After several days this headline continues to highlight the front page of ocregister.com. Reader’s comments are scathing with “get rid of her now- she is a cancer in that department” and “this little piggy won’t be able to driver for 1 year” ** being among the most caustic. I feel for Monica Aguilar, who was was pulled over around 9:25 p.m. on the eastbound 10 Freeway in Los Angeles, according to the California Highway Patrol. Although originally stopped for tinted windows, officers suspected intoxication, gave her field sobriety tests and tested her blood alcohol concentration (BAC), which came in above .08, the legal limit. She was booked into jail and later released.
I feel for her because in addition to the court and DMV’s onerous penalties that come with a DUI conviction, severe public condemnation like the comments above and employment consequences (she may very well lose her job over the arrest), she may not receive the due process that each and every one of us are entitled to. Her case will no doubt receive special attention from prosecutors and judges and valid defenses will be cast with an air of suspicion. Imagine if her attorneys reviewed the blood alcohol machinery’s calibration logs and found that the machines were not properly calibrated and concluded that her blood alcohol result cannot be trusted (a common practice of DUI lawyers.) What juror is not going to say to himself “she’s only arguing this technicality because she’s a police officer and she knows the ropes?” Demanding accurate evidence before depriving someone of their liberty is something that we should want for each of us, even police officers.
If you have been charged with a crime, visit Orange County Criminal Lawyer or call The Law Offices of Staycie R. Sena at (949) 477-8088 today.
** This reader has it wrong. The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) only suspends a driver’s license for one year when there is “refusal”, that is to say, when a person refuses to give a chemical test. Aguilar submitted to a chemical test. Provided that this is her first DUI and that she is convicted, her driver’s license will probably only be suspended for thirty (30) days. It will then be restricted while she completes a drunk driver’s awareness or alcohol class.