Unlawful Police Traffic Stop
The LAX or Airport court handles DUI-related offenses on the west side. It also has coverage of cases that occur in Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Malibu, and many other jurisdictions because of the number of court closures. So, there are a lot of DUIs going through that Airport or LAX court. Since they built the court several years ago, I've been handling cases there.
I've handled thousands of DUI cases in Los Angeles County, so you've comes to the right website. You've come to somebody who has 26 years of experience. I've worked for the District Attorney's office; I've worked for a Superior Court judge, and I've been the guiding force behind the Hedding Law Firm handling DUI matters since 1994.
So, what we do to defend these cases is, first, we're going to look to see whether or not you were lawfully pulled over or the police honestly came in contact with you. The police can't just pull people over for no reason.
Sometimes there's video evidence we can use to prove that they pulled somebody over for no reason. But we're going to look at everything because we want to make sure you are treated fairly.
We realize a DUI is a crime that can affect your rights, liberty, freedom, and driving record.
We first assess whether or not it was a legal pullover; then, we consider whether or not the police have violated any of your rights. For example, they have to prove when you were driving the vehicle.
When Were You Driving a Vehicle?
Sometimes they try to cheat on that because they know that's a problem, even though they don't know precisely when you were driving the vehicle.
If, for example, they came upon an accident scene and nobody gave them the information about when that accident occurred, you might have an excellent defense to say they didn't know when I was driving.
So, when they get my blood alcohol level 45 minutes or an hour later, who cares. What was it at the time of driving? So, that's the first thing we're going to try to attack.
Negotiate Reduced DUI Charges
If that is not available to us, then the next thing we're going to do is try to see if we can get you something less than a DUI — a wet reckless, a speed contest, a moving violation, a dry reckless — something that avoids that DUI.
Often, that may be possible if there's a problem with a case or if your blood alcohol level is very close to the .08. That would make a good argument for why you would deserve something less than a DUI.
If we can't get you something less than a DUI, it's probably because either you have prior DUIs, or it could be because your blood alcohol level is high.
It could also be you were doing something dangerous like you were involved in an accident or speeding real fast — whatever the case may be. In that case, we're trying to avoid any jail time.
So, in my opinion, even if you don't hire my firm, if you've got a case in the LAX or Airport court, you want to make sure that you hire an attorney.
This is because there are a whole bunch of things that can be done for you, and there are also a bunch of dire consequences that can be avoided if you have the right DUI defense attorney on your side.
Because the Airport court does handle a high volume of cases, a lot of times — as compared to the rest of Los Angeles County — you can get an excellent resolution in some of these DUI cases, even if your client is guilty; even if your blood alcohol level is a .08 or greater.
Planning a DUI Defense Strategy
We looked at everything. We sit down with you. We get our strategy together. We'll bring you into the office and look at your case, look at what the charges are, look at the evidence that the prosecutors have from the police, and see if there's anything else we might be able to get to help you.
Then we're going to have a face-to-face conversation. I'm going to be very straightforward with you. Use my years of experience, and we'll make the right moves at the right time. This is not a cookie-cutter process.
It's not the same thing every time because not all DUIs are created equal. Sometimes, we have to take different angles depending on what happened.
It also depends on your blood alcohol level when driving and riding on a host of other factors, which are only going to be seen and evaluated by somebody who has experience.
So, if you have a DUI in the LAX or Airport court, pick up the phone. Ask to speak to Ron Hedding. Well, set up a face-to-face meeting.
We'll go over everything about your case and get a game plan together for you that makes sense and does damage control.