San Diego DUI Attorney Blog

California’s Fire Protection Service Chief, Del Walters, has been arrested on charges of driving under the influence in CA. According to an August 25 news release out of Sacramento, the incident occurred Friday afternoon after a California Highway Patrol officer pulled Mr. Walters over in his Nissan 350Z.

For 35 years, Mr. Walters dedicated himself to protecting Californians and making the environment safer. Following his arrest and detention at the Plumas County Correctional Center, he issued a written apology to the state's citizens, saying “to all Californians, I acknowledge that this incident contradicts my entire professional career dedicated to public safety.”

So far, Mr. Walters' supporters, such as the head of the California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection Unit, have rallied around the beleaguered chief. It remains to be seen how his California DUI case will be prosecuted.

A battle hardened California DUI attorney, such as Stephen R. Brodsky, can help you if you’ve similarly been charged with driving under the influence. Oftentimes, in the wake a DUI arrest, defendants feel anxious, overwhelmed, and confused by their rights and options. For over twenty years, Attorney Brodsky and his team have fought hard to defend the rights of hundreds of individuals accused of driving under the influence in San Diego and elsewhere in California.

Attorney Brodsky knows the laws, and he uses a rigorous and thorough approach to look for ways to fend off charges and/or reduce the severity of sentencing. Find out more about how his tireless efforts have helped people in your situation at WWW.CRIMINALATTORNEYSANDIEGO.COM; or phone 1-800-GOOD-ADVICE right now to discuss the details of your arrest. Your consultation will be free and completely confidential.

Tragedy struck the town of Bakersfield, California, on Thursday August 6 when Maria Rodriguez, a 54 year-old mother of eight and grandmother of 15, was hit by a speeding DUI driver while crossing the street. Rodriguez, who was a native of Mexico who became a full-fledged U.S. citizen in 2004, died at the scene.

The incident occurred at around 10:00 pm, when she crossed Height Street. Allegedly, a car saw Ms. Rodriguez and stopped to let her pass. But then another driver, who had been racing down at speeds approaching 100 mph, swerved around the first car and ran over the victim. The driver, a 25 year-old man named Louis Munoz Jr., fled from the scene. Bakersfield police gave chase, pulled him over, and then jailed him on charges of gross vehicular manslaughter while DUI, hit and run, and felony DUI. Mr. Munoz Jr. is being held on a bail of $130,000.

For the heartbroken children and grandchildren of Ms. Rodriguez, the pain of this tragedy must be overwhelming. If the allegations are true, Mr. Munoz Jr. could face a lengthy prison sentence as well as steep fines and other punishment and penalties, including loss of his driver’s license.

If you or loved on has tragically been involved in a felony DUI or a fatal DUI accident in San Diego, never flee from the scene. Doing so can exacerbate your problems and potentially add years to your prison sentence. Instead, get medical help as soon as possible, and contact a San Diego County DUI lawyer, such as Stephen R. Brodsky. The better you understand your rights and obligations under the law, the better your chances will be of defending against the charges against you. If you need help now -- whether it’s the middle of the night or even a holiday -- call Attorney Brodsky for a free, no obligation, and confidential consultation at 1-800-GOOD-ADVICE. Or to learn more about the consequences of being arrested for gross vehicular manslaughter while DUI in California, peruse Attorney Brodsky’s website at WWW.CRIMINALATTORNEYSANDIEGO.COM.

According to a CBS news report, police simultaneously arrested both members of a Santa Rosa couple, Eric and Virginia Stockstad, on August 19 for DUI in California. A spokesperson for the California Highway Patrol (CHP) reported that Eric Stockstad drove his Plymouth Voyager into a ditch on Mountain View Road at 4:30 pm. Patrol officers found the vehicle and determined that Mr. Stockstad had been driving under the influence. As they were in the middle of booking him for DUI, his wife, Virginia, pulled up in her Ford Focus. Officers noted that she, too, exhibited signs of drunkenness, and they arrested her as well. The couple was taken to the Senoma County jail and released after posting a $5,000 bail.

Often, visitors to the lush Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley regions of California indulge in alcohol while touring local vineyards. Unfortunately, the practice of motoring from vineyard to vineyard to taste wines can be quite dangerous and can result in California DUI arrests, accidents, and even serious injuries and fatalities.

If you're in a situation where you don't know whether you're over the legal limit (a BAC level of 0.08% in California), err on the side of caution. Call a cab. Or call a designated driver. Don't risk the harsh penalties for driving under the influence in California, which include, among other things, probation, fines, court costs, mandatory alcohol school, license suspension, and even jail time.

Of course, just because the police arrested you for DUI in Southern California doesn’t mean that you necessarily were legally DUI. Breathalyzer tests are notoriously inaccurate. And even when the police process a BAC analysis correctly and follow evidentiary chain of custody rules to a tee; the tests may still give bad or misleading results.

An experienced DUI lawyer, like Stephen R. Brodsky, can investigate every aspect of your arrest and probe for ways to exploit weaknesses in the prosecution’s case. Read more about Attorney Brodsky’s DUI defense victories at WWW.CRIMINALATTORNEYSANDIEGO.COM, or connect with him for free and at no obligation by calling 1-800-GOOD-ADVICE.

If you’ve been smacked with a charge of driving under the influence in San Diego, chances are you won't get much sympathy from the mainstream media or from fellow motorists. After all, most of us have been hit over the head for years with the message that driving DUI in San Diego (or anywhere else) is a dangerous and morally abhorrent act. And, truth be told, statistics support the thesis that driving while intoxicated can cause drivers to be more distracted and get into more accidents.

At the same time, however, while drunken drivers get pilloried, drivers who talk or text on their cell phones don’t face nearly the same level of moral opprobrium. In fact, significant scientific data seem to show that driving while texting or driving while talking on the cell phone is as dangerous as (or even possibly more dangerous than!) driving under the influence of alcohol.

Americans have long had a love hate relationship with spirits. Our national experiment with Prohibition in the 1920s and the subsequent backlash to Prohibition, for instance, demonstrated our passionate, almost bipolar relationship with alcohol. But we have no such collective love-hate feelings regarding cell phones. In fact, our associations with cell phones are by and large positive. Thus, it's difficult for us to equate the dangers of driving while texting/calling with the dangers of driving drunk. Even though the data tell us otherwise, we think of these crimes as extremely different from one another. But the more we look dispassionately at the data, the more it seems that it's not the KIND of distraction that matters but rather it’s the FACT that we're distracted at all that makes the difference. In other words, bad driving stems from a lack of attention. The nature of the distraction -- alcohol, a text message, a hamburger -- seems to play a surprisingly minor role. When we forget that other cars contain other human beings, we make stupid and dangerous decisions.

This argument is not intended to excuse individuals who drive under the influence in San Diego of their reckless behavior. However, it does suggest that our moral outrage at DUI drivers is either misplaced or too narrowly focused. Maybe we need to outlaw ALL driver distractions, including cell phones, texting, DUI, food, and perhaps even music. The point its, our laws and policies should be based on good scientific data, not on arbitrary cultural fashions.

For intelligent, aggressive, and attentive help with your San Diego DUI matter, get in touch with Attorney Stephen R. Brodsky now by phoning 1-800-GOOD-ADVICE or by emailing him at his website, WWW.CRIMINALATTORNEYSANDIEGO.COM. With your rights and freedom on the line, you need and deserve top notch legal representation.

According to an Associated Press release dated August 3, 2009, an as of yet unidentified 9 year-old girl has been killed in a tragic accident on the 5 Freeway in Oceanside. Per the report of a California Highway Patrol officer, the accident occurred at around 1:00 a.m. Monday when a Lexus careered into a big rig truck at around 50 mph. The driver of the Lexus, Michael Wright Jr. (of Commerce, CA), apparently did not notice some roadwork ahead and plowed into two other cars before smashing into the rig. Two other drivers suffered minor injuries, and no other serious injuries or fatalities were reported.

Officers arrested Mr. Wright at the scene for gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. That charge is one of the most serious San Diego DUI homicide charges. To convict a defendant of gross vehicular manslaughter, the prosecution faces a high burden of proof. Showing that a driver was “careless” won’t meet that standard. The driver had to have engaged in behavior that was negligent to the point that a reasonable person would have recognized that it was risky and could lead to serious injury or death. Furthermore, the negligent behavior must be shown to have led to the alleged injury or death.

If you or someone you love faces a charge of gross vehicular manslaughter or felony DUI in San Diego, you'll likely need a stout legal defense to avoid the worst punishments and to ensure that your rights are protected. Vehicular manslaughter cases -- particularly those in which drug use or alcohol use is alleged -- can be emotionally explosive. It’s easy for outside parties in the media -- or even in your own family or workplace -- to come to conclusions about your guilt before hearing all the evidence. Often, a good legal investigation can reveal powerful defensive arguments. For instance, maybe the blood alcohol test administered gave incorrect results, which might exonerate you. Or maybe some other as yet unidentified factor, such as the negligence of a third driver or poor signage or lighting, caused or partially contributed to the accident.

The point is, to craft a thorough defense, you need a San Diego DUI attorney with the experience, compassion, and attention to detail to get the job done. Stephen R. Brodsky has been practicing criminal law in San Diego exclusively since 1988, and he’s served hundreds of defendants. To find out more about his track record, philosophy, and credentials, visit WWW.CRIMINALATTORNEYSANDIEGO.COM.com, or phone 1-800-GOOD-ADVICE today to get immediate help with your felony DUI defense.

Have you been arrested for driving under the influence in San Diego? If so, why? This sounds like a simple, perhaps even stupid, question. But amazingly enough, most people don't understand the methods police officers use to determine whether a suspect is in fact DUI.

Here are some of the signs they look for:

1. Appearance clues.

Does the driver look flushed or pale or have bloodshot or glassy eyes? Ethanol consumption slows pupil reaction in some people and leads to other physical symptoms, such as sweating, a racing pulse, and even tremors, in others.
The problem with using physical symptoms to determine DUI is that arresting officers have no point of reference. That is, they've likely never seen the suspect when he's NOT under suspicion for DUI. For instance, maybe an individual who sweats a lot and has bloodshot glassy eyes just looks like that all the time. Seriously. Medical conditions such as extreme obesity can cause such symptoms in completely sober people. In other words, although IN GENERAL ethanol consumption causes certain physical symptoms to manifest, it's very difficult to deduce an unknown individual’s level of drunkenness based on a cursory physical inspection.

2. Clues based on coordination, behavior, and speech.

In general, inebriated individuals cannot complete tasks that require excessive coordination. Their speech may be rambling, incoherent, or disassociative. Their attitudes may range from belligerent to depressed to giddy and so on. Again, unless an officer has a “baseline assessment” of a person when he’s sober, it's next to impossible to ascertain whether any particular behavioral characteristic can be directly attributed to alcohol intoxication. For instance, a suspect may lose coordination or become giddy out of nervousness at being pulled over. As a result, this person might be arrested for a San Diego DUI. Conversely, another suspect (who's gone through extensive martial arts training, for instance) may be able to pass a coordination test with flying colors even with a BAC three times the legal limit.

3. Tests

If observational attempts to determine a driver’s level of intoxication don’t work, what about more scientific tests, such as breathalyzer and blood alcohol tests? These, too, have their flaws. Breathalyzer tests can be badly deployed and misinterpreted. And while blood tests tend to fair better as far as accuracy's concerned, problems can also abound with respect to the interpretation of their results.

All told, therefore, it's important to note that the prosecution’s evidence of your drunkenness may be much more flimsy than you’ve been led to believe. But to fight effectively against these charges, you likely need the help of an experienced, attentive, and battle tested lawyer, like Attorney Stephen R. Brodsky. Learn more about what sets Attorney Brodsky and his team apart at WWW.CRIMINALATTORNEYSANDIEGO.COM, or phone toll free now to get immediate assistance at 1-800-GOOD-ADVICE.

According to a North County Times article, a diverse assortment of patrol officers from the Escondido’s sheriff’s department, the San Diego Police Force, and the University of California San Diego Police Department combined resources in a massive DUI probe over the weekend that resulted in the handing out of 36 traffic citations and 11 arrests.

The California Office for Traffic Safety sponsored the operation, which ran from 7:00 pm Friday evening through 2:00 a.m. Saturday. Seven out of the eleven arrests were for driving under the influence. Police sent 22 drivers through the gauntlet of field sobriety tests. Officers also impounded 21 cars and trucks due to the fact that the drivers did not have licenses or had been driving with suspended licenses.

Spokespeople for the three agencies deemed the San Diego DUI patrol a success, and future operations are in the planning stages. The consequences for being convicted of an Escondido DUI can haunt offenders for months or even years. Convicted San Diego DUI offenders must attend traffic school, face drivers license suspension and strict terms of probation, and pay court costs and fines that can range from $1,000 to much more.

Whether the police arrested you at a checkpoint or a roadside sobriety test, veteran San Diego DUI lawyer Stephen R. Brodsky can build a stiff case for your defense. In almost every drunk-driving arrest, questions abound. For instance, did the officers respect your Fourth Amendment rights? Were you advised of the rights to remain silent and to speak with an attorney? Did evidence seized from your car or person go through the correct chain of custody? Did police properly administer and correctly interpret the BAC tests (e.g. breathalyzers and blood analyses)? Did any officer who processed your case in any way mishandle your paperwork or exaggerate charges?

Attorney Brodsky knows what it takes to deliver for his clients. He’s served hundreds of people since he opened the firm’s doors in 1988. His profound understanding of the system both in theory and practice can be leveraged on your behalf today. Call for your free consultation at 1-800-GOOD-ADVICE, or learn more about Attorney Brodsky’s methods and philosophy at WWW.CRIMINALATTORNEYSANDIEGO.COM.

1. Compounding your legal problems after you’ve been charged with driving under the influence in San Diego.

Unfortunately, a fair number of San Diego DUI defendants make their situations much worse by behaving inappropriately following their arrest. If you throw a tantrum at the scene, resist arrest, flee from officers, or make incriminating statements after the fact, you can jeopardize what otherwise might be a pretty solid defense. Along those lines, defendants who drive after their licenses have been suspended or who willfully ignore terms of their probation can undermine their chances of reducing charges and penalties.

2. Accepting the results of a breathalyzer test as accurate.

Multiple reputable studies confirm what many DUI defense attorneys have contended for years -- that breathalyzer tests are often unreliable. Improper administration or maintenance of equipment, police bias, and chain of custody problems can all skew results. And if you're a diabetic; if you blow too deeply into the breathalyzer; or if you’re on certain medications, your BAC reading may be much higher than your actual blood alcohol concentration.

3. Accepting that the officers respected your Fourth Amendment rights.

In a surprising number of DUI cases, trained police officers fail to adhere to proscriptions against unreasonable search and seizure. If an arresting officer fails to explain your rights or otherwise ignores your constitutional protections, not only can you get the case against you thrown out, but in certain instances, you may be able to counter sue the city.

4. Ignoring rules of decorum and courtesy.

Police officers and prosecutors are people, too. Just because you’ve been arrested or detained doesn’t give you the right to lash out at law enforcement. Act respectfully and attentively. By showing up on time to court, dressing appropriately, and behaving non-threateningly, you can go a long way towards winning your argument.

5. Not collecting evidence.

It's always a good idea to take photographs of the accident scene (if you were involved in a DUI accident) and to collect contact info from eyewitnesses, such as names, telephone numbers, and addresses. This info can support your version of events at court.

To get fast and accurate advice about how to proceed with your San Diego DUI defense, look to Attorney Stephen R. Brodsky. For over two decades, Attorney Brodsky has served defendants in the San Diego region. He has lots of experience taking cases to trial, and he’s demonstrated excellent results. Go to WWW.CRIMINALATTORNEYSANDIEGO.COM for more information about Attorney Brodsky and his team, or talk to someone right now about your case at 1-800-GOOD-ADVICE.

You or a family member has recently been arrested and charged with driving under the influence in San Diego or Southern California. Although you may feel panicked and anxious, now is not the time to make rash decisions. Consider this list of common San Diego DUI defense mistakes before taking action.

1. Failing to request a San Diego DMV hearing within ten days of your arrest.

California law mandates that individuals arrested for DUI have their licenses suspended if their BAC levels are measured at 0.08% or above. If you don’t request a hearing, you could lose your license for months or longer. If you do request a hearing, on the other hand, you can at the least make a case to maintain your right to drive.

2. Accepting the maximum punishment the state doles out.

Often, people charged with San Diego DUI feel terrible and guilty about their actions. Obviously, driving drunk is generally irresponsible and dangerous. But even if you did break the law, you need not bow your head and accept the maximum penalties the state can throw at you. Indeed, with a strong legal defense, you may be able to avoid the stiffest penalties, such as jail sentences and steep fines, in exchange for probation and a commitment to safe driving.

3. Pleading guilty to avoid the hassle and expense of paying for an attorney.

If you plead guilty without putting up any kind of legal defense, you may save money in the short term on attorneys fees. But over the long term, the downstream effects of your cavalier response can create financial problems for months if not years to come. For instance, if you lose your driver's license, you may lose your job and thus stunt your career. And if you're convicted of charges that your San Diego DUI attorney might otherwise help you avoid -- such as a felony count, for instance -- your criminal record could haunt you for years, making it more difficult for you to find work, secure housing, apply for government jobs, and so forth.

4. Choosing an attorney who's merely “adequate” to represent you.

If ever there's a time to invest in quality, that time is now. Obviously, some public defenders deliver outstanding service. But when you go the public defender route, it's essentially a grab bag when it comes to who you'll get to take your case. Give the fact that your freedom itself may be on the line, it makes sense to opt for the best legal defense available to you. Fortunately, Attorney Stephen R. Brodsky may be able to help. Attorney Brodsky has practiced DUI law in Southern California since 1988. He’s dealt with literally hundreds of cases. He knows the laws on the books as well as the best practical approaches. Explore more about Attorney Brodsky’s firm at WWW.CRIMINALATTORNEYSANDIEGO.COM, and call 1-800-GOOD-ADVICE as soon as you're ready to discuss your case. (Initial consultations are free and confidential, and hablamos Español).