Felony DUI In California
For much of the twentieth century, driving drunk was treated as bad luck more than a serious crime. “One for the road” was a common expression, not a warning. Even a fatal crash caused by a drunk driver could be written up as an accident, the driver was rarely…
DUI & Drugs In California
You take cold medicine for a bad cough. You take a medication your doctor prescribed. You use marijuana, which is legal in California. Or you use an illegal drug. Every one of those can expose you to a DUI, because California’s drugged-driving law does not care…
DUI Causing Injury Or Death In California
An ordinary DUI is about what tragic outcome could have happened. A DUI causing injury or death is about what did happen. That difference changes everything: the charges, which can go from a misdemeanor all the way to murder; the penalties, which can be up to life…
DUI And Immigration: What A DUI Means For Non-Citizens
An engineer on an H-1B visa is arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) on a Friday night in California. He has been in this country for years. His job sponsors his status and his family’s status is dependent on his status. For a citizen, that arrest is a…
DUI & Employment In California: Your Job & Your Professional License
A DUI is a criminal case, but for many people the courtroom is not where the real damage happens. It happens at work, in the consequences for a professional license and in the continuing ability to maintain a livelihood. A misdemeanor DUI conviction can cost an…
DUI DMV Hearings In California
After many California DUI arrests involving alcohol, the officer gives you a pink Order of Suspension and Temporary Driver License. Most people put it in a drawer and focus on the court date. That paper usually permits 30 days of driving from the arrest, if you…
What To Do If You Are Arrested In California
The minutes and hours after an arrest are often when people do the most damage to their own cases, and they do it while trying to help themselves. They explain, they correct the record, they tell the officer what “really happened”. They consent to a search to look…
Serious And Violent Crimes In California
Some cases are about a fine, a license, or a difficult year. Others are about whether a person spends the rest of their life in prison. The most serious criminal charges – homicide, attempted murder, gang crimes, sex offenses, three-strikes cases, armed robbery,…
How Criminal Cases Are Won At Trial In California
When a criminal case cannot be resolved another way, it is decided in a courtroom, in front of a jury, and everything the defense did or failed to do in the months before arrives there with it. This article is about how criminal cases are actually won at trial. It…
How To Clean Your Criminal Record In California
A criminal record in California does not usually fade with time. An arrest from twenty years ago often sits in the same databases as an arrest from last week, and it surfaces at the worst moments: a job application, a professional license, an immigration…