Car Accident & DUI Near Buellton, Oxnard DMV Set Aside

Our client, age 30, went from his home in Buellton to Santa Barbara to celebrate his friend’s birthday with him and a few others. The group gathered at the M Special Brewing Company in Santa Barbara, where our client had a couple beers, and then the group shifted over to Institution Ale Company, another bar along State Street.

The evening ended and our client began driving his 2020 Ford Raptor pickup back to Buellton.

At some point about 11:45 p.m. near the Gaviota area, our client apparently dozed off and drove off the road. His truck went down a hill alongside the 101 and crashed. A nearby homeowner heard the crash and called 911 at about this time.

Our client was unconscious when the CHP from Buellton arrived nearly three hours later (they had difficulty finding the truck) and tapped on his window, awakening our client. Our client was injured and bleeding from his head. An ambulance was called and our client was taken to a hospital, where it was determined he fractured his skull in three places. After a few days in the hospital, he was released.

From the moment the CHP had contact with our client, they suspected DUI. At 2:34 a.m. and 2:37 a.m., they had our client submit to a preliminary alcohol screening (PAS) test, which measured his breath at 0.100% and 0.097% BAC.

Once at the hospital, a blood draw took place at 3:47 a.m., over four hours since our client last drove, and his blood alcohol content was measured at 0.080% +/ - 0.004%.

After being released and returning home the client called Greg Hill & Associates and spoke to Greg Hill. The client did not remember anything about the crash. He did not know if he submitted to a PAS test, but he recalled submitting to a blood draw at the hospital.

Greg commented that in car accident cases, particularly in remote areas like the area near Buellton, well over three hours may pass before a breath or blood test is administered because first responders are correctly concerned primarily with getting the driver (and any passengers) to medical care. A DUI investigation is secondary in priority. Therefore, Greg told the client he would not be surprised if the blood test was given more than three hours after the client last drove.

The client also explained that he was not given a court date, which would be in the Lompoc Courthouse. Greg explained that his office would call the courthouse to find out this information.

Our office then requested all documents the Oxnard DMV planned to rely upon for the DMV Hearing. As Greg thought might be the case, the client’s blood test indeed was administered more than three hours after the client last drove, meaning the Vehicle Code § 23152(b) presumption that the blood alcohol content was the same as when the client was driving did not apply.

This meant the DMV would have to elicit testimony from a blood alcohol expert at the DMV hearing to reverse extrapolate the BAC level to when the client was last driving. However, the DMV would not do this as they used to because of the recent (2022) Second Appellate District Court ruling in California DUI Lawyers Association v. California Department of Motor Vehicles (2021) 77 Cal. App. 5th 517, 292 Cal. Rptr. 3d 608 that DMV hearings were unconstitutional when the DMV hearing officer both presents evidence (which she would be doing in presenting such expert testimony) and rules on suspension of the license as a purportedly neutral factfinder.

Moreover, the margin of error was 0.004% and the measurement was 0.080%, so the DMV could not find by a preponderance of the evidence that the BAC of our client was .08% or higher because half the certainty was above 0.08% and half was below 0.08%.

At the DMV Hearing, Greg explained this to the DMV Hearing Officer, who agreed to set aside the suspension of our client’s driving privileges.

The client was very happy that his driver’s license suspension was set aside, or ended.