drivers-license

Published on: May 15, 2013

DUI After Just One Drink?

More than one drink may soon be too much and could lead to a DUI arrest. As many know, the legal driving limit in California is a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of less than 0.08%. This level was drastically lowered from 0.15% in the 1980s and may now be lowered again.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has recommended that the limit be lowered to 0.05%. Although the NTSB has no authority to make changes itself, it is an influential agency, and can encourage lawmakers to make changes in their respective states, as well as provide financial incentives for states to adopt their suggestions.

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Published on: February 22, 2013

Man’s License Restored After Fraud Allegation Dropped

by Staycie R. Sena

A Florida man Lazaro Sopena, wanted to help his new wife carry on her Vietnamese surname, and so decided to change his last name to Dinh when they were married in honor of his wife–opposite the usual custom of women adopting their husbands’ surnames.

After their marriage, he presented his marriage license to his local DMV showing that he had a new last name in effort to obtain an updated driver’s license, just as a woman would. The agency granted his request and issued a new license without any complications.

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Published on: September 23, 2011

Weekend Orange County DUI Checkpoints

by Staycie R. Sena

Being arrested for driving under the influence in Orange County can be stressful, especially if it is during a DUI sobriety checkpoint. As a DUI offender, you are looking at consequences such as heavy fines and lengthy license suspensions. As a multiple DUI offender, you could be facing severe consequences that could include jail time. The only way to get the best representation during both the DMV and criminal court process is to have an experienced Orange County Drunk Driving Lawyer who knows the laws.

This upcoming weekend, Orange County will be conducting at least two DUI sobriety checkpoints, with the potential of others that have not yet been announced. In San Juan Capistrano, residents can expect a DUI sobriety checkpoint to occur on Friday, September 23^rd between the hours of 6:30pm and 2:30am as well as in Costa Mesa on Saturday, September 24^th from 6pm until 2am. Both of these locations are currently undisclosed, meaning that they will be occurring within the city limits but arresting officials are not providing the exact cross streets or location.

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Published on: March 16, 2010

To Speak or Not to Speak

by Staycie R. Sena

The Fifth Amendment is at issue this week in two high-profile cases: the marital mishap of professional golfer Tiger Woods and the surprise convictions of the American student perhaps wrongfully convicted of killing her roommate, Amanda Knox and her boyfriend. The Constitution protects each and everyone of us from false confessions or prosecutorial twisting of our words. Simply put, it grants us the right to remain silent. Tiger Woods has, of course, invoked this right. Amanda Knox, however, spent days talking with Perusian investigators without an attorney. She was deprived of sleep and told to “imagine” scenarios under which her roommate could have been killed. She did. Investigators then called those scenarios “explanations” and within days of the murder, she was publicly touted as her roommate’s killer.

The Amanda Knox trial has received so much attention because of the lack of otherwise credible evidence. Although there was a ton of forensic evidence, none of this evidence linked the girl to the crime and the defense was not allowed to bring in its own forensic evidence, showing she could not have committed the murder. The conviction of this young girl with no known motive and no criminal record led former OJ Simpson prosecutor John Kelly to declare this “the most egregious international railroading of two innocent young people I have ever seen… It’s a public lynching based on rank speculation.”

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Published on: March 11, 2010

Newport Beach Officer Arrested on DUI

by Staycie R. Sena

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.

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