Recently in DUI Cases Category

What a difference a day makes. For DUI suspects across the country, the lyrics never rang truer. Not too long ago, we discussed the possibility of forced blood draws of DUI suspects and how it's probably a bad idea to refuse a test. Today, the Supreme Court of the United States came out with a decision saying otherwise.

The justices held that people suspected of drunk driving can't be automatically forced into taking blood tests without a warrant and without their consent.

Drunken driving can cost you, in dollars and in lives. Especially in California.

Even a first-time DUI conviction in the Golden State can cost you as much as $15,649. That statistic comes from a recent report by the Automobile Club of Southern California, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Let's say you get pulled over by police on a Saturday night and when you blow into the Breathalyzer, the number is way above California's legal limit of 0.08%. At that point, you pretty much have to plead guilty to the DUI charge, right?

Wrong. Let's be clear about this: You never have to plead guilty to any charge. In some situations, it may be wiser to do so, but the defendant always has a choice.

So how can you know when pleading guilty is a good choice? Making that decision depends on a lot of factors such as the evidence, the charges, and your prior record.

Any guesses on who can help you analyze that information?

Ashley Bryan, 26, was driving drunk. No one, including her attorneys, disputes that fact. On April 2, 2011, her Honda Civic collided with a disabled Chevy Camaro, leading to the death of the Camaro's passenger, 18-year-old Cameron Cook. Two and a half hours after the accident, Bryan's blood alcohol content was 0.17 - more than twice the legal limit.

The jury answered the easy questions. They found her guilty of driving under the influence of alcohol causing bodily injury and of driving with a BAC of 0.08 or more. Then again, her attorney conceded that she was driving drunk during the trial. The question that the jury couldn't answer, and which led to mistrial, was whether her conduct amounted to vehicular manslaughter, reports the Orange County Register.

The final tally, before the mistrial was declared, was 11-1 in favor of conviction.

It was just yesterday when we said that sometimes, there is no plausible defense to a DUI charge. Today, we see another example of a hard to win case, only this time, there is no plea bargain. Armando Ochoa has taken his case to trial and plans to present a truly unique defense: the arachnoid cyst defense, reports the San Jose Mercury-News.

The day started with beer. To be exact, the previous day never ended, and the entire night was spent drinking. When Ochoa had beer with breakfast, a restaurant manager told him that he was too drunk to drive, reports the Mercury-News. A short time later, he was involved in a road rage dispute, got into another argument with a group of soccer players, and then ran down a few elderly pedestrians.

That was truly a busy morning.

Sometimes, there really is no defense. We’re not even talking realistic or even likely to succeed defenses either. For Isidro Peralta, 26, it doesn’t seem like there was any defense that an attorney could come up with and sell to a jury with a straight face. As a result, his plea deal (term used loosely) ended with a sixteen year sentence, reports the Los Angeles Daily News.

Back in April, 2011, Peralta allegedly collided with a pedestrian, 50-year-old Curly Junior Ross, and took off before turning the corner and driving right into a DUI checkpoint. The officers first heard the sound of tire squeal from the collision, then saw Peralta’s heavily damaged Mustang turn the corner. According to a press release from the Sheriff’s Department, the officers gave chase when he used the opposite side of the road to avoid the checkpoint.

The clichéd “you’d think that she would know better” has never been more appropriate, especially in a legal sense.

Sherri Lynn Wilkins, 51, of Torrance, was arrested after striking and killing Phillip Moreno, 31. Moreno was headed home after leaving the Branch Office bar when Wilkins’ Mitsubishi Eclipse struck him in the roadway. She turned right on Crenshaw Boulevard and continued to drive for two miles, with Moreno embedded in her hood and windshield, before her car was stopped by concerned citizens, reports the Daily News.

Back in March, Jesus Javier Gamez was behind the wheel of a 1995 Ford Mustang. As many young and dumb drivers tend to do, he was pushing the limits of the vehicle. To make matters worse, he was racing another car on a surface street. His speeds reached 120 mph before he lost control of the vehicle, collided with a parked car and a light pole, and killed his passenger, Ruben Terriquez, 18, of Riverside, reports the Press-Enterprise.

Did we mention that he was under the influence as well? You’d think charges of driving under the influence and felony gross vehicular manslaughter would lead to a lengthy sentence.

Apparently not.

Like many an alleged drunken driver, Marlies Lin Petersen, 53, of San Marcos, was pretty much destined to be caught. She was allegedly driving, under the influence, at 2 p.m. A fellow traveler on Interstate 15 in Temecula contacted 911 and followed Petersen after he noticed her swerving. At that point, she was toast.

It got worse, however. A short time after the call, but before the police arrived, Petersen allegedly tried to pull a U-turn on the freeway. After hitting a concrete barrier, she remained resolute in her need to change directions and hit the barrier again. Mother Earth herself then intervened, and her pickup truck's tires got stuck in the dirt, reports the Press-Enterprise.

The Los Angeles Police Department scored a two-for-one special on DUI arrests over the weekend. Officers shut down a lane near Sherman Way and White Oak Avenue in Reseda after stopping a suspected drunk driver. While they were investigating, one of their parked vehicles was rear-ended by a second drunk driver. The impact pushed the police cruiser 30 feet into a second cop car. Both the drunk driver’s vehicle and the first cruiser were totaled, reports the Los Angeles Daily News.

The unlucky rear-ender reportedly refused a Breathalyzer but was still arrested on suspicion of DUI, as was the person initially pulled over. A person can be convicted of DUI on the basis of the observations, though the case is certainly more difficult. Rear-ending a parked car, however, should help the prosecution’s case.