Rolling Hills Estates Arrest, Public Intoxication, No File

Our client, age 58, had a splitting headache, but went into the Red Onion restaurant off Silver Spur Road in Rolling Hills Estates to have a glass of wine and relax for a bit.  He headed to the bar area toward the back of the restaurant.

The wine seemed to help ease the pain of his headache, but it also seemed to have a far more intoxicating effect than normal.  He realized he needed to stop drinking and just get home, which was only a mile or so away from the Red Onion.

He therefore walked out the back door of the Red Onion to get to his car.  As he was doing so, a Lomita Sheriff’s deputy was driving through the parking lot and stopped our client.  He asked our client if he had been drinking and our client told him he had consumed one glass of wine.

The deputy apparently believed our client looked far more impaired by alcohol than was safe for him to drive, so he asked our client if he could call his wife or someone else to drive him home instead.

Our client agreed and said, “O.K., I’ll call Uber.”  This response was apparently not the response the officer wanted, so in frustration, said, “I don’t have time to wait for Uber to arrive here” and immediately handcuffed our surprised client.  

The Lomita Sheriff’s deputy then drove our client to the Lomita Sheriff’s station off Normandie and booked our client.  Our client then had to sit in a jail cell for several hours until he was released to his wife, who had since become very worried about what had happened.  

When our client was released, he signed a promise to appear in the Torrance Courthouse in about three months.

The client then went home the following morning, stunned at how the prior evening proceeded.

About two weeks before his arraignment, he called Greg Hill & Associates and spoke to Greg.  The client described what had taken place and asked what would happen in court.  The client had only had one prior criminal case, a DUI from over ten years earlier, so he had some familiarity with how a case is plea bargained and what probation is.

Greg frankly told the client that he did not think the case would be filed at all because the client was merely looking for his car and appeared slightly drunk.  The client could not have been so drunk as to be unable to care for his own well-being because he suggested calling Uber to get a ride home and did not argue with the police officer at all.  In other words, he simply did not fit the legal standard to violate Penal Code § 647(b), public intoxication.

Greg candidly also told the client that he thought the officer even spoke with him is because our client is African American and appeared far younger than 58 years old.  In addition, he was in an area which is predominantly White and Asian.  There are very few African Americans in Palos Verdes, so the officer wanted to speak to him, just to evaluate if he was in the parking lot to commit an auto burglary or grand theft auto.  Greg said once the officer understood that the client lived nearby and was cooperative, he just wanted the client to get home quickly.

Nonetheless, Greg said if the case were filed, the matter would most likely resolve through some form of District Attorney (DA) diversion or judicial diversion.  Greg then predicted that the terms would include attending ten Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings, staying away from the Red Onion for the diversion period (six months to a year) and possibly performing 20 hour hours of community service.  

The client then retained Greg Hill & Associates.  Greg set the retainer fee at only half the usual fee because he felt so strongly that the case would not be filed.  

The client nonetheless attended ten AA meetings and emailed our office his AA sing-in sheet with documentation of each AA meeting date, time and meeting name.  

Greg then appeared on the client’s behalf in the Torrance Courthouse on the date of the arraignment.  As Greg anticipated, the case against our client indeed was rejected by the District Attorney’s Office for filing, which Greg immediately shared with the client, who was greatly relieved at this news.