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Actor Cuts Deal After California DUI in Kern County
Thomas Jane receives probation in CA drunk driving incident.
Thomas Jane was sentenced to one year probation after pleading no contest to driving under the influence in California. The star of ‘Punisher’ was arrested after a traffic stop in Shafter, California last March after doing 120 mph in his Maserati. Jane must also pay a fine and enroll in an alcohol education program.
In exchange for the plea involving the misdemeanor drunk driving offense, the prosecution dropped charges of possession of a controlled substance without a prescription and having a blood-alcohol content above the legal limit. Jane, 39, had two outstanding speeding tickets from earlier in the year in Kern County that were also resolved.
In addition to his role in 2004’s ‘Punisher’, Jane appeared in last year’s movie ‘The Mist’. He is married to Patricia Arquette, actress in the television series ‘Medium’.
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Police Sergeant Arrested for Ohio DUI
Mansfield cop nabbed during Ohio drunk driving patrols.
Shari Robertson, a police sergeant, was charged with driving under the influence in Mansfield, Ohio. Robertson was stopped for a traffic infraction during a three-day saturation patrol targeting drunk drivers.
Ohio Highway Patrol officers witnessed Robertson making a wide left turn and striking the curb with her right front tire. When they turned on their police lights in pursuit, Robertson continued driving, crossing the center line and nearly striking an oncoming car. When the officers turned on their siren, Robertson drove off the road and nearly hit a utility pole. According to the arrest report, she was texting when officers approached her vehicle. Her speech was slurred and she was unsteady on her feet, and Robertson admitted to having consumed four or five drinks. She was booked on charges of drunk driving in Ohio and failure to drive in a marked lane.
Robertson, 41, supervises the Mansfield community policing program. While no action has been taken yet against Robertson, the county safety director said he will confer with the police chief about her work status. The Highway Patrol officers seized Robertson’s driver’s license, which will make it difficult for her to perform her duties. Previously when city employees have lost their driving privileges they have been able to apply any vacation time or comp time to the suspension period. If they don’t have any time accrued, they have been suspended without pay.
Robertson is scheduled to be arraigned October 8 in Mansfield Municipal Court.
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Court to Set Basis for NJ DWI Stop
State Supreme Court decision could impact drunk driving cases in New Jersey.
The Supreme Court of New Jersey is scheduled to hear arguments in a case that could establish a new course for DWI prosecutions in the state. The justices will be deciding the set of circumstances that need to be considered before a law enforcement officer stops a motorist based on a tip. Currently such calls are given less weight than anonymous calls from concerned citizens.
At the heart of the situation is a New Jersey DWI case against Paul Amelio. During an argument with his daughter, Amelio left his house, got in his car and drove off. His daughter called the police and told them her father was drunk. The officer followed Amelio until he returned to his driveway, and then charged him with driving while intoxicated in NJ. Amelio pleaded guilty but then appealed.
Amelio’s defense attorney, Douglas Kinz, said that the police did not have enough information to warrant a traffic stop and initiate an arrest. Historically the courts have ruled that such tips must involve specifics, and in the case of a suspected drunk driver, an estimate of the amount of alcohol someone has consumed. Amelio’s daughter simply said her father was ‘drunk’ and provided no further information. Nor did she witness any erratic driving. Kinz stated that the police who responded to the scene, “lacked a reasonable and articulable suspicion that (Amelio) had violated the law.” It was entirely possible Amelio’s 17-year old daughter may not have known the difference between acting belligerent and being intoxicated, and Kinz raised the question as to whether she was in the same room as her father at the time of the argument.
In the absence of specific information, tips can be viewed as vendettas, using the police as instruments of revenge. Evan Levow, a leading lawyer in New Jersey DWI defense, said the questions being asked by the Supreme Court about procedure in a traffic stop based on a tip “are important…(as they address) when it is permissible to intrude upon the freedoms of all drivers.” Kinz warned that, if the court upholds the traffic stop of Amelio, anyone driving a car will be subject to being stopped on a hunch and a guess.
Both a Superior Court and a panel of judges on the state Appellate Division ruled that Amelio’s New Jersey DWI conviction should not stand. Prosecutors however appealed to the high court.
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Governor Vetoes Bill Giving Benefits to NY Drunk Drivers
Law would have changed no-fault coverage for those with New York DWI arrests.
New York Governor David Patterson vetoed a bill that would have extended no-fault insurance benefits to drunk drivers.
State legislation S.8294-A sought to repeal an Alcohol Exclusion under existing law that allows insurance companies to deny coverage of those arrested for driving while intoxicated in NY. The main beneficiary of the proposed bill would have been NY DWI drivers, as the state’s basic no-fault insurance already covers medical expenses incurred by passengers and victims of drunk driving.
Citing increased premiums, a New York insurance trade group urged Gov. Patterson to veto the measure.
If you have been arrested for DWI in New York you need to hire a NY DWI lawyer.
New Mexico Receives Grant to Combat DWI
$1.15 million grant will be used by police departments to patrol for drunk driving in NM.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has provided New Mexico with $1.15 million in grant money to fight driving while intoxicated. The funds will be shared by law enforcement agencies across the state and must be used to implement or conduct programs focusing on stopping drunk driving in New Mexico.
The money will offset the cost of officers engaged in additional patrols, special party patrols and sobriety checkpoints. The grant is part of the DOT’s Alcohol Traffic Safety and Drunk Driving Prevention program.
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This Week’s DWI Shorts
Really Odd DUI/DWI News – New York Edition.
Man gets NY DWI after tailgating cop car – Wasyl Federczyk, 34, was pulled over by Erie County sheriff's deputies around 3:30 in the morning for tailgating the patrol car. Federczyk failed a field sobriety test and a breath test and was taken to the Erie County Holding Center. He was booked for driving while intoxicated in New York DWI, reckless driving and unlicensed operation of a vehicle.
Horn blowing leads to New York DWI – Glens Falls police stopped Rodney Northey for excessively blowing his car horn while driving down a street lined with bars. A breath test revealed a blood alcohol content of .23%, nearly three times the limit for intoxication. Northey told police he was blowing his horn to let “people know he was in town.”
Arrest for DWI in New York after multi-object crash – Saugerties police charged Leslie A. Miller, 30, with drunk driving in NY after her van left the road and hit several objects. While driving north, Miller crossed the southbound shoulder and hit a telephone pole, a mailbox, a pickup truck, a fence, three parked cars and a house porch. Miller was booked after being treated for injuries at a local hospital.
If you have been arrested for driving while intoxicated, you need to hire a NY DWI Lawyer.
Khloe Kardashian Not Going to Court Mandated Alcohol Classes
Attending rehab was part of sentencing for drunk driving in LA.
TV reality star Khloe Kardashian has missed her deadline for completion of a drug and alcohol classes. In response, a Los Angeles judge ordered her to complete the program in the next six weeks.
Kardashian was sentenced to mandatory attendance in an alcohol awareness program after being convicted of driving under the influence in California last July. Kardashian told the court that she did not complete the course because of scheduling conflicts and the closure of the facility during the holidays. The judge has given her until November 17 to attend the missed lessons, and ordered her to spend one day working in the city morgue.
Kardashian, 24, was charged with DUI in LA in 2007. She spent 173 hours in a California jail as part of her sentencing.
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Support Grows for New Texas DWI Laws
Anti-drunk driving groups hope next legislative session will yield new laws.
Citing public reaction to drunk driving in Texas and a recent headline grabbing accident, advocates for stronger DWI penalties express hope for the coming state legislative session. The goal is to advance two bills that stalled in previous sessions; making ignition interlock devices mandatory for everyone convicted of driving while intoxicated in Texas and legalizing sobriety checkpoints.
A driving culture coupled with one of the largest state populations has left Texas with the highest number of alcohol related fatalities in the nation. Last month a repeat DWI offender killed a newlywed couple in Dallas, focusing attention on the rising number of incidents of drunk driving among Hispanics.
A representative from the American Beverage Institute, an association that represents restaurants and promotes responsible social drinking, said that the trend in legislation is to go after “smaller and smaller groups of responsible adults who are drinking moderately.” The focus has moved away from addressing chronic drinkers at the core of the drunk driving problem to casting a broad net. Reinforcing that view, Austin Texas DWI defense attorney Paul Dunham says there has been a rise in the number of his clients who had a blood alcohol level below the legal limit yet were charged with driving while intoxicated by Austin police.
Texas is one of eleven states that prohibits sobriety checkpoints. Legislation has been proposed over the past 13 years to change the law and bill sponsors are optimistic about their chances in the legislative session. Claiming a need for prevention rather than reaction, legislators are also pushing for a new law mandating ignition interlock devices for everyone found guilty of an alcohol related driving offense. Several states have a similar law, including New Mexico and Illinois, though no studies have been completed showing the benefit of such legislation. Statistically, the overwhelming majority of those charged with DWI never repeat the offense.
Texas is one of 10 states that currently requires ignition interlock devices for repeat offenders though anti-drunk driving advocates feel the devices are not being mandated enough. The law allows judges to sentence offenders to increased jail terms and extended driver’s license suspension as alternatives to an interlock device, which opponents claim are loopholes.
Opponents of the proposed legislation are concerned about personal liberties, especially constitutional protection from search and seizure. Dallas DWI attorney and Texas Criminal Lawyers Association member Randall Isenberg says the “intended benefit (is) outweighed by the potential for abuse and unpredicted and unforeseen consequences.” Isenberg, a former judge, says Texas already has some of the strictest DWI laws in the nation.
Even the Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez is not convinced that sobriety checkpoints are the best use of resources. She advocates roving patrols that target areas with increased incidents of drunk driving.
The next Texas General Assembly convenes January 2009.
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Shia LeBeouf Not Charged with California DUI
Actor was involved in accident and suspected of drunk driving in Los Angeles.
Citing ‘insufficient evidence’, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office said charges of driving under the influence in LA will not be filed against Shia LeBeouf.
LeBeouf was involved in an early morning accident in West Hollywood on July 27. His truck was flipped and he suffered severe injuries to his hand. Though initially arrested for suspicion of drunken driving in LA, Sheriff’s deputies later determined LeBoeuf was not at fault. Prosecutors are considering charges against the two in the other vehicle, who reportedly ran a red light.
Despite that decision not to file charges, the actor faces a 9-month suspension of his driver’s license because he refused to submit to a breath test. A License Administrative Hearing with the Department of Motor Vehicles is pending.
LeBoeuf, 22, starred in ‘Transformers’ and was in production for that movie’s sequel at the time of the accident.
If you have been charged with LA DUI you need to find an experienced Los Angeles DUI Lawyer.
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Cedric Benson Not Indicted on Texas DWI Charges
Grand Jury declined to indict former Chicago Bears player for two offenses of DWI in Austin.
Citing no probable cause, a Travis County Grand Jury elected not to indict Cedric Benson on two alcohol related charges in Austin. Benson’s DWI defense attorney said the former football player is ‘elated’.
Benson was charged with boating while intoxicated on May 3 while on Lake Travis, west of Austin. During that incident he was also charged with resisting arrest. Then on June 7 Benson was arrested for driving while intoxicated in Austin.Benson played for the University of Texas Longhorns and then the NFL Chicago Bears. After the second Texas DWI offense he was cut from the Bears. Benson, through his attorney, said he has learned from the ordeal and wishes to be a worthy role model for young people in the community. He also hopes to play professional football again.
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