301 – Orange County DUI Lawyer Warning: What to do when you are pulled over.

Orange County DUI Lawyer Warning: Do not talk when you are pulled over

It’s important to know your rights during a stop. If you are not on probation and over 21 then these test are optional. DO NOT DO THESE TESTS!

One of my biggest pet peeves as an Orange County DUI lawyer is people talking when they are pulled over for a DUI. The truth about a DUI is you do not have to say anything when pulled over. In fact, when you do start talking when you’re pulled over it only makes things worse. It’s understandable when you are scared and facing arrest. Having a police officer offering to let you go if you comply with the field sobriety test is a very enticing option. However, it is my opinion that by the time they have asked you to do these tests; they have already decided to collect information. This advice does not apply if you are under 21 or are on probation. Let’s look at one example where talking will mess you up.

Killing the rising blood alcohol defense.

A common defense in DUI is called the rising blood alcohol defense. This defense involves recent drinking. If you drank less than an hour ago and started driving then this defense will be available to you. However when people talk they often say I had two beers a few hours ago. This destroys their rising blood alcohol defense. It makes things very hard for me as an Orange County DUI lawyer to work around this. I have to do creative things to establish a rising blood alcohol defense. One of these creative things is having you testify on the stand during trial. The purpose of this is to change your drinking pattern from two hours ago which was what you told the cop to one hour before driving. This doesn’t look good and it makes it look convenient for you.

The truth is most people get scared when they see a police officer so the most logical thing is to say you had your drinks a few hours ago. The bottom line is an Orange County DUI lawyer will have another option to defend you if the facts show you drank recently as opposed to a long time ago.

Why does drinking recently help my case?

If you recently drank then the experts will not know for sure what your blood alcohol content is at the time of driving. They will never know what your blood alcohol is at the time of driving. The prosecution can only estimate as to what it is at the time of driving. However if you said you stopped drinking two or three hours ago than the prosecution will give a higher estimate because they are assuming you are in the elimination stage.

What do I do?

As an Orange County DUI lawyer, if you are pulled over and you have been drinking then I recommend you skip the field sobriety test and do not answer any questions as to drinking. In fact, you should tell the officer to cite you for what you were pulled over for and let you continue to your destination. Realistically, this will not happen. The officer will insist and asking aggressively ask what you had to drink. You have to respond back that you do not feel like answering any questions and you would rather be on your way home. The officer will ask what you have been drinking again. You need to insist that you want to exercise your rights. You will then ask you to step out of the car and do some sobriety test. You do not need to do these field sobriety tests. Instead ask him to arrest if he has probable cause or let you go if you doesn’t. One of two things will happen. He will let you go or he will arrest you. If he arrests you then you will have to pay the towing feet, however this is much better than making the case for your DUI. If you do everything right and grab an Orange County DUI Lawyer who knows what they are doing then you setting up a very strong case for the defense.

Covid 19: How it Affects Your Orange County Criminal Case

If your first court apparance was scheduled during the court closure then you need to watch the mail box closely so you will not get a bench warant.

As of March 17, 2020 in Orange County, the courts have closed due to Covid 19 and it affects on the population for public policy reasons. The reasoning is becuse they do not want people to gather and get sick. Jury trials entails gathering large groups of people together which causees transmission of the disease.

As of today April 6th, 2020, the court is still closed with no definitive opening date. The exception is that cases are being set out 60 days so there is a resonable expectation that we will see some movment in that tiem frame.

Court Closure information

This closure includes everything from case that are already going on (pending DUI, pretrials, to non criminal cases. There are only a very limited number of cases being heard at thsi moment in Orange County.

There are a few things you should keep in mind when thinking about your case and court closure. The first you need to keep in mind is that you are not free to leave and your case will not be dismissed. Although it is true that your case will not be heard today, you will still have to come back to court.

The district attorney will/should send you a a notice to appear in court in the near future. This should appear in the mail box with some instructions. For example, on this court date you will have to appear in court on June 4th, 2020 for an arraignment date.

Letter from District Attorney to Appear

A courtesy letter from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office to show up to court.

The problem with this is that not everyone checks their mailbox. People will miss out on this or mistaken it as jail mail or even be sent out to the wrong address

When this happens you will not know your court date and your case will be called without you being inside the courtroom. The result will be a benchwarrant or a failure to appear on a case.

Bench Warrant for Arrest

Arrest warrants orange county — Arrest Warrants in Orange County can be issued for a number of things.

I’ve written a lot about bench warrants and what happens when you get one. just know that it is important that you keep an eye out for your case. One of the way you can keep an eye out for your case is by using the courts website. You can check up your case on occourts.org Go to the second tab and go under Case Access.

Acccessing your Online at occourts.org

Reach out to us to Look at your case

You can also to reach out to us and we would be more than happy to look up your case. We can help whether it is a felony or a DUI. It’s important that we make the warrant go away if there is one. We will repreent you on the failure to appear in court, withdrawing the warrant for your arrest and the underlyign case.