Chicago DUI attorney comments on yet another celeb's subsequent DUI

This Chicago DUI attorney recently posted here about a police officer who received awards from MADD being charged with a DUI, the DUI was subsequently dropped but he still faces serious criminal charges.

Earlier this week, across the pond, George Michael pled guilty to yet another DUI.  

August 24, London, England:

Singer George Michael pleaded guilty in a British courtroom Tuesday to two drug offences related to a July incident in which he smashed his car into a London camera shop.

In a 15-minute appearance at Highbury Corner Magistrates Court, Michael admitted to driving under the influence of drugs and possessing cannabis at the time of the crash.

Judge Robin McPhee banned the hitmaker behind Faith and Father Figure from driving for six months, and sternly warned he could face a prison sentence.

"It is a serious matter. Your driving was extremely poor and there was an accident," McPhee said, adding that Michael has already had one conviction.

Three years ago, Michael was found slumped over the wheel of his car, which was blocking an intersection.

While the large number of celebrities, cops, politicians, and every day people from all walks of life charged with DUI continues to increase, she still believes it’s time to address the root causes of DUI.  Let’s start with your thoughts on these questions.

Why did this happen?  

What lessons can we learn from this DUI?  

How can we avoid this happening to others?  

What happened?

I always tell my clients I hope to never see them again.  I also share with them ways to avoid a subsequent DUI arrest.  I always tell them to share that information with their friends and family.

Chicago DUI attorney comments on paying the consequences of a DUI when the company isn't charged with a DUI

This Chicago DUI attorney has posted on Diamonds Gentleman’s Clubs Dram Shop DUI woes here and here.

You may recall that this Gentleman’s Club serves no alcohol.  It does serve cups, ice, and mixers for alcoholic beverages.  In this particular case, a patron was kicked out of the club and after being given the keys to his car was in a tragic accident that left others dead.  The families of the deceased sued.  They sued the driver, but of greater import they sued the club the driver was last at prior to the accident.

From chicagobreakingnews.com:

A lawsuit against a West Chicago strip club, filed after two men left the establishment and then got into a drunken driving crash that killed one of them along with a pregnant woman and her unborn child, has been settled for $1 million, court records show.

Diamond's Gentlemen's Club paid $800,000 to the husband of April Simmons. The 27-year-old woman was eight months pregnant when a vehicle driven by John Homatas ran head-on into her SUV on Illinois Route 25 near South Elgin in January 2006.

The rest of the settlement went to the family of John Chiariello, 25, of St. Charles, who was riding in Homatas' car. 

Homatas and Chiariello had gotten drunk at the club and were ejected by bouncers when Homatas was found vomiting in a bathroom, the suit alleged. Diamond's employees then put Homatas in his car, and he and Chiariello drove off, running into the Yorkville woman's car about 15 minutes later.

The club does not serve alcohol, but patrons are allowed to bring in liquor. Because of those circumstances, Diamond's argued that it was not responsible for Homatas' actions. But the Illinois Supreme Court ruled in March that the club bore some accountability for the accident.

Do you think this decision will be limited to clubs that don’t serve alcohol?

Chicago DUI attorney comments on the traffic jam that has not broken records

This Chicago DUI attorney admits that there can be an awful lot of bad news in Traffic Law, even when there is a small crime, but still this traffic jam is insane.

From nytimes.com:

 After 10 days of bumper-to-bumper stop-and-start congestion, a 60-mile-long, 10,000-vehicle traffic jam on a major freeway west of Beijing has been broken up, Chinese traffic authorities said on Tuesday.

The state television network CCTV said traffic had returned to normal on the Beijing-Zhangjiakou freeway, which stretches from the capital’s northwest suburbs to inner Mongolia. But traffic authorities in Zhangjiakou, about 90 miles northwest of Beijing, said the road remained crowded and that a long line of trucks was waiting at the Mongolia border for permission to enter the highway.

News reports said some drivers were trapped in the jam for days, and roadside residents, weaving on bicycles amid the stalled vehicles, made a killing by selling them food.

“The sellers come offering to sell water at crazy prices, but if you said ‘no’ or complained about the price they threaten to break your shields,” one drivertold The Telegraph.

 Thank goodness we live in America, so much for complaining about the traffic jams on the expressways here.

Chicago DUI attorney comments on DUI charges being dismissed in fatal accident

This Chicago DUI attorney posted here about the Indiana former Top DUI cop being charged with a DUI in a tragic fatal accident.  She can admit to being surprised that the charges have now been dismissed against this police officer.

August 21, Indianapolis, IN:

Why were DUI charges brought against him and then dropped?

State law requires a blood test of drivers involved in every accident involving a serious injury. Bisard took the test about two hours after the crash, a period that police and lawyers said is normal after an accident.

According to an IMPD report, investigators went to Methodist Occupational Health Facility, 1001 S. Eastern Ave., where Bisard was being treated for minor injuries to his arms and to the top of his head, to get a blood draw about 1 p.m. When that sample was later tested, the reading was 0.19. Under Indiana law, a motorist is legally drunk at 0.08.

Police officers who had been at the scene of the accident and in close proximity to Bisard said they had not smelled alcohol on him, nor did he seem drunk. Experts said it would have taken 10 drinks or more to reach a 0.19 level.

Based on the blood test, Bisard was charged with multiple felony counts of DUI and DUI resulting in a death. He was roundly condemned and faced significant prison time. 

But then the charges were suddenly dropped. Prosecutors had learned that the lab tech who drew Bisard's blood sample was not certified under Indiana's DUI laws to do such work for a criminal case. Therefore the test results would almost certainly be inadmissible in court.

It may very well be that the blood draw was faulty.  I doubt that Bisard’s colleagues would have let him respond to an emergency siren if they smelled alcohol or thought he was acting drunk.  Bisard still faces charges of reckless homicide.

Chicago DUI attorney comments on another innocent exonerated

This Chicago DUI driver has posted here and here about auto accidents.

She continues to believe that sometimes horrible things happen and it is just an accident.

August 5, St. Paul, MN:

 A judge ordered Thursday that Koua Fong Lee, the St. Paul man convicted of criminal vehicular homicide for a 2006 crash that killed three people, be released from prison and granted a new trial.

Less than an hour after the judge's ruling, Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner announced that she won't seek a new trial, ending Lee's four-year legal odyssey.

Lee, 32, was convicted of criminal vehicular homicide after the crash, in which he hit three other cars stopped at a red light. The crash killed three people, and Lee had been serving an eight-year prison sentence.

Lee has always maintained that he tried to brake, but that his 1996 Toyota Camry suddenly accelerated, ramming into the stopped cars.

Millions of newer Toyotas have been recalled this year because of sudden acceleration problems. Lee's attorneys have argued that Lee's car had a similar problem, even though Camrys from that year weren't a part of the recent recalls.

Judge Joanne Smith cited several reasons for her decision to grant a new trial, including new information that was uncovered since the original trial. Smith cited the testimony of 11 drivers who reported unintended acceleration, and said that the prosecution's expert was mistaken about whether or not Lee's car had an anti-lock braking system.

 Do you really want to criminalize accidents?

Chicago DUI attorney says you can't drive the day you win your Statutory Summary Suspension hearing

This Chicago DUI attorney has posted here and here about Statutory Summary Suspensions.
A Statutory Summary Suspension is tied specifically to a DUI arrest in Illinois.  There are license suspensions, based solely on the DUI arrest, for those charged.  It doesn’t matter if you submit to chemical testing or not.  By law, your license will be suspended for at least six months (there are a bunch of conditions on that) and the length of suspension goes up from there. 


So what do you do about that suspension?

1)     You hire a knowledgeable DUI attorney who can best protect your driving privileges while the criminal case is pending.

2)     You have 90 days from the date of the DUI arrest to file what’s known as a Petition to Rescind Statutory Summary Suspension.

3)     You have a right to a hearing on the Statutory Summary Suspension within 30 days of filing the Petition to Rescind.

4)     When you win your Petition to Rescind Statutory Summary Suspension, you still can’t drive.

That’s right, even once you win a Petition to Rescind you cannot immediately start driving.  You can’t drive until the Secretary of State lifts the Statutory Summary Suspension and just like everything else that goes through a bureaucratic process that can take time.  In the meantime, even though you’ve won the legal right to your driving privileges please don’t drive until the Secretary of State has provided you with clearance to do so.

Chicago DUI attorney comments on the debacle at City Hall over the issuance of traffic and parking tickets

This Chicago DUI attorney posted here about the decrease in parking and traffic violations being issued.  Looks like someone didn’t do a good job of protecting their source because today, the Chair of the Department of Revenue is the fall guy for issuing such a memo noting the decrease.

August 18, Chicago, IL:

Mayor Daley suspended his revenue director Tuesday over a memo to the police department warning that ticket writing is down — calling it “stupid.”

Revenue Director Bea Reyna-Hickey was suspended for a day over the Aug. 10 memo that told police the city “will witness a dramatic decrease in annual revenues and not meet 2010 targets” if a slump in parking tickets and vehicle-compliance tickets continues.

“Stupidity. It was stupid. Just stupid. Some bureaucrat sent that out,” Daley said at an unrelated news conference. “The revenue department has nothing to do with the police department, period. They [officers] will determine whether you violated a law. No one else can. Especially revenue can’t.”

Well sort of, the officers will determine whether a violation is alleged by issuing a charging document, generally a ticket.  It’s a judge or jury, assuming you plea not guilty who decides if you violated the law.