Marin DUI Lawyer Blog

The San Rafael Police Department will be conducting a DUI and driver's license checkpoint on Friday April 23, 2010 from Saturday April 24, 2010. The checkpoint will be held at an undisclosed location.

San Rafael Police Officers acting under a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety will be checking drivers from 6 p.m. Friday to 2 a.m. Saturday in an attempt to identify drunk driving offenders, and driver's without a valid California driver's license.

Suspended license and DUI checkpoints are becoming more and more common in Marin County and throughout California. Recent studies, including one at the University of California Berkeley, have found that these Drunk Driving checkpoints have become extremely profitable for local municipalities as they are far more likely to seize cars from unlicensed motorists than catch drunken drivers. Past checkpoints in Marin County for driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license raised legal questions in the UC Berkeley Study as during the past two years, 10 San Rafael's 12 sobriety checkpoints took place on streets surrounding neighborhoods with large Hispanic populations. Those operations resulted in only 4 DUI arrests but netted fees for the 121 impounded cars for driver's license violations.

Continue reading "Marin County DUI Checkpoint this Friday through Saturday in San Rafael" »

A former Marin resident, Thomas John Clagett, 27, was arraigned in the Marin County Superior Court on Monday. Mr. Clagett has been charged with robbing a bank in Novato in 2007.

He was extradited to Marin County from Ohio last week after the FBI arrested him at his father's home.

Bank robbery is a "strike" offense and is charged under Penal Code section 211. Being defined as both a serious and violent offense a conviction for a robbery carries a presumptive state prison sentence of up to 5 years.

Mr. Clagett will be back in the Marin County Courthouse on Thursday to enter a plea.

Continue reading "Marin County Criminal Defense - Bank Robbery Suspect Back in Court" »

A Daly City man and woman were arraigned in the Marin County Superior Court on Monday on a charge of possession of cocaine for sale. Marco Larrios, 32, and Carmen Roxana Gonzalez, 27 were arrested on April 15, 2010, in Ignacio. A third person, Wilfredo Umanzor, 24, of San Francisco, was also arrested and has been charged with being a lookout for Mr. Larrios and Ms. Gonzalez.

A plea hearing for all three suspects is pending and they remain in the Marin county jail with Federal Immigration holds.

Possession of cocaine for sale is a felony under the California Health and Safety Code and carries a maximum sentence of 4 years in state prison. Depending on a person's criminal history, the facts surrounding her arrest and the amount of drugs possessed, it may be possible to have a drug sales charge reduced to a simple possession charge.

An experienced San Rafael criminal defense attorney will review the legality of the arrest and may run a motion to suppress evidence based on an illegal search or seizure in violation of the suspect's rights under the 4th amendment to the United States Constitution. If a motion to suppress is granted the drug charges would likely be dismissed.

Continue reading "Marin County Cocaine Bust - Two charged with possession for sale" »

19-year-old Madeline Cast from Healdsburg was cited for driving under the influence after crashing her SUV early Sunday morning on Healdsburg Avenue just south of Alexander Valley Road.

According the Healdsburg Police Department, Ms. Cast hit a dirt embankment and rolled her Toyota 4-Runner. She was the only occupant in the vehicle and she was moderately injured in the accident. Sunday's arrest is the second DUI arrest for Ms. Cast this year. She was also cited for a drunk driving in Sonoma County in March.

Being under 21 years old Ms. Cast could be charged by the Sonoma County DA with a variety of alcohol related California Vehicle Code violations. It is illegal for anyone under 21 to drink alcohol in California and to drive with any measurable amount of alcohol in their system and she could be charged with an infraction in violation of section 23140 for having .05% or greater blood alcohol concentration. She could also be charged as a person over 21 would be, with a violation of sections 23152(a) and (b), driving under the influence and driving with a .08 or above blood alcohol level.

However, due to her arrest arrest for DUI in March it is likely that the DA will charge her with a 2nd offense for "adult" DUI.

Continue reading "Easter Morning roll over - 19 year old from Healdsburg arrested for DUI" »