to protect yourself from being charged with a DUI or any crime is to know the laws and your rights.  We will focus on the specific laws which are related to the summer and share ways to protect yourself and your family.

So stay tuned to our series “Summertime – DUI Time”.

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Recent DUI for Amanda Bynes Draws Comparisons to Lindsay Lohan

By guest-writer

A recent DUI arrest for young actor Amanda Bynes has some celebrity watchdogs wondering if the former child star is following in the footsteps of Lindsay Lohan, another child star who struggled when she struck adulthood.

According to a recent report from the Huffington Post, Bynes was arrested for drunk driving on April 6 after she allegedly sideswiped a police car.

For curious readers, sideswiping a police car is perhaps the worst driving maneuver to make, especially if you’ve had a bit too much to drink.

After the incident, sources who had seen Bynes before her arrest claimed that the 26-year-old starlet had been drinking at a hotel before getting behind the wheel, but that she “seemed fine to drive” and “never seemed drunk.”

Bynes’ level of drunkenness, though, will be a matter for a court to decide, as a judge will likely look to her sobriety tests and blood or breath tests, if she took any after the accident.

Thanks to Bynes’ recent arrest, media outlets have been drawing comparisons between the star of “What I Like About You” and Lindsay Lohan, who has long dominated the front covers of gossip magazines due to her increasingly erratic behavior and notable encounters with police.

However, someone close to Bynes told RadarOnline that the comparison is “ridiculous” because “Amanda has never been arrested for drug possession or stealing anything.”

The source claimed that the DUI arrest was an isolated incident, and that there is little possibility that Bynes is “headed down the same road” as Lohan.

Interestingly, despite their similar age and geographic location, Bynes doesn’t know Lohan, and she claims that the media’s comparisons of the two reveal a certain amount of sexism in the way that women are treated in Hollywood.

According to the source close to Bynes, men in Hollywood who get arrested for drunk driving “don’t face the same scrutiny that women do.” This imbalance is reportedly what upsets Bynes more than any comparisons to other actors.

Nevertheless, other friends of the young actor are concerned about what they perceive as her increasingly strange behavior, and are worried that she could be headed in the wrong direction.

In recent months, Bynes has issued a series of bizarre tweets, including tweets that included racy photos of herself and ones in which she claimed to prefer “chocolate men.”

Bynes reportedly announced her retirement from acting at the tender age of 24 after starring in Nickelodeon’s hit show, “All That,” where she began working in 1996.

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Orange County DUI Checkpoints: Huntington Beach DUI checkpoint

Our Orange County DUI Lawyers have learned that the Huntington Beach Police Department will be conducting a DUI/Drivers License checkpoint on Saturday night, May 5, 2012 at 9:00 PM.

In Ingersoll v. Palmer…the landmark DUI checkpoint case…the California Supreme Court ruled that sobriety checkpoints must adhere to specific requirements in order to be constitutionally recognized.

If they do not, your California DUI defense attorney may be able to have your DUI charges reduced or even dismissed. These requirements relate to:

who makes decisions with respect to the operation of California sobriety checkpoints,when and how DUI roadblocks are operated, andhow intrusive the procedures are to those stopped at a DUI checkpoint. If the road looks like this, pull over.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 3rd, 2012 at 11:46 am and is filed under Dui Checkpoints, DUI News, DUI politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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Alaska Man Charged with DUI After Crashing ATV With Daughter in Tow

By guest-writer

In a story that reads like a piece of bizarre fiction, an Alaska man has been accused of driving and crash his ATV while intoxicated, with his 5-year-old daughter in tow, according to a disturbing report from the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

Sources say that 36-year-old Keri Lee Koch has been charged with driving under the influence and reckless endangerment for his driving exploits. In addition, officials have charged Koch with reckless assault for his tussle with Alaska State Troopers at the scene of the accident.

The scene at the accident was, in brief, disturbing. A witness who reported the crash said he saw Koch and his young daughter fall to the ground while the ATV continued down the road.

When state troopers arrived on the scene, Koch was reportedly unconscious, but his daughter was conscious and screaming for help.

When medics arrived, sources say that Koch woke up and refused to leave the ambulance in which his daughter was being treated for serious head trauma, despite repeated requests for him to leave by both medics and police.

After he repeatedly refused to leave the ambulance, a state trooper grabbed Koch’s arm to pull him out, and the two fell to the ground after Koch resisted. Soon, though, the trooper was able to place Koch in handcuffs and under arrest, according to the criminal complaint against Koch.

Sources indicate that Koch was taken to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital and was later released. His daughter, however, was not so fortunate.

Apparently, the young girl was also taken to the hospital after she was treated for head trauma at the scene and was placed on a ventilator.

The girl’s whereabouts now, however, are unknown, as a hospital employee told sources earlier this week that the girl was no longer at that hospital, and no information about her condition was available at press time.

With his daughter being treated for head trauma, a DUI arrest was likely the last thing on Koch’s mind, but he will soon have to answer for his irresponsible actions.

According to sources, Koch had a blood alcohol content of .108 long after the crash, and he admitted to drinking a “few shots” before climbing behind the wheel of his ATV.

And, given the fact that the accident involved such a young child, and that he was involved in a physical altercation with police after the crash, a court is unlikely to take pity on Koch when it is time for sentencing.

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‘Scarface’ Actor Who Played Tony Montana’s Henchman Arrested for DUI

By guest-writer

Angel Salazar, the actor who played Tony Montana’s cocaine-fetching friend Chi Chi in the iconic gangster film, “Scarface,” was reportedly arrested for a DUI last week in Brooklyn, according to a report from TMZ.com.

A police report indicates that Salazar was seen swerving through traffic in his 1999 Volvo just after midnight last Thursday night. When police pulled him over, they discovered that he appeared to be intoxicated and smelled strongly of alcohol.

After he was taken to the police station, Salazar took a took a breathalyzer test and his blood alcohol level registered as a .121, which is significantly higher than the legal limit of .08.

After blowing a .121, Salazar was immediately arrested and was booked in a New York jail on three separate counts of driving under the influence.

There is a bit of irony to Salazar’s arrest, as the character he is most famous for spent most of the “Scarface” film eluding police by performing a series of increasingly illegal (and dangerous) errands.

Of course, in the film, his character meets an untimely end at the hands of a drug rival, so the ending to his real-life brush with the law will be much more pleasant, although it could still lead to a heavy fine, jail time, or a suspended license.

Interestingly, in an interview with TMZ, Salazar admitted to drinking on the night he was arrested, but he claims that he believed he was sober enough to drive.

And, in his interview, Salazar does nothing to dispel the myth (or reality?) that police and other members of the criminal justice system are just as susceptible to the cult of celebrity as the rest of us.

According to Salazar, he believed he might be able to get off with a simple warning after one of the responding officers recognized him from “Scarface” and pulled up the actor’s picture on his cell phone.

The officer’s alleged interest in the celebrity, however, did not get Salazar off the hook, as the actor is currently out on bail and still awaiting his court date for his three DUI charges.

So, if nothing else, this incident could help assuage the concerns of a public that is wary of celebrities receiving preferential treatment from police officers and judges alike.

After all, if one of Tony Montana’s most lethal lieutenants cannot avoid the long arm of the law, then other celebrities will likely also receive fair treatment under DUI laws, as long as the responding officers are as impervious to celebrity as these noble officials.

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Orange County Cinco De Mayo DUI special enforcement

Just a reminder from your friendly DUI Specialist Orange County, that this weekend is a “special enforcement period” for all law enforcement.  That means that roving patrols, DUI checkpoints, may be in place, and all officers on duty will be looking for persons driving under the influence, drunk driving, DWI, DUI, or just plain drunk.  Better to be careful than be arrested for an Orange County DUI.

Wishing you smooth sailing (and no DUIs) for this Cinco De Mayo in Orange County!

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Alcohol, Driving under the influence, dui lawyer, dui lawyer newport beach, dui lawyers long beach, dui lawyers los angeles, dui lawyers newport beach, dui lawyers orange county, dui specialist orange county, Law, lawyer, long beach dui lawyers, los angeles dui, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, newport beach dui lawyers, orange county, Orange County California, orange county dui, orange county dui arrests, orange county dui checkpoint locations, orange county dui courts, orange county dui lawyer, orange county dui lawyers, orange county dui schools, orange county dui statistics, United States

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 3rd, 2012 at 11:52 am and is filed under Dui Checkpoints, DUI News, DUI politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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External Quality Assurance Auditor for Pennsylvania Forensics Labs

If the forensic labs are not doing their jobs properly, we will show that in court.

Forensics, in the form of both blood and breath testing, is a big part of a DUI case.  This is why I have dedicated myself to the study of forensic science so I can offer the best defense for my clients.  You have to know the science to hold the scientists accountable.

In my studies of analytical chemistry (the science behind the DUI tests), I have found that crime labs are not following the scientific procedures they are supposed to be following, their methods lack validity, and the efforts are not traceable  This can and does produce erroneous and unreliable results. I hold them responsible.

As most DUI defense attorneys do not know about these issues in detail, they are not able to cross-examine lab technicians and thus these technicians become lax and overconfident.  They know nobody is watching them…except for The McShane Firm.

As a leading expert in Gas Chromatography (the test used to determine blood alcohol levels) I challenge the State and their pseudo-science to hold them accountable.  The tests are only valid and reliable if the proper validated procedures are followed. I make sure that if they haven’t been followed, they are challenged in court.  Many times, this has lead to blood test evidence being ruled as not admissible or carry no weight, thus winning the case for my clients.

Every case, every judge, every jury is different. So just as in life there are no guarantees about the outcome of your case, what I can guarantee you is that we will offer you a rigorous defense and challenge the evidence all with one singular goal: to protect your rights.

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Los Angeles Police Department to Increase DUI Checkpoints for Cinco de Mayo Holiday

For many, Cinco de Mayo is a time to gather with coworkers, friends, and family for margaritas and to celebrate an important cultural holiday.

However, law enforcement agencies are beefing up DUI saturation patrols and California DUI sobriety checkpoints to stop, test, and arrest drivers they suspect of being under the influence.

Here are the latest Los Angeles DUI sobriety checkpoints that are scheduled for this weekend. For more information, you can contact the local law enforcement agency a couple of hours before the reported time to learn the exact locations of some of the more general posts.

Thursday 5/3
The Los Angeles Police Department will conduct saturation patrols in Van Nuys from 6pm Thursday night to 2am Friday morning.

Friday 5/4/12
Sobriety checkpoints will be operated at the intersections of Vermont and Sixth Street and at Hollywood Blvd. and Gower St. from 7 pm Friday to 3am Saturday.

Saturday 5/5/12
LAPD will operate sobriety checkpoints at the intersections of Cahuenga Blvd. and Northlawn Drive in North Hollywood from 7pm Saturday to 3am Sunday.

The California State University, Northridge Police Department will conduct a sobriety checkpoint beginning at 9pm Saturday to 3am Sunday at an intersection near the CSUN campus.

Sunday 5/6/12
DUI saturation patrol will be conducted in 77th Street area from 12pm to 8pm.

Sobriety checkpoints will be operated at the intersection of Imperial Highway and Main Street in Southwest area from 7pm Sunday to 3am Monday.

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Clarification on DUI Prescription Drugs

On a recent post about DUI prescription drugs a reader commented that prescription drugs in fact do impair drivers and thus they are not innocent.  I feel this issue needs to be clarified.

Face it- Cops mess up and arrest innocent people. Bad laws just make matters worse.

While many prescription drugs can cause impairment, there is a growing number of cases where a driver took prescription drugs, was not impaired but was charged for a DUI drugs violation anyway. A doctor prescribed drug is perfectly safe and non-impairing despite use when the person is in the therapeutic range which is totally different from person to person and over the use history by that person.  Here is a common scenario:

A common citizen who is not impaired is driving down the highway late at night.  The person doesn’t keep a perfect lane.  A police officer working on a DUI patrol sees this and pulls the driver over.

When asked to perform the field sobriety tests, the driver (maybe from nervousness or drowsiness) stumbles.  The officer assumes this person is impaired.  Upon questioning the driver honestly reveals that he/she takes prescription medication.  The officer assumes that the prescription drug is causing the perceived impairment and arrests the driver for DUI drugs.

Swerving and stumbling are not specific to impairment.  Someone could be drowsy or clumsy. [Even some police officers can't do the sobriety tests.]  Furthermore, all prescription drug users are not impaired.   The assumption that prescription drugs must have caused this impairment is faulty and downright ridiculous.

Like I have mentioned before, law enforcement is a human endeavor.  Police officers make mistakes and this problem is compounded by the fact that they go through very little meaningful training on DUI or DUID.

If the police were perfect, we wouldn’t have criminal defense attorneys and we wouldn’t have movements like The Innocence Project.

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Top Australian Golfer Pulled Over for Drunk Driving in Arizona

By guest-writer

A top Austrian golfer spent a night in an Arizona jail after he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol when he crashed his car into a house, according to a report from the Brisbane Times.

Matthew Giles, a 22-year-old Australian who plays on the PGA’s Nationwide Tour, was allegedly intoxicated when he crashed his car through a wall and reportedly severed a gas pipe, which forced police to evacuate people from several homes in the area.

Sources indicate that Giles faces a felony DUI charge because prosecutors felt that his high level of intoxication and wild behavior amounted to an “extreme” violation of DUI laws.

The accident happened in Gilbert, a town southeast of Arizona, where witnesses reported that they saw the car traveling at a high speed before they heard “screeching tires and a loud crash,” according to a police report.

Giles was reportedly trying to make a left turn at a very high rate of speed when he lost control of his car and slammed into a single family home.

A police spokesperson also told local journalists that the car “car went through a wall in the house, with the front end of the car entering the home itself” and later “hit a gas line, causing a natural gas leak,” which forced an evacuation of nearby homes until authorities could turn off the gas line.

According to sources, it will take about two weeks for scientists to determine the results of the driver’s blood test, but one police officer on the scene claimed that Giles’ performance on field sobriety tests showed that he had “some pretty high impairment levels.”

Miraculously, no one in the house was injured, and Giles and the passenger in his car were also uninjured. Had someone been injured in the crash, Giles would likely face an even more severe punishment.

Interestingly, after his arrest, Giles spent the night in Maricopa County’s 4th Avenue Jail, which is run by the infamous Sherriff Joe Arpaio, who has gained notoriety as “America’s toughest sheriff” thanks to his publicity-friendly practices, such as forcing inmates to wear pink clothing and handcuffs.

Giles was born in Sydney, Australia, but was a star member of the golf team at the University of Southern California from 2007 to 2009. Giles won numerous awards during his college career, including two different All-American honors.

Sources say Giles still plans to play in a tournament next week, but the golfer could be facing serious jail time or hefty financial penalties if he is found guilty of a felony DUI.

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