Whittier DUI Arrest, 65 mph, 0.16% BAC, AB 541, No Jail
In late March, during a driving rainstorm, the Whittier Police Department noticed a car traveling at approximately 65 miles per hour down Little Lake Road. The officer accelerated to 75 miles per hour to get behind our client and then paced her at approximately 65 miles per hour before pulling her over. The posted speed limit along the area where our client, age 39, was observed speeding was 40 miles per hour.
Upon speaking with our client, the officer allegedly detected the strong odor of alcohol, which our client explained by stating she had consumed two glasses of wine earlier in the evening. It was only about 9:30 p.m.
Despite the rainstorm, the officer had our client stand in the rain and perform certain field sobriety tests, which the police report stated our client failed miserably.
The officer then had our client submit to a roadside preliminary alcohol screening (PAS) test, which measured her breath alcohol content at 0.14% and 0.15%. Our client was then arrested immediately.
She was then held in the Whitter Police Station for almost 12 hours before being released. While there, she submitted to a further breath alcohol concentration (BAC) test and her BAC was measured at 0.164% and 0.168%.
Upon being released, she signed a promise to appear in the Bellflower Courthouse for her arraignment in about two months.
Based on a recommendation from a friend, she called Greg Hill & Associates and discussed her case with Greg Hill. She described what had happened and asked what Greg thought might happen.
The excessive speed while DUI is what concerned Greg the most because if a person is DUI on a highway, one can be up to 30 miles per hour over the speed limit before a mandatory minimum 60 day jail sentence is imposed under Vehicle Code § 23582. If one is on a city street, one can be up to 20 miles per hour over the speed limits without such mandatory minimum jail is imposed and the client was 25 miles per hour above the posted speed limit.
Greg then explained that because her BAC was measured at above 0.15%, a prosecutor would usually demand that the client enroll in and complete either the nine-month alcohol awareness program (called the SB 1353 program) or the six-month alcohol awareness program (called the AB 762 program). Greg then explained the fines that would be imposed, but that the client would receive credit for her time in custody toward the fine.
The client asked what she could do to help her case and Greg suggested she enroll in the AB 541 program (a three-month) program with an option to extend the program to take more classes to satisfy the AB 762 program or SB 1353 program requirements, depending upon how the case resolves.
The client then did this and finished about half of the AB 541 program before the arraignment.
Greg then appeared at the arraignment on the client’s behalf while she stayed at work. That morning, the prosecutor was extremely distracted by something taking place in another courtroom and so he did not review the police report too carefully in our client’s case.
When he came to court and Greg asked him what the People’s proposed plea bargain would be, the young DA quickly flipped through the pages of the police report, just scanning for our client’s BAC and her prior criminal history, which she did not have.
In doing so, he completely overlooked the speeding while DUI issue and offered a no jail offer including the six-month alcohol awareness program and the minimum DUI fine to be paid to the court, which is $390, plus penalties and assessments (totaling about $2,050). He also added the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) victim impact panel, which lasts about two hours and can be done at home via Zoom for $65.
In noticing that the DA missed the excessive speed issue, Greg then negotiated the six-month program down to a three-month program by showing our client’s progress report from the AB541 program.
The client gladly accepted the plea bargain, relieved that the young DA had overlooked the speeding issue and Greg had negotiated down the alcohol class to the minimum length.
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