I've been defending people now for over 30 years in Los Angeles regarding DUI cases, all the way up from the standard DUI where somebody's pulled over because they don't have their lights on, for example. They end up with a first-time DUI to a murder case where somebody is driving drunk, and they kill somebody, and of course, everything in between. I've seen all sorts of crazy things.
The answer is yes. It is possible to win a DUI case in Los Angeles, but don't be fooled by the hucksters on the phone claiming they will win the case for you when they know nothing about your case or your circumstances. They're just trying to get you to pay them money, and then they'll give you the bad news later that you can't win the case.
You must have an angle if you want to win the case. For example, you must have a factual scenario that, if a jury believes, comes out with a not-guilty verdict. If you don't have that real scenario, if you can't prove that you weren't driving under the influence and that you weren't unsafe to operate a motor vehicle, then you're going to end up having to use your attorney to be able to negotiate and resolve the case.
The bottom line is you want to sit down with somebody who's got experience and will be honest with you. I will not lie with somebody to get their business. While I do see that some of these mill law firms that don't even have reasonable attorneys will lie, tell people a bunch of stuff, and bring up a couple of examples that don't have anything to do with their case. Some people see through this sham and realize that they don't have the angle to win their case, and they will need to hire a lawyer to work out some resolution.
Blood Alcohol Level
The type of cases in which you actually could win a DUI is the obvious one: your blood alcohol level was not a .08 or greater, and you weren't driving a vehicle unsafely. That's a good example, but of course, there aren't many cases like that because if you're under the legal limit, there's a high possibility that the police won't even send the case to the prosecutors. If they do, the prosecutors won't file it.
I had one time who blew a .05. He was swatting at a bee in his car and ran into somebody's house. The prosecutors filed that as a DUI, but I was able to get it dismissed because he wasn't over a .08. They were arguing he had alcohol in his system. He couldn't safely operate a motor vehicle, which was substantiated by the fact that he ran into somebody's house.
The bottom line is you want to make sure that you foster or promulgate a defense that makes sense and can be successful. That's where my 30 years of experience comes in.
You Were Not Driving
Another potential defense that I've seen employed successfully is that you were not driving when the police came upon you, and therefore, how do they prove when you were going for purposes of figuring out what your blood alcohol level was?
For example, I had a client who crashed into a telephone pole. His car wouldn't start anymore, so he got out and walked about two miles to get help. He got help, returned to his car, and there was the Ventura County Sheriff's Department. They arrested him for DUI.
I was able to get that case dismissed because they couldn't pinpoint when he had crashed into the pole. Let's say when they get their hands on him and make him blow, he blows a .10, for example. The question is then going to be, okay, okay. He's a .10 when you got your hands on him, but what was he when he crashed into the pole?
Assuming you can prove he was the one who crashed into the bar, if you don't know when there's no way your expert can extrapolate backward to figure out what his blood alcohol level was at the time he crashed into the pole.
You can see a lot of this stuff makes common sense. Of course, we look to see whether or not the machine that was used was calibrated – whether or not there are any issues with it. We're going to look at everything, but a lot of these DUIs, I would say better than 95%, the attorney works out some resolution for their client.
So, don't be fooled by people trying to excite your case and say many things that don't apply to you. Get to somebody who's going to tell you the truth because if it's your first time DUI, you want to do it once, you want to do it right, and you want never to do it again.
If it's your second, third, or fourth, you want to get someone in there who knows what they are doing and can get you the best result because you will face jail time. You've come to the right place. Pick up the phone now. Ask for a meeting with Ron Hedding. I stand at the ready to help you.
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