California Criminal Lawyer Blog

SAN DIEGO DUI DEFENSE LAWYER NEWS:

By Steven Mihailovich
TODAY'S LOCAL NEWS

December 30, 2007

Welcoming the new year is a time-honored tradition around the world, replete with parties and innumerable toasts. It is also a time of increased police patrols, DUI checkpoints, automobile crashes and fatalities.

North County residents planning a New Year's night on the town will find plenty of transportation options but few programs designed to help unprepared intoxicated drivers. If you plan on drinking and don't have a designated driver, finding alternative transportation is imperative, police say.

“The time to look for an alternative is before, not when you're already at the party having a couple of drinks,” Escondido police Lt. Robert Benton said. “DUI is always a priority around the holidays, and we step up our efforts. We will have officers whose full-time assignment will be to look for DUI drivers.”

So what is actually available? Click on this link to read more fromthe UT.

To learn tips from a San Diego DUI Lawyer on how to avoid a DUI, click HERE.

Continue reading "SAN DIEGO DUI DEFENSE LAWYER NEWS: FIND A DESIGNATED DRIVER FOR NEW YEAR'S EVE" »

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CALIFORNIA CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYER NEWS:

By Richard B. Schmitt and David G. Savage, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

December 30, 2007

WASHINGTON -- In the spring of 1986, lawmakers had become alarmed by reports of urban crime waves linked to crack, then a new and highly addictive form of cocaine. News reports were full of images of writhing "crack babies" deeply addicted to the drug through their mothers, doomed to "a life of certain suffering, of probable deviance, of permanent inferiority," as one columnist observed.

The sudden death that June of basketball star Len Bias galvanized Washington into passing extraordinarily strict drug laws. Selling as little as 5 grams of crack would bring a mandatory five-year federal prison term, with no possibility of parole.

Now those laws are being questioned, and in some cases relaxed, in the face of evidence that some predictions about the ravages of crack were overblown -- and that the harsh penalties were ineffective.

This month, the U.S. Sentencing Commission voted unanimously to reduce the prison terms of as many as 19,500 federal inmates convicted of crack-related crimes. The decision, which came a day after the U.S. Supreme Court gave federal judges discretion to deviate from strict drug sentencing guidelines, marked a milestone in the two-decade debate over the drug.

Click here for the entire Los Angeles Times article.

Continue reading "CRACK SENTENCES BEING CHALLENGED AFTER U.S. SUPREME COURT RULING" »

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SAN DIEGO DUI LAWYER NEWS:

Click on this link to research what drugs interact with ethyl alcohol and what symptoms you can expect to see.

For tips in how to avoid a San Diego DUI this holiday season, click this link: http://www.californiacriminallawyerblog.com/2007/11/what_to_do_when_the_dui_office.html

And for answers to frequently asked DUI questions, click here: http://www.acrimedefenseattorney.com/pages/dui.html

Continue reading "CALIFORNIA DUI LAWYER NEWS: LINK TO ALCOHOL/DRUG REACTIONS " »

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SAN DIEGO DUI DEFENSE NEWS: DUI checkpoints this weekend

More San Diego police will be on the lookout for drivers under the influence (DUI) this weekend as authorities expect more drunken drivers on the roads ahead of New Year's Eve.

The San Diego Sheriff's Department announced it will conduct a DUI checkpoint tonight from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. in Santee.

In San Marcos, a DUI checkpoint will take place Saturday and Sunday from 7:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. somewhere in the city.

The San Diego Sheriff's Department also announced it will not release anyone from jail who is arrested in connection with driving under the influence until the first court appearence, set for next week, or unless bail is posted.

For tips in how to avoid a San Diego DUI this holiday season, click this link: http://www.californiacriminallawyerblog.com/2007/11/what_to_do_when_the_dui_office.html

And for answers to frequently asked DUI questions, click here: http://www.acrimedefenseattorney.com/pages/dui.html

San Diego DUI Defense, Chula Vista DUI Defense, Vista DUI Defense, El Cajon DUI Defense, Imperial County DUI Defense, El Centro DUI Defense, Orange County DUI Defense, Riverside DUI Defense, San Bernardino DUI Defense, Los Angeles DUI Defense, San Diego DUI Defense Attorney, San DIego DUI Defense Lawyer, California DUI Defense, Murrieta DUI Defense, Temecula DUI Defense, Riverside DUI Defense, Chula Vista DUI Defense, El Cajon DUI Defense, Vista DUI Defense, Temecula DUI Defense, Brawley DUI Defense, El Centro DUI Defense

Continue reading "SAN DIEGO DUI DEFENSE NEWS: DUI CHECKPOINTS IN SANTEE AND SAN MARCOS THIS WEEKEND" »

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SAN DIEGO DUI DEFENSE LAWYER NEWS

San Diego Balboa Park officials want to tighten the outdoor booze policy in the city's crown jewel, hoping to give police an additional tool to combat chronic drinkers who hang out there.

“We know that we have people who picnic, and we didn't want to preclude what we know is cultural for Balboa Park and isn't a problem,” said Vicki Granowitz, chairwoman of the Balboa Park Committee. “But we need to devise something that would be easier to (use) for the police and our park rangers.”

The result is a map of nine lawns in the park's central area where alcohol would still be allowed. Visitors could drink a beer or sip a cocktail there, but only during a restricted time frame.

Public drinking is now allowed from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. anywhere in the central part of the park. The proposal, to be voted on Thursday by the Balboa Park Committee, would restrict outdoor drinking to between noon and 8 p.m. in nine grassy picnic areas that are easily monitored by park rangers.

Restaurants and park institutions would not be affected.

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california dui dfense lawyer news:

Sacramento, CA 95818
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - December 28, 2007 07-67

CHP STATEWIDE DUI ENFORCEMENT PROGRAM

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) has secured a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration entitled, “Statewide Enforcement and Education Operations Targeting DUI (STOP DUI) II.” This grant will provide funding for DUI enforcement in an effort to remove impaired drivers from California’s roadways. CHP personnel will be deployed on an overtime basis with the mission of apprehending impaired drivers. In addition to enforcing DUI laws, officers will also enforce all other traffic safety laws such as, speeding, unsafe passing, and occupant restraint violations.

Utilizing project-funded overtime, the CHP will conduct a minimum of 100 sobriety/driver license checkpoints, 65 DUI task force operations and deploy DUI roving enforcement patrol operations statewide. The enforcement activities will be conducted between January 1, 2008, and December 31, 2008.

Continue reading "CALIFORNIA DUI DEFENSE LAWYER NEWS-CHP TO TARGET DUI DRIVER'S WITH NEW GRANT" »

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CALIFORNIA DUI DEFENSE LAWYER NEWS

FORT WORTH -- Fort Worth motorists who get pulled over on New Year's Eve and think they can beat a drunken driving conviction by refusing a breath test had better think again. Fort Worth police are going to get a search warrant and take your blood.

For the first time, Fort Worth police are launching a "No Refusal DWI" campaign in an effort to combat drunken driving on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. And they certainly aren't being secret about their intentions.

In a press conference Friday morning, Fort Worth Police Chief Ralph Mendoza, along with officials from the Tarrant County District Attorneyʼs Office, Dalworthington Gardens and Mothers against Drunk Driving, warned motorists not to get behind the wheel if they have imbibed.

"If you refuse to take that blood test, we are going to ask for a warrant from a magistrate and come back and take your blood," Mendoza said. "Basically, we are going to get our evidence one way or the other."

Continue reading "FORT WORTH DUI COPS WILL GET SEARCH WARRANTS TO TAKE BLOOD ON NEW YEAR'S EVE" »

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In case where defendant was released on bail but subject to electronic monitoring and other restrictions as conditions of her release, award of 434 days of presentence custody credit for the time she was released is reversed as the trial court erred in giving her the credits

People v. Anaya, No. B195866

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People v. Le (2007) , Cal.App.4th
[No. H030808. Sixth Dist. Dec. 27, 2007.]

A jury found appellant guilty of the second-degree murder of his wife's lover and also found true an allegation that he had personally used a deadly weapon. (Pen. Code §§ 187, 12022, subd. (b).)

The trial court sentenced him to a state prison term of 15 years to life. Appellant contended, "The trial court erred in instructing under CALCRIM No. 917 that mere 'words' cannot establish a defense to battery, and in permitting the prosecutor to argue to the jury, over objection, that 'words' cannot legally constitute 'provocation' to reduce a homicide to manslaughter."

Appellant further contended that the prosecutor committed misconduct during closing argument and that the trial court erred in responding to a jury question.

The Court of Appeal reversed.

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This case truly belongs in the "You've Got To Be Kidding" category. Here goes...

FACTS:

A bunch of Los Angeles Sheriff's Deputies sued Sheriff Leroy Baca and a bunch of supervisors for violations of their Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

The deputies claimed they were improperly detained at the station house and later punished through involuntary shift transfers after refusing to give non-privileged statements in connection with an IA investigation of their own police brutailty. They say this behavior by their supervisors "shocked the conscience" and they should be compensated pursuant to the federal civil rights statutes.

So, here's how it goes....A citizen (maybe a suspect) ends up in the hospital with head and back injuries due to batons, or maybe flashlights, or maybe some other hard objects employed only by cops, landing on his head and back over and over and over again. Don't tase me bro. The victim of these blows was a bystander during the execution of a search warrant.

Continue reading "NINTH CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEAL STAMPS OUT LAWSUIT FILED BY ROGUE LOS ANGELES SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT DEPUTIES AGAINST SUPERVISORS" »

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CALIFORNIA DUI DEFENSE LAWYER NEWS

CALIFORNIA CHP DUI PRESS RELEASE:

CHP STATEWIDE DUI ENFORCEMENT PROGRAM

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) has secured a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration entitled, “Statewide Enforcement and Education Operations Targeting DUI (STOP DUI) II.”

This grant will provide funding for California DUI enforcement in an effort to remove impaired drivers from California’s roadways. CHP personnel will be deployed on an overtime basis with the mission of apprehending impaired drivers. In addition to enforcing DUI laws, officers will also enforce all other traffic safety laws such as, speeding, unsafe passing, and occupant restraint violations.

Utilizing project-funded overtime, the CHP will conduct a minimum of 100 sobriety/driver license checkpoints, 65 DUI task force operations and deploy DUI roving enforcement patrol operations statewide. The enforcement activities will be conducted between January 1, 2008, and December 31, 2008.

Continue reading "CHP DUI ENFORCEMENT PROGRAM SECURES GRANT FOR CALIFORNIA DUI INVESTIGATIONS, CALIFORNIA DUI ROADBLOCKS AND CALIFORNIA DUI ROVING PATROLS" »

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SAN DIEGO DUI DEFENSE NEWS:
So far this holiday season, more drivers havebeen arrested on suspicions of drunk driving. From Dec. 21 to Christmas Day, California Highway Patrol officers made 118 arrests for driving under the influence in San Diego County, compared with 106 arrests last year. Statewide, they made 1,661 arrests, up from 1,351 last year.

At least 80 percent of available Highway Patrol officers will be on duty during the four-day New Year's holiday, Maas said. On New Year's Eve, at least 20 CHP officers will be on San Diego roads, while at least 33 will be roaming the rest of the county.

They will be assisted by beefed-up patrols and checkpoints by sheriff's deputies and police departments.

In addition, the San Diego Sheriff's Department has suspended its quick-release program for DUI offenders. Drivers charged with misdemeanor driving under the influence must post a $2,500 bail ---- or sit in the county jail until their arraignment on Wednesday.

Continue reading "SAN DIEGO DUI DEFENSE NEWS: LAW ENFORCEMENT ARRESTS MORE DUI DRIVER'S THIS SEASON AND EXPECTS MORE" »

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Where plaintiff did not allege a § 1983 violation and proceeded directly under the Fourth and Sixth Amendment, the case could not be removed to federal court because there is no claim directly under the Fourth Amendment cognizable in federal court.

Phillips v. Sacramento County, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 94489 (E.D. Cal. December 27, 2007).*

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In Brooks v. Neb. DMV, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 94168 (D. Neb. December 26, 2007), "Plaintiff here alleges that Defendant Bell pulled his gun out and yelled profanities at Plaintiff during his arrest.

Liberally construed, Plaintiff alleges that Defendant Bell knocked him to the ground after he was already handcuffed and cooperating. (Filing No. 1 at CM/ECF p. 3.) Plaintiff has set forth enough facts to nudge his claims against Defendant Bell across the line from conceivable to plausible.

As a result, Plaintiff's claims against Defendant Bell may proceed." The claim against the DMV is dismissed under the Eleventh Amendment.

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The city of San Francisco must pay about $1 million in attorneys' fees to a white man who filed a successful race-discrimination suit after he was passed up for a promotion at San Francisco International Airport, a state appeals court ruled Friday.

Allen Harmon won $30,300 in damages in a 2004 verdict by a San Mateo County jury that concluded he was rejected for a supervisor's job in 1998 at least in part because of his race. A minority candidate got the promotion, and Harmon's lawyer said he had to wait 16 months to get the same job through a race-neutral civil service promotion.

Harmon's suit, filed by the Pacific Legal Foundation, claimed that the city had designed hiring and promotional policies at the airport to reflect the Bay Area's racial and ethnic makeup. The city denied having racial quotas or bias, saying most of the promotions awarded at the time went to white men, but later changed the policy that Harmon had challenged.

State and federal law entitled Harmon to legal fees for a successful civil rights suit against a government agency, and he was awarded more than $1.1 million by Superior Court Judge Thomas Smith.

City lawyers argued that the fee was far too high, noting that Harmon had originally sought $600,000 in damages and had been awarded only a small fraction of that amount. But the First District Court of Appeal upheld most of the fee Friday, ordering a reduction only for sums spent litigating one issue that was decided in the city's favor.

While the fee may seem excessive in a suit that was only partially successful, the court said, the trial judge examined it thoroughly and concluded that Harmon had succeeded in vindicating "important public interests" in a neutral promotional policy.

Continue reading "SAN FRANCSICO ATTORNEY AWARDED $1 MILLION IN ATTORNEY FEES IN SUCCESSFUL SAN FRANCISCO CIVIL RIGHTS DISCRIMINATION SUIT" »

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RIVRSIDE DUI DEFENSE NEWS:

The number of motorists arrested for alleged drunken driving in the Riverside area over the Christmas holiday increased slightly compared to last year.

The CHP reported that 42 motorists were arrested for suspicion of DUI on roads and highways around Riverside during the highway patrol's “maximum enforcement period,” between 6 p.m. Friday and midnight Tuesday. The maximum enforcement period was a day longer than last year, when 39 people were arrested.

For tips in how to avoid a DUI this holiday season, click this link: http://www.californiacriminallawyerblog.com/2007/11/what_to_do_when_the_dui_office.html

And for answers to frequently asked DUI questions, click here: http://www.acrimedefenseattorney.com/pages/dui.html

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