Marin DUI Lawyer Blog

Holiday drivers in Marin County, San Francisco, Oakland and throughout California should really think when they drink this weekend. The CHP will be conducting their last MEP, Maximum Enforcement Period, of the summer this Labor Day weekend.

The Highway Patrol will be rolling in force beginning Friday, September 3, 2010 and ending Monday, September 6, 2010, as part of their ongoing aggressive crackdown on impaired driving which began on August 20. Last year the CHP arrested 1,417 drunk drivers over the Labor Day holiday.

To aid in the crackdown against driving under the influence the CHP is urging motorists call 911 if they see any drivers whom they suspect drunk. Motorist who call 911 to report drunk drivers should be prepared to provide CHP dispatchers with a description of the drunk driver's car, its location and direction of travel.

Drivers arrested for DUI/DWI in California face severe consequences including a potential jail sentence: 0 to 180 days on a first offense, 10 days minimum on a second DUI, 120 days to 1 year on a 3rd drunk driving charge and possible state prison if convicted of a 4th offense for driving under the influence. In addition to possible jail time, DUI offenders must pay hefty fines to the court and fees for attendance at mandatory DUI school. Further, drunk drivers face the possible suspension, revocation or restriction of their driving privileges. Moreover, the installation of an ignition interlock devices (IID) is mandatory for even a 1st offense DUI conviction in Alameda, Los Angeles, Sacramento, and Tulare counties. Those counties are conducting a pilot program for 1st offender IID devices and the IID requirement on a 1st DUI may be expanded statewide in the future.

Continue reading "Marin Drivers Beware - DUI Patrols at Max Level this Labor Day" »

At around 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, August 21, 2010, a 25 year old Vallejo woman had herself arrested for drunk driving. Nancy Murcia told Vallejo police officers that she felt compelled to call 911 to report that she had been drinking and driving. Officers pulled her over near Florida and Sacramento Streets in Vallejo and found that she was in fact driving under the influence.

Ms. Murcia could be facing possible county jail time ranging from six months to one year depending on whether this is her first or multiple arrest for DUI. Driver's in California arrested for drunk driving also face the potential loss of their driving privilege from the DMV for between four months to four years. The length of driver's license suspension or revocation varies based on factors including prior convictions and whether the driver refused to submit to a chemical test to determine their blood alcohol concentration.

Multiple offenders can now obtain a restricted driving privilege after ninety days of suspension on a second offense and six months of suspension on a third offense provided they install an ignition interlock device (IID) on their car and provide proof of DUI program attendance and and SR22.

Continue reading "Vallejo DUI driver has herself arrested." »

The San Rafael Police Department will be conducting a DUI and driver's license checkpoint this Friday from 6 p.m. until 2 a.m. on Saturday, August 7, 2010. The location of the checkpoint has not been disclosed.

This weekend's checkpoint will be funded by a DUI mini grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The last checkpoint conducted under the same grant in San Rafael on July 23, 2010 resulted in 17 drivers submitting to field sobriety tests but no drivers were arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.

Submission to field sobriety testing and/or a PAS breath testing device is voluntary and not required under California Law. However, if a police officer has cause to arrest a person for DUI they must submit to a chemical test to determine their blood alcohol concentration. Refusal to take a chemical test can result in a drivers license suspension for one year on a first offense or a two or three year license revocation on a second or third offense.

Continue reading "DUI Checkpoint in San Rafael set for this Friday" »

24 year old Jakclin Deleon crashed the car he was driving into a vacant home in Vallejo on Tuesday, June 29, 2010 after being unable to navigate a curve in the road. Mr. Deleon was treated for a complaint of neck pain and subsequently arrested for driving without a license and driving under the influence.

DUI arrests in Vallejo are prosecuted in the Solano County Courthouse at 321 Tuolumne Street. Depending on whether Mr. Deleon has any prior drunk driving convictions in the last ten years, he could be facing a sentence including possible county jail time from zero to 365 days.

Moreover, an arrest for DUI starts a DMV administrative suspension of a person's driving privilege. Pursuant to the California Vehicle Code a first arrest for DUI results in a four month license suspension, assuming the grounds for the suspension are found to be justified by the DMV. After the first month of suspension a driver can apply for a restricted driver's license for driving to, from and during employment and to and from a DUI program. booked into Solano County Jail.

Continue reading "Car crashes into house in Vallejo, Driver arrested for DUI" »

The California Highway Patrol will be conducting a DUI and driver's license checkpoint this Friday, July 2, 2010 in Southern Santa Rosa from 6:30 p.m. to midnight. The location of the checkpoint has not been disclosed.

According to Sergeant Allan Capurro, the CHP will be focussing on drunk drivers throughout Sonoma County over the Fourth of July Holiday weekend. Driving under the influence patrols will be made in an effort to reduce traffic crashes due to drunken drivers.

Suspended license and DUI checkpoints are becoming more and more common in Sonoma 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 "Santa Rosa DUI checkpoint this Friday" »

45 year old Primitivo Piceno of Santa Rosa was arrested on May 30, 2010, by the CHP in Cloverdale. Police officers contacted Mr. Piceno after being notified that a driver was traveling well under the speed limit and impeding other drivers.

Responding officers found Mr. Piceno parked on the shoulder being detained by other drivers. He was apparently so drunk that was unable to speak coherently and fell to the ground while attempting to perform field sobriety tests.

Mr. Piceno was arrested and booked in to the Sonoma County jail for numerous counts including felony drunken driving and driving with a suspended license. Anyone charged with their fourth DUI in a ten year period or who has a prior felony DUI within the last ten years can be charged with a felony for driving under the influence. Mr. Piceno was charged with a felony due the number and recency of his prior DUIs.

Police officers said that Mr. Piceno had an order to drive any vehicle not equipped with an ignition interlock device installed in it. The Vehicle he was driving did not have an IID in it.

Continue reading "Marin County DUI lawyer, Santa Rosa man arrested for 6th DUI since 01'" »

Eliseo Hernandez, 43, was arrested on Friday evening after crashing his SUV on northbound highway 101 in Novato. Novao Police Officers said that Hernandez crashed after cutting off another vehicle and losing control.

Mr. Hernandez suffered minor injuries in the rollover and was treated at Marin General Hospital for head cuts. After receiving treatment at Marin General he was booked into the Marin County Jail on suspicion of drunk driving and driving with a suspended license.

The Marin County District Attorney will review the case and make a charging determination. Mr. Hernandez could be charged with a misdemeanor suspended license violation and a misdemeanor or felony DUI depending on whether he has any prior convictions for drunk driving. A conviction on a first offense for driving under the influence can result in the punishment including fines, license suspension, probation and mandatory attendance at a first offender DUI program.

Continue reading "Novato rollover crash nets Marin County DUI arrest" »

Last weekend the San Rafael Police Department conducted two DUI/driver's license checkpoints in the city.

Both San Rafael driving under the influence checkpoints were set up on Friday May 7, 2010. The first suspended license checkpoint was located on North San Pedro Road in the early evening and the second DUI and driver's license checkpoint was done at the intersection of 5th and Irwin in downtown San Rafael.

San Rafael Police Sergeant Christopher Coale said that approximately 1,200 cars passed through both checkpoints. When all was said and done police officers arrested only two people for driving under the influence. Eighteen additional people were cited for driving on a suspended license or driving without a license in their possession. The San Rafael Police Department issued an additional eight traffic tickets for moving violations and safety violations.

Anyone charged with a traffic ticket for a moving violation faces a fine if convicted and would receive one or more points on their DMV driving record. Further, their insurance rates could go up for at least three years.

Continue reading "San Rafael DUI Checkpoints net two Drunk Drivers" »

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" »

On Monday morning a Petaluma Police Officer was responding to a crash around 1:30 a.m. when he was side swiped by a suspected drunk driver. Twenty six year old Keith Obryan Johnson failed to move out of the way when the officer pulled up behind him with his lights flashing and siren blaring. When the officer changed lanes to go around him, Mr. Johnson turned to the left and struck the officers police cruiser.

Neither the officer nor Mr. Johnson were injured in the crash. Mr. Johnson was arrested after the accident and booked into the Sonoma County Jail with a blood alcohol test result of .12%, more than the California limit of .08%. Monday's driving under the influence arrest was the second for Mr. Johnson in February 2010. He was arrested for a DUI, assault and battery, car theft, driving on a suspended license and violating his probation on February 6 in Rhonert Park.

Mr. Johnson could be charged with a third DUI as he was convicted of driving under the influence in 2008 and placed on probation. DUI in California is a priorable offense for ten years from the date of arrest. As such, anyone convicted of driving under the influence or driving with a .08% or above can have their sentence enhanced if they are convicted of any subsequent DUI in the next ten years.

A third offense DUI can be punished with probation including a minimum jail term of 120 days, fines of more than $2,000.00, and mandatory attendance at a DUI program of 18 or 30 months. The DMV can also revoke a third offender's driving privilege for 3 years and will require the installation of an ignition interlock device, IID, upon application for a restricted license.

Continue reading "Sonoma County man hits Cop car - Arrested for DUI" »

The Santa Rosa Police Department will be conducting a DUI and driver's license checkpoint beginning this evening at 7:00 p.m. and ending at 2:00 a.m. on Saturday. The checkpoint will take place at an undisclosed location where police indicate a significant number of DUI-related collisions and DUI arrests have occurred.

Police checkpoints aimed at stopping people from driving under the influence and getting unlicensed drivers off the roads have become more common in recent years. Police Departments throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and California have been receiving grants from the California Office of Traffic Safety and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to fund such checkpoints. This Friday's DUI checkpoint is being funded by such a grant.

Court cases dealing with the legality of checkpoints mandate that cars entering a checkpoint will stopped based on a predetermined mathematical formula. If a driver who is stopped appears to the police to be driving under the influence they will be asked to pull into a screening area where officers will conduct a DUI investigation. The driver may then be asked to exit the vehicle and submit to field sobriety testing which may include the administration of a preliminary alcohol screening (PAS) device. Submission to field sobriety testing and/or a PAS breath testing device is voluntary and not required under California Law. However, if a police officer has cause to arrest a person for DUI they must submit to a chemical test to determine their blood alcohol concentration.

Continue reading "DUI Checkpoint Tonight in Santa Rosa" »

Three people were arrested on Monday while driving away from the courthouse after being told by a judge not to drive.

Costa Mesa, Orange County, Police Officers, staked out sixteen offenders and followed them to the parking lot after they were instructed by a judge not to drive. Four of those people got behind the wheel and drove away from the courthouse. Officers stopped all four drivers and issued three citations for driving on a suspended license and one for driving while unlicensed. The sting was funded by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

California drivers are subject to license suspensions for a variety of reasons including failure to appear in court or failure to pay fines, arrest or conviction for DUI, or being deemed a negligent operator for acquiring to many moving violation points. Depending on the reason for a suspension, a conviction can result in jail time, fines, the installation of an ignition interlock device and vehicle impoundment or forfeiture. Drivers may have the right to a DMV administrative hearing to contest their suspension.

Continue reading "Suspended License - Don't drive to court" »

Jason Douglas Hopkins, 32, of Santa Rosa, was arrested on suspicion of DUI on Tuesday after driving into a ditch and flipping the PT Cruiser he was driving.

Mr. Hopkins sustained minor injuries in the crash and was treated at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. The hospital reported that suspected marijuana and/or hashish was found in his belongings.

In addition to suspicion of DUI, CHP officers arrested Mr Hopkins for driving with a suspended license and possession of concentrated cannabis.

Continue reading "Santa Rosa DUI arrest after driver flips car" »

44 year old Adrian Pasdar, star of the popular television series "Heroes", was arrested early Wednesday morning by CHP officers in Los Angeles. Police officers stopped Mr. Pasdar for speeding and straddling two lanes, around 3:00 a.m. on the 405 freeway. He arrested and booked on suspicion of driving under the influence and released later Wednesday morning on $15,000.00 bail.

The police reports of Mr. Pasdar's case will be sent to local prosecutors for review. Should they elect to file a formal complaint he will likely be charged with violations of Vehicle Code section 23152(a) and (b). A conviction for DUI, 23152(a), or driving with a prohibited blood alcohol level, 23152(b), could result in the imposition of probation, fines, attendance at a DUI school, a driver's license suspension and possible jail time.

Continue reading "Star of NBC's "Heroes" arrested for DUI" »

The California Highway Patrol announced on Monday, January 4,2009, that they made 18 arrest for suspected driving under the influence over the New Year Holiday. Officers stated that the number of DUI arrests made between December 31, 2009 and January 3, 2010, is up 8 from the New Year Holiday last year.

Arrests for DUI can be made for the suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, California Vehicle Code 23152(a), or for driving with a blood alcohol level of .08% or more, VC section 23152(b). Drivers contacted by police officers and suspected of DUI or driving with a .08 or more will likely be asked to submit to a series of Field Sobriety Tests (FSTs) to determine if there is cause for the officers to a make an arrest. In California drivers are not required to submit to FSTs or road side Preliminary Alcohol Screening breath tests.

However, all California licensed drivers have given their implied consent to submit to a chemical test of their blood or breath if requested by a peace officer on suspicion of DUI. Refusal to submit to a chemical test, blood test or evidentiary breath test, can result in enhanced punishment if the driver is convicted of driving under the influence. Further, a refusal can result in a driver's license suspension or revocation of one year or more depending on whether the driver has prior DUI convictions.

Continue reading "18 arrested for DUI in Marin County over the New Year" »