Woman Talking on her Cell Crashes into Driver at Fresno DUI Checkpoint

On Thursday, August 27, 2010, in Fresno, California an inattentive driver was talking on her cell phone and not looking where she was going. Unfortunately, this combination resulted in the 25 year old female driver crashing into the back of a motorist who was stopped at one of Fresno’s Police Department’s DUI Checkpoints.

Apparently, members of Fresno’s finest were talking with another motorist who had been detained at the checkpoint for a Gestapo like investigation when a young lady smashed into the back of that vehicle. This DUI checkpoint was located off of Shaw Avenue in northeast Fresno. While talking on one’s cell phone while driving is a violation of the law (Cal. Veh. Code §23123), which usually results in a small fine, around $75.00 according to the Fresno Bail Schedule, and is also a no-point violation as far as your driving record.

Fresno PD officer’s tried to flag the girl down prior to her striking the other vehicle, but alas she was deep in conversation. The irony is that she was also arrested for DUI. This raises an important consideration, which as a Fresno DUI Attorney, instantly caught my eye. If the other driver or one of the officer’s was injured that would immediately mean that the girl could be charged with Felony DUI (Veh. Code §23153 (a) or (b)), rather than a simple misdemeanor driving under the influence charge. Whenever somebody is facing a Felony DUI, it is important to retain an experienced DUI Attorney in Fresno, California.

In Fresno, the DUI capital of the world, this city takes DUI’s very seriously and a charge of Felony driving under the influence in Fresno can subject a person to a term of three (3) years in prison if nobody is greatly injured. That is why it is critical, even if charges haven’t been filed yet in your case, to seek out knowledgeable counsel in the form of a seasoned Fresno DUI Defense Attorney. If somebody is severely injured, the Fresno District Attorney may add an enhancement that the DUI also caused great bodily injury (Pen. Code §12022.7 (a) ). This enhancement elevates the offense to a Strike under California’s three strikes law and tacks on an extra three years. Hopefully, this young lady did not injure anybody due to her cell phone usage and will not have to risk a serious term of incarceration.

Fresno DUI Case Dismissed for Failure to Prosecute

Not too long long ago, a friend of mine came to me here in Fresno after seeing my picture in the yellow pages. He didn't realize I was a Fresno DUI attorney and after he recognized my picture from the phone book he called me up. It turned out he had a case from 2004 that he hadn't dealt with and now was coming up to bite him in the- you know what. He told me his public defender told him that if he pled to a DUI that the DA would drop the rest of the charges (under the influence of narcotics, possession of a smoking device, suspended license, no registration, etc.) He couldn’t do that because it would have ruined his chance to get a promising job where he needed a clean driving record.

Well, I told him, lets check some things out first before you do that. The first call I made was to the lab that had his blood (since this was a blood test case). Well, of course, the blood was destroyed since the case was several years old. The next call I made was to the evidence room at the police department. Well it turned out the evidence had been destroyed in 2005 (the smoking device.) This to me presented a great example of why someone should get a competent Fresno DUI Lawyer to defend their case. His court appointed attorney, unfortunately, had not even checked to see if the evidence still existed or, worse yet, if they had, he or she was deliberately withholding this information from my friend.

After I told my friend the news and said that it looked like he had a pretty good shot at fighting this case, he decided to hire me. Well I spent a weekend drafting three motions (a motion to dismiss for failure to prosecute the case in a timely manner, a motion to dismiss for destruction of evidence, and a motion to suppress the evidence in the case based on a questionable police stop.) The next week I calendared all three motions to be heard with the court.

After that I subpoened the director of the laboratory that destroyed my client's blood sample and the detective in charge of the evidence room where the smoking device was destroyed. I'd like to add (off topic) that issuing subpoenas is probably my favorite part of being a lawyer. Sometimes I think I would have gone to law school just for the pleasure of dragging unwilling people into court.

Low and behold, we finally got into court and had all motions heard a couple of weeks ago. The court took up my first motion, the motion to dismiss for failure to prosecute in a timely manner. Since the evidence had been destroyed, and it was irrefutable that my client was within access of the prosecution so that they could have prosecuted this case prior to the destruction of the evidence, the court granted my first motion without even considering the other two motions and dismissed my friend’s case.

It turned out that I put in all that extra work for nothing. If the court would have told me in advance I’d win based on the first motion I never would have written the other two. But I think the others might have done the trick as well. Needless to say, my friend was one happy camper.

Man Charged with Felony DUI in Accident that Leaves Three Dead

Last week, a 20-year-old Fresno resident, Orlando Gomez-Benitez, had been accused of being under the influence of alcohol (DUI) after a fatal traffic accident killed three of the passengers in his car. The CHP claims that he drove through a stop sign and collided with another vehicle. Mr. Gomez-Benitez was listed in critical condition after the accident. Reportedly, the three passengers were ejected from the vehicle due to the fact that none of them were wearing seatbelts. Two of the occupants of the other vehicle also sustained minor injuries from the accident.

After the accident, Mr. Benitez-Gomez’s family commented that hospital documents released by Community Regional Medical Center (CRMC) showed that Mr. Benitez-Gomez was not under the influence of either drugs or alcohol. Sadly, the passengers in Orlando’s vehicle were his girlfriend, his younger brother, and his brother’s girlfriend. Days after the accident, the CHP released a report that Orlando was being arrested for felony DUI, however, the lab report from CRMC shows negative results from drugs and alcohol. The reason the CHP decided to make an arrest for felony DUI, according to their spokesperson, was due to the fact that Mr. Gomez-Benitez failed to stop at the stop sign and was combative at the scene, so he was placed under arrest to obtain a blood sample. The Fresno District Attorney’s Office has held off on filing charges till the blood test comes back from the Department of Justice.

Without commenting on whether the CRMC report is accurate or not, I will say that in my career as a Fresno DUI Lawyer, I have scene many innocent people arrested for driving under the influence, only to have the charges contradicted by a blood report that comes back with no drugs and .00% alcohol. Recently, I obtained an order in Federal Court sealing the record of my client’s arrest for DUI in Yosemite National Park due to this very same issue- his blood test came back with no alcohol in his system. It is really a shame that people are charged with DUI before the blood test even comes back to show whether they had alcohol in their system or not.

Regardless of the propriety of the arrest, people do not often realize that if they are illegitimately charged with DUI, they can seal the record of the arrest so that it does not appear in either a Federal or State background check. That is one reason why you should contact a serious Fresno DUI Attorney. Michael E. Mitchell is one of a select few top Fresno DUI Lawyers, give him a call to see how he can fight your DUI case.