California DUI News

Suppose a police officer asks or orders an individual to drive a vehicle — and then arrests him for DUI when he complies?  Does this constitute entrapment? This situation comes up more often than you might think. Take, for example, the following case that eventually made its way to the New Jersey Supreme Court…. The defendant asked his brothers at a wedding reception to drive him home because he was too intoxicated to drive. In the parking lot, however, the ... Read More »

One of the most common causes of falsely high breathalyzer readings in DUI cases is the existence of mouth alcohol. The breathalyzer’s internal computer is making a major assumption when it captures a breath sample and then analyzes it for blood alcohol concentration (BAC): It assumes that the alcohol in the breath sample came from alveolar air — that is, air exhaled from deep within the lungs. Since we are trying to measure how much alcohol is in the DUI suspect’s blood, rather ... Read More »

Milwaukee County Sherriff David Clarke has a reputation for cracking down on drunk drivers and pushing for tougher drunk driving laws. The new proposal that would decrease the legal limit from 0.08 to 0.05, however, isn’t exactly what he had in mind. In Milwaukee, the average drunk driver has a BAC over 0.15; almost twice the legal limit. These individuals, Clarke believes, are the ones law enforcement officers in Wisconsin should be concerned with, not the social drinker who can ... Read More »

Those who have DUI charges pending in California that involve the taking of a blood sample without a warrant or lawful consent should be considering a motion to suppress evidence at the trial court level.  The United States Supreme Court’s recent decision in Missouri v. McNeely overruled several California Court of Appeal decisions that had erroneously interpreted the high Court’s 1966 decision in Schmerber v. California as authorizing warrantless blood draws anytime the police have probable cause to arrest a suspect for ... Read More »

In the waning hours of the legislative session on Thursday, a California bill to let undocumented immigrants become lawyers passed the state Assembly and now lies in the hands of Governor Jerry Brown. This bill would allow qualified applicants to become licensed as a lawyer regardless of their immigration status pending California Supreme Court approval. The current law in the state does not allow applicants to be licensed if they are undocumented. The subject of illegal immigrants in the United ... Read More »

There is a good deal of debate in the legal community about whether warrantless blood samples taken from DUI suspects are constitutional following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Missouri v. McNeely.  The core of this debate is whether “implied consent” laws constitute an exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement, or whether such consent is “involuntary consent” because it is based on the threat and imposition of a license suspension. The McNeely decision did not invalidate “implied consent” statutes ... Read More »

Is it possible to be an accomplice to drunk driving – that is, to be convicted of “aiding and abetting” a person who was driving under the influence of alcohol? In one case in Maine, two men were drinking together in a bar.  When they left, the owner of the car had his friend drive since the friend was less intoxicated.  The two were stopped by the police, and the owner/passenger was taken to a police station — where he refused to take a breath test because ... Read More »

For years, criminal defense attorneys have cautioned people about the perils of talking to the police when they are suspected of violating the law.  It was sound advice, but now that admonition must be refined in light of a recent decision from the United States Supreme Court. The case is called Salinas v. Texas and it was issued earlier this year.  Berkemer v. McCarty is a much older case, and it essentially held that a motorist’s roadside statements are admissible at trial. Salinas goes further, ... Read More »

In order to prevent over-serving at bars, many states have adopted what is known as the Dram Shop Act. The Dram Shop Act allows victims and the families of victims to sue the bar or establishment that served alcohol to a drunken individual that subsequently injured someone in a drunken driving accident. These alcohol infractions are regulated by the Department of Revenue who will strip bars and bartenders of their licenses if found to be repeatedly over-serving. Georgia is one ... Read More »

One of the most common causes of falsely high breathalyzer readings is the existence of mouth alcohol. The breathalyzer’s internal computer is making a major assumption when it captures a breath sample and then analyzes it for blood alcohol concentration (BAC): It assumes that the alcohol in the breath sample came from alveolar air — that is, air exhaled from deep within the lungs. Since we are trying to measure how much alcohol is in the blood, rather than in the breath, the ... Read More »