Redondo Beach Announces Plans to Conduct a DUI Sobriety/License Checkpoint

The Redondo Beach Police Department has released plans to operate a DUI and drivers license checkpoint at an undisclosed location tonight and into tomorrow morning.  A local newspaper has reported that RBPD police records show that in the past three years drunk drivers  have caused 84 injury crashes in Redondo Beach, resulting in over 100 critical injuries.  Money for the sobriety roadblock is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, says the Daily Breeze.  The paper has posed the following question:  Do The Police Have to Notify the Public in Advance of there intention to conduct a checkpoint?    The paper correctly stated that there is no longer a legal requirement to do so, however, one Redondo Beach DUI Attorney points out that there are a litany of other constitutuional mandates that render the DUI checkpoints constitutionally permissible.   The California Supreme Court has affirmed many of the other previously handed down criteria such as a plan created by supervisory police personnel, rather than the officers in the police officers in the field. In 1993, the court ruled that police were no longer required to provide advance notice when scheduling sobriety checkpoints. Legal scholars have opined that the current framework for analyzing these roadblocks may be flawed and future Court cases will likely be necessary to effectively promulgate a more precise set of rules for law enforcement to follow .

Actress Pressly Speaks Out About Her DUI Arrest

Television star and female hearthrob Jaime Pressly has finally given a press release for possibly the first time about her recent legal woes, maintaining that the criminal arrest for DUI and marital problems are completely not related to each other.  The Joe Dirt TV star entered a  plea of not guilty to charges of drunk driving stemming from an arrest last month near the beach.  According to a Santa Monica DUI Attorney , the maximum jail time she faces is time served, though the law does allow for up to 6 months.  She was taken into custody by police in Santa Monica, California last month after failing  to complete a field sobriety test. Her car had initially been pulled over for an infraction. Pressly, who was reportedly almost three times over the legal blood alcohol limit, was released on $15,000  bail and subsequently charged with two counts of driving under the influence. She entered her plea during a court hearing at a Los Angeles County courtroom in LAX Court, Division 147.

Meanwhile, Pressly reportedly owes over a half million dollars in unpaid taxes. She is also in the middle of divorcing prominent Hollywood Attorney Simran Singh. But she's upset that people are linking her marriage to her other problems - and she wants to protect her three-year-old son from the lies. She tells U.S. TV news show Extra, "People are thinking my divorce is happening because of the drunk driving situation. Truth is, these are all isolated incidents." She's also upset about remarks that have been made in the media about her parental skills in the wake of her current issues, stating, She better be careful, many of these incidents are often followed by a crime of domestic violence, from the perspective of a Santa Monica Criminal Attorney, "(These are) ridiculously unkind and untrue (allegations). I don't ever want my son to grow up and read all these false statements. "(My husband and I) fell in love quickly. We got married very quickly. It didn't work out the way we wanted to. There's nothing more to it."  Good luck in the Courts.

Are New Portable Breath Tests Reliable?

Earlier this year one of the largest manufacturers of breath testing devices in DUI cases announced they were introducing a new portable screener to the market, the ASV.  The company released data that the device is reliable to less than .005%, however many DUI defense attorneys are skeptical.  The science just does not support that level of accuracy says one Beverly Hills DUI Lawyer .  Though there are very few studies to look at in the area of portable breath machines, the commonly accepted error rate is .01 to .015, no where near the levels the manufacturer touts.  With this new technology will no doubt come a number of challenges.

DUI Involving Drugs on the Rise

For police, DUI enforcement used to be very straightforward, you smell alcohol on the drivers breath and initiate a series of field sobriety tests to confirm the persons level of intoxication.  However, nowadays it is not unusual for drivers to be impaired on any number of the thousands of prescription drugs in the marketplace.  The rules have changed for law enforcement, says one Prescription Drug DUI Attorney , the same types of tell tale indicators that were useful for alcohol are inapplicable for drug detection.  Some in the legal field are calling for a revamping of the standards utilized to detect impaired drivers.

In many police agencies officers are required to undergo training for drug detection and some have even opted for more extensive certification for DUI drug enforcement known as the DRE qualification.  In fact in some northern California counties DUI involving prescription drugs and marijuana now outnumber those for alcohol.  According to one Marijuana DUI Attorney the same field sobriety tests that police used 10 years ago are now obsolete when it comes to drug intoxication. 

The Dream Act, Reward for iIlegal Conduct?

The government lawmakers this week shot down the "dream act"  effectively denying young children of illegal immigrants the opportunity to become citizens and finally be a part of the United States as legal citizens.  Many believe this act was a reward to those that entered the US illegally, others say it rewards those who had no say in where they grew up and did the right thing by going to school and staying out of criminal trouble.  Time will tell which side eventually prevails.

Ticket Myths

There are few things that evoke more fear or loathing than getting stopped and ticketed by a law enforcement officer.  The legal process that follows can be quite daunting from the standpoint of mounting a defense or dealing with the problem.  One Lamont Speeding Ticket Attorney has assembled a list of common myths and half truths related to traffic tickets, it's worth taking a look at.

DUI While Parked

Penal Laws in the state of California define DUI as driving at a time when your mental or physical faculties are impaired to such a degree that you cannot operate a motor vehicle with the caution characteristic of a sober person. The interrogatory is frequently asked if a person can be arrested and charged with a DUI while they are parked in their driveway. The answer to this question depends on whether the police can establish actual driving. Obviously,  the law does not require that the police officer actually see the person driving, this element can be proven using circumstantial evidence. So, if the governmental officer sees the person pull into his own driveway and he is under the influence, game over. Further, if another witness sees the driving, same conclusion. Also, if evidence can be obtained to infer recent driving, IE. warm engine, admissions to recent drinking at the bar prior to arriving home, slumped over wheel while engine running, etc, all can be used to come to a rational conclusion that the person was driving. If other evidence, FST's breath tests and other evidence established that the person was impaired at the time of driving, a DUI case can be established.