By Morgan Brickley
It does not matter your age, economic status or vehicle when you are in the turmoil of your first DUI offense.
It is scary.
The fear of realizing what could have happened and the fear of what will happen, these are legitimate concerns when trying to understand your DUI arrest.
When faced with a DUI, especially your first DUI, it is imperative to find a DUI lawyer.
Find an attorney who is familiar with DUI offenses and has the connections and expertise to gain the best possible outcome.
Below are some key characteristics to look for when deciding on legal counsel to help in a DUI arrest.
- Make sure the attorney is ABA (American Bar Association) approved in your state.
- Find out if there are any complaints against the attorney. If there are, decide how pertinent they are to your case and if they warrant continuing the search.
- Does the lawyer have an established payment arrangement – one that meets your needs?
- Are they available to handle your case from start to finish? Make sure the DUI attorney has the resources to handle all aspects of your case.
Finding a DUI attorney to help you fight your DUI offense, may help lighten the harm to your financial, social and overall well being.
By Morgan Brickley
As of Sept. 1, people in Louisiana who refuse to take a breath test will have their driver’s license suspended for one year. The penalty is twice as long as the current penalty for breathalyzer refusal.
“Now … it’s worse if you refuse the test,” said DWI attorney Robert Fleming.
Under Louisiana DUI law, a driver who refuses a blood alcohol test on a first DUI offense will have his or her driver’s license suspended for six months and 18 months for a second refusal.
The new law that Gov. Bobby Jindal signed on June 1 doubles the first offense penalty and suspends the offender’s license for two years on a subsequent offense.
Supporters of the new DUI law feel that it will give drivers the incentive to cooperate with police during a DUI stop.
Many supporters say that currently the common thought among many DUI offenders in Louisiana is to refuse the breathalyzer test.
“The problem was that drivers were refusing to take the test” on the advice of DUI attorneys, said Jefferson Parish District Attorney Paul Connick Jr.
According to Donna Tate, executive director of the Louisiana chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Louisiana has one of the highest refusal rates in the country. In 2005, 39% of drivers pulled over for drinking and driving refused a breathalyzer, when the national average was 22.4%.
Source: nola.com
By Morgan Brickley
On Monday, July 7, a judge acquitted a man on DUI charges because police denied the suspect the right to call a DUI lawyer on his cell phone.
According to Ontario Court Justice Randall Lalande, Harvey Whidden’s constitutional rights were violated when he was pulled over on June 13, 2008.
Whidden had been waved into a vehicle safety inspection lane operated by the police because his windshield had a crack in it.
When Whidden pulled over, police noticed empty beer bottles in the bed of his pickup truck. Police also noticed he smelled like alcohol, and his speech was slowed.
The police asked Whidden to take a breath test, but the officer didn’t have a breathalyzer with him. While they waited for a breathalyzer to be brought from the station, the police officer didn’t allow Whidden to use his cell phone to call a DUI attorney.
The judge ruled that since the officer knew Whidden had a cell phone, he should have allowed him to use it to call an attorney.
According to the judge, the police waited about three hours when Whidden was at the police station and formally issued a demand for a breathalyzer before allowing him to call a lawyer.
Source: The Sadbury Star
By Editor
With the dangers of drunken driving so obvious, it’s no surprise to often come across stories in the media about the latest efforts to curb DUI and bolster arrests and convictions.
The latest story involves a device that records the eye movements of DUI suspects during the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN) test — more commonly thought of as when an officer tracks the eye movements of a DUI suspect.
While the story does a nice job of describing what this device does, it does miss on an important point: that such technology is far from a slam-dunk in terms of proving a DUI offense, despite what some may claim.
When it comes to field sobriety tests like HGN, the One-Leg Stand Test and the Walk and Turn (WAT) test and how they may apply in your case, getting in touch with a local DUI attorney is a smart way to gauge truth from fiction.
By Guest Attorney
Last November, Lawrence Trujillo needed a drink, so he and friend stopped a downtown bar and had a few. Unfortunately, he did not get a cab.
About six blocks from his home, he ran over a family, killing two children and their mother. Trujillo then drove home. When police arrived four hours later, he had a blood alcohol level of 0.17. The father escaped serious injury.
Trujillo was charged with 13 counts, including vehicular homicide, vehicular assault, leaving the scene of a fatal accident, and child abuse.
In a surprise, Trujillo pled guilty to all counts. According to the Denver Post, his DUI attorney, Rob Bernhardt, said Trujillo had wanted to plead guilty since the day after the accident, but Bernhardt wanted to review the prosecutor’s evidence first.
Prosecutors had offered him a deal to 40 to 60 years in prison, but Trujillo decided to skip the deal and plead straight up.
Trujillo faces 16 to 176 years in prison. KTVD reported that Denver District Court Judge Morris Hoffman told Trujillo his practice is to impose consecutive sentences.
The family father, Frank Bingham, said that while Trujillo’s plea brought some degree of closure, “if Mr. Trujillo ever comes out of prison, he should be quite an old man when it happens.”
By Editor
A Washington state trooper pulled over an SUV that was driving erratically. The driver was charged with DUI and embracing while driving.
His passenger was cited for possession of alcohol after the trooper saw her trying to hide a wine bottle.
The trooper told the Seattle Times that there were “some acts intimacy going on in the vehicle that were best saved for not driving down the freeway.”
He warned people that being distracted is as dangerous as being impaired, adding “I can’t think of anything more distracting as this.”
The driver should get a DUI attorney to see if embracing while driving is an actual law in Washington.